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Wednesday 5 June 2024
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Walking and talking kangaroos
WALK and talk sessions are being held to help the welfare of kangaroos on the Mornington Peninsula. Picture: Supplied
THREE years after concerns were raised about hundreds of kangaroos trapped on a Cape Schanck property, animal welfare advocates have ramped up their campaign to educate communities about kangaroos and the importance of protecting them. The Save Kangaroos on the Mornington Peninsula (SKOMP) group is running a series of kangaroo “walks and talks” around the peninsula and other parts of Victoria to educate people on how to coexist with the native animals and the “national icon”. Spokesperson Craig Thomson said it was appalling that the kangaroos on the Cape Schanck property were still stuck behind fencing, with wildlife advocates unable to check on their welfare. After extensive campaigning and assistance from Mornington Peninsula Shire, one-way gates were installed along the fence in 2022 to allow kangaroos to return to Greens Bush national park, but many of the animals remain trapped. Thomson said SKOMP’s intent was to raise the profile of kangaroos in the hope of changing the conversation from harming them to respecting and protecting them. He also said there were “promising” ongoing talks with internationally recognised animal welfare groups Vets for Compassion and Animals Australia about developing a plan acceptable to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action to safely redirect the remaining kangaroo back into the national park. SKMOP’S next walk and talk session is this Saturday (8 June) at 4.30pm. Seawinds Gardens, Arthurs Seat State Park, Purves Road. Arthurs Seat. Go to penkangaroo@gmail.com
Women’s group targets housing crisis Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au POLITICIANS can expect to face increasing pressure to provide housing for the homeless, especially women, on the Mornington Peninsula. A report on the “homelessness crisis” by community group Peninsula Voice showed that more than 1000 people couch surf, sleep in their car or sleep rough every night on the peninsula. Increasingly, these people are women and children fleeing family violence. Emergency accommodation is virtu-
ally non-existent and women on the foreshore have experienced family violence and sexual assault before and while on the foreshore. These statistics and first hand experiences of the crisis were given to Housing, Water and Equality Minister Harriet Shingh at a meeting of the Southern Women’s Action Network (SWAN) on Sunday 19 May at Mount Martha House. Pressure on politicians to ease the plight of the homeless on the peninsula will increase in the lead up to the October council elections and the next federal election, due before September next year.
“Housing for women, especially those over 50 years of age, is a critical issue that has reached a crisis point on the peninsula,” SWAN facilitator Diane McDonald said. “This is a beautiful place to live and many of us feel so fortunate to call the peninsula our home but it’s a tragedy when our fellow community members don’t have a place to live safely. Surely we must all do something, and quickly?” McDonald said women would not “stand by and watch more women end up camping on the foreshore or sleeping in their cars. Their lives and that of their children are at serious risk
COME AND SEE THE CHICKENS ROAMING FREE IN THE PADDOCK!
of violence”. “We believe that women’s homelessness on the peninsula has been overlooked by all levels of government and we will not rest until our fellow community members receive better care and a safe place to live,” she said. “It’s imperative that all levels of government work together to start building affordable and supported housing and properly fund local support services on the peninsula.” Shingh told the meeting about state government policies and money available for housing projects. Shingh is one of five Upper House MPs for Eastern Victoria, which
includes the peninsula’s three Lower House seats of Hastings, Mornington and Nepean. Along with Tom McIntosh, Shingh is one of two Labor MPs representing Eastern Victoria. The other MPs are Renee Heath (Liberal), Melina Bath (The Nationals) and Jeff Bourman (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Victoria). The audience at Mount Martha House included housing case workers and speakers who told Shingh about the peninsula’s housing crisis and the lack of local community services, which is within her own electorate. Continued Page 6
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