Tanti Ward Councillor and Deputy Mayor Paul Pingiaro has endorsed Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 2025–26 budget, which passed with amendments on Tuesday night, despite mounting community criticism over cuts to the arts, environment and First Nations programs.
“There was a lot of things that we can always do a little bit better,” Cr Pingiaro said during the meeting. “But moving forward, that’s what we’ll do as an organisation.”
Cr Pingiaro and Mayor Anthony Marsh (Briars Ward) have faced significant scrutiny in recent months following Council’s backflip on a rate increase and the surprise defunding of several long-standing community programs. Feedback received through Council’s Pulse and Community Budget Survey — a volume of feedback Cr Pingiaro described as “substantive.”
“What we have in front of us is a budget that will hopefully deliver quite a few savings,” he said. “They’re unrealised at the moment — the work’s getting done — and if the work gets done, we can open up to new possibilities for this Council to fund.”
Cr Pingiaro said Council faced a $15 million asset renewal gap and tough choices had to be made. He expressed hope that future budgets would be “a lot more fun and a lot more community-facing”.
Earlier in the same meeting, Mayor Marsh blocked several budget-related motions — including attempts by Cr Gill and Cr Patton to reinstate funding to the arts and environment. Cr Kate Roper’s amendment to revisit several key programs at the mid-year budget review did, however, receive unanimous support. Full details were published in this STPL News report.
Budget vote breakdown
The final 2025–26 budget passed with amendments and majority support.
In favour:
- Cr Paul Pingiaro (Tanti Ward)
- Cr Anthony Marsh (Briars Ward)
- Cr Andrea Allen (Nepean Ward)
- Cr Kate Roper (Beek Beek Ward)
- Cr Bruce Ranken (Moorooduct Ward)
- Cr Cam Williams (Tootgarook Ward)
- Cr Stephen Batty (Kackeraboite Ward)
- Cr Michael Stephens (Warringine Ward)
Against:
- Cr Patrick Binyon (Brokil Ward)
- Cr Max Patton (Benbenjie Ward)
- Cr David Gill (Coolart Ward)
The vote followed weeks of community backlash, protests at Council meetings, and calls for greater transparency around the funding decisions and consultation processes.
looking for money? Here is a million dollar money saver!!
Dump Peninsula Wide. It costs 250 grand each issue and does not even include allocated costs. And it is basically a propaganda effort which tells us nothing about what is really going on. Doesn’t pass the pub test if they’re cutting community grants and increasing rates.
It’s a lot of money to spend so the councillors can blow their own trumpet. It definitely should have been on the list to cut long before some of the things that they have cut.
Some unsolicited comments I have received: SB, Waste of money I don’t know anyone who reads it usually goes straight in the bin RF, Waste of money. I rarely find anything useful there. Sometimes I get it in the mail other times I don’t. Get rid of it and use money elsewhere eg the arts, roads, the animal shelter. CH, I don’t see why the council is involved in small commercial enterprises like this. I see plenty of them being kicked and spilling out of the local post office.
fix the problem. non resident paid parking would deliver:
“In regards to the number of visitor vehicles we have each day or year, this is not something we have readily available, from economic data I understand we have 8 million visitors per year to the Shire, however we don’t know the number of vehicles this equates to”
So my wonder is how could they decide to do the paid parking when they do not even know what the potential revenue stream is? In a major public corporation even the trial would not have been allowed without a documented study of the revenue.
When I started my Permit Parking campaign several years ago I made this calculation using techniques and rationale I learned working for a major corporation in the USA and that is how I came up with the $25m income stream. No longer have that data unfortunately and am not going to create it again.
No matter, Permit Parking is absolutely essential to the financial health of the shire. We can no longer support a playground for visitors out of our rates.
Domestic Daytrippers:
5.7 million visitors (down 5% from 2023), spending $667 million (average $116 per visitor).
Domestic Overnight Visitors:
2.1 million visitors (up 9% from 2023), spending $1.08 billion, including $158 million by interstate visitors and $925 million by intrastate visitors.
International Overnight Visitors:
59,000 visitors (up 47% from 2023), spending $84 million (average $1,417 per visitor).
As of the year ending March 2023, the average length of stay for domestic overnight visitors to the Mornington Peninsula was approximately 2.7 nights. This figure is slightly below the Victorian regional average of 3.0 nights for domestic overnight visitors. Tourism and Events+3mornpen.vic.gov.au+3mpbusiness.com.au+3mornpen.vic.gov.au
For international overnight visitors, earlier data indicates a significantly longer average stay. Specifically, in the year ending December 2021, international visitors to the Mornington Peninsula stayed an average of 25.1 nights, an increase from the pre-pandemic average of 17.3 nights.
Estimated Average Vehicle Occupancy
In Australia, the average vehicle occupancy for leisure travel typically ranges between 2.0 and 2.5 people per car. Given that the Mornington Peninsula is a popular destination for families and small groups, it’s reasonable to assume that overnight visitors might travel with slightly higher occupancy rates, possibly around 2.5 to 3.0 people per vehicle.
As of 2024, approximately 5.7 million day trippers visited the Mornington Peninsula, accounting for about 73% of the region’s total visitors . While specific data on the modes of transportation used by these visitors isn’t readily available, several factors suggest that the majority likely arrived by car: Visit Mornington Peninsula+3Visit Mornington Peninsula+3mornpen.vic.gov.au+3
Limited Public Transport: Over 80% of the Mornington Peninsula lacks public transport services, making car travel the most practical option for many visitors .cfmp.org.au+1cfmp.org.au+1
Low Public Transport Usage: Only about 3% of residents utilize public transport, compared to 15% in Greater Melbourne, indicating a general reliance on private vehicles in the area .mpbusiness.com.au+3cfmp.org.au+3cfmp.org.au+3
Given these factors, it’s reasonable to infer that a significant majority of day trippers to the Mornington Peninsula arrive by car.