Frankston Roundtable Director's
Report 2004–05
Our mission is to deliver the Man and the Biosphere Program objectives in the Frankston local government region. We have worked hard to do so.
Our activities this year have included:
- Bob Edgar who was part of the early Landcare team, speaking about projects he and his Rotary team are involved with rebuilding an agricultural college.
- A presentation by Dr David Nichols from Chisholm Institute on the methodology of "Landscape Species Approach" and how it might be used locally to determine conservation priorities.
- A presentation by Dr Jim Radford of Deakin University on a $3 million research project that looked at wildlife mapping and conservation in a peri-urban environment.
- The team from Dramatic Solutions for Human Communications gave
a very
hands-on presentation on the art of advocacy, and the roundtable has
requested that a full workshop be held next year. - Mark Fleming demonstrated the proposed web site.
- David Buntine, executive officer of the Port Phillip and Westernport
Catchment Management Authority gave a presentation on the work of his CMA. - In partnership with Frankston City Council, we judged the sustainability category of the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston Business Awards for a second year. Our nomination also won the overall award. Jeff Weir undertook the inspections.
- Our bandicoot sub-committee, chaired by Rhys Walkley, worked with the Research Committee in the preparation of an $850,000 research proposal entitled "Restoring Biodiversity to a Biosphere Reserve — Implementing the National Recovery Plan for the Southern Brown Bandicoot". Our application for funding was unsuccessful, but the project has commenced and some very important partnerships have been consolidated. El Bruzzese, Dave Nichols, Terry Coats and others must be thanked for their extraordinary endeavours and the quality of the partnerships they cobbled together. The support of the CMA, Greenhouse Alliance, RMIT, ARCUE, Chisholm, the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula local governments, the Peninsula Country Club and the Frankston Friends Network for this project was enormously encouraging. So to was that of Mark Stone from Parks Victoria and, at local level, the direct on-ground involvement of Dave Hasnip and Tim Schneider. Steve Llewellyn from Frankston City Council has worked closely with them.
- The strength of the commitment of our partners was again evident when we co-hosted the highly successful Climate Change Forum. Speakers included Dr Graeme Pearman (keynote), Rachel Weaver from Frankston City Council and Jack Holden from the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
- The Frankston Roundtable has been working with other agencies to explore the launch of the Suzuki Nature Challenge in Frankston.
- Members with specialist expertise have made themselves available for a number of focus groups and strategic planning efforts, including the Solar Cities bid and the Western Port Greenhouse Alliance's draft education strategy.
- The roundtable has set up a local communications sub-committee comprising Sharon Willoughby (Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne), Sally Edwards and Donna Mongan (Frankston City Council). One of its first jobs is to liaise with an honours student, Catherine O'Brien, supervised by Sharron Pfueller from Monash University. Catherine is conducting a survey on barriers to participation in pro-environmental activities. In the new year, the communications sub-committee will be launching a community engagement initiative in support of the bandicoot research proposal and the Friends of the Pines Reserve.
We have worked closely with Frankston City Council, whose moral, financial and physical support for our activities has been critical to our success. Our special thanks are extended to Steve Gawler, Peter Fitchett, Rachael Weaver, Donna Mongan, Mark Batty and Michael Craighead, all of whom have shown faith in the new territory that we are exploring. So too should we thank Heinz Reitmeir, our treasurer, and James Dooly, our secretary.
We look forward to an even bigger year.
Alison Kuiter (Convenor)
Jim Kerin (Director)