Bass Coast Post
  • Home
    • Home February 13
  • News
    • Point of view
    • View from the chamber
  • Coastal Connections
  • Bass Coast Prize
  • Writers
    • Anne Davie
    • Anne Heath Mennell
    • Bob Middleton
    • Carolyn Landon
    • Catherine Watson
    • Ed Thexton
    • Etsuko Yasunaga
    • Frank Coldebella
    • Geoff Ellis
    • Gill Heal
    • Joan Woods
    • John Coldebella
    • Jordan Crugnale
    • Julie Statkus
    • Kit Sleeman
    • Laura Brearley
    • Lauren Burns
    • Liane Arno
    • Linda Cuttriss
    • Linda Gordon
    • Lisa Schonberg
    • Liz Low
    • Marian Quigley
    • Mark Robertson
    • Mary Whelan
    • Meryl Brown Tobin
    • Michael Whelan
    • Mikhaela Barlow
    • Miriam Strickland
    • Natasha Williams-Novak
    • Patsy Hunt
    • Pauline Wilkinson
    • Phil Wright
    • Robert Scott
    • Terri Allen
    • Tim Shannon
  • Features
    • Features 2020
  • Arts
  • Local history
  • Environment
  • Special interest
    • Birdwatching >
      • Birdwatching
    • A cook's journal
    • Foreign Correspondent
    • Gardening
  • Comments
    • Comments 2020
  • Community
    • Diary
    • Courses
    • Groups
  • Contact us

Pamela Rothfield Q&A

16/9/2020

14 Comments

 
PictureThe new Bass Coast councillors, November, 2016. Pamela Rothfield, front row, second from left, was elected by her fellow councillors to serve the first two years as mayor.
Former Bass Coast mayor and departing councillor reflects on the achievements, the surprises, the frustrations, the naysayers, and the challenges ahead.

Bass Coast Post: When you decided to stand in 2016, what did you hope to achieve?

Pamela Rothfield: My campaign in 2016 was based on a Better Deal for the Island. I believed, being an “outsider looking in”, that Phillip Island and San Remo did not receive equity in relation to the investment in capital works compared to the rates paid. Once on the “inside” I pushed for the only way I could see to secure decent capital works projects – through advocacy as Council just did not have the funds. ​


Read More
14 Comments

Get ready for action

29/5/2020

4 Comments

 
PictureBrett Tessari
By Brett Tessari
 
The shutdown of international tourism has hit Bass Coast hard. With more than one in three jobs in our shire directly or indirectly reliant on tourism, more than 1200 local jobs had disappeared by the end of April.
 
A lot of businesses have shut their doors and some may not open again. Difficult times lie ahead for many people.
 
So it’s really important that we – the council, businesses and individuals – take advantage of any opportunities that come our way. And believe me, they are already happening.
 


Read More
4 Comments

A time to spend

16/4/2020

5 Comments

 
PictureCapital projects such as the $20m Cowes Cultural Centre will be the key to rebuilding Bass Coast’s devastated economy after the COVID-19 crisis.
By Michael Whelan
 
THE COVID-19 crisis poses a global health management challenge whilst concurrently pulling down our social, financial and commercial structures. The cost of control is immense but the horror of an out-of-control pandemic is truly frightening. I am comforted by the willingness of the Government to accept the science on this disaster.
 
Locally, Bass Coast Health’s leadership has put us in good stead to manage an outbreak of the disease and I’m pleased with the municipal emergency arrangements led by council. This has rightly been the priority at this stage.


Read More
5 Comments

Closer to the edge

3/4/2020

6 Comments

 
PictureThe clock is ticking as workers race to complete protection work on Inverloch beach before the storm season.
By Cr Geoff Ellis
​

IN OUR brave new world the sign says this beach is closed. People rightly meander past and on the beach a scattered few keep their distance as they navigate around boulders and freshly cut caterpillar tracks.
 
Red bunting regulates a worksite. Within that insecure boundary, heaps of sacrificial sand keep the tide at bay as giant diggers fill giant sand bags to build a wall. Behind that wall are the narrow remains of a dune that once stretched 30 metres to the water’s distant edge.
 
The Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club cowers behind those bags. It makes sense to have such clubs near the water but this one is now far too close. As that protective dune diminished the general public, along with some experts, said that only rock, and lots of it, could save the clubhouse.
 
The multi-agency group that is responsible for the foreshore considered all the options. A geotextile wall was their preference.


Read More
6 Comments

Such arrogance!

19/3/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
No place to hide: Google Earth shows the foreshore encroachment by some Grantville landowners.
By Cr Bruce Kent
 
A LOWLIGHT of the month for me was a walk along the Grantville beach with members of the foreshore committee.
 
Someone has put in a boat ramp. The tree removal is atrocious. People are cutting their own tracks so they can have a view of the water.
 
The boat ramp astounded me. The arrogance of some of our residents! Just so they can have what they believe is a better lifestyle.
 
I can tell them when the water comes through their back door they’ll realise they’ve done something wrong
PictureCr Bruce Kent
The foreshore committee is doing a fantastic job down there to try and save the foreshore. They’re getting in there and using their own equipment. What we saw was fantastic in regards to the walks they’ve built there and repaired.
 
But it is so hard to hold these members of the public responsible without catching them red handed. I ask the public to step forward.
 
If you see your neighbours doing the wrong thing, please contact the council.
 
This is an edited transcript of Cr Bruce Kent’s monthly report at Bass Coast Shire Council’s monthly meeting on Wednesday.


Read More
1 Comment

​Mum’s the word on special day

24/10/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
Cr Pamela Rothfield, left, looks unimpressed as Cr Les Larke, right, accuses activists of desecrating Mothers' Day.
By Catherine Watson
 
A BASS Coast councillor’s invocation of the spirit of motherhood to denounce local climate activists backfired when the two mothers amongst his council colleagues turned on him.

On Mothers’ Day, members of a small group called Xtinction Rebellion Gippsland held a short vigil for Mother Nature outside the Inverloch hub in response to a UN report that a million species are at risk of extinction as a result of climate change.

Read More
3 Comments

Democracy… what’s that?

18/10/2019

0 Comments

 
PictureCr Les Larke
Councillor accuses Bass Coast Council of "authoritarian" leadership in its declaration of a climate emergency. ​

​By Cr Les Larke
 
COUNCIL decided not to rescind the climate emergency governance resolution of 21 August 2019 or allow debate thereon. In that regard, Council had been called upon to show leadership in relation to climate change. I agree, and let me illustrate the difference between two styles of leadership, namely autocratic and democratic leadership.


Read More
0 Comments

How do you like that view?

27/9/2019

6 Comments

 
Picture
Erecting large signs to block the view will put a dampener on property owners who cut down trees on adjacent public land, writes Cr Stephen Fullarton


Read More
6 Comments

The people have spoken

13/9/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
Inverloch's beach erosion issues and shared pathway have nothing to do with each other, argues Cr Les Larke.

By Cr Les Larke

BASS Coast Shire Council recognises the importance of being community driven for the purpose of improving the overall quality of life of people in the local community.
In that regard, let me illustrate a few points on the community consultation results in relation to the Surf Parade shared pathway extension:
  • A letter was sent to all Inverloch property owners
  • A wide range of other engagement methods were used including targeted community group sessions, pop up tents, Facebook and other forms of social media and online survey conducted.
  • A high level of submissions were received
  • The result of the overall community consultation was overwhelmingly 73% in favour of the recommended Surf Parade pathway extension option 2.


Read More
3 Comments

This one's for Seamus, Eliza and Thomas

29/8/2019

9 Comments

 
PictureCr Michael Whelan and grandson Thomas
By Cr Michael Whelan
 
THERE are three reasons why I’m passionate about action on climate change. Their names are Seamus, Eliza and Thomas, and they’re my grandchildren. Little Thomas and his peers around the world have got more at stake in this business than anyone in this room. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about trying to turn this around because we are heading to disaster if we don’t.

​This is an incredibly important issue because we are facing an existential crisis in the world. Business as usual won’t do it. We’re already seeing the consequences of 1 degree of global warming. Locally we’ve lost almost 50 metres of coastline at Inverloch. Cowes East is under attack. What’s happening at Jam Jerrup is scaring the hell out of the locals.



Read More
9 Comments

New chapter for Grantville

20/7/2019

29 Comments

 
Picture
A new Waterline library in Grantville is a vote of confidence in the area, writes Cr Geoff Ellis.


Read More
29 Comments

Moving mountains of waste

20/6/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
With China’s ban on mixed waste imports, Australia’s recycling system is in crisis. Amidst the gloom, however, Cr Pamela Rothfield sees plenty of reason for optimism.  


Read More
2 Comments

Planning certainty essential

18/4/2019

7 Comments

 
Picture
Clear guidelines on development in Bass Coast will help us balance growth and protection of what we most value, writes Mayor Brett Tessari


Read More
7 Comments

We've got work to do

21/3/2019

6 Comments

 
Picture
Jobseekers are being punished for being unemployed, writes Cr Michael Whelan, and the rest of us need to speak up on their behalf.


Read More
6 Comments

Study hub a game changer

8/3/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
By Cr Brett Tessari
 
THE new senior campus of Wonthaggi Secondary College will be up and running by 2020. And if everything goes our way, we could also see a new university campus.
 
The idea is a central hub set up for anyone who wants to do any course Australia wide. Any university can come and utilise the facilities. Anyone who’s enrolled in a university can use the facilities. They can use it remotely, they can come and do one course, and the universities might send down people to lecture on certain occasions.


Read More
1 Comment

​Time and tide

4/2/2019

14 Comments

 
Picture
After 10 years, the sand has stabilised and vegetation has returned behind the rock wall at Jam Jerrup. The story is very different at either end of the wall.
By Cr Geoff Ellis
​
AROUND a decade ago, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) turned the Jam Jerrup foreshore into a science experiment. The aim was to determine if a rock wall would hold back the forces of nature better than groynes or mangroves.

Read More
14 Comments

What I learned

29/11/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Former mayor Pamela Rothfield pays tribute to retiring CEO Paul Buckley and winces at the memory of her first combative exchanges with him.


Read More
1 Comment

A new chapter

15/11/2018

13 Comments

 
Picture
Farewelling our much loved mobile library is a wrench, writes Cr Geoff Ellis, but there has to be a better way to deliver library services to our small communities.


Read More
13 Comments

Taking charge

19/10/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
It's up to councillors to set the direction of the council and the CEO to follow, writes Cr Les Larke


Read More
1 Comment

Where are the women?

13/9/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
We need more women in positions of power everywhere, writes Cr Michael Whelan, starting with our own council.


Read More
1 Comment

You can lean on them

30/8/2018

5 Comments

 
Picture
Cr Bruce Kent salutes our volunteers, from the men and women who turn out to help at an accident scene on a winter night to those who run our hall committees and manage our foreshores.


Read More
5 Comments

The change starts here

16/8/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
The murder of a young woman at Cowes prompted an outpouring of grief and a determination to tackle family violence in our community, writes Cr Pamela Rothfield.


Read More
2 Comments

Battle of the back yards

20/7/2018

21 Comments

 
Picture
Cr Geoff Ellis throws down the gauntlet in defence of the humble battle-axe block.


Read More
21 Comments

A test of our character

4/7/2018

3 Comments

 
Picture
Want to know what Bass Coast could be like in 20 years? Look at the Mornington Peninsula, writes Cr Julian Brown.


Read More
3 Comments

The rubbish sorters

14/6/2018

3 Comments

 
Picture
As our own mountains of plastic and cardboard grow, Cr Geoff Ellis finds plenty to admire in the South Korean approach to recycling almost everything.


Read More
3 Comments
<<Previous