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Wednesday 12 April 2023
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Beach riding regulated BALNARRING Beach is one of the Victorian beaches where horses can be ridden for recreation, rehabilitation and training. Photographer for The News Gary Sissons was up early on Friday 31 March when these two horses, right, were being exercised at the beach. Riding permits are issued annually by the Balnarring foreshore management committee with allocations for families, local recreational riders and horse trainers. There are no casual riding permits. Riders must wear a numbered horse permit vest and follow rules designed to protect the environment (including beach nesting birds and the dune vegetation) as well as people on the beach. Rangers regularly patrol the beach to enforce the rules. For details about the riding permits or to be added to the waiting list email: balnarringforeshore@ bigpond.com
Ratepayers want inquiry into shire Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au TWO ratepayer groups have repeated their call for a state government inquiry “into the performance of the Mornington Peninsula Shire”. It is the third time the groups have sought government action and comes eight months after the Local Government Minister Melissa Horne rejected their first request. The groups have now told the Premier Daniel Andrews that a public satisfaction survey rating the shire at
an “all time low” gives the government “a very commendable and indisputable reason for undertaking an independent review”. “The appointment of a Commission of Inquiry is simply an investigation, not an indication of guilt and offers a means for improving performance,” treasurer/secretary of Mornington. Ratepayers’ Association Alan Nelsen and Nepean Ratepayers Association president Colin Watson stated in a letter to Andrews. “It is also a way of the government avoiding any suggestion of conflict of
interest now that a former councillor is a member of parliament. “We are not asking for the suspension of the council or an administrator to be appointed, but simply a review.” In a letter to Horne 13 days before contacting Andrews, Nelsen and Watson said they wre at a loss as to why some action had not been taken previously which “ may have prevented the further disappointing performance of the council and its administration”. The 168-page “complaint” sent to Horne covers a range of issues, including the transfer of home care
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services from the shire to a private company, despite a previous warning from the Australian Services Union; alleged “improper behaviour and failures of governance in relation with the Tyabb Airfield” as well as a $350,000 payment by council to Peninsula Aero Club and an email obtained through freedom of information (FOI) between a former council director and its CEO. The ratepayer groups question the reaction, or non-reaction, of the Local Government Inspectorate to “about a dozen” complaints about council from ratepayers and community groups.
“We note that there is no means to object to a Local Government Inspectorate’s officer’s decision, unlike other integrity, accountability and investigatory bodies such as IBAC, Victorian Ombudsman staff, and Victorian Auditor-General’s Office staff. That is, we suggest, that there is no accountability of the inspectorate.” The ratepayer groups’ submission also covers actions and voting patterns (and social media posts) by individual councillors as well as public statements made by council officers. Continued Page 10
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