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Wednesday 21 June 2023
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Calls for cash, food ‘unprecedented’ Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au
Weatherproofing: The Premier Daniel Andrews and Hastings MP Paul Mercurio with students at Somerville Primary School where the beasketball courts are to be covered and lit. Picture: Gary Sissons
Premier talks about courts’ coverage THE Premier Daniel Andrews was at Somerville Primary School last Friday (16 June) to meet the students and teachers and discuss plans to improve the school’s basketball courts. The school will receive $1million from the recent state budget to add a roof and lighting to its basketball courts. Andrews toured the school with Hastings MP Paul Mercurio, who said he had pushed for the
improvements and was pleased to have had “a seat at the table” to make it happen. “This will be a great community asset, with the school able to make better use of a covered court and the community able to use the facility out of school hours and at night,” he said. The budget also provided $1 million to Somers Primary School for a basketball court upgrade.
COME AND SEE THE CHICKENS ROAMING FREE IN THE PADDOCK!
GROWING numbers of “middle class” Mornington Peninsula families are lining up for food support and help paying bills. Support services across the peninsula say a perfect storm of high rents, rising interest rates and burgeoning household bills is forcing a new wave of individuals and families to seek help. Mornington community support centre is hoping its winter appeal will raise $50,000 by the end of June to help deal with the crisis. CEO Ben Smith said there was unprecedented demand for support services, with all agencies and services reporting being stretched to the limit. “We are experiencing at least 20 per cent more demand than last year, more need for material assistance and more need for food, which is often the last thing people spend money on,” he said. “This isn’t just happening to homeless people or struggling pensioners, it’s happening across the board and to people who have never before had to ask for help.” Smith said as well as families needing support, services were seeing more elderly people aged 80 and over. “Our recent community lunch had around 100 people coming for a meal – many of them who had never asked for anything before,” he said. “There were people lined up an hour before we opened, they didn’t want to miss out.” Western Port, Frankston and Rosebud community support centres were experiencing similar levels of demand, he said. Foodbank, Australia’s largest food charity, is reporting an increase of around 27 per cent in the amount of food distributed across the state. The charity, which provides food and groceries to 2950 frontline charities, is hoping to
get approval for a pop-up food relief outlet at the site of Dromana Drive-in. Drive-in owner Paul Whitaker said Foodbank was keen to get the service happening due to the demand for food relief on the peninsula but had to get permission from VicRoads. “If VicRoads doesn’t block the proposal because of perceived traffic problems, this would be a great service for the community,” he said. “There is such a need out there.” Whitaker said Foodbank had to work through some of the red tape involved, but he hoped the project would get the go ahead before the end of winter. While community support centres across the peninsula receive support from charities such as Foodbank, Oz Harvest and Second, as well as direct donations and food from local producers, they also rely on cash donations and grants to purchase food. Smith said donations, along with volunteers, were the backbone of relief support services, and urged businesses and individuals to think about their capacity to help. “We have an amazing group of volunteers are businesses who support us, but there is always room for more,” he said. He said government assistance to Community Information and Support Victoria (CISVic), the umbrella body for community support centre on the peninsula, recently dropped to pre-pandemic levels, while food relief charities had also missed out in the 2023 federal budget. Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite have issued statements expressing their disappointment that no extra money was included as part of a $45 million package of measures to ease cost of living pressures, including an increase to Jobseeker payments. To donate or volunteer at a community support centre go to cisvic.org.au/ or phone 9672 2000.
BARN DOOR SALES MONDAY TO FRIDAY 8AM - 4.30PM AND SATURDAYS 8AM - 12.30PM
Our farm is family owned and managed. We have been producing quality eggs for over 40 years, supplying the public, restaurants and other businesses on the peninsula. Eggs are collected 365 days a year so you can be assured that you are buying the freshest eggs with the best yolk and flavour. Retail and Wholesale from our barn door.
Eramosa Road West, Moorooduc. corner of Binnak Way 5977 5405 220 email: admin@somervilleeggfarm.com.au