Bellarine_Penninsula_Indy_2012-06-01

Friday, June 1, 2012

A Star News Group publication

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SES cutting to the chase with call for car donations

FREEMASONS TO OPEN UP PAGE 3

Chopper: Bellarine SES members David English, Andrew Cook and John Harrison watch as Tony Tol practices with Jaws of Life rescue equipment. Picture: Tommy Ritchie 82091

Port ferry dream ‘alive with study’

FUTURE OF RELATIONS PAGE 8

12 PAGES OF HOME IDEAS LIFTOUT INSIDE

BY MICHELLE HERBISON STATE Government will include Portarlington in a Port Phillip Bay ferry service study, Planning Minister Matthew Guy has confirmed. Mr Guy said a $300,000 study to test the viability of a ferry service to Melbourne’s Docklands would draw on previous investigations for Portarlington. “It’s not difficult to have one attached to the other. We can look at is as an extension to the work that’s been commissioned in the past.”

But Mr Guy said he “wasn’t interested” in a Portarlington service docking at Port Melbourne, which the previous Labor government had investigated. “Our study is to work with the port to see what we need to get into Docklands.” Mr Guy said the study would investigate adding Portarlington to a recently announced route that would dock at Werribee South, Point Cook, Altona and Williamstown. The proposed route would “complement existing transport”

and take some pressure off roads and trains, he said. “All of us in Melbourne, Geelong, the Bellarine and Mornington need to have 21st Century solutions.” Bellarine MP Lisa Neville last week in parliament urged Mr Guy to “act immediately” to include Portarlington in the study. “Specifically excluding the Portarlington ferry proposal… is extraordinary and a slap in the face to the local community and the Bellarine Ferry Group which has been involved in a Portarlington ferry proposal for

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BY MICHELLE HERBISON CHOPPING up old cars is important training for State Emergency Service volunteers. Bellarine SES’s Dion Henderson said members used the cutting and tearing equipment to practise rescues from car accidents on Thursday nights. Experimenting with chopping different strengths of steel, knowing where to cut and familiarising themselves with different car models helped SES members save lives, Mr Henderson said. “We cut our timeframes down for rescues.” But Mr Henderson said the group’s practise was mostly limited to older vehicles because newer cars were rarely donated. “We don’t get a great deal of newish vehicles to practise on. We need to keep up with the new technology so we know what we’re getting into when we’re going out to an accident.” Mr Henderson said Bellarine SES was seeking donations of “midrange” vehicles with modern features like airbags. “We’ve had airbags in vehicles since back in the mid ’90s, so I guess the cars will be out there.” Mr Henderson said the group of about 28 members aged in their 20s to 70s “was desperate” for new members available for daytime responses. He asked anyone willing to help or to donate old cars to phone 0427 074 029.

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over five years,” she said. Ms Neville believed the previous government’s study into the viability of a Portarlingtonto-Port Melbourne ferry would “most likely be viable”. Ms Neville said the proposal required detailed information regarding fares, service regularity and required ferry size. A community survey under the previous government “overwhelmingly” found enough community interest to support further research, she said. The Independent reported last month that community group

Friends of the Bellarine Hills believed Bellarine Ferry Group’s “playing up” of potential for a commuter ferry was frustrating the town’s plans for a harbour upgrade. Ms Neville said ferry proposals should “run alongside” Portarlington safe harbour plans, which included two ferry berths. “You’re not going to include a ferry berth if work has been done to show it’s not viable. It’s not holding up the safe harbour because all of that will take a fair bit of time anyway.”