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Your weekly community newspaper covering Safety Beach to Portsea
Wednesday 22 February 2023
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Seadragons a festival favourite FLINDERS Village came alive with people and energy over the weekend (17-18 February) as hundreds of people attended the inaugural Flinders Fringe Festival. The festival included around 30-plus ticketed and free events, including live music, workshops, life drawing, ocean walks and dance performances. And, of course, the weedy seadragons – now well-known ocean symbols instantly connected with Flinders - made a star appearance, coming ashore to perform a mating dance. The seven-metre puppets - operated by creator Ian Cuming and volunteers - launched the event, which finished on Sunday. Artistic director Melissa Jackson said she was thrilled with the festival, which provided a platform for local artists after a tough few years during the pandemic. Jackson said the festival took a lot of planning and many hours of organisers and volunteers time and efforts and would hopefully become an annual event. Performances and events were held at different venues in Flinders, including the Flinders Village common, the bowls clubhouse, the golf clubhouse, the Flinders Hotel, Studio @ 74, Everywhen Gallery, Flinders ocean beach and in the historic St John’s Anglican Church and church grounds. Liz Bell More pictures by Yanni Page 8 and 9
Landlords stay put as communities ‘eroded’ Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council’s call for Airbnb owners to open up properties for long-term rental has largely fallen on deaf ears, with few owners taking their properties off the holiday rental market. In a desperate attempt to resolve the shire’s rental shortages, the shire sent emails and letters to property owners over summer to encourage them to switch from offering short-term holi-
day leases to longer-term leases. The mayor Cr Steve Holland said it was hard for the council to know exactly how many people responded to the appeal to holiday home owners, as they were asked to contact real estate agents directly. “However, we fielded about 10 inquiries from people interested in listing their place and connected them with either an agent or local support service,” he said. There are about 4000 people on the public housing waiting list and around 1000 sleeping rough, according to
the council, but close to 5000 vacant private properties on the peninsula available only for short stays (as of 17 February, 2023, Inside Airbnb). Real estate agents say renters are inquiring daily about vacancies. Stockdale & Leggo Dromana/ Rosebud rental manager Danielle Bickerdike said the end of summer holidays saw a small number of homes being put back onto the longerterm rental market until next summer, but no more than happens every year at the end of the season. The peninsula’s rental squeeze
hit the national news last week, after Mount Martha resident Kellie Langeliers spoke to The Age and the ABC about the community impact of turning residential areas into “commercial profit centres”. Langeliers is part of a growing movement of business owners and welfare groups calling on authorities to curb the growth of the short-stay rental market. She said communities were suffering due to the lack of permanency in the populations of holiday hot spots, with family homes continually being
turned into Airbnbs because of the high rents. “The growth in short stay accommodation is eroding communities, there are fewer permanent residents so it’s hard to get volunteers, it’s hard to get staff, it’s hard to develop a caring community,” she said. Langeliers said the peninsula should have learned from other tourist hotspots like Byron Bay and even overseas, where tourist towns service the wealthy and become “soulless” because of the transience of the population. Continued Page 10
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