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Tuesday 11 October 2022
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Cool cats and kittens
Animal lover Bethany Swiggs (pictured left) has been helping to find homes for unwanted cats and kittens for the last 18 months. She has found local homes for more than 60 cats in that time. Her tireless work has been recognised with an award. See story page 7. Picture: Supplied.
Frankston Coast Guard faces permanent demise Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au THE Frankston Coast Guard is being told to disband. The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association, supported by Emergency Management Victoria, has been reviewing the viability of the Frankston Coast Guard. It has decided that the Frankston flotilla should be consolidated with the unit at Carrum. The decision follows years of setbacks and struggles for the Frankston
flotilla. The group has been without a permanent home for nearly four years following the demolition of its Pier Promenade headquarters. Plans to build a boat harbour and permanent home for the Coast Guard at Oliver’s Hill were abandoned in 2019 after the project failed to receive support from the state and federal governments. In the meantime the club has occupied the Frankston Mechanics Institute, while launching its primary rescue vessel from Patterson Lakes. The flotilla responds to about 100 callouts a year. The end of the Frankston unit would
bring to an end decades of history. The Frankston Coast Guard formed in the early 1960s, and was chartered as Flotilla 1. The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association declined to comment on the decision to dissolve the flotilla. The Frankston unit was also contacted for comment. Several former members of the Frankston Coast Guard have told The Times that the demise of the flotilla is a devastating blow. Former volunteer Anthony Mayall says that an Emergency Management Victoria decision to reallocate the Frankston unit’s primary
vessel was a major contributing factor. “Emergency Management Victoria has taken away Frankston’s state supplied primary rescue vessel and allocated it to another area due to the lack of facilities at Frankston and the Coast Guard having to operate from Patterson River, whilst shortly afterwards declaring Frankston’s secondary Coast Guard owned vessel as being as being unfit for marine search and rescue despite its very successful history,” Mayall said. The Times asked Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke why these decisions were made, but a direct response was not
provided. A state government spokesperson said “the Frankston area will still be well protected on the water, with no reduction in service to the community and existing marine search and rescue flotillas based at Carrum and Mornington to patrol the area.” “We’re incredibly grateful for the support from Frankston Coast Guard volunteers for more than 60 years in keeping the community safe,” the statement read. Mayall also pointed the finger at Frankston Council for the demise of the Coast Guard. Continued page 6
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