December 2011 - Mornington Peninsula Business Online

Contacts
Shane Murphy,
Manager Economic Development
Ph: (03) 5950 1843
E: shane.murphy@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Tania Treasure,
Team Leader
Ph: (03) 5950 1845
E: tania.treasure@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Gillian Stewart,
Rural Business Offi cer
Ph: (03) 5950 1833
E: gillian.stewart@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Kerri Polites,
Project Offi cer
Ph: (03) 5950 1842
E: kerri.polites@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Karen Gibbons,
Project Offi cer
Ph: (03) 5950 1855
E: karen.gibbons@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Bianca Lord,
Project Offi cer
Ph: (03) 5950 1841
E: bianca.lord@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Economic Development Unit
Mornington Peninsula Shire
Private Bag 1000
Rosebud 3939
F: (03) 5950 1840
E: business@mornpen.vic.gov.au
www.mornpen.vic.gov.au and
www.mpbonline.com.au
Thursday evening, October 20 saw over 200 guests attend the inaugural
presentation evening at the Mornington Racing Club for the Frankston and
Mornington Peninsula Excellence in Business Awards 2011. Host council,
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Mayor Cr Graham Pittock opened the evening
where all category fi nalists, winners and the overall winner were announced.
The awards sought to encourage and acknowledge business excellence and
the important role the business community plays within the municipalities of
Frankston City and Mornington Peninsula Shire. Over 70 businesses entered
the awards, showcasing a vast array of industries across both councils making it
extremely diffi cult for judges to shortlist and determine overall winners. Michael
Curtain of the Small Business Mentoring Service said six judges, including himself,
were impressed with the nominees’ endless passion and commitment to their
work and their community.
‘‘We went for an hour and were lucky to get away in an-hour-and-a-half. All of us
felt privileged to meet these businesses and be involved in the awards.’’
All category fi nalists received a cash prize of $1000 and the overall winner received
$5000.
A special award was presented by both Mayors to an upcoming business to
recognise their potential. The winners: Nicky’s Art/Happy Hero (Frankston City
Council) and Learn2Jog (Mornington Peninsula Shire) received $500 and four
sessions with a business mentor from the Small Business Mentoring Service.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Graham Pittock said it’s important for the local
Councils to work together to achieve common outcomes, such as the holding of
these awards.
“We see these awards as helping to encourage innovation, business excellence,
continual improvement and good corporate citizenship for the local businesses
within the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula area.
Recognition from the business community is greatly valued amongst your own
community and its peers - as I well know - being a business owner myself, so I
sincerely congratulate all entrants, fi nalists and winners,” he said.
Retail
category
winners -
Austplant
Nursery
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 1

Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 2

Peninsula Space for Short article.... Film ? Festival
Rosebud’s former Broadway cinema roared back to life with
the inaugural Peninsula Short Film Festival [PSFF]. 500 cinema
patrons, who came from across Melbourne and interstate were
entranced with a variety of short fi lms from all genres.
Over 100 entries were submitted, and of the top ten fi nalists
seven were Mornington Peninsula entrants. Themes covered
comedy, environment, mental health, modern life, living in a
marginalised world, and social media. The standard of entries was
sensational and augurs well for future contributions.
The organisers of the PSFF have big plans for the event in
future years and the Business Development Team will be again
supporting the organisers in their quest. The Film Festival fulfi ls
a key date in the Shire’s events calendar that will hopefully
grow into a nationally recognised event. Secondly, the PSSF will
encourage budding fi lm makers, writers, producers and directors
into the entertainment arena. This is an industry with great
potential and there is opportunity for new entrants to make a
mark even on the international stage.
Jayco Herald Sun Tour
The MPS sponsored the Queens Stage of this year’s Jayco Herald
Sun Tour cycle race from Sorrento to Arthurs Seat. The gruelling
134 kilomtre race included 3 ascents of Arthurs Seat and this
proved to be a decisive stage of the race and it is an ideal site to
create a special major event..
The carnival atmosphere on Arthurs Seat was fantastic with
several thousand spectators lining the hill just like its famous big
brother Alpes d’eus of the Tour de France. SBS2 covered the
race live with direct feed throughout Australia into New Zealand
and Asia. The social Blog Sites were absolutely enthusiastic about
the event and we hope to create the Mt Panorama of Cycling on
Arthurs Seat. The JHST will emerge as Australia’s pre-eminent
stage cyle race and more importantly be an attractor for cyclist
tourism, an emerging high yied tourism market segment.
Just like the Tour de France, thousands of cyclists will precede, or
follow the route and these cycling tourists are high yield tourists
who will stay in the region and purchase our local produce.
The major winners in the fi rst year were:
1st IPhone Warfare by George & Luke Arnold
2nd Go, Go, Go by Frank Magree
3rd Kevin Is by Matt Mirams
Film buffs, students, families and the general public joined
celebrity judges including Samuel Johnson, Lachy Hulme, David
Reyne, Nash Edgerton, Kaarin Fairfax, Sally Ballieu and John
Molloy to view the 10 shorts selected as fi nalists, with the
winning entry Iphone Warfare by George and Luke Arnold
winning the overall $3,000 prize.
To complement the event the SBS coverage highlighted the
regions attractions surrounding the race route, and the Tourism
Team were responsible for organising the commentary. Many
positive testimonials have been received about the TV coverage
and commentary.
The start of the race in Sorrento became a part of the weekend
festival, and there is great potential to showcase the famous
village in conjunction with the JHST.
Congratulations to all the organisers, Hinterland Tourism
Association for running the Scarecrow Festival, Sorrento
Chamber of Commerce and Beachside Tourism Association for
making the inaugural event such a success and for establishing
the platform to build the event. The pictures clearly show the
family friendly atmosphere that everyone helped to create and
next year will be even better.
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 3

BUILDING THE CONFERENCE, MEETINGS
AND BUSINESS EVENTS MARKET FOR
MORNINGTON PENINSULA
The Mornington Peninsula region has strong appeal as a
conferencing or business events region. Our region’s proximity
to Melbourne as well as the diversity of stunning landscapes
and tourism product offers a perfect solution for companies
seeking to stage a memorable event. Conferences and business
events are typically held mid week and outside the peak
season, often overnight. This market, then, has huge potential
for local tourism businesses wishing to boost occupancy
without impacting their normal peak season visitation trends.
Over the past year, Mornington Peninsula Tourism has engaged
industry on a journey to assess the true potential of the
business events market for this region. In late 2010, MPT
formed a Steering Group to identify:
• Current markets for conferencing and business
events;
• Current trends in group size and venue facilities
catering to this market;
• Likely impacts on this market in immediate future;
• Challenges faced by providers of conferencing and
business events;
The Steering Group also carried out a regional research trip
and site visit to determine similar operations in the Bellarine /
Geelong /Surf Coast area and conducted interviews with local
operators over there and with Geelong Otway Tourism staff.
The Steering Group consisted of some Councillors, Council
Staff and MPT Board members – ably led by David Breadmore
of BST Consulting.
Attendees at the workshop during a breakout session
After this 3-phase study, the Steering Group arrived at some
recommendations to more effectively target this important
Business Events and Conferencing Market. Findings were then
shared at a Forum with member MPT businesses working in
this important sector. The group voted to continue to meet as
a group in order to develop a 3 Year Business Events Strategy
for the Mornington Peninsula region. Mary Maddock was
engaged as facilitator to to lead the group in discussion to
determine priorities for the Strategy.
On October 18th, 25 tourism business representatives
attended the fi rst of two workshops to design the strategy.
The group identifi ed three key goals:
• To grow demand by collaborating to motivate and
convert Business Events demand across the region;
• To collaborate to generate greater yield and dispersal
across our region.
• To build on the Mornington Peninsula’s reputation as
the preferred business events destination through our
customer service.
The next step is to translate this vision into a three year
Action Plan with clear priorities for Year 1. To this end, the
group will attend a follow up workshop on 9 November.
Workshop facilitator working through key goals
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 4

Caroline Chisholm
Education Foundation
In a joint venture between Montalto winery and Chisholm
Mornington Peninsula, a six course meal matched with wine
was served to fi fty guests, in support of the Caroline Chisholm
Education Foundation.
Featuring a menu of duck, wallaby, barramundi and scallops,
Montalto Chef Barry Davies was assisted in the kitchen by
Chisholm Hospitality fi rst year apprentices and VETiS/VCAL
students.
The ‘Front of House’ students were predominantly from the
Dromana Specialist School, and they have now completed the
Certifi cate II in Hospitality, the other students were also VETiS/
VCAL.
Angus Hooker, from Peninsula Bulk Meats, who supplied and
sponsored the meat for the event, said “What the students
achieved was amazing, the food and service were excellent,
and we are extremely happy to be able to support our local
students with their education and experiences”
SMALL LANDHOLDER NETWORKS
The Shire is working with our local rural communities to develop a Small Rural Landholder Network (SRLN) on the peninsula.
Small landholders on the peninsula have been recognised as a distinct group of land users with specifi c needs in terms of
agriculture and landscape management and the region has been identifi ed as having the capacity to obtain both high yielding
and quality produce.
The aim of this Network is to provide communication and information support to small agricultural businesses on the
peninsula. The Network will be utilised to communicate relevant and timely agricultural technical information and fi eld-based
learning activities with the view to promoting best practice in land management.
Gillian Stewart, the Shire’s Rural Business Offi cer, said initial feedback indicates that people are really keen to learn more about
relevant agricultural production issues. “We have found although some producers are on a small holding, they want to improve
their management practices and general knowledge. “Providing opportunities to interact with other local landholders is an
extremely valuable process. Sharing practical experience and having support and a connected region will identify cooperative
opportunities to market peninsula produce,” she said.“Agribusiness provides the foundation for sustainable land management
practices and provides the opportunities for value-adding industries to operate in conjunction with agricultural activities,
thereby further diversifying the economic base of the region,” added Gillian.
The Shire would like to encourage the agribusiness community to register an interest in joining this Network.
For more information, please contact:
Gillian Stewart Rural Business Offi cer on:
03 5950 1833 or agriculture@mornpen.vic.gov.au
Hospitality trainer, Jan Watson, who coordinated the evening
said, “The mood in the restaurant was vibrant, the guests,
students and staff were all extremely happy. On the night 2
students were offered employment - a fabulous outcome. The
Mornington Peninsula Shire also surprised the staff and guests
with a $500 scholarship donation for CCEF, however, the
biggest winners will be the recipients of scholarships from the
monies raised – approximately $4,000”.
Jan added, “Without the hard work of the staff from this
campus, the night would not have been possible”
Students were also presented with a ‘certifi cate of
participation’ from Montalto Chef Barry Davies at the end of
the evening.
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Page 5

Building approvals on the
Mornington Peninsula
Residential
December 2010 March 2011 September 2011
No $ No $ No $
Urban* 630 94,605,943 410 90,110,683 472 84,485,634
Rural** 117 25,671,087 70 13,841,540 93 14,119,331
TOTAL 747 120,277,030 480 103,952,223 565 98,604,965
*The Urban area includes: Blairgowrie, Dromana, Hastings, McCrae, Mornington, Mt Eliza,
Mt Martha, Portsea, Rosebud, Rosebud West, Rye, Safety Beach, Somerville, Sorrento, &
Tootgarook.
**The Rural area includes: Arthurs Seat, Balnarring, Baxter, Bittern, Boneo, Cape Schanck,
Crib Point, Fingal, Flinders, Main Ridge, Merricks, Moorooduc, Point Leo, Red Hill, St
Andrews, Shoreham, Somers, Tuerong & Tyabb.
IN the NEWS...
Early in 2012 the Economic Development Unit will be reassessing the
content and the overall look of the Peninsula Prospects Newsletter.
From all of us in the
Economic Development Unit, we wish
you a Merry Christmas and a safe and
prosperous 2012.
Cheers!
Non - Residential
We will be calling upon businesses for feedback, input and ideas on how the
newsletter can work better for YOU and businesses on the Peninsula.
Sector March 2011 September 2011
$ $
Hotels 40,900 0
Shops 700,500 3,802,270
Offi ces 268,274 519,948
Factories 471,956 2,559,188
Education 4,646,280 0
Religious 0 0
Health 0 690,000
Entertainment 0 4,153,865
Aged Care 143,300 934,200
Miscellaneous 12,066,632 6,617,037
TOTAL 18,337,842 19,276,508
Businessess will be contacted in the new year, however should you have any suggestions to
make now, please feel free to email them to business@mornpen.vic.gov.au
At Council’s Annual General Meeting held Monday 5 October, Cr Frank
Martin (Red Hill Ward) – pictured left with his wife Dianne, was elected
Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor for 2012. with Cr Anne Shaw (Balcombe
Ward) elected Deputy Mayor.
Congratulations to both Cr Martin and Cr Shaw on thier elected positions
and we wish them well for 2012.
Peninsula Prospects December 2011 Pag Page 6