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Wednesday 11 October 2023
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Council calls for coastal views COASTLINES around the Mornington Peninsula are dynamic and subject to change. Port Phillip can be calm and peaceful, but weather and tidal changes can lead to storms and erosion. Picture: Supplied
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is inviting the community to have a say on a new strategic plan to increase the resilience of its coastal areas. The shire says its Our Coast Our Future Coastal Strategy will include long-term plans to manage current and future coastal hazards and risks, drawing on science, technical assessments and community input, and drive sustainable outcomes in the face of climate change. Stretching almost 200 kilometres, the peninsula’s natural environment, especially its coastal and marine areas, are diverse and always changing. The coast’s landforms and ecosystems vary from sandy beaches and dune systems, rocky shores and cliffs, wetlands and waterways to mangroves, saltmarshes and mudflats. Coastal erosion and storm tide flooding are natural processes that shape the coast over time and are expected to increase with changing climate and rising sea levels. Members of the public are being asked to let the council know what is important and meaningful about the coast to them, experiences of living near or visiting these coasts, and ideas for adapting for the future. The mayor Cr Steve Holland said the council was working with key community groups and a range of stakeholders and agencies to develop the plan. “We also need to hear from the rest of our community who love, use and enjoy our beaches and coast. Share your aspirations and join the conversation,” he said. Community consultation is now open online at: mornpen.vic.gov.au/ourcoast
‘Hidden faces’ of the housing crisis Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au WOMEN facing family violence or homelessness are waiting up to 17 months for crisis accommodation as demand surges on the Mornington Peninsula and across the state. Providers say women victims are the hidden faces of the accommodation and cost-of-living crisis and are often forced to stay in dangerous relationships. The peninsula has one small crisis accommodation centre in Mornington, but Southern Peninsula Community
Support CEO Jeremy Maxwell says it is mainly used for rough sleepers and not suitable for women escaping unsafe situations. He says many women are forced to stay in violent and unsafe homes because they have nowhere else to go, or after a few weeks of emergency motel accommodation are placed in unsuitable rooming houses and consequently drop down the public housing register. “These boarding houses they get placed into are often very rugged, there are often drugs and violence, invasion of privacy and intimidation … we have rooming houses that are
so bad even our workers won’t go in,” he said. Maxwell said the rising cost-of-living had increased the number of people seeking accommodation support and family violence in communities. “Three years ago, it was unusual to see women with children sleeping in cars, but not these days – it’s a case of women having to do anything to leave an unsafe situation,” he said. While support services were triaging based on people's vulnerability and need, most services were struggling with too few staff and other support resources.
A NSW crisis and transitional housing provider that recently received money from private donors to expand into the peninsula says much more money is needed as demand grows. Women’s Community Shelters CEO Annabelle Daniel OAM said the Victorian shelter system was overwhelmed, with 80 per cent of women seeking to leave domestic and family violence accommodated in unsatisfactory motels each night. Daniel said a number of philanthropic supporters who had “watched our model flourish” in NSW and were keen to see it used around Australia
where need was needed for women and children experiencing homelessness and domestic and family violence. She said the average wait time for women facing violence and needing accommodation, or already homeless, had blown out to 17.1 months – up from 9.9 months three years ago. Former Blairgowrie resident and former support worker Matilda Buckley has herself faced homelessness and domestic violence and says that once a woman is moved out of crisis accommodation and into a rooming or boarding house, there is little to no support. Continued Page 10