Melbourne’s Playground
I was first elected to Council in November 2008. I have a strong passion for my local area, and the broader Mornington Peninsula. The Mornington Peninsula is one of the most beautiful municipalities in Australia. We are a large municipality (720 square kilometres), more than 70 percent of our Shire is rural in nature, and we have more than 190 kilometres of coastline (10 percent of Victoria’s total). We have a permanent population of around 150,000, and we attract more than one million tourists and visitors each year.
We are known as Melbourne’s playground – the place where Melbournians like to escape for weekends and holidays. We also have a large older population; we’re a very popular place for people to retire to. Apart from the natural beauty, the variety of fresh food and produce is fantastic. There’s nothing better than being able to buy your produce fresh from the farm.
Fighting suburban sprawl
As Melbourne grows, we need to ensure that the Peninsula does not become ‘suburbanised’. We are close to Melbourne, but we don’t want to become part of Melbourne. It is a challenge to maintain the beautiful landscape and rural lifestyle and preserve the rural assets from loss due to population expansion into sensitive areas. Protecting the Peninsula from inappropriate development is important to me. We are a beautiful, unique part of the world and I want to keep it that way for future generations. I am thrilled that the State Government has confirmed that the Peninsula will shortly get its own localised Planning Statement that will protect the much-loved character and amenity of the Peninsula for years to come.
Ageing population
Two innovative projects that are really beneficial to our community are our Positive Ageing Strategy and Scooter Policy. The Peninsula has a very large, and expanding, population of older citizens, and it’s vitally important that we do everything we can to help them ‘age in place’ – to remain living independently in their own homes for as long as possible. The Positive Ageing Strategy aims to enhance the physical, intellectual, psychological and social wellbeing of our community elders.
We’ve also just adopted a Scooter Policy, which helps people with mobility issues who rely on scooters and other motorised aides to get around. We’ve developed maps of towns to show people the safest routes to access shops and other services, and have already signed up a number of local businesses who provide free scooter recharge points.
I believe being a good listener and communicator and having the ability to evaluate facts quickly leading to a workable decision are the key aspects of being a good councillor, along with a strong commitment to the community. The best advice I’ve received is to keep the best interest of the majority of the people you represent as a priority. I have a variety of artistic interests, I particularly like to paint, and a memorable moment on Council was hosting the 2013 Archibald Prize exhibition at our Regional Gallery. I sincerely thank the Art Gallery of NSW for the wonderful opportunity.
