Melissa Goffin - Mornington Peninsula Community Advocate

20/05/2021

This morning (and for much of the day, assumedly), 4 of the new crew at Council are out walking around our community to raise funds for Beyond Blue. Everyone I know is touched in some way by mental illness. I’m sure you could say the same.

Show your support to Cr Despi O'Connor - Briars Ward MPSC Cr Sarah Race - Mornington Peninsula Shire, Councillor Kerri McCafferty - Mornington Peninsula Shire Council & Cr Anthony Marsh - Mornington Peninsula by donating via the link below. Help them reach their target by end of day!

We are taking part in Melbourne Coastrek 2021 - 60km, the ultimate team trekking and fundraising challenge, proudly supporting Beyond Blue. Please sponsor our trek to support mental health and wellbeing.

23/03/2021

Are you frustrated by a lack of ethics in our political offices? Uninspired by politicians who don't seem to really embody the principles of decency and good governance?

Me too.

But our local Council is providing little moments of inspiration these days and some of our new Councillors are allowing us to imagine a world in which our politicians actually lead with integrity, empathy and deep consideration.

Cr Anthony Marsh - Mornington Peninsula spoke to his revocation motion this evening. He sought to revoke the governance rules, moved and voted on en bloc. Recently resigned Cr. Fraser put forward 25 amendments to governance rules (many in direct contrast to ‘model rules’ and advice given by a local government consultant brought in to advise the Council on these rules). He provided those to Councillors just hours before voting. They were passed in a confusing and complicated session and Councillor Marsh put forward a revocation motion to his colleagues later that night.

His reasons, which he outlined this evening again were as such: ‘I’m not seeking to necessarily change the outcome of this vote but whatever the outcome, we should follow a process where it’s clear to the public that is watching that matters of governance have been debated in depth and voted on in their merit.’

Cr Sarah Race - Mornington Peninsula Shire seconded the motion and gave an impassioned, intelligent and moral speech about why she was. If you want to get the warm and fuzzies and see good governance in action, check it out here.

The motion was passed through a majority vote.

Thank you to Councillor Marsh for another bold move toward good governance and to Councillors Race and McCafferty for their comments in support.

Two Councillors voted against bringing the rules back to further consideration: Councillor Holland and Councillor Celi.

Noteworthy: Cr. Holland described his distaste for the concept of ‘best practice’, thus Cr Race’s mention.

09/03/2021

COUNCILLOR RESIGNED!

Councillor Hugh Fraser of Nepean Ward has announced his resignation from his role. Just 4 months after a successful election win to represent his community on the Mornington Peninsula Shire.

As one of Council's most vocal aggressors, Mr. Fraser's departure raises more questions than it does answers. His claims (detailed in a letter below) that Council is a "toxic and an unhealthy working environment", while likely true, seem an unusual concern for someone well versed in that space and where arguably its toxicity has been increasingly so in year's previous.

And surely, his passion for working for his community could drive his ability to weather the complex storms so soon into his newest term.

Due to the proximity to the previous election, his 4300 votes will be distributed to the existing field and we will learn of Nepean's newest Councillor soon. Next in line was Susan Bissinger - Nepean Voters Action Group. Her bio from the Committee for Mornington Peninsula is in comments. Stay tuned...

Councillor Fraser's resignation letter to the public:

“Dear Nepean Ward friends:

I have decided to resign as councillor.

This is not a decision taken lightly as I have enjoyed representing our Nepean Ward residents and ratepayers over the past eight years and re-elected with the highest number of first preference Nepean Ward votes cast in October last year.

However, with the targeting of individual councillors for their legitimate use of our representative and democratic processes, processes now sought to be controlled, council is toxic and an unhealthy working environment.

It is, for example, dysfunctional for council to be advised, and to act on, management advice that it may dispense with the mandatory statutory and council policy requirements for community consultation.

I have unreconcilable points of difference with the CEO over the delayed (or so-called “rephased”) roll out of council budgeted capital and other works in the shire and his proposed amendments to council’s meeting procedure rules.

I have very much enjoyed working with you and the Nepean Ward community coalition groups since 2012.

Together, and with my former co-councillors Tim Rodgers and Bryan Payne, we have all effectively worked with management and the community to secure a record investment by the shire and state in capital and other works in our Nepean Ward and the southern peninsula.

Thank you all for your support. With my best wishes,

Hugh Fraser"

26/02/2021

Out of curiosity guys - how do you get news about what’s going on in our local community? In particular, with regard to our local Councillors and Shire activities?

It’s become really clear to me that this information is not readily available and I think it should be - don’t you?

Latest ‘govt ad’ regarding how news and info exists in our social world and the importance of this as checks and balance.

The Australien Government has made an ad about the new Media legislation it just passed, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.👉 Ways you can support...

23/02/2021

Righty-o! Council meeting tonight - beginning at 6:30pm. Starting with... drum roll... the PLEDGE. Check out our agenda. Looks like the move to community consult remains but in the meantime, the vote to remove the Christian prayer - stands. 🙏

Tonight's agenda is in comments. Here are the items I'm most curious about:

1. What will the Shire do with it's 6 MILLION dollar savings in the budget from COVID? Rate cut? Grants to small biz? Let's see!

2. Councillor Code of Conduct (item 3.02) - will these Councillors put ANY teeth to their code so that when one amongst them breach it and behave in ways that undermine their position and their responsibilities to our community, they will be accountable? Or would they prefer not to. I have a feeling I know how this conversation will go but I'm keen to see how the Councillors work through this item on a public stage.

3. The Women's Charter - sounds interesting! The documentation does not. Tokenistic, perhaps? Keen to learn more.

4. Gill's Notice of Motions (2 this evening - CFA & Kangaroos). Interestingly both of these motions were voted down (I believe not even seconded) at our last meeting. But Councillor Gill has decided he'll take more time for these matters. Two of the most pressing of our moment, clearly. It's my hope that perhaps the aforementioned Councillor Code of Conduct has means for ensuring a single Councillor can dominate discussion and priorities by repeatedly putting forward similar items.

See you in a minute folks!

20/02/2021

In an order put forward by VCAT on Friday, the Peninsula Aero Club (PAC), otherwise known as the Tyabb Airport was awarded costs in the amount of $31k to be paid by the Mornington Peninsula Shire.

The section of the Act that pertains to damages, suggests that the Tribunal may make an order for the reimbursement of costs where:

“...a party has conducted the proceeding in a way that unnecessarily disadvantaged another party.”

In 2018, the Shire asked PAC to apply to have the Church Hour condition removed from their permit (a historic condition that stated they could not use the airfield during the hours of 9:30-10:30 on a Sunday morning where the Church was in session – the Church has not had these services since 1978 and was sold in 1991). When the Shire responded by attempting to alter their permit and enforce a multitude of new conditions that would have made their business unsustainable, PAC withdrew the application and took the matter to VCAT (VCAT member states, ‘not unsurprisingly’).

In these orders PAC states that it attempted to come to agreement with the Shire before VCAT and in the hopes that they could withdraw proceedings. They claim to have made the request early, outlining the illegality of the Shire’s actions and their intentions to seek costs when these were upheld.

In this instance, Senior Member Jeanette Rickards stated that “the information the Tribunal relied upon in reaching its determination was information that was provided to, and clear to the Council, well prior to the applications by PAC, yet the Council sought to stand in the way of PAC.”

After 3 years, 3 hearings and 4 VCAT orders in favour of PAC, this is the outcome. In comparison to the hundreds of thousands of dollars for both the Airport and the Shire in legal fees and countless other impacts, this sum is small but significant.

While Shire Planning and the previous Council worked aggressively (and unlawfully) with this business, the community is the great loser here. The extensive resources, the time, energy and money, were at the expense of everything else we want for ourselves and each other and contributed to an ongoing sense of us vs. them.

In consideration of recent changes within the leadership of Shire Planning and a new Council, we can only hope that these types of situations will no longer occur. Our community deserves better.

See orders in comments.

11/02/2021

This week's Council meeting was a doozy! My biggest take away is that there is an intense need for work on collegiality and efficient and considerate communications. Insults and accusations are common from a couple of Councillors but these individuals are so noisy that it seems to affect the tone of all of it. It's also disappointing to see these issues play out in the local newspaper who continue to nurture those flames of division. My heart goes out to the majority of individuals in that group who would be undoubtedly struggling with the hostilities. So what happened exactly?

With regard to the pledge/prayer, Cr Antonella Celi provided a motion to remit the matter to community consultation and an impassioned speech. The most striking comments to me were how the move to remove 'God Almighty' from Council proceedings was to stifle the voice of Christian and other faith communities. She claimed: “This country, its culture, its communities and western world democracies were founded on these principles and we must not forget this.” Celi's motion passed, by one vote. Councillor Lisa Dixon Cerberus Ward shifted sides for this vote - giving Crs. Celi, Fraser, Cr Steve Holland - Mornington Peninsula Shire, Mar and David Gill - Red Hill Ward Mornington Peninsula Shire the majority. This is a loss for inclusion and a move backwards from a united community, in my opinion.

The debate - at 1:24 (and I would encourage you to watch it for simply the way in which our Councillors communicate) was interesting. Their views on what happened with this issue are diverse and strong. What this means (I think) is that the matter is simply withheld. The prayer remains for a time and consultation within the governance rules review as planned, will occur. And Councillor Gill is very upset with Councillor Marsh. And will be seeking action against him and an apology.

From here, Councillor Gill brought forward 4 motions that took the next 1:15 of Council time. The details of those are here:

1. Renaming/Dual Naming of Peninsula locations. There is an Council Reconciliation Action Plan. At 2:29 - Mayor Cr Despi O'Connor - Briars Ward MPSC outlines the reasons why she (and why the majority of Councillors) voted this measure down. Namely, because this work is already commenced and progressing via consultation with local indigenous groups and this measure was not in consultation with them and was ambiguous and without merit.
2. Cr. Gill was hoping to ‘protect iconic views’ by making it illegal for those within the green wedge to plant trees. Cr. Gill & Fraser voted for this. All others voted it down. Council Officers called the motion, 'illegal'.
3. Cr. Gill wanted the Shire to ‘reimburse’ the CFA and any other volunteer organisation who lost income due to being unable to seek roadside donations during COVID. Without detail for whom and how much. Cr Sarah Race - Mornington Peninsula Shire asked ‘which other organisations and how much they would be compensated?’ Cr. Gill was unable to answer. Cr. Celi asked if the CFA or any organisation has provided any evidence or information to Council re: what these funds are. They were not. No Councillor seconded the motion and it was 'lapsed'.
4. Cr. Gill sought to stop the culling of kangaroos on the Peninsula. The issue had come to his attention during a call from a farmer who had a kangaroo shot on his property and was concerned regarding this practice. According to officers this is an activity authorised and permitted by DELWP and advised by scientific research. After another 10 minutes of discussion the motion lapsed due to no seconder.

A busy night for Councillor Gill who will undoubtedly tell the story of his championing of local issues, important to his community. Unfortunately, they lacked substance, consultation and the support of his colleagues.

These discussions were followed by a motion by Cr Anthony Marsh - Mornington Peninsula who proposed publishing Councillor gifts, benefits and hospitality registers to the public via the Council website. This was unanimously carried and is a win for transparency.

These are the people representing us and the issues that affect our community. Continue to stay connected and expect our representatives to reflect our interests.