Southern Peninsula
Keep local news alive on the Southern Peninsula! See pages 8&9
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Wednesday 4 October 2023
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Charity ride: Lino Tarquinio, Marc Clavin, property developer Max Beck and the wife of former Premier Daniel Andrews, Catherine Andrews, prepare to set off for Sunday’s 60 kilometre ride to raise money for the Portsea Camp. Organisers say the ride raised thousands of dollars for the camp which hosts underprivileged children from Victoria and NSW (“Turning wheels to make a difference” The News 27/9/23). Picture: Ted McDonnell
Hopes new premier will fix old problems Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THE Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula wasted no time last week in congratulating Jacinta Allan on her new job as state premier. The lobby group said Allan’s appointment was an opportunity to “collaborate” with the government on a “long list of major advocacy projects” for Frankston and the peninsula. “The committee seeks a renewed
focus and consultative approach by the state government on addressing the major challenges and opportunities within our region, including better connectivity and public transport, more funding for housing on the peninsula, unlocking port-zoned land to create local jobs, better access to health and education opportunities, investment in roads and infrastructure, and the establishment of the Victorian renewable energy terminal in Hastings,” committee CEO Josh Sinclair said.
Most priorities listed by the committee are no different from those raised first by its predecessors, the Committee for Frankston and the Committee for Mornington Peninsula. The now-amalgamated committees have for years separately lobbied for more state government money, better public transport and improved educational opportunities. Sinclair said the committee would “continue to advocate in a bipartisan way”, adding that later this month
October it was looking forward to “welcoming Opposition leader John Pesutto … for a discussion about the major challenges and opportunities in our region”. Former MP for Dunkley and Small Business and now family enterprise ombudsman Bruce Billson was a founding member and first president in March 2019 of the Committee for Mornington Peninsula. Last month he “helped relaunch” the merged committees.
In 2019 Billson said: “Our region has the lowest access to public transport facilities within metropolitan Melbourne, and this raises the question again about whether policy makers and transport planners even consider the Mornington Peninsula to be part of the metropolitan Melbourne. This impacts our community by inhibiting access to educational services, jobs and visitor connections to the region.” Continued Page 6