MorningtonMornington

By Keith PlattHOMEOWNERS in Frankston are pay-ing higher rates than those with a prop-erty of the same value on the Morning-ton Peninsula or in Dandenong.

A house valued at $500,000 in Frank-ston would be charged $1507 while one across the road on the peninsula would receive a rates bill for $1158 – a difference of $348.

Frankston collects about 80 per cent

of its $80 million rate revenue from residential properties while the shire council gets 85 per cent of $96.6m.

Offi cially, the councils each claim to be among the lowest-rating municipal-ities, but it is diffi cult making a valid comparison.

Frankston says it has the eighth-lowest rates among Melbourne’s met-ropolitan councils while the shire has gone to war against the Herald Sun for

reporting it was lifting rates by nine per cent.

A peninsula ratepayer group says the shire is collecting nine per cent more in rate revenue, although the actual rate increase is less than that fi gure.

Statistics for the 2011-12 fi nancial year released by the Municipal Associ-ation of Victoria (MAV) show average rates on the peninsula as being $1205, or $761 a person, with Frankston at

$1373 ($623 a person) and Greater Dandenong $1491 ($618 a person).

The average rate across the state was $1472 – $686 a person.

However, the fi gures can be mislead-ing as the average rate is worked out by dividing the number of rateable prop-erties into the revenue gained from rates – including residential, commer-cial, industrial and rural properties.

In response to inquiries by The News,

Frankston makes the distinction that the Mornington Peninsula is a shire and ranks fourth lowest among shires.

Greater Dandenong’s website made no such distinction in a graph last year that showed itself and the peninsula as charging the lowest rates of 13 eastern councils.

The graph listed Frankston as having the fourth-highest rates.

Continued Page 6

The ‘truth’ about ratesThe ‘truth’ about rates

For all your advertising and editorial needs, call us on 1300 MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au

Your fortnightly community newspaper incorporating Mornington, Mount Martha and Mount Eliza 30 June – 13 July 2011FREELocal news for local peopleLocal news for local people

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Fun for all ages: Fun for all ages: Wednesday mornings at Mornington library are all about being busy. The session begins with children’s storytime before heading off to the craft tables to learn some hand and eye coordination. Sarah Wednesday mornings at Mornington library are all about being busy. The session begins with children’s storytime before heading off to the craft tables to learn some hand and eye coordination. Sarah Eagleson and son Curtis, 21 months, of Mornington, joined in this week’s fun making boats with coloured paper and scissors. Storytime is held at 11am Wednesdays, call 5950 1820 for more information.Eagleson and son Curtis, 21 months, of Mornington, joined in this week’s fun making boats with coloured paper and scissors. Storytime is held at 11am Wednesdays, call 5950 1820 for more information.

PAGE 2 Mornington News 30 June 2011

Editor: Mike Hast, 5979 8564Advertising Sales: Carolyn Wagener, 0407 030 761Production/Graphic Design: Stephanie LoversoGroup Editor: Keith Platt, 0439 394 707Publisher: Cameron McCullough, 0407 027 707

Local news for local peopleWe stand as the only locally owned and operated community newspaper on the Peninsula.

We are dedicated to the belief that a strong community newspaper is essential to a strong community.We exist to serve residents, community groups and businesses and ask for their support in return.

Proudly published by Mornington Peninsula News Group Pty. Ltd

PHONE: 1300 MPNEWS (1300 676 397)Published fortnightly. Circulation: 20,000

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Barry Irving, Cliff Ellen, Frances Cameron, Peter McCullough, Stuart McCullough, Gary Turner, Marilyn Cunnington, Fran Henke, Peter Ellis, Casey Franklin.ADDRESS: Mornington Peninsula News Group,PO Box 588, Hastings 3915E-mail: team@mpnews.com.au Web: www.mpnews.com.auDEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 1PM ON THURSDAY 7 JULYNEXT ISSUE PUBLICATION DATE: THURSDAY 14 JULY

To advertise in the next Mornington Newsplease contactCarolyn Wagener on0407 030 761

NEWS DESK

By Mike HastJOE Cauchi, the shire council’s director of sustainable communities, has resigned to take up a position with Family Life, a family counsel-ling agency based in Sandringham.

Mr Cauchi will not be completely lost to the peninsula, however, as Family Life helps families in the municipalities of Port Phillip, King-ston, Glen Eira, Bayside, Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula.

He told The News that the or-ganisation was planning to set up a centre in Rosebud West to serve pe-ninsula families, mainly in Rosebud and Hastings areas.

Mr Cauchi’s last day will be 22 July before he starts as Director of Services with the agency, which was founded in 1970 by a group of vol-unteers who wanted to help families in the bayside area. It was formerly called Southern Family Life.

Mr Cauchi has been a board mem-ber of Family Life since October 2006 and said it was a great op-portunity to guide expansion plans the board had put in place. “Just as I was contemplating retirement, along came this position and I am quite excited about the next stage of my working life,” he said. The 63-year-old joined the shire in 2000 after a lifetime working in the social justice and community services sector. He started a bachelor of social work at Monash University before meeting his wife to be, Gloria, who was born in the Philippines. After working in Melbourne, Gloria joined her mother and brother in Toronto,

Director’s new family lifeDirector’s new family life

Canada, and Mr Cauchi followed, com-pleting his degree at York University. “I followed my heart,” the father of three said with a chuckle. The couple spent nine years in Canada where Mr Cauchi completed a masters degree at York Uni’s Atkinson College in Toronto and worked for the Children’s Aid Society, the statutory child welfare agency in Ontario. The couple returned to Melbourne and Mr Cauchi joined the Catholic Family Welfare Bureau’s adoption program before taking up a position with the former Shire of Hast-ings. He was then appointed regional director of counselling at the Family Court of Australia. “This was when the family court had corporatised and I was responsible for courts in Melbourne and Dandenong as well as South Aus-tralia, ACT and Albury,” he said. Mr Cauchi was appointed director of com-munity services at Boroondara Council

(the amalgamated Hawthorn, Kew and Camberwell councils), coinci-dentally after the shire’s current CEO Michael Kennedy had been Boroond-ara’s chief executive. He said Family Life would buy a house in Rosebud West and run a program called Creat-ing Capable Communities from there. “We’ll also be working closely with the new family and children hub be-ing built in Rosebud West.”

Family Life was the fi rst agency in Melbourne to provide support for families. It provides a range of youth and family services supported by pro-grams for community development as well as volunteer and professional training. It has more than 60 staff and 270 active volunteers, and responds to families, children and young people experiencing life changes, diffi culties, stresses and crises. It helps improve men’s involvement with their fami-lies, and provides advice and support for step-parenting, relationships con-fl ict and breakdown as well as dealing with child abuse and neglect, family violence, suicide and youth home-lessness. Mr Cauchi said Jenny Van Riel would become acting director of sustainable communities.

He is the second director to resign from the shire in the last 16 months, following Bruce Douglas, director of sustainable infrastructure. The shire has four directors. Mr Douglas, who still does consulting work for the shire, was replaced by Alex Atkins whose job as director of sustainable environment was taken by former Ararat Rural City Council CEO Stephen Chapple.

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By Keith PlattWEATHER will determine when work can pro-ceed on fi xing blocks of land at Martha Cove that subsided last year because of poor drain-age.

Work on the four excavated blocks in Clip-per Quay was called off because of heavy rain making the ground too soft for heavy earthmov-ing equipment, according to Allan Titterton, of receivers PPB.

The company is selling land at Martha Cove on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank follow-ing the collapse of developer Marina Cove Pty Ltd.

The force of the collapsing blocks in Clipper Quay wrecked the concrete wall lining one of the marina’s many arms.

Mr Titterton said the collapse had occurred before PPB was appointed as receivers but they had been told it was caused by “insuffi cient drainage”.

He said there was no sign of subsidence in any other lots at Martha Cove and that no war-ranties would be given to buyers of the land once it was remediated.

“There’s no reason to believe it will happen elsewhere,” he said.

“Signifi cant funds have been allocated to en-sure the issue never arises.

“Each purchaser looks after their own inter-ests as purchasers. I see no reason for warran-ties or guarantees.”

Mr Titterton seemed pleased with land sales at Martha Cove, “a project that suffers from some legacy issues”.

“Without doubt the last six months has seen a real turnaround on development and there’s been a marked increase is sales,” Mr Titterton said.

He said PPB had revamped the cafe at the on-site sales offi ce and seen “signifi cant sales” at Helsal Point, a fi nger of land opposite the col-lapsed blocks in Clipper Quay.

Land on the point is priced from $569,000 while blocks next to the subsidence are being advertised at $625,000.

Stuart Cox, of Jacobs & Lowe Bennetts, said sales in Clipper Quay had been “very good”, with 20 of the 33 blocks being sold.

The blocks with collapsed land are covered by heaps of soil and are surrounded by safety fencing, although “For Sale’ signs have been left in place.

The signs on nearby blocks that have been sold are adorned with a sticker saying ‘Sold & Settled’, which refers to its legal status rather than condition of the soil.

Already gone: Blocks have been sold either side of land that subsided in Clipper Quay at Martha Cove and no guarantees against further slippage will be given once the land has been remediated and sold. Receivers handling the land sale say there have been no evidence of subsidence on other blocks.

Rain delays work on land collapseRain delays work on land collapse

Ready to fi ll: The collapsed blocks in Clipper Quay at Martha Cove from Helsal Point.

PAGE 4 Mornington News 30 June 2011

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IT could be 13 years before Hastings gets the container port expected to bring increased pros-perity to the area.

Despite the publicity surrounding the state gov-ernment’s commitment to fast-tracking develop-ment of the port, Planning Minister Matthew Guy has told parliament it will be built “within the next 10 to 13 years”.

The state government says creating a new Port of Hastings Development Authority will set Mel-bourne’s commercial ports on a path to faster growth through increased capacity and down-ward pressure on port charges.

Legislation establishing the new authority also gives responsibility for Port of Hastings channels and waters to the Victorian Regional Channels Authority.

Mr Guy told parliament that a separate con-tainer port at Hastings “will deliver the benefi ts of greater competition to Victorian exporters and consumers of imported goods”.

“The government is acting now to ensure that a container port is developed at Hastings within the next 10 to 13 years.”

Although the legislation takes control of Hast-

ings away from the Port of Melbourne Corpo-ration, Mr Guy said it would “complement the PoMC in meeting the state’s need for increased port capacity”.

He said the monopoly created by the former Labor government “would be likely to delay and obstruct development at Hastings”.

“By 2035 the Port of Melbourne Corporation forecasts that the port will be handling nearly 8 million 20-foot equivalent units of containers – nearly four times what it is handling today,” Mr Guy said.

“This trend has been clear for some years and demands urgent and decisive action.”

The new authority would “facilitate the timely development of the Port of Hastings as a viable alternative to the Port of Melbourne in order to increase capacity and competition in the contain-er ports sector to manage the expected growth in trade”.

One of the Port of Hastings Development Au-thority’s fi rst jobs would be to prepare a devel-opment strategy and a “comprehensive business case”.

Keith Platt

Port plan may take 13 yearsPort plan may take 13 years

By Keith PlattBALNARRING is a long way from the savannahs and jungles of Africa, but for Sean Willmore removing weeds from native vegetation be-comes a metaphor for protecting ani-mal poachers.

The inspiration behind the Thin Green Line foundation which protects rangers worldwide, Mr Willmore is making ends meet by pulling weeds.

However, his efforts to protect the men and women battling to stop poachers killing endangered wildlife can extend well beyond the foreshores and gardens of peaceful Balnarring.

As the not-for-profi t Thin Green Line this month entered a new phase with the granting of tax deductibility for donations, Mr Willmore’s attention was diverted as he followed the plight of a threatened ranger in Africa’s strife torn Ivory Coast.

“Joachim Kouassi Kouame, his wife, son and two fellow rangers had seen armed militia dragging his neighbours from nearby houses, tak-ing them into the forest and shooting them,” Mr Willmore said.

“Knowing that he literally had min-utes before the militia came for them, Joachim grabbed his family and col-leagues and ran into the forest.”

Mr Kouame contacted the Thin Green Line because he knew it cared for rangers and their families and the United Nations would take too long to respond.

Over the following week, Mr Will-more directed a rescue effort from Balnarring, speaking frequently with

Tax relief to help rangers in dangerTax relief to help rangers in danger

Mr Kouame and guiding him to an es-cape route.

“I contacted politicians, the Austral-ian government, the United Nations and even former Prime Minister Mal-colm Fraser,” Mr Willmore said.

Help eventually arrived in the form

of a private security team provided by former Mornington man Damien Man-ders through the International Anti-Poaching Foundation.

Ironically, on the designated evacu-ation day, Ivory Coast president Lau-rent Gbago was captured and Mr Ko-

uame decided to stay in the country to help protect his extended family and friends.

Mr Willmore said the terror faced by the Ivory Coast ranger and his family showed how important it was for the Thin Green Line to be able to “protect

the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to save the wildlife and wilderness of our planet”.

“These rangers have a courage that knows no bounds.

“Joachim - who was hospitalised and treated for malaria and stress after his ordeal – is now back with his fam-ily, but the security situation remains shaky.

“The Thin Green Line was able to send $4000 recently to help eight rangers who lost everything in the Ivory Coast confl ict.

“Unfortunately we’ve lost too many good men and women in the fi ght to save the world’s wildlife. It is estimat-ed that more than 1000 rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty the past 15 years.”

Mr Willmore said a female ranger Esnart Paundi had been hacked to death by commercial poachers in Zambia after she arrested two of them with 700kg of illegally bush meat.

“Her colleague survived horrifi c ma-chete wounds to his head, but is per-manently disabled.”

Mr Willmore said he was now weed-ing three days a week “just to keep Thin Green Line alive for another year”.

“I’m struggling to pay a mortgage but next year I want to dedicate my time 100 per cent to the Thin Green Line so we can help rangers like Joachim and Esnart and their fami-lies.”

To fi nd out more about donating to the Thin Green Line Foundation visit www.thingreenline.org.au.

Help from afar: Damien Manders, left, and Sean Willmore keep in contact across the globe to go to the aid of wildlife rangers threatened by poachers.

THE shire council marks NAIDOC Week, 3-10 July, on Monday at 4pm at the Rosebud offi ce in Besgrove St with a fl ag-raising, traditional smok-ing ceremony, cultural performances and art ex-hibition.

Boonwurrung elder and traditional owner Car-olyn Briggs will perform the offi cial “welcome to country”.

The theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week (Na-tional Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Com-mittee) is “Change: the next step is ours”.

Jenny Macaffer, Mornington Peninsula Shire’s manager of social planning and community de-velopment, says the week provides a chance for people to share and value Australia’s indigenous culture and heritage.

“It gives people the opportunity to refl ect on

our history and concentrate on reconciliation and justice issues,” she said.

“The shire acknowledges Aboriginal people as the fi rst Australians and that they have a unique relationship with the land and water.

“The Boonwurrung, or Bunurong, have lived on the peninsula for thousands of years and NAIDOC Week enables us an opportunity to ac-knowledge this as well as celebrate Australia’s indigenous culture together.”

Hosted by Frankston/Morning ton Peninsula Indigenous Action Group, free afternoon tea will follow the activities.

Details: Erin Nixon or Emma Glen, phone 5950 1685 or email spcd.admin@mornpen.vic.gov.au

For information about NAIDOC Week events visit, www.naidoc.org.au

Smoke, art for NAIDOC WeekSmoke, art for NAIDOC Week

Mornington & District Historical SocietyThe Mornington & District Historical Society’s next coffee morning

will be held in the Friendship Room at St. Marks Church, Barkly Street Mornington on Tuesday 12th July 2011 at 10.30am. The guest speaker is local historian and author Valda Cole who will talk on the fi rst 150 years of the Tyabb and Hastings area. Entry $5.00 each. Come and join us for

an entertaining couple of hours - all welcome.

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 5

Making way: Peninsula Link cuts across agricultural land in the peninsula’s green wedge at Moorooduc.

By Mike HastCALLS to open Melbourne’s pre cious green wedge zones to development have been given a boost by the Baillieu government’s planned overhaul of the greater Melbourne planning scheme.

Last Friday, The Age newspaper re-ported the government would con sider expanding development in green wed-ges as it prepares the new planning blueprint to replaces the Labor gov-ernment’s Melbourne 2030 strategic planning policy framework.

The report said an audit of green wedges had started.

The proposal could see tourist hos-tels, wineries, schools and religious centres in green wedge zones.

The peninsula’s green wedge is one of 12 in greater Melbourne, most of which are non-urban zones between transport corridors.

They were established about 40 years ago by the Hamer Liberal government with then Premier Rupert Hamer and then planning minister Alan Hunt lead-ing the charge.

Mr Hunt – a former Mornington soli citor who went on to become the longest-serving member of the Vic-torian upper house (1961-92) – has always supported the retention of the green wedges.

Now an octogenarian, Mr Hunt was a prominent opponent of the 2006 plan by millionaire developer Charles Jacobsen to subdivide historic Nor-man Lodge estate in the green wedge be tween Mt Eliza and Mornington to create four new home lots.

Mr Jacobsen won approval for just two lots, but is still in legal confl ict

with Mornington Peninsula Shire over certain aspects of the subdivision.

The Baillieu government’s plans for green wedges will come as no surprise to many government watchers as former Labor planning minister Mary Dela-hunty in 2004 accused Ted Baillieu of having secret plans to develop “sensitive environmental areas like the Mornington Peninsula and the Dandenongs”.

She said in August 2004: “Liberal planning spokesman Ted Baillieu has revealed the Liberal Party’s intention to abandon protection for Melbourne’s 12 green wedges.

“Mr Baillieu told a Property Coun cil lunch in Melbourne ... that the Liberal Party in government would reconsider what land should be protected in Mel-bourne’s green wedges.”

In 2003, the Bracks Labor govern-ment passed legislation as part of Mel bourne 2030 to protect the green wedges although this did not stop the government taking more than 4000 hectares out of green wedges for hous-ing developments including Sandhurst on Thompsons Rd near Skye and Water ways on Springvale Rd between Braeside and Keysborough.

The Baillieu government plan will be released in early 2013.

Certain element within Mornington Peninsula Shire will welcome any relax-ing of green wedge development rules.

Last year, the shire’s Green Wedge Action Plan was presented to council-lors but has not been completed.

David Harrison of Red Hill, who has studied the shire’s green wedge plan-ning decisions for many years, said shire planning offi cers wanted to dilute

Govt call to open green wedgesGovt call to open green wedges

green wedge planning controls.“If the shire achieves its aims, the

peninsula’s most scenic rural areas could be cracked open for intensive development on a scale more intense than allowed in any of the other 11 green wedge zones surrounding Mel-bourne,” he said in an opinion piece published in The News in May.

“The action plan is not the fi rst shire foray into seeking more intensive de-velopment on green wedge land.

“Its recent proposal to allow substan-tial caravan and camping parks on land parcels of 40 hectares or more – vigor-ously opposed by both proponents and opponents – went to a panel hearing, whose report caned the shire and sug-

gested it go back to the drawing board.“Now the shire offi cers’ focus ap-

pears to be to open up small land parcels currently not permitted to have businesses. Their plans mention specifi cally restaurants and tourist ac-commodation, but could encompass other business ventures with no links to green wedge land.”

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By Mike HastTHE Mornington Peninsula’s reputa tion as a hothouse of architectural experi mentation was further enhanced when a home in Sor-rento took out a top architectural prize late last week.

The “Sorrento house” – designed by NMBW Architecture Studio and built by Ross Stapleton of Cape Schanck-based On the Rise Con struc tion Services – was hand-ed the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award at the Australian Institute of Architects Victo-rian awards.

Desbrowe-Annear was one of Mel-bourne’s leading architects of the late 19th and early 20th century. Two of his famous houses on the peninsula are Delgany at Portsea and Westerfi eld at Frankston South, which lost part of its land to the Peninsula Link freeway project late last year.

Architects McBride Charles Ryan won the “Harold”, Victoria’s highest award for residential architecture, with its Klein Bot-tle House at Rye in 2008.

Award judges led by chairman John War-dle of John Wardle Architects said the Sor-rento house was elegantly designed, used economical materials, and had impressed the jury with an inventive system of divid-ing partitions that fold, retract, swing and slide to defi ne rooms.

Nigel Bertram of NMBW said the house was in a subdivision of quarter-acre (1100 square metres) blocks.

“It is offset from its neighbours to main-tain privacy for each and continue the exist-ing sense of small buildings fl oating irregu-larly within a continuous layer of coastal vegetation,” he said.

“The main fl oor level engages with nat-ural ground only at the top of the slope, providing views through the site at ground

level and allowing space for informal uses underneath.

“The inner core of rooms is surround ed by a perimeter zone of small vesti bules and fl yscreen-enclosed spaces allowing a casual openness and ventilation within the house.”

Two larger semi-external verandahs act as shaded breezeways or ‘sleepouts’ in summer and glazed sunrooms in winter, weatherproof enough to keep furniture, due to the half-glazed and half-timbered external shutters.

The fl yscreens also protect the house from possible embers as the site is within a mod-erate bushfi re zone.

An industrial roof-lighting technique above two sealed light-well spaces provides unexpected natural light to the interior of the relatively deep (12.5 by 12.5 metre) plan.

The raised fl oor level is a steel-framed platform with timber infi ll joists, supported on a combination of steel posts and rein-forced block piers.

Above the steel platform, the house is constructed from timber, with large roof overhangs supported on ply-clad timber stud box-beams.

The lower ground fl oor is made of non-combustible materials, and its height allows easy inspection for embers.

External cladding is silvertop ash (a high density timber) and walls are kept separate from the ground. The roof is a simple form without internal valleys.

Internal fl oors are sealed with natural wax, and walls lined in structural plywood, “face-fi xed” by carpenters and fi nished in stain or clear linseed oil.

A $2 million plus house in Shoreham designed by Sally Draper Architects, de-scribed by the architect as “a timber retreat nestled in the bush”, received a Residential Architecture (New) award.

‘Beach house’ takes top award‘Beach house’ takes top award

Flying high: Three views of the award-winning Sorrento house, which took out the state’s top residential architecture award last week. Pictures: Peter Bennetts

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Continued from Page 1Greater Dandenong says it receives 50 cent of

its rate revenue from businesses after deciding to shift the rate burden away from residential rate-payers “who have a low ability to pay rates”.

Frankston CEO George Modrich said his coun-cil uses the MAV’s fi gures to compare rates to other metropolitan councils.

“The MAV’s 2010-11 survey showed Frank-ston eighth lowest behind Monash, Whitehorse, Casey, Banyule, Glen Eira, Knox and Maroon-dah.”

Ignoring the old adage of never arguing with anyone who buys ink by the tonne, Mornington Peninsula mayor Cr Graham Pittock has accused the Herald Sun of getting its fi gures wrong in a story published on Tuesday 21 June.

Cr Pittock issued a news release on Tuesday saying the News Corporation-owned newspaper had “wrongly reported” the proposed rate in-crease as 9.1 per cent “when in fact it is proposed the rate in the dollar will rise by 6.8 per cent and the municipal charge by $10”.

“The ‘average’ they reported on included a whole range of things that don’t impact on the year-on-year increase for ‘average’ ratepayers. That increase is 6.8 per cent on rates and $10 on the municipal charge, exactly as we’ve said,” Cr Pittock stated.

“The fi gures quoted by the Herald Sun include revenue generated from the opt-in green waste service and the differential rate on vacant land, averaged across all ratepayers.

“This is not an apples-with-apples comparison. On an apples-with-apples basis, the proposed in-

crease is exactly what we said – 6.8 per cent on rates and $10 on the municipal charge.

“Our council strives to deliver value for money, to be ‘mean with a quid’ and innovative so that we keep our rates among the lowest in Victoria.

“Currently, we’re the fi fth-lowest rating coun-cil in the state, and the lowest of the eight ‘inter-face’ councils, so it’s pretty disappointing that the Herald Sun gets it wrong in this way.

“We increase rates, reluctantly, to deliver the services and infrastructure our community is ask-ing for, but we are very much aware of afford-ability issues.”

Mornington Peninsula Ratepayers Association secretary Alan Nelsen said the shire was “raising close to nine per cent extra from rates this year”.

“I can’t fi nd another council with a debt as high as ours – $35 million.

“We pay high rates because they allowed it to get to $40 million over the past 10 years.

“In that same time, our rates have gone up 100 per cent.

“Nothing else has gone up as much, except maybe house prices.

“Rates are cunningly snuck up by six or eight per cent a year.”

Mr Nelsen blamed some extra costs on “pet projects” of council offi cers “such as Pelican Pantry at Hastings – $1 million over three years; the Stony Point ferry proposal – $250,000; and a cross-peninsula bus service”.

He said training people for the hospitality busi-ness, and running buses and ferries “are really state government responsibilities”.

Tracking the truth about ratesTracking the truth about rates

Website savWebsite savingsingsPENINSULA Creative has launched a website, www.peninsulalive.com.au, that it says can save up to 80 per cent on goods and services from businesses from Brighton to Portsea.

The website offers a deal of the day. The website has been set up in the same way as some of the bigger daily deal sites like those owned by some television channels.

To fi nd a deal, log on to www.peninsulalive.com.au and sign in.

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 7

What’s happening at Benton’s Square

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Contact: Maree AbbottPhone: 0414 850 704

By Keith PlattRESIDENTS of the Morning-ton Peninsula may soon be pay-ing less for some tourist attrac-tions than visitors.

The two-tier payment system will underpin a campaign by Mornington Peninsula Tour-ism to increase money spent by friends and relatives when visit-ing residents.

A less organised system oper-ates in Indonesia where there is one price for overseas visitors, another for out of towners and a third for locals.

Under the peninsula model, residents will be issued a re-wards card that is only effective if they are accompanied by a “paying visitor”.

However, this could be an problem with cafes and restau-rants that will not allow cus-tomers to split the bill.

The tourism group says visit-ing friends and relatives is the main reason people come to the peninsula, “surpassing holi-days, leisure or business as the main purpose”.

More than a third of all travel to the peninsula that includes an overnight stay involves friends and relatives.

When put in money terms, friends and relatives spend an average $288 a day during their visit, $48 a day more than other visitors, according to the tour-ism group.

“If you add the additional

money that a host would spend above their normal daily activ-ity this makes a VFR [visiting friends and relatives] visitor worth a total of $398 a day (on average),” senior tourism of-fi cer Kellie Barrett stated in a letter seeking backing for the campaign. The statistics come from research carried out by Destination Melbourne, 27 mu-nicipalities and Ballarat Univer-sity.

Ms Barrett said that in 2009, the peninsula “welcomed” 4.4 million visitors; 3.3 million daytrippers; and 1.1 million overnighters – the second-high-est rate of overnight visits of all country Victorian regions.

“Of all overnight visitors to the peninsula 45 per cent stayed with their friends or relatives and the most popular activity was to eat out at restaurants (56 per cent),” Ms Barrett stated.

“It has been identifi ed that the critical success factor with vis-iting friends and relatives is the mindset and behaviour of the host – if we can educate locals to act as effective hosts, we can infl uence visitor behaviour to encourage them to spend more and stay longer by experiencing more things to see and do.”

Ms Barrett said that while 20 per cent of visiting friends and relatives stayed in paid ac-commodation, it was residents – their host – who chose where they went to spend their money.

“If locals can be educated to act as effective hosts, and if they can achieve high levels of knowledge and appreciation of the attractions available locally, their visiting friends and rela-tives may stay longer and spend more in our community.”

Ms Barrett said these resident hosts would be offered rewards as an incentive to choose particu-lar tourism attractions.

“The tourism industry will provide a range of special of-fers and incentives only for local residents so that they are encouraged to get out and show their visiting friends and rela-tives all of the wonderful attrac-tions of the peninsula.

“Industry partners will in-clude an offer in the program that the local resident can only redeem if they have a paying visitor with them.

“These offers may be free en-try, special meal deals (two for one), a percentage discount on purchases or even a bottle of wine when the guest buys their own.”

Under the Peninsula Tourism scheme, registered residents will be issued a 12-month re-wards card and a brochure list-ing “participating deals”.

They will also be sent a quar-terly eNewsletter with updates, news and stories about local at-tractions.

Tourists to pay Tourists to pay up for localsup for locals

Natural rewards: While there is now no charge for anyone visiting beaches within Mornington Peninsula Na-tional Park, friends and relatives of peninsula residents may soon be paying over the odds charged to resi-dents.

MANY artists wait for years to be exhibited in public, but the chance of achieving wider recog-nition has come early for some Mt Martha Pri-mary School pupils.

Works created at workshops run at the school by Leigh Rust will be shown at Bentons Square shopping centre until Sunday 3 July.

Comic illustrator, landscape and wildlife artist Rust showed some of the fi ner points of his art to pupils in grades two to six on 7 and 14 June.

In 2009 two of Rust’s works made the fi nals of the BBC’s Wildlife Artist of the Year competi-tion. In recent years he has focused on training

the next generation of artists, teaching four days a week, including on Wednesdays at Mt Martha House.

During the workshops, Rust demonstrated how he develops cartoons and then worked with stu-dents while they created caricatures of their fam-ily. He also gave tips on drawing animals and people.

The school art workshop sessions were coor-dinated by Bill Cummins of Mt Martha Rotary Club who also organised the shopping centre dis-play.

Pupils’ early chance to show artPupils’ early chance to show art

PAGE 8 Mornington News 30 June 2011

NEWS DESK

OBITUARYDavid LarwillArtist, everyman, rambler1956-2011

DAVID Larwill became one of the Mornington Peninsula’s favourite sons. An avid sailor, he became known for his beach rambles where he would pick up the fl otsam of the sea – everything from discarded thongs to sea-shells – to create multi-textured artworks.

Although he became nationally and internationally famous, he would always return to the seashore. He lived in Somers for about 19 years and built a contemporary home that included a huge studio.

David’s funeral at Mt Martha on Monday attracted almost 1000 people, many of them fl ying in from around the country to attend.

There were celebrities and dignitaries and plumbers and roofers, footballers, academics, actors, rock musicians and fashion designers and bricklayers – an eclectic array of friends and fans that summed up Dave’s universal appeal.

Both as a person and an artist he was an ‘everyman’ type of character, equally at home in a bush pub and a millionaire’s mansion.

Larwill, who died last Sunday 19 June following a battle with cancer, was never one for rules. While most people in his condition would retire to hospital, Dave, who loved the bush, wanted one last road trip to the desert outside of Alice Springs.

Coercing his friend Ken McGregor into driving him, he made it almost as far as Coober Pedy where he saw the night stars, put his feet in the red sand, retired for the night and passed away.

Speaking alongside Dave’s brother, Sam, and his sister, Sarah, and fellow artist and close friend Wayne Eager, McGregor supplied a heartfelt travelogue recounting Dave’s last days alive, eliciting both tears and occasional laughter at the rogue’s last wanderings and his fi nal meal – delighted at having scored the last serve of roast lamb at a country pub, as though it had been kept by fate for his enjoyment.

Larwill’s approach to his impending demise was typical of his life. If there was alternative to the norm he would fi nd it.

In 1981, a year after leaving the Preston Institute of Technology and dismissive of much of the art and art world around him, he teamed up with his mates to establish an alternative gallery where “beer, dogs and paint” rather than “champagne and caviar” were the priority. Thus was Roar Studios born and, despite its anarchic nature, key art world fi gures such as James Mollison, then director of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, became besotted.

For all of his rough around the edges persona, Larwill could rub shoulders with people from all echelons of society, from the down-and-out to the wealthy and powerful. But he also did not suffer fools gladly and, although

immensely successful, he was utterly dismissive of much of the art world around him, dismissing most critics and curators as charlatans.

Charity and social issues were never far from his thoughts and, rather than simply donate the occasional painting to a cause, Larwill went several steps further and in 1995 he teamed up with some mates and founded the hugely successful Artists for Kids Culture Trust to raise funds for underprivileged children. The trust continues to this day.

In 1998, at the invitation of the Mirrar traditional owners in Kakadu, he joined artists Peter Walsh, Mark Schaller and I in the country threatened by the existing Ranger and proposed Jabiluka uranium mines. Works inspired by their experiences were later exhibited in Melbourne and the funds raised helped lead to

Kakadu becoming a World Heritage site.

In the early 1980s the Melbourne art world drank white wine or, when they were lucky, Moët. But there was a clear-cut dissenter in this habit who, regardless of how exclusive the event, would carry his own slab of Victoria Bitter into the proceedings.

This did, of course, on more than one occasion, cause the snobs to raise eyebrows, but Dave didn’t care. He loved his VB. He would heft his slab over a shoulder and walk into the presence of Prime Ministers and Governor Generals, crack a tinnie and say “G’day!”

I was lucky enough to meet ‘Larwee’ – as he often referred to himself (everyone had a name: fellow Roar artists Mark Schaller was ‘Sparky’ for his ability to fi x things, Wayne Eager was ‘Iggy’, I was simply

‘Crawf’) – at an exclusive cocktail party in 1980.

He and I were the only ones drinking beer so conversation seemed inevitable. It transpired we were, at least in theory, on opposite sides of art world aesthetic politics – he was the expressionist, I was perceived as being more supportive of the conceptualists.

This didn’t stop us from retiring to a nearby pub and arguing all night long. It also didn’t stop him from inviting me on numerous road trips through Australia’s centre and up to Arnhem Land.

The highlight of those trips was always stopping to meet up with various Aboriginal folk he knew, from Kintore and Papunya to Warmun in the Kimberly and Gunbalanya in the Northern Territory where Larwee was always treated as one of their own.

Such journeys were part of his source material – his unique stick fi gures, usually jolly but also often melancholy – took on the personalities of those around him and as such were almost diaristic in content.

Dave’s more larrikin tendencies mellowed when, nine years ago, he met Fiona von Menge and fell madly in love. They went on to marry and have two sons, James and Henry. Having struggled as a younger artist, Larwill had found fi nancial and creative success and true happiness.

His work resides in numerous national collections including the British Museum; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; New Parliament House, Canberra; the Queensland Art Gallery; the Australian Football League; Allen Allen & Hemsley, Sydney; World Congress Centre, Melbourne; Western Mining Corporation Collection; the Shell Collection of Contemporary Australian Art; Baillieu Myer; the ICI Collection; Orica, Melbourne; and the Holmes a Court collection.

Ashley Crawford is a freelance writer living in Melbourne and the author of a number of books on Australian art. He accompanied David Larwill on numerous trips through the centre and the Top End of Australia.

Larrikin artist’s last brush with the starsLarrikin artist’s last brush with the stars

Icon-oclast: David Larwill two years before he co-founded Roar Studios in Fitzroy. His canvases were populated with stylised human fi gures and animals, a combination of tribal, abstract and expressionistic images.

By Mike HastMORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has ordered a fence around Mt Eliza vil-lage’s historic cypress tree to be re-moved.

The fence surrounding the tree and one of two eucalypt trees on public land outside the Safeway supermarket in Mt Eliza Way was erected last Fri-day but removed on Wednesday morn-ing.

The three trees are the centre of a four-year dispute between the devel-oper of a proposed expanded Safeway complex, Blackbrook Pty Ltd, and the Mt Eliza Action Group with the shire council caught in between.

The historic cypress is the last of three cypresses that have provided shade in the main street for decades. Blackbrook wants it and the two gums chopped down to enable it to build out over the service road, but this and oth-er elements of the proposal have now gone to the Victorian Civil and Admin-istrative Tribunal.

Three arborists’ reports have been commissioned into the health of the cy-press – one by Blackbrook says the tree is unsafe and must come down, one or-

dered by the shire says the tree has 20 years left in it, and one by MEAG says the tree will last for at least 10 years.

It must be the most studied tree on the peninsula.

MEAG secretary June Horner says the group has spent $1600 on multiple arborists’ reports.

“All three trees are very healthy ac-cording to our arborist, Arbor Co,” she told The News on Wednesday morning just before she headed off to the VCAT for a discovery hearing into the Safe-way expansion plan.

“The cypress is 11 metres tall and has added 3-4 centimetres of new growth recently. The gums are also healthy and are both about 11.5 metres tall.”

Mrs Horner said MEAG members and village resident were surprised to see the fence being erected last week. MEAG fi red off an email to senior shire planner Peter Bergman asking “why fencing was being erected out the front of Safeway around the cypress tree and one eucalypt tree to the north, which also includes public seating and rest areas”.

The email was copied to Mt Eliza Ward councillor Leigh Eustace and

Don’t fence me in: The temporary fence around Mt Eliza’s historic cypress and a eucalypt that was erected last week and removed on Wednesday. Historic tree fence up then down.

Shire orders removal of ‘safety’ fenceShire orders removal of ‘safety’ fence

director of sustainable environment Stephen Chapple.

“We were told it had been done for safety reasons, but both the shire and our arborist say the three trees are safe,” she said.

Fearful of Blackbrook cutting down the cypress, residents held a public

vigil by the fence over the weekend until reassured by the shire that it would not be removed.

Cr Eustace said a spokesman for Blackbrook’s planners, Network Plan-ning Consultants Pty Ltd, had blamed the building manager for the fence.

He said Blackbrook had submitted

amended plans for the proposed Safe-way expansion that deleted a proposed restaurant.

“There is also an issue about wheth-er Blackbrook can build on the service road but it’s all off to the VCAT to sort out.”

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 9

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PAGE 10 Mornington News 30 June 2011

NEWS DESK

LETTERS

RatesRates rise spin rise spinMORNINGTON Peninsula Shire CEO Michael Kennedy states that rates are low compared to other councils and is committed to ensuring rate increases are affordable.

More spin from Dr Kennedy. The lower rates compared to some councils is not due to Dr Kennedy’s manage-ment but is due to the very low rate base he inherited by when he arrived at the shire in 1999.

Rates have increased by 100 per cent since Dr Kennedy was appointed CEO 10 years ago. This places the shire above the average increase of all Vic-torian councils before including the re-moval of the tip voucher last year and the recently introduced fee of $130 a year for green waste collection, which is already included in the rates of many councils.

In addition, shire debt has risen from $5 million to $35 million over the same period, which places the shire among the councils with the highest level of debt in Victoria.

Last year, many residents in the lower income bracket incurred rate in creases up to 25 per cent and this year will suffer a further 6.8 per cent increase.

This is because, as a result of the fi nancial crisis, the more expensive properties in the shire did not generally increase in value to the same extent as the lower valued properties.

Therefore, many of the people who are experiencing the signifi cant in-crease are those in the lower income bracket and are least able to afford the rates hike.

Dr Alan Nelsensecretary, Mornington Peninsula

Ratepayers’ Association

BrokenBroken promises promisesSINCE 1999 Michael Kennedy has been our [Mornington Peninsula Shire] chief executive. In the past 10 years our rates have increased by 100

per cent and now the council is set to vote for another 6.8 per cent increase in possibly the worst year for business on the peninsula for some time.

The lack of money spent on infra-structure in the past 10 years has been appalling considering this rise.

It is essential the councillors adver-tise the CEO’s position (‘Stir over CEO’s job’, The News, 16/6/11).

I wish we could employ the CEO of Casey Council [Mike Tyler] who over the same 10 years has built two awesome aquatic centres, indoor skate parks, great roads, excellent public parks, beautiful tree-lined streets with footpaths and some of the best public sporting facilities, retirement homes and schools in Victoria.

What have we got in the same 10 years? An overpaid CEO happy that his councillors vote him back in so they can do nothing but make life dif-fi cult by overcomplicating every build-ing project and business opportunity put before them for approval.

I am sick of broken promises from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. It is time all of the council received a good shake up before all our public infrastructure returns to the dark ages.

What is needed is a new CEO who has the vision for the future to make the peninsula a beautiful place to visit by supporting the creation of great in-frastructure and public facilities.

We need the tourists and my fam-ily needs the public toilets, parks, car parking, schools and roads improved.

Geoff OxfordMt Eliza

CEO’sCEO’s contract contractWE note that the CEO’s contract re-newal is under discussion again (‘Stir over CEO’s job’, The News, 16/6/11).

We most strongly urge that the posi-tion be advertised to ensure that we have the best possible candidate for the job.

After the embarrassing and adverse Ombudsman’s report into the events

surrounding the last renewal of CEO Michael Kennedy’s contract, for coun-cillors to renew the contract without advertising would appear to be high ly inappropriate and a snub to the rate-payers of the peninsula.

We remind councillors that: Dr Kennedy has held this post un-con tested for 13 years, longer than any recent Prime Minister or state Premier has held theirs. To extend further this uncontested period makes the job ap-pear more like a sinecure than a merit-based appointment. The Ombudsman’s report into the CEO’s previous contracts highlighted a number of defi ciencies in the shire’s administration, run by the CEO. It also recommended counselling of the CEO for his behaviour in that matter, a recommendation that to the best of our knowledge was not adopted by the council. To repeat the uncontested renewal of the CEO’s contract would appear to be rewarding such inappro-priate behaviour. Every year of Dr Kennedy’s reign has seen rates rise ahead of infl ation (CPI). Under Dr Kennedy, shire debt has exploded to more than $40 million.

In all conscience, you cannot support yet another uncontested reappointment of the CEO.

After 13 years the people of the pen-in sula need to be reassured that we have the most effective CEO at the helm, not just the most entrenched.

Stefan Bersonpresident, Tyabb & District Rate-

payers, Business& Environment Group

Light lessonsLight lessonsMY parents taught me to turn off lights. Balcombe Grammar School in Mt Martha consistently has lights burning in its buildings at night.

Now we have 24 new huge street-lights burning fossil fuel hour after hour for no logical reason. The recent installation of these lights on Nepean Hwy outside the school (with no com-

munity consultation) unnecessarily light up the rural night sky and waste precious energy.

The school’s new traffi c lights allow students to cross Nepean Hwy safely to the bus stop during school hours. Outside school hours, including school holidays, there is no one crossing the road so they should turn off all the lights.

VicRoads has the capacity to turn off lights when not needed for safetyreasons. They can do this at Balcombe Grammar.

Greg Hunt, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Her-itage, is in the process of fi nding out why the lights are on when there are no students at the school.

He will ask VicRoads the energy costs per hour of each light. I imagine we are paying for this.

Balcombe Grammar sits within a pre dominantly rural landscape; in fact, the area the school occupies was origi-nally a farm.

The school currently has plans to expand its operation on the farm next door, which it recently bought and an application is before Mornington Peninsula Shire for major works, car parking for 100 cars and extensive tree removal.

We all value the rural environment. It provides the green wedge, sense of space, serenity and important habitat.Balcombe Grammar operates within this precious environment. It should act responsibly, respectfully and with consideration of what was here before. Tread softly on the earth and turn off the lights.

Ann ScallyMt Martha

Mornington marinaMornington marinaTHE state government-appointed pan-el that reviewed the Mornington Boat Haven Ltd proposal to build a private marina in Mornington harbour made 17 recommendations.

Two of these were that the 12 swing

moorings and also the eight fore-and-aft moorings should be removed from the proposal.

The removal of economically afford-able moorings would mean that elite boat owners who can afford the very expensive marina berths would occupy our harbour, while other boat owners, unable to afford these marina berths, will no longer be able to moor their boats in Mornington as there will no longer be any economical swing moor-ings available.

Not only will these boat owners lose out, but also the public will lose much of the beauty, ambience and amenity of our harbour, as well as at times the use of Mothers, Scout and Shire Hall beaches while they are closed during marina construction, sand relocation and regular raking to try to control sand degradation.

Where is the social equity and com-munity benefi t in this?

To allow the construction of a private marina, a large part of the harbour as well as parts of the foreshore will have to be rezoned.

Our councillors will vote to decide this rezoning issue.

Elizabeth BjerkhamnMornington Environment Association

Lack of confidenceLack of confidenceI DO not have Hastings MP Neale Bur-gess’ confi dence nor do I understand his statement that “local control was the best way to ensure port develop-ment would protect our environment” (‘Port control comes back to Hastings’, The News, 16/6/11).

He must know something I don’t.All port development proposals with

their attendant heavy traffi c in our fragile and unique Western Port point to future environmental damage.

I wonder how Mr Burgess and his cohorts will “control” such damage?

Prue Griffi thsMerricks

REPORTS of the pool Solomon Lew has allegedly built on Crown land at Mt Eliza have entirely missed the point.

Mr Lew, in his role as a philanthro-pist, has, I am confi dent, built a pool for public use in the coastal reserve on the boundary of a property apparently owned by a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a company of which Mr Lew is a director.

Changing rooms and an access path from the beach are the next step, it is understood.

What an example for Morning-ton Pe ninsula Shire, which has been dithering around and faffi ng about in typical fashion for years about its still-ephemeral plan for a pool on the fore-shore at Rosebud.

Compare this with what a captain of industry does. He acts. Shazam! The smoke clears. There’s your pool – and a horizon one at that. No debates, no push-polling, no public meetings.

And all well above the dangers of sea level rise.

What a refreshing difference. A big-picture man makes a bold decision that shreds the red tape. He just builds the pool and leaves boring details such as Department of Sustainability and Environment coastal consent and the shire to be dealt with later.

Our world needs more Lews.

Pool’s still a poolPool’s still a poolSPEAKING of pools, The Emu might have made a slight technical error in

the item late last month about the Frankston pool.

I wrote councillors had approved a $46 million aquatic centre near Frank ston TAFE and the railway station, and that stage one – a 51.5-metre Olympic pool, children’s pool, reception area, cafe, gym and parking for 250 cars – would cost the council $20.6 million plus $12.5 million from the state go vernment.

Building would start January 2013 and be ready September 2014.

Stage 2 would include water slides, splash deck, thera py and tod dler’s pools, gym, cafe and wellness centre.

Well, it turns out Frankston coun-cillors won’t commit to stage two until they get federal government money for ecologically sustainable development (ESD) bells and whistles, although they approved money for the design of the full enchilada.

But The Emu’s pool envy point re-mains – Frankston’s getting its pool and $12.5 million of state money, but Rosebud’s getting nothing after fi ve years of stubbornness from the shire council trying to get permission from the government to build it on the fore-shore.

Worse still, now there’s no state go-vernment money for municipal pool projects. Mornington Peninsula Shire

Overflowing benevolence from a captain of industryOverflowing benevolence from a captain of industry

(and its ratepayers) have missed out big time.

Crystal PallasCrystal PallasFORMER Labor government ports and roads minister Tim Pallas must be suffering PRDS, political relevance deprivation syndrome.

Booted out of government last No-vember, he opens the newspapers each morning and can’t fi nd his name any-where.

No more bragging about dredging Port Phillip, or ramming the expensive Peninsula Link freeway through bush

reserves and farmland, or frightening the heck out of western suburbs people with the ill-conceived Regional Rail Link project. (Or spending $4463 on food when he went to Europe for 13 days when he was a minister.)

PRDS – it’s the only reasonable ex-planation for his public outburst when he claimed the six-month old Baillieu government was dragging its heels on the Port of Hastings development.

Now Opposition spokesman on ports, Pallas said the government would fail to deliver container facili-ties at the Port of Hastings according to its stated timeframe.

This from the minister who took two years to respond to the Port of Hast-ings Corporation’s comprehensive Port of Hastings Land Use and Trans-port Strategy (PoHLUTS) or Pollutes, as the greenies cleverly call it.

It was ready by March 2007, its re-lease delayed at government request until December 2007 and Mr Pallas wandered down to Hastings at the end of August in 2009 to outline the state government’s “vision” to a group of Western Port community organisa-tions, businesses and residents.

This from the minister who said Hastings port would be fully expanded by, wait for it, 2030.

And this from the minister who last September abolished the Port of Hast-ings Corporation and handed control of the port to its rival, the Port of Mel-bourne Corporation (PoMC). Pallas also handed control of Western Port’s shipping channels to PoMC.

A victim of this act of idiocy was the competent PoHC boss Ralph Kenyon.

Brumby, Pallas and their mates were rolled last year and Premier Ted Bail-lieu and his ports minister, Denis Nap-thine, have reversed the decision.

They are in the process of creating a new body, Port of Hastings Develop-ment Authority, and giving control of the shipping channels back to Victo-rian Regional Channels Authority.

The Emu felt so sorry for Tim Pallas that he wrote this item for his media monitors to cut and paste and stick in his “in” tray.

IT’S hard to know what effect this sign has had on hoons. While the sign appears well-made and well-intentioned, there is no clue as to who placed it there, and koalas and possums are probably the only ones who can verify the claims about a camera being nearby.

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 11

Did you know...you can now view our

papers online at:www.mpnews.com.au

IN the last three months, according to our calculations, the federal govern-ment (both houses) has spent about 38,000 person hours debating the ap-propriate level of carbon tax.

Levels suggested by various parties pursuing various agendas range from zero to $70 per tonne. Given that the world carbon has become shorthand for carbon dioxide in the context of the question, we wondered what “per tonne” actually means in relation to the phrase “carbon tax”.

Specifi cally, does it mean tonnes of carbon, or tonnes of carbon dioxide? Should this seem like a nitpicking question, a quick calculation reveals the distinction is important.

Burning carbon and hydrocarbon fuels produces energy by combining carbon and other combustibles in the fuel with atmospheric oxygen.

In the process of burning carbon, 12 mass units (tonnes, kilograms or what-ever) of carbon combines with 32 mass units of oxygen to produce 44 (12 + 32) mass units of carbon dioxide.

The ratio of mass of carbon dioxide to carbon from the combustion reac-tion is therefore 44 divided by 12 = 3.67. This means that if carbon tax per tonne is levied on tonnes of car-bon dioxide produced, the tax will be 3.67 times as much as it would be if it were levied on the tonnes of carbon in burned the fuel.

This will be of interest to those pay-ing electricity bills under a future car-bon tax regime.

We fi gure a carbon tax of $30 per tonne of carbon based on electricity from burning anthracite (black coal) would add 1.3 cents per KWh (6.8 per cent) to the cost of electricity, while a carbon dioxide tax of $30 per tonne would add 4.8 cents per KWh (25 per cent). See footnote.

To determine whether carbon tax might be calculated from tonnes of carbon or tonnes of carbon dioxide, we fi rst consulted everyone’s favourite re-search tool – the encyclopaedic mind of Dr Google. Here we drew a blank. The voluminous number of documents we found on the subject – treasury memos,

Carbon: what government is taxingCarbon: what government is taxingThis is the third of an occasion-al series of articles by Andrew Raff and Peter North covering a range of environmental top-ics including the CO2 debate, use of resources, future energy and the nuclear power debate. Both are members of SHIPPS, St Andrew’s Habitat Improve-ment, Preservation and Protec-tion Society, on the southern peninsula.

1 tonne = 1000 kg1watt = 1 joule/second1 joule = 1 watt-second1 MJ = 1,000,000 joule = 1,000,000 watt-seconds1 second = 1/3600 hour1 MJ = 1,000,000/3,600 watt-hour = 278 watt-hour1 watt = 1/1000 kW1 MJ = 278/1000 kW-hr = 0.278 kW-hr

Energy from combustion of coal (from Wikipedia)Anthracite – energy from combustion 27 MJ/kg = 27 x 0.278 kW-hr/kg = 7.506 kW-hr/kg = 7506 kW-hr/tonneat 30% effi ciency to electrical energy = 0.3 x 7,506 kWe-hr/tonne = 2252 kWe-hr/tonneAt $30 per tonne carbon tax (price per tonne) = 3000 cents per tonneat $30 per tonne carbon tax (price per kW-hr) = 3000/2252 cents per kWe-hr = 1.3 cents per kW-hrat $30 per tonne carbon dioxide = 1.3 x 3.67 per kW-hr = 4.77 cents per kW-hr

Energy/power conversionsEnergy/power conversionspolitical statements, memos from the business sector, papers by academics and so forth – waxed eloquent for or against carbon tax, and suggested vari-ous prices per tonne for the tax, but not one of them defi ned how tonnes was actually measured.

We then posed the same question to various experts, again without obtain-ing a defi nitive answer. Two CSIRO scientists thought the measure was more likely to be tonnes of carbon di-oxide and the third didn’t know.

We also sent the question to our lo-cal federal MP, Greg Hunt, and also to Malcolm Turnbull, neither of whom responded. And we note that Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change, when asked on ABC TV’s Q&A didn’t answer the question (whether through ignorance or oversight we are unable to tell).

Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt, for their part, went through a phase of claiming that a $30 price on carbon would produce increased electricity costs of $1100 a year per household, then later quietly adjusted this fi gure to $300 a year.

Since the ratio of the two fi gures ($1100 to $300) at 3.67 is the precise

ratio between the mass of carbon di-oxide and carbon referred to above, we might infer that these two Opposition heavyweights previously thought car-bon tax was measuring carbon dioxide and have now decided it measures car-bon burned.

So after all the extensive discussions on this subject, we’ve been unable to fi nd out what the “tonnes” in carbon tax actually means.

Does anyone else out there know for sure? Andrew Raff has lived on the Morn-ington Penin sula for 50 years, was in the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years, served in Vietnam, and has studied the nuclear industry and climate change. He is a member of Sustainable Popu-lation Australia and founded SHIPPS last year. Peter North has degrees in engineer -ing and commerce, and has work ed in the petrochemical, mining, manufac-turing and construction indus tries in Australia and overseas. He has pub-lished nine books on business, travel, environment and economics, has writ-ten for the environmental magazine Pacifi c Ecologist and is also a member of Sustainable Population Australia.

PAGE 12 Mornington News 30 June 2011

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Lots happening at Santa’s PlaceLots happening at Santa’s PlaceSANTA’S Place in Moorooduc hasn’t been taking it easy since Christmas.

Itt has been a hive of activity with worker-elves getting all manner of things accomplished.

Judy Reaper said: “Santa’s Place is pleased to announce we now have a liquor licence and will be able to serve alcohol from August.

“A new ‘Mother’s Room’ is also under construction and will be ready by November.

“Our popular coffee shop will be

back again this year, with some great improvements, including disabled access.”

Christmas will come around fast, and Santa’s Place is kicking off the run-up with a July sale, right through the month.

“There will be big discounts on everything, so get in early and save.

“There will be new stock arriv-ing every week between now and Christmas, and new sale items dur-ing the entire six-month period.

“As usual, the shop is a hot-bed of

ideas on how you can decorate your home, so come in and get inspired.

“If you are looking for special or unique items, come in early and give our friendly staff time to source those items to your requirements.”

Santa’s Place is on the corner of Moorooduc Hwy and Bentons Rd in Moorooduc.

The phone number is 5978 8500. You can visit them on the web at www.santasplace.com.au

PARENTS are being urged not to let fears of adverse reactions stop them from having their children vaccinated against polio.

Chairman of the Mornington Penin-sula Post Polio Support Group Den-nis Lloyd said it was “worrying” that increasing numbers of parents were choosing not to vaccinate their chil-dren even though “fi gures of compli-ance with vaccination” were “good”.

“Our group understands parents’ fears on reading about cases where children have had bad reaction to a vaccination, but these examples are minimal compared to the success of vaccination programs,” Mr Lloyd said.

“Just think of the diseases that are now rare.”

The group’s June newsletter carried an article on diseases brought under control in the United States through vaccines, including measles, whoop-ing cough, mumps, chickenpox, hepa-titis B, diphtheria and polio.

Statistics from Medicare Australia show WA has the lowest vaccination

rate, including polio of children up to fi ve years of age, with 85 per cent.

“Victoria’s rate is 90 per cent”, Mr Lloyd said. “This means 10 per cent of children have not been protected and are vulnerable, potentially affecting other children.

“United States polio expert Dr Rich-ard Bruno has pointed out that in New York alone there were 22,000 unvac-cinated children. Should a live case of polio come in from one of the endemic countries, there’s an epidemic waiting to happen,” Mr Lloyd said.

“Treatment for polio hasn’t ad-vanced greatly since our members had it in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

“Introduction of the vaccines slowed development of treatments which is dreadful for children with polio in Af-rica and Asia today – 1200 cases last year.

“None of us wants to see any child go through what we did as children and are experiencing now in later age with late effects of polio,” he said.

Parental fear leads Parental fear leads to drop in polio jabsto drop in polio jabs

ROTARY International has more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide who work locally, regionally and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

As of 10 March, Rotarians had raised about $163.4 million for Rotary’s

US$200 million Bill & Melinda Gates Challenge to support immunisation campaigns in developing countries where polio continues to infect and paralyse children.

When Rotary began its eradication work, polio infected more than 350,000 children annually. In 2009, fewer than 1700 cases were reported worldwide.

Rotary to the rescue overseasRotary to the rescue overseas

NEWS DESK

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 13

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MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is continuing investigations into the al-leged building of a private pool on public foreshore land in Mt Eliza.

In late May, the shire issued a notice on Melbourne billionaire retailer Solo-mon Lew and his daughter Jacqueline Lew asking why they had built a pool on public land on the Port Phillip side of their property overlooking Moon-dah Beach south of Kunyung Rd.

The house is used as a holiday retreat

by Ms Lew and has seen the building of the pool over the last two years, in-cluding the sinking of piers into slop-ing land and the building up of the land.

In May the shire said it was likely to seek the demolition of the pool if it was found to be on public land.

On Tuesday, shire spokesman Todd Trimble said the shire’s compliance department was continuing its inves-tigations.

“We have met the Department of Sustainability and Environment, which owns the land, and we are following statutory procedures. As soon as we know something, we’ll go public,” he said.

Shire councillors are receiving up-dates about the probe. The News be-lieves the Department of Sustainability and Environment supports the coun-cil’s call for the pool to be removed.

Water view: An aerial photograph showing the pool allegedly built on public foreshore reserve by billionaire clothing retailer Solomon Lew.

Foreshore pool probe continuesForeshore pool probe continues

THE shire council has resubmitted its proposal to restrict subdivision of the Woodland precinct in Mt Eliza to the state government.Formerly known as planning amend-ment C87, the renamed C162 was sent to Planning Minister Matthew Guy last week.The area of blocks of land between 2600 square metres (two-thirds of an acre in the old measure) and 4000sqm is bounded by Nepean Hwy, Hum-phries, Moorooduc and Canadian Bay roads.

In 2006, Mornington Peninsula Shire asked the state government to approve a planning amendment, known as C87, to stop landowners making blocks smaller than 2500 square metres as well as rules about vegetation removal and distance be-

tween buildings and fences.The proposal was rejected by then

planning minister Justin Madden. Hundreds of thousands of dollars

were spent on reports, a panel hearing and shire planning offi cers’ time.

The Woodland issue has set neigh-bour against neighbour with some landowners supporting subdivision and others wanting to retain the large, treed blocks. C87 was refused by Mr Madden in December 2009 after he sat on a report for two years.

Since September 2003, the shire has received many applications to subdi-vide, but without a planning scheme, many owners take the shire to the Vic-torian Civil and Administrative Tribu-nal, which refuses some but approves others.

‘Woodland’ off to planning minister‘Woodland’ off to planning minister

REHEARSALS are well underway now, after forced changes in casting, for the comedy, “My Three Angels”. Show dates have also been changed to July 29 & 30 and August 5 & 6 @ 8pm, with two Sunday matinees on July 31 and August 7th @ 2pm. There has also been a change to the usual booking offi ce for this show. Bookings can now be made on 5977 0347.

***AUDITIONS for our November show - “Joseph and The Amazing Techni-colour Dreamcoat” will be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, Au-gust 2, 4 & 7. For audition bookings and further information, ring 0438 029 106.

***A SILENT Auction, with musical en-

tertainment, will be held on September 10th @ 7pm at the Harba Oyster Bar & Grill, 786 The Esplanade, Morn-ington. Cost $35 including fi nger food with drinks at bar prices, with 5% of the takings being donated to our group. For reservations phone 5975 5904 or email jandr@bigpond.net.au.

***ON November 26th @ 7.30pm the CEF Players will celebrate the com-ing of the Christmas season by hold-ing a Fashion Parade, hosted by Postie Fashions, in St Peter’s Bellamy Hall, Albert St, Mornington. Tickets $10. The evening will feature lucky door prizes, champagne on arrival, raffl es, gift vouchers for purchase. For book-ings and further information, ring 5977 0347.

Mornington CEF PlayersMornington CEF Players

PAGE 14 Mornington News 30 June 2011

WINTER gardening can be just as pleasurable and exciting as gardening at any other time of the year.

It just means you have to pick your days when the weather is favourable before you venture outside.

You may have to wrap up warm, long johns, extra jump-ers and thick socks. But if it is not raining there are lots of jobs you can do around your garden.

Dig over your vegetable plot, dig nice and deep, and add plenty of well rotted manure or compost. It will all break down to a nice texture over the winter, just ready for sowing in early spring.

Dig over those beds and bor-ders that have not been dug for the last couple of years. And add some well rotted manure or compost while you’re at it.

You can generally tidy up your garden. Remove all those annuals and biennials that fi n-ished fl owering lon ago. They really do look a mess and will just harbour slugs, snails and

unwanted diseases if left. Clear around your perennial

plants, remove old spent leaves and gently loosen the soil sur-face around them. This helps to break up compacted soil and allows air and water to get down to the roots.

While your at it remove all those weeds that are still hang-ing on. Dig them out if neces-sary, you don’t want any roots left that will shoot into life next spring.

Clear up all those fallen tree leaves.

Tidy up any shrubs, bushes or hedges by pruning or trim-ming. This a good time of year to do this.

Now is a good time to do any hard landscaping. Paths, gar-den walls, bases for your new potting shed or greenhouse.

Use this time of year to your advantage and you will fi nd winter gardening really pays dividends through spring, sum-mer and autumn.

Winter gardening can be a good time of year, out and in

amongst all those show off winter fl owering plants.

There are lots of plants that fl ower throughout winter and some will even fl ower into spring.

Plan your garden for the coming seasons.

Spring will be here before you now it. And spring is the time of year to start sowing seeds. So start planning your spring garden.

Browse through those plant catalogues for spring and sum-mer plants and order them now. They wont be delivered until they are ready but get your or-der in early to make sure you don’t miss out.

A good source for seed and young plants is online.

Your seeds and plants will be delivered straight to your door and all you have to do is unpack them and sow or plant them.

Well there you are. Winter gardening can be just as excit-ing and as pleasurable as gar-dening at any other time of the year.

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Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 15

HISTORY

By Rod Nuske and Cameron McCullough

IT is 150 years since Helen Porter Mitchell was born on 19th May 1861 in Richmond, Victoria.

This young child went on to become Dame Nellie Melba. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th cen-tury. She was the fi rst Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. Acknowledged as the world’s greatest opera soprano she sang around the globe and with such luminaries as the great Caruso.

On the 22nd February 1927, in the twilight of her career, she gave a con-cert in the Drill Hall at Flinders Naval Depot (HMAS Cerberus).

The hall was packed with over 2000 spectators including naval trainees, their friends, and members of the pub-lic.

She was received by Captain Feakes of the base, and a Guard of Honour of boys from the Cerberus Sea Cadet Corp were paraded at the entrance to the hall.

The concert was broadcast by 3LO, but unfortunately some of the items were marred by a crying baby, and interference from the telegraph line to Tasmania which passed nearby.

The crying baby was named Val and her father was Leading Writer Nor-wood at the Flinders Naval Depot. Somewhat disruptive to the perform-ance, it was insisted on that the baby be quietened or removed before Melba carried on with the concert.

That baby, Val Stevens, now resides in the Retirement Village in Bittern.

An aspiring singer Frances Queale of Merricks North was taken along by

her parents. She remembered that “...of course she was past her best, but she was given a rousing welcome by all present, and it proved a memorable occasion.”

Frances went on with a singing ca-reer and was a fi nalist in the Sun Aria Awards and sang at concerts with con-ductors such as Sir Bernard Heinze.

Late permission was given to the radio station 3LO to broadcast the

concert. It was not until 4pm that a car was dispatched with operators and the microphone and amplifying apparatus. Transmission was obtained over 47 miles of telephone line from the base. This was only the second occasion on which Dame Nellie Melba’s sing-ing has been broadcast, the fi rst being nearly two years before, when she ap-peared in “La Boheme.”

With Dame Nellie Melba were Mr John Lemmone, fl autist, and Mr Wil-liam G. Burrell, accompanist.

She was presented with a bouquet by Scout Pallister, and three hearty cheers were given before the concert opened.

She contributed four songs, which were heard by listeners all over Aus-tralia. She selected “Home, Sweet Home”, “Se Seran Rose”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, and “Ave Mar-ia”, and the storm of applause from her audience came as a confused roar over the wireless at the end of each number.

At the end of the concert, which was the weekly entertainment to the trainees, Dame Nellie Melba was pre-sented with a basket of fl owers, Cap-tain Feakes expressed the deepest ap-preciation of the offi cers and men at the base of the honour done them by

Dame Nellie.In the afternoon, Dame Nellie Melba

inspected the War Memorial Chapel at the base, which is the only naval war memorial in Australia.

There were other Melba connections with the peninsula as it is believed that when looking for a country property she visited and considered Coolart, but obviously went elsewhere. She was also a frequent visitor to the property of Beleura in Mornington.

Dame Nellie Melba died in St Vin-cent’s Hospital, Sydney in 1931, aged 69, of septicaemia. She was given an elaborate funeral from Scots’ Church, Melbourne, which her father had built and where as a teenager she had sung in the choir.

The funeral motorcade was over a kilometre long, and her death made front-page headlines in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Europe. Billboards in many countries said simply “Melba is dead”.

Dame Nellie Melba was buried in the cemetery at Lilydale, near Cold-stream. Her headstone bears Mimi’s farewell words: “Addio, senza rancor” (Farewell, without bitterness).

Courtesy of Somers Paper Nautilus with exerpts from ‘The Argus’ Febru-ary 23, 1927.

The day Dame Nellie Melba came to CerberusThe day Dame Nellie Melba came to Cerberus

Photos clockwise from above:The crying baby: Val Stevens at home at the Bittern retirement Village.Iconic fi gure: Dame Nellie Melba.A cartoon from the time: The incident was noted by Somers resident, the late Harry HarlowLocal appearance: Dame Nellie Melba with the Sea Cadet Ccrp outside the Flinders Naval Depot Drill Hall. (Photo from Doug Churcher of Hastings and courtesy of The Balnarring Historical Society).

PAGE 16 Mornington News 30 June 2011

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MAMMA Mia, there is a new show in town for the children during the July school holidays and it’s sure to be a winner.

The Babba Children’s Show is a school holiday treat with a meet and greet where mums, dads and children of all ages can enjoy a spine-tingling live experience with all the glitz and glam of the 1970s.

Complete with Swedish accents, fabulous costumes, classic dance moves and the sensational songs of Abba. So come join Babba and special guest Melody from Hey Dee Ho Music for a morning of sensational entertainment.

Where: Peninsula Community Theatre,

corner Wilsons Rd and Nepean Hwy, Mornington.

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Running time: About 70 minutes including meet and greet

Catering: Coffee, drinks and light snacks.

Tickets: $17, 12 months and under are free of charge.

Tickets can be booked through the Mornington Peninsula Tourist Centre on 5987 3078 or online at www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org

Calling all little dancing queensCalling all little dancing queens

Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 17

By Stuart McCulloughIT was with genuine sadness that I heard you were breaking up. In such a modern way, too. No farewell album or fi nal victory lap around the nation to say goodbye to the hoards of concertgoers who would most certainly be keen to see you one more time. Instead, all we got was a note on your website. It told us that after nearly 20 years you were putting the band into ‘indefi nite hibernation’. Although hibernation is, by defi nition, not indefi nite, it’s still probably fair enough. Given that you were barely old enough to ride in the front seat of a sedan when you started, no one could really deny you the right to call it a day.

I can remember where I was when I fi rst saw you – I was still at university, living in a share house in St Kilda. The members of the house played together in a band. It was 1994 and grunge was at its zenith. We, however, did not play grunge music – we were a funk band. In 1994, this was roughly the equivalent of showing up to school in a pair of bell-bottom trousers. A television show called Nomad was running a band demo-tape competition. This, of course, was back when bands still had demo tapes, and didn’t simply post everything online and hope for the best.

I can’t recall if we entered. I do, however, remember watching as the winners were announced and being slightly insulted at the fact that you were too young to shave. I think I was determined to hate you. When they played Tomorrow, it was clear that you

were still getting the hang of how to play your instruments, but then there was the matter of that remarkable voice. It was a better voice than a 14-year-old can rightly possess.

I wasn’t the only one who wanted to stick the boots in – you faced derision from all quarters. Some called you ‘Nirvana in Pajamas’. Even Courtney Love had an opinion. (Then again, you could probably say ‘even Courtney Love had an opinion’ about pretty

much anything and stand a reasonable change of being right.) However, Courtney Love aside, you stayed together and made better and better albums without seeming to suffer the inglorious slide into obscurity that befalls so many who fi nd fame at a young age.

I’m sad to see you go for a few reasons, but for now I’ll try and focus on the positives. When bands break up, it’s as good a reason as any to

listen to a few of their CDs. It also means that tribute bands can now pretty much go for broke. I don’t know about you, but personally I prefer my tribute bands with a bit of a twist. I am frankly dying to get along to my local beer barn to hear Hi Ho Silverchair perform your songs in a country and western style. Then there’s the all Sri Lankan DaSilvachair, who will shortly be touring the east coast. My absolute favourite, however, remains Salvochair – where your tunes are performed by the Salvation Army brass band. Those guys rock.

So what exactly have you left us? Five albums in all. Well done, too, for having the good taste to spare us the Live at the Budokan double CD that record companies used to issue to test audience loyalty while simultaneously lightening their wallets. All in all, you delivered on most of rock and roll’s key performance indicators. High profi le romance and bust up? Check. Career-threatening illness and triumphant comeback? Double check. Unexpected artistic left turns? You better believe it. If there’s an omission it’s that you failed to give us a decent rockumentary.

When I say ‘rockumentary’ I don’t mean the 20 minutes of footage of the band fooling around in the studio that’s thrown in as a bonus with the remastered version of your album or a short fi lm that’s little more than a long-form advertisement. I mean a warts and all, white-knuckle ride through the very worst that the human experience has to offer. Even Metallica managed to give us that much. While I think of

it, you could do worse than to drop a line to Metallica’s therapist – the one with the colourful sweaters – perhaps he could convince you to reconsider the whole ‘indefi nite hibernation’ thing.

I think I’m sad in that you’re almost the last of an era. In the 1990s, bands like Regurgitator, The Fauves, You Am I and This Is Serious Mum gave us great music – it was almost an embarrassment of riches. But as the years have rolled on, these bands have mostly broken up or simply vanished. It may show my age, but the new bands don’t seem half as good. In fact, the worst thing I can say about modern music is that it is dull beyond belief. Bands today are unlikely to release a song as interesting as (You’ll Never Be An) Old Man River, Dogs Are the Best People or I Like Your Old Stuff Better than Your New Stuff. (I know that titles weren’t your strength, but what you lacked in memorable titles, you compensated with melody.)

So long, Silverchair – best wishes for whatever you decide to do next. I mean it. But on a practical note, if after a couple of weeks at home any of you fi nd yourselves at a loose end, can I interest you in joining the Black Metallic Pearl Effect? We haven’t rehearsed yet, so I can’t really tell you what we sound like. I’d probably guess a bit of a mix between Regurgitator, The Fauves, You Am I and This Is Serious Mum. We will not, however, be playing funk. That is, not unless you think we should.www.stuartmccullough.com

An open letter to SilverchairAn open letter to Silverchair

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786 esplanade, morningtonwww.harba.com.auinfo@harba.com.au

PAGE 18 Mornington News 30 June 2011

AS one of 46 per cent of Mornington Peninsula voters who did not vote Liberal at the federal election, I feel obliged to give Julia some advice. Prior to dumping Kevvy you were a popular deputy PM. Now, with two years to run as Prime Minister, you are sinking fast; quicksand. The Opposi-tion may be just as hopeless, but this does not alter the fact. So consider the option of sinking with your head held high. Go all out for a carbon tax to reduce emissions as Australia’s contri-bution to a possible solution to climate change. Equally as vigorously tackle the asylum seekers debate with a clear aim of not only dealing with these unfortunate people with a degree of morality, but also hopefully enhancing our reputation as a nation doing our best to share this world problem.

***THE feud between the Police Asso-ciation and Simon Overland remains a mystery to us mere mortals. Previous-ly it was Paul Mullett versus Christine Nixon, then Greg Davies (with help of the Herald Sun) versus Simon Over-land, pushing the notion that they were both “outsiders”. If considered so,

why didn’t this same branding apply to Sir Ken, all the way from England? Sir Ken is a fellow of the highest in-tegrity and we appreciated his advice on matters pertaining to our police force. I urge our Premier (and Greg Davies) to convey our thanks and best wishes for a successful future in the “old country”. Unless they want him back, heaven forbid? Why do they re-fer to him as Sir Ken? Why not Ken Jones? Respect? I see, I think? Fare-well Simon.

***UNCOMMON sense is drowning us. My mate Eddie, top Magpie repre-senting my black and white boys, sets himself up as the sole arbiter of what can be said and not said at a football match, and follows up by brazenly giving an interview justifying his ac-tions, a la Malthouse. I realise you go to great lengths to be loved, Eddie mate, but in the process of fame it’s necessary to have a reality check on a regular basis. You’re not invincible, Eddie. Beware.

***WE have among us three types of both male and females who form part of

the fabric of our everyday lives, never forgetting the fourth type, the major-ity (the goodies) like you and I. First the insignifi cant smart alec who struts around with an infl ated ego, but is eas-ily dodged, easily recognised and gen-erally harmless.The second is of course the smart arse; more dangerous, more cunning, mostly, but not easily recognised, and always capable in the area of bad-mouthing anyone who challenges, however unwittingly, their self-infl at-ed often false opinion. They spend much of their spare time believing everything editorialised in the Herald Sun.The third type represents the real dan-ger. There is no name for them. They are one of us, ever so nice to the “right” people, often handsome/pretty, free with compliments. They travel with as many faces as necessary and work undercover, ever scheming to under-mine all opposition to their ambitions, which can take the form of a job, a social network or simply their own family network. Most of us take these types at face value. They run rampart throughout the arts, the public service, politics and any situation where there are less jobs and more people avail-

able. Even if warned we may only fi nd the truth after the busy bee has stung, if at all. Most of us think we can pick them. Most of us cannot.

***TO state health minister David Davis: by all means bring in the plain pack-aging on cigarettes; ban smoking in outdoor areas of cafes if you must, but please, I beg of you, stop this propa-ganda about passive smoking based on unconfi rmed pseudo research. Ei-ther that or ban motor vehicles. I’m in danger of sounding like Derryn Hinch, worse still Neil Mitchell. Yuk!

***CAT on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams with my fi rst love Elizabeth (Taylor) and my lookalike Paul (New-man). Big Daddy (Burl Ives) was worth $10 million in cash and securi-ties ($1 billion today) and had 200,000 acres of prime beef land all to go to Paul when Big Daddy carked it, which was not long off (even though he had a brother, Jack Carson). Was Paul happy? Not a bit of it. All he wanted was Big Daddy’s love. He was fester-ing because Big Daddy had never told him that he loved him. Fascinating. Come to think of it, I’ve never told my 47-year-old son either. Too late now.

He’ll know anyway when he has to fork out for my funeral.

***TRUTH? I approach the RSL bar to order a pot of draught beer and the gorgeous barmaid (barman?) says “How are you today?” I can’t very well say “Well, darling, I’m in denial about the uncertainty of my future and the constancy of loneliness”. So I say “Good, how are you?” And darling re-plies likewise. That’s life.“The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will col-lect themselves more and more teach-ers who will tell them what they are itching to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3)Why is it that every winter females rush to make pea and ham soup?Adios.cliffi e9@bigpond.com

A Grain of Salt

with Cliff Ellen

JOHN Farnham began his musical ca-reer at age six and was a regular per-former at charity shows around Essex in the United Kingdom with his uncle before John migrated to Australia in 1959.

He became a regular on the TV se-ries Kommotion before landing a con-tract with EMI Records in 1967.

John had his fi rst hit record, Sadie (The Cleaning Lady), the same year and it went to No. 1

A list of hits followed including Underneath the Arches (1967), Rose Coloured Glasses (1968), another No. 1 hit Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (1969), Help (1980) and many more including his huge 1986 hit You’re the Voice.

Whispering Jack, John’s 12th studio album, was released on 20 October 1986. To celebrate Australia’s most successful album, John will embark on a national tour in October – 25 years to the day of the album’s release.

John and his band will perform the fi rst half of the show unplugged fea-turing special versions of some of his biggest hits as never heard before.

The second half of the show will feature his band – Chong Lim, Stuart Fraser, Brett Garsed, Lindsay Field, Angus Burchall, Craig Newman, Bob

Coassin, Steve Williams, Dannielle Gaha and Lisa Edwards – performing for the fi rst time on stage the entire Whispering Jack album, a must-see for any music fan.

Whispering Jack was recorded in Melbourne after John, his manager Glenn Wheatley and award-winning producer Ross Fraser listened to hun-dreds of songs sent in from all over the world.

The iconic album took more than 12 months to make. All involved felt

it was going to be something special. The fi rst single from the album, the anthemic You’re the Voice, restored Farnham to number one for the fi rst time in 17 years.

Whispering Jack became the big-gest-selling Australian album of all time. The hits kept coming with Pres-sure Down, Reasons and A Touch of Paradise.

The album went on to be awarded 24 platinum albums, selling more than 1.7 million copies and spending 26

weeks at the No. 1 spot on the ARIA charts. You’re the Voice also sold a million copies in Europe and reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom.

At the inaugural ARIA awards in Sydney in 1987, Whispering Jack won six Arias for best adult contemporary album, best male artist, highest selling album, highest selling single (You’re the Voice), single of the year, and al-bum of the year. This prompted the awards host, Elton John, to suggest renaming the Arias the ‘John Farnham Awards’.

In 1988, John again picked up best male artist and the prestigious out-standing achievement award based on the success of Whispering Jack.

In the same year, John was named Australian of the Year and was award-ed an Order of Australia.

You’re the Voice became one of the standout No. 1 songs on the Australian charts of the 1980s and still remains a staple of Australian radio.

Whispering Jack restarted John’s career and kept it rolling across two more decades.

It was the best charting album in Australia in the 1980s decade, ahead of such greats as Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell, Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, The Best of Abba and Michael Jack-

son’s Thriller.It was appropriate that Whispering

Jack was the fi rst Australian-made al-bum to be released on CD in Australia.

The story continues with the 2011 tour, Whispering Jack … 25 Years On.

John Farnham will perform at the Palais Theatre on Wednesday 9 and Friday 11 November. Tickets on sale now 136 100.

www.johnfarnham.com.au

Top 10 albums1 From You – Daniela Corso2 The Road from Memphis – Booker

T. Jones3 Philharmonics – Agnes Obel 4 Destination Now – The Potbelleez5 Whispering Jack – John Farnham6 Hard Bargain – Emmylou Harris7 Clapton – Eric Clapton8 101 Power Ballads – Various9 A Treasure – Neil Young10 Old Paint – Gina Jeffreys

Entertainment

with Gary Turner

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Mornington News 30 June 2011 PAGE 19

The most ridiculous and strange, fresh

for you...Once there was a millionaire, who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful daughter who was single. One day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he an-

nounces, “My dear guests . . . I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man who can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge alive!”

As soon as he fi nished his last word, there was the sound of a large splash!! There was one guy in the pool swimming with all he could and screaming out of fear. The crowd cheered him on as he kept stroking as though he was running for his life. Finally, he made it to the other side with only a torn shirt and some minor injuries. The millionaire was impressed.

He said, “My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well I must keep my end of the bar-gain. Do you want my daughter or the one million dollars?”

The guy says, “Listen, I don’t want your money, nor do I want your daughter! I want the person who pushed me in that water!”

Sudoku Solution

RIddle SolutionJoke!!!ANSWER:

The letter ‘e’.

A DECADE ago former jockey Nor-man Waymouth seemed doomed to a miserable existence.

Norman, a member of one of the Morn ington Peninsula’s best-known horse racing families, crashed heavily when a horse he was riding collapsed and died underneath him.

His extensive injuries included three fractured bones in his neck and two in his back.

The initial diagnosis was he would not walk again, but Norman refused to accept that fate.

After leaving hospital he embarked on a vigorous recovery and rehabilita-tion program.

It was not easy, but he refused to give up and now is being rewarded for his courage and persistence.

His return to health has enabled him to follow in the footsteps of his late father, who became a successful trainer after retiring as a jockey.

Although he only has a few horses in his care, Norman notched up his

fi rst winner as a trainer with Summer Dream at last week’s meet ing at Mor-n ington.

Speaking of winners, Tara Taggart, wife of VRC Oaks-winning jockey David, recorded her fi rst win as a train er when Queimada Grande scored at Pakenham last Sunday.

A noted mudlark, Queimada Grande lead all the way and won by 6.5 lengths; there could be more wins in store while the tracks remain heavy.

Another mudlark that continues to be worth following is the David Brideoake-trained Dance With Her. The four-year-old brought up her third

consecutive win, at Moonee Valley last Saturday, and indications are she is ready to step up in grade.

Mornington-trained Koonoo moo is yet to win a race, but her turn may not be far away. She was heavily backed when just failing to catch the in-form Follonica over 1000 metres on her home track.

As she strives for her fi rst victory, it is in Koonoomoo’s favour that she handles all conditions and should be a good bet the next time she steps out.

As expected, Stratcombe again un-der lined his promise when he cruising to the post at Mornington. Quick to hit stride, he always had his older rivals covered and gives every impression he’ll be winning black type races in the coming season.

Upbeat, who is trained at Caulfi eld by Anthony Cummings, has been im-pressive at his past two starts. After winning on a heavy track at Kyneton, he ran into trouble when a slashing second behind the speedy Secret Hills and a city win doesn’t seem far away.

Now that she has had two runs af-ter a spell, Procida, who is trained at Cranbourne by Robbie Griffi ths, is go-ing to be hard to beat when she takes on a longer journey.

Stepping out over 1200 metres at Moonee Valley last Saturday, she po-wered home from last to fi nish third behind heavily backed favourite Gold-en Penny.

Dubai prince Sheikh Mohammed, who has the biggest team racing in Australia, has another winner coming through the ranks in three-year-old Chasse. When having his second Vic-torian start this campaign, he charged home to fi nish second over 1500 me-tres at Moonee Valley and will obvi-ously appreciate racing over more ground and on a larger circuit.

A progressive mare who caught the eye at Moonee Valley was Minou. Un-fancied at 20/1 in a competitive race, the four-year-old settled last early and was then forced wide on straightening, but still hit the line with gusto to grab fourth over 1200 metres.

Look for her to winning her share of races over the next few months.

Others to follow in the weeks ahead are: Beau Baron, Summer Dream, You’rejokingme, Glenburnie Dane, Moment To Savour, Rhiannon’s Joy and Tuskegee Bomber.

Best: Koonoomoo.

Norman Waymouth notches first training winNorman Waymouth notches first training win

Summer arrives early: Norman Waymouth-trained Summer Dream with Ibrahim Gundogdu aboard salutes at Mornington last Monday, Waymouth’s fi rst win as a trainer and a reward for courage and persistence after a shocking racing accident 10 years ago. Picture: Slickpix

TELEVISION commentators better hope Rye’s champion junior footballer Luke Davies-Uniacke picks up a nick-name on his rise to the top.

Otherwise his unusual last name will be a mouthful for the likes of Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney as the young man grabs the ball at a centre bounce, baulks a fl eet of small men and dashes toward the goal.

Luke has climbed another rung on his way to the top following his selec-tion in the under-12 team to represent Victoria at the School Sport Austra-lia Championships in Canberra in July.

He joins Aaron Darling of Balnar-ring Thunder under-12s.

Gus Wettenhall of Rye Primary School said Luke is muscly, tall for his age, quick and “a good bloke”.

“He couldn’t play in our winter light-

ning premiership due to a foot injury but was a fantastic support for all our other players,” he said.

“He is a great role model to his fel-low students at school and an inspira-tion to other players at his club.”

Mr Wettenhall said Luke was se-lected after outstanding performances at local, regional and the state level trials where he trained and competed against thousands of other grade 5 and 6 boys from across the state.

“Luke’s combination of size, strength, speed and skill caught the eye of selectors and set him apart from the crowd.”

Luke will fl y to Canberra with his teammates and coaches in late July and will compete against students from ACT, NSW, NT, Queensland, SA and WA.

Luke is in grade 6 at Rye primary and plays junior footy for Rye Football Club.

He won the under-11 Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League and his club’s best and fairest award for the 2010 season.

Luke also plays representative bas-ketball for Southern Peninsula Sharks and was selected to try out for the country Victorian basketball team but was unable to attend due to his football commitments.

Rye’s junior champ Rye’s junior champ off to Canberraoff to Canberra

Footy prodigy: Luke Davies-Uniacke of Rye has been selected to wear the Big V football jumper when Victoria’s under-12s take on the nation in Canberra in late July, aiming to win a fourth consecu-tive title

PAGE 20 Mornington News 30 June 2011

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