Port Phillip Review Local

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HOMICIDE detectives investigating the mysterious deaths of brothers John and Doug Streeter have moved their investigation to Bendigo,

The discovery of a wallet is believed to be the link that has moved the police investigation to Vatmi Recycling in East Bendigo.

Workers at the site were told a wallet was found which could have been linked to the suspected double homicide.

The workers said police arrived at the recycling plant about one hour ago.

They said workers were sent home and the plant’s trucks were sent away.

Police are at the scene as investigations continue.

It has been reported that Helen, the wife of Doug Streeter, discovered the bodies in the garden of the Natte Yallock farmhouse after returning to the property just before 6pm last night.

They were both aged in their 60s and police have ruled out murder-suicide.

Neighbours say the brothers were well respected and had farmed their whole life.

They were very active in the community were key members of the Loddon Valley Merino Breeders Association.

Out on the water, gender has no bearing. The ocean doesn’t care if you are male or female, but for centuries navigating the seas has been a male domain. But the tide is beginning to turn.

According to Yachting Victoria, 5172 or almost 25 per cent of its 20,892 members are female, and the numbers are swelling.

Among their ranks is Cath Beaufort, who sails out each Saturday with an all-female crew of six on keelboat Nouannie. The crew members, ranging in age from 28 to 55, have been sailing together for three years.

“Women work differently together; they are very keen to work together as a crew and they stick together,” says Beaufort, 40.

A radiation therapist by profession, Beaufort says sailing  provides an escape from a job that is confronting and “not exactly light”.

“I work with cancer patients, in a basement with not a whole lot of daylight, so to go out sailing in the fresh air and leave all that behind is so liberating,” she says.

It was a voyage on sail-training ship Young Endeavour that whet her appetite 20 years ago for life on the water. Sailing is now part of her life.

Beaufort has competed in the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta for the past 15 years and braved the treacherous Sydney to Hobart (with a crew of 15 men) in 1994. They made it to the Apple Isle in one piece and took out their division.

“As a woman in sailing, you don’t get as many opportunities to take lead positions on a boat. It’s often the men that take those positions and they assume women don’t know what they are doing,” says Beaufort.

“Men don’t really stand up and say they don’t know what they are doing – women on the other hand will ask for help and are more willing to learn.”

She says all-female crews are still very rare. ‘‘They will often get together for a regatta, but to have a crew that sails together all the time is quite unheard of.”

Beaufort says there’s no shouting or yelling at one another on an all-female crew and definitely no swearing, something she says is often synonymous with sailing.

She is one of just two female committee members at her club, and Williamstown has never had a female commodore (similar to

a president) in its 160-year history. It has welcomed females

in management positions only

since 1985.

But Beaufort says the gender imbalance shouldn’t prevent

women giving sailing a go.

“Females just need to do it; there are always people looking for crews, people are always happy to give you a go, it’s a lot easier than people realise,” she says. “And you don’t need to be fit, you just need to look around at all the fat blokes that sail to see that!”

Last year, Yachting Victoria spoke to non-sailing women and girls to get their feedback on the sport. Of the 167 people surveyed, 76 per cent believed they needed to be fit and healthy to participate. The two most commonly cited barriers preventing female participation were commitment and lack of skill.

A quarter said they would feel out of place and did not know how to get started, while fear of seasickness and safety concerns were less common reasons.

Commodore of St Kilda’s Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, Linda Goldsmith, agrees women don’t need to be super fit to start sailing. All they need to do is get some training, get on a boat and work their way up.

She says although males have traditionally dominated the sport, it’s the female classes at her club that are growing the fastest.

“More women are buying boats and moving into leadership roles,” she says.  “I am a lawyer. It’s a big job Monday to Friday – there’s nothing like the fresh air on the weekend to rejuvenate. Sailing is an opportunity to use both your brains and your body – it is a physical sport and at decent levels it’s also quite strategic.”

Goldmith started sailing at 35. She was “sick to death” of housework on weekends and thought if everyone else in her family could go out on the water, she could too.  Almost 17 years later, she holds the most respected role at any club – the commodore.

“At this level it is unusual to have a female in the role. I am only the second female commodore at the club in its 137-year history,”  she says.

Goldsmith was invited to join the committee 10 years ago and moved up the ranks. She says it’s an absolute honour to hold the role of commodore, which is the equivalent of being the chair of a board of directors. It involves lots of decision-making as well as hands-on work with working bees and functions.

With the construction of the new marina at St Kilda, the commodore has her hands full. But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s a fabulous sport for women and I recommend it without hesitation,” Goldsmith says. “Get some training, learn the basics and then find yourself a spot on a boat and just enjoy the atmosphere and competitive spirit.”

Goldsmith has raced in a Sydney to Hobart (in 1998) and the Melbourne to Hobart in 1995. She has completed 15 Bass Strait crossings. “I was the only female [in the Sydney to Hobart] – there was me and seven blokes. They tell me what to do and sometimes I pay attention, and sometimes I don’t.”

Goldsmith has managed to evade the ‘‘women in the kitchen’’ stereotype, if by accident. “I burnt the casserole, the whole bottom of it, the first time I tried to cook so they don’t ask me any more – I just make the tea and the coffee,” she says

For 21-year-old physiotherapy student Jacqueline Gurr, sailing is her life. “I live, breathe and eat sailing when I’m not at university,” says Gurr, who has been in and around boats since she could walk.

Recently she has stepped up into the Olympic 470 women’s class and has her sights set on the Olympic games in Rio in 2016. And there is a very real possibility she will make it – Gurr and her all-female crew scored a bronze medal placing at the World Cup Sail Melbourne event in Sandringham in December.

“I really like the social side of sailing, meeting new people everywhere you go and seeing so many places you would never really see,” she says. “And of course I love the water.”

Gurr says the sport is becoming more and more female-friendly. “When I was a little child, there were a lot more men. These days there is more of a 50-50 ratio at the club. It’s fantastic to see how many are coming through the sport, especially the juniors.’’

The woman can compete just as well as the men, she says.

“They can certainly give the men a good run for their money.”

Hundreds of thousands of Australians, even in capital cities, are unable to access quality home broadband due to ageing infrastructure and black spots, leading to calls for the government to change the NBN rollout to reach these areas first.

After publishing a story on internet black spots earlier this week, Fairfax Media has been contacted by dozens of people – in both capital cities and regional areas – who were denied broadband due to issues such as a lack of ADSL ports at their local exchange.

Experts have blamed Telstra for failing to upgrade creaking infrastructure because the NBN will limit the return it can get on its investment. Meanwhile many of those without broadband face over three years on dialup or expensive and patchy wireless plans as they are not part of the early NBN rollout.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there were still 439,000 dial-up subscribers in Australia as of June last year.

“Telstra feel under no obligation to provide [broadband] access to everyone and the copper network is aging fast,” said Dr Mark Gregory, senior lecturer in electrical and computer engineering at RMIT University. He added the size of the problem was much bigger than people realised.

NBN Co said it was “working as quickly as possible” to build out the network, but several experts including telecommunications analyst Paul Budde believe the rollout schedule is incorrect as it does not prioritise fixing these black spots first.

“It is a bit ridiculous if good quality HFC [cable network] and ADSL2+ networks get overbuilt [with fibre] before those who are in black spots are looked after,” said Budde.

Some communities without home broadband, such as Caroline Spring and Burnside in Victoria, have started online petitions in an attempt to convince NBN Co to prioritise their areas.

“In Burnside there is no one who has ADSL or cable, the only thing we can get is dial-up, other than that we use USB 3G modems which are rubbish and expensive,” said resident Kerim Nu’man, 28, who added it was not clear whether he’d get the NBN within the next 10 years.

Residents of Somers, south-east of Melbourne, have written directly to Telstra CEO David Thodey to seek urgent assistance to improve their broadband access.

Elise Davidson, of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, advised more people to write to Thodey explaining how being excluded from ADSL was impacting their lives.

Of the almost 250 comments on this week’s internet black spot story, many said they were unable get fixed broadband even in inner-city suburbs close to the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs.

In Sydney some of the suburbs where people reported being unable to obtain fixed broadband include Paramatta, Camperdown, Dulwich Hill, Kellyville, Gymea, Northmead, Condell Park, Wentworth Point and Kensington. In Melbourne complaints included suburbs near the CBD such as St Kilda, Elwood and Hampton East.

And those who can get broadband often report woeful speeds as ageing infrastructure is split among increasing numbers of users. Some bought property or spent thousands wiring their house under the impression they were within an ADSL coverage area only to be told there was no room at the exchange or the copper wiring to their house is inadequate.

John Lindsay, chief technology officer at iiNet, said Telstra had long been “taking hostages”, threatening to withhold services from them until the government gives it more money.

He said now Telstra could blame NBN Co for the lack of services and “they haven’t had to spend a cent”. Telstra claims it is upgrading its infrastructure but prioritises areas of high demand.

“I don’t understand how new estates get built that cannot get proper telecommunication services from day one,” said Lindsay.

“I don’t understand how NBN Co could be set up such that it hasn’t already moved heaven and earth to get services installed for these black spots and every greenfield development commenced since 2010.”

Those in metropolitan areas who are currently struggling to get broadband may be among the last to receive the NBN due to the rollout schedule that prioritises regional areas.

“As it takes time to develop the NBN and even longer to roll it out, if we don’t fix the underlying Telstra problems some people will have to wait a very long time before they get high-speed broadband,” said Budde.

Sydneysider Simon Denneen moved to Broadbeach on the Gold Coast to work and complete an MBA but was forced to pack up and return after he was advised he would have to wait until the NBN to get home broadband. He tried a Telstra 4G modem but said the speed was “on par with dial-up during business hours”.

But even in Sydney, many, like Peter D’mello, of Liberty Grove in the western suburbs, can’t get broadband.

Budde said hundreds of thousands of people lacked basic quality broadband (above 5 megabits-per-second) and the government should pressure Telstra to fix the black spots or change the NBN rollout to prioritise those areas.

A spokesman for the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said the ACCC mandated the locations of the “points of interconnect” that the NBN is being built out from, and “to change the design principles would make the rollout longer and more expensive”.

ITNews this week ran a detailed analysis of NBN Co figures, discovering that construction of the network was running further behind schedule than had been revealed. NBN Co has disputed the analysis but ITNews is standing by its report.

Paul Fletcher, Liberal MP and former Optus director, said the generally accepted estimate was that up to 2 million premises could not get fixed broadband, and it was a “long-standing issue” from even before he left Optus in 2008.

Under the NBN, fibre-to-the-home is planned for up to 93 per cent of premises and fixed wireless and satellite connections will service the remaining 7 per cent.

Ted Baillieu has resigned as Premier after a Liberals-only crisis meeting on Wednesday night, saying “I do this in the best interests of the government”.

Denis Napthine is the new leader and Mr Baillieu will remain in parliament.

“I love this state, I love the Liberal Party and I love this role that I have had the honour to enjoy over the last two and a bit years,” Mr Baillieu told reporters.

“It is apparent to me that a change of leadership is in the best interests of the government.

“I want to thank the people of Victoria. I wish Denis Napthine the best. He has my full support. He’s an outstanding individual.”

Mr Baillieu said he would shortly visit the governor to tender his resignation. He thanked his family and said the most important thing is the people of Victoria.

Dr Napthine previously led the Victorian Liberal Party in opposition but was deposed by Robert Doyle in 2002.

“Ted has put his heart and soul into the Victorian Liberal Party … for the best part of three decades,” Dr Napthine said.

“He is an outstanding individual. He is not just a colleague, he is a great friend.”

Dr Napthine, who turns 61 today, declared to reporters that he would ”lead the party to the next election”.

Although his press conference was briefly interrupted by division bells, he remained calm. He dodged questions about how the events of the evening had unfolded, saying that was a matter for Mr Baillieu to explain.

He also declared the state’s currents woes should be blamed on Julia Gillard and the federal government.

How it happened: 5.30pm update

Ted Baillieu’s government is in crisis following the resignation of its most controversial backbencher, but the Premier insists he will continue to govern ”decisively” despite losing his one-seat majority.

In an extraordinary day in Victorian politics, the Coalition was rocked by revelations that embattled Frankston MP Geoff Shaw had quit the Liberal Party to sit on the crossbenches as an independent.

Mr Shaw — who is still under police investigation for rorting his taxpayer-funded car — made the shock announcement in a letter to Mr Baillieu on Wednesday morning, but the pair have not spoken since.

His decision means the government is now on the grip of a hung parliament — with Mr Shaw set to  become the new kingmaker in a deadlocked Legislative Assembly.

Before today, the Coalition held 44 seats in the 88-member lower house, excluding the Speaker’s.

But Mr Shaw’s exit means the government now has only 43 votes on the floor of the parliament – equal to the number of votes Labor will hold, assuming it retains the safe seat of Lyndhurst, formerly held by Tim Holding, at next month’s bi-election. (The Liberal Party has chosen not to run a candidate).

Shell-shocked government MPs were called into a crisis meeting in parliament this morning where Mr Baillieu delivered the news. But the Premier emerged from that meeting saying he was confident he would continue to govern in Victoria despite his tenuous grip on power now being into doubt.

Asked if he was angry with Mr Shaw — whom the Premier has continued to defend as ”a good local member” despite his past conduct — Mr Baillieu replied: ”My job doesn’t allow me the luxury of emotions.”

”I’d rather not be in this situation, but this is the situation we’re in,” he said. ”The constitution is clear on these matters and we will continue to govern.”

The Coalition will now have to rely on Mr Shaw’s vote to get bills through the parliament, although by late this afternoon it was still not clear what the Frankston MPs voting intentions were.

Mr Baillieu suggested creating a charter arrangement, similar to past minority governments, but added:  ”At this stage he hasn’t put … demands in writing, and we will discuss these issues with him.”

Mr Shaw’s resignation follows an appalling week for Mr Baillieu, which included revelations of secret tapes that blew the lid on backroom deals between his chief of staff Tony Nutt, Liberal party state director Damien Mantach, and Tristan Weston, the ministerial staffer who had sought to undermine former chief commissioner Simon Overland.

The tapes, obtained by the Herald Sun, found Mr Weston, a former adviser to Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, was paid $22,500 by the Liberal Party after he quit amid the scandal – a payment Labor has described as ”hush money”.

Mr Baillieu has since referred the matter to the government’s anti-corruption watchdog, but insists there has been no serious corruption involved.

However, the tapes — which come on top of another poor Newspoll this week and Victoria plunging into recession today — has further undermined the Premier’s leadership.

Senior MPs on Tuesday warned that Mr Baillieu is ”one or two more stuff ups” away from a spill, with some agitating for Planning Minister Matthew Guy to mount a challenge.

Labor leader Daniel Andrews said it was clear the government was in crisis, but he would not be seeking Mr Shaw’s vote.

”(Ted Baillieu) is not so much running a government; he is running a complete and utter circus,” Mr Andrews said.

”This government is doing nothing to deliver for the people of this state other than to lurch from one crisis to the next.”

Mr Shaw’s resignation is the latest twist in what has so far been a colorful career. The 45-year-old businessman has been mired in controversy since he won the lower-house seat of Frankston in 2010. In May 2012, it was alleged his staff, as well as Mr Shaw himself, had used his parliamentary car for business related to his hardware factory.

The matter was subject to an Ombudsman’s investigation, and police late last year launched a criminal investigation into the issue.

Despite the scandal — and repeated calls for Mr Shaw to be sacked — Mr Baillieu continued to defend him as a ”good local member.”

Deputy Premier Peter Ryan insisted this afternoon that the government was not in crisis and that ”until the (Lyndhurst) byelection on the 27th of April, the government has the numbers.”

Asked if he supported Mr Baillieu, he said he had ”absolute and utter confidence in the Premier” and insisted he was doing a ”magnificent job.”

St Kilda’s Rob Bruce and Toorak’s Lisa Hennessy from the Bay Rays swim team are preparing for their first Giants of the Bay challenge. The 30-kilometre swim on Saturday, March 9, from Portarlington to Point Lonsdale, is the longest in Australia. The six-person Bay Rays team has had its training sessions at Brighton Yacht Club to prepare for the event. Giants of the Bay raises money to fight autism and is considered good preparation for marathon swims such as crossing the English Channel. To register for the event or to make a donation, visit giantsofthebay.com.au.

LONDON Olympian Elizabeth Cambage posted an intriguing message on Twitter on Tuesday, questioning whether the antics of disgraced swimmer James Magnussen had impacted on other female athletes during the London Olympics.

Cambage, an Opals basketballer, wrote: “Have any other Olympic females athletes spoken out against Magnussen, because it went further than the swim team”.

She then added: “And I’m talking about the Olympics not Manchester”.

However, the outspoken Cambage, while having lunch in Sydney, deleted the tweet soon after.

“I deleted the tweet as I have nothing to say, it was a question! Media just went wild on it.”

Some hours later, Cambage then tweeted: “I apologise if my comments have been misconstrued. In no way was my tweet meant to be an allegation against James #magnussen.”

Tuesday’s offerings are not the first instance of Cambage causing a stir via Twitter, having questioned swimmer Stephanie Rice’s friendship with US basketball star Kobe Bryant at the London Games.

Bryant and Rice caused a social media frenzy when spotted sitting side by side at the cycling at London 2012.

It prompted Cambage to tweet: “I love how Kobe has his wife with him at the Olympics, yet still surrounded by groupies.”

Magnussen and the men’s 100m freestyle relay team, also featuring Eamon Sullivan, Matt Targett, Cameron McEvoy and Tommaso D’Orsogna, have admitted to a Stilnox initiation at a pre-Olympic camp in Manchester and of disturbing female teammates on that same night.

Magnussen and his relay teammates could soon face punishment when they appear before swimming’s integrity panel.

Magnussen has said he regrets the incident. It was his first time using the medication.

The man known as the “Missile” said Stilnox had been used in “a lot of swim teams in the past”. He said the men’s relay team had been hoping to bond and did not intend to harm other swimmers.

Silver medal-winning backstroker Emily Seebohm revealed last week she was the swimmer who complained to head coach Leigh Nugent about misbehaviour in the London camp.

Seebohm went public after Nugent initially said he was not aware of any misbehaviour.

Fairfax Media has sought comment from Magnussen’s management.

Previously: February 11, 2013

Since forming four years ago, Macpherson, and an ever-growing team of volunteers have worked tirelessly to give new life to pre-loved nursery equipment and children’s clothing, which is donated to families in need.

Macpherson, a Balaclava mother of two, heard from her maternal health nurse there was a desperate demand for items such as cots, prams and highchairs, as well as the basics – blankets, bibs and baby clothes – for disadvantaged parents in the area.

Working with a handful of friends and neighbours who also had babies, Macpherson launched a scheme that quickly became a vital resource for less fortunate mums-to-be.

‘‘It started with a few of us mums just keeping items and I told the maternal health nurse to get in touch if she needed anything for local families,’’ she says. ‘‘From there it has grown exponentially.’’

Since 2009, St Kilda Mums has re-homed more than 6000 items, fielding requests from 630 case workers and maternal health nurses from welfare organisations around the city, including Connections in Windsor and Hanover Welfare Services in St Kilda East.

‘‘No one else in Victoria is doing what we are doing,’’ says Macpherson. “The case workers have got no one else to get this stuff from.’’

With op shops no longer stocking second-hand baby equipment because of strict safety regulations, Macpherson says that more families are finding themselves stuck without the vital items they need.

‘‘Sometimes the only option for them is to scour through the hard rubbish,’’ she says.

The inspiring team of volunteers makes St Kilda Mums successful; the founding trio has grown to 163 helpers, most of whom are mothers – with some dads roped in too.

And Macpherson acknowledges they couldn’t do what they do without the supply of generous donations.

‘‘We had no idea what would happen when we started but we are getting more and more donations all the time,’’ Macpherson says. ‘‘It’s amazing how generous people can be; how much we have to give. Our supporters get a lot out of knowing their donations have gone out.’’

Donations are made on specified days, when committee members open their front doors to welcome everything from breast-feeding pillows to bassinets. Additional volunteers sort through the piles of donations.

Word is spreading about these donation events, thanks to St Kilda Mums’ 2700-strong Facebook following and an email distribution list that reaches 3000 contacts.

People who want to donate are directed to the website, which includes a list of the items the group accepts for re-homing and outlines the strict safety requirements for car seats, prams and strollers, change tables and high chairs.

‘‘For example, we won’t take a cot unless you can provide us with a copy of the manual,’’ says Macpherson. ‘‘We would check every piece of wood and panel of the cot and then use the manual to make sure all the bits are present.

‘‘We have lots of suppliers that we can contact and they send us replacement parts for free. We’ve worked really hard to develop relationships with businesses to make sure things are suitable for re-homing.’’

St Kilda Mums wants people who donate to know they are a part of something meaningful. ‘‘We describe ourselves as a network,’’ says Macpherson.

‘‘We don’t want to be like the op shops where people just dump stuff on us. We want people to work with us to make sure we have clean, safe things to give families in need.’’

The group’s efforts have attracted the support of community organisations, including Sacred Heart Mission, Salvation Army and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, which pass on items that cannot be sold in their stores.

After each donation day, volunteers embark on the mammoth task of sorting and packing the items. Team members repair, refurbish and clean items of furniture, sew missing buttons on clothing, replace faulty zips and spruce up toys.

‘‘Clothing needs packing into bags and safety checks need to be done on equipment,’’ says Macpherson. ‘‘So if it’s clothes for a baby girl, we will pack a bag with birth to size one clothes, so there might be around 100 garments. The mum is then getting everything their child needs for its first year and it’s all beautiful quality.’’

The bags are stored in Elwood, at a modest garage lock-up donated by a local family two years ago.

‘‘Everything gets transported to the lock-up and it fills up within a week,’’ says Macpherson. ‘‘I hosted a donation day in Balaclava recently and it took us six car loads and a ute to get the stuff to Elwood.’’

The goods in this unassuming suburban lock-up change lives. Case workers come from as far away as Sunshine and Pakenham to distribute the goods to their clients.

‘‘All the ladies who meet the case workers are mums and they can suggest things that the new mums might need,’’ says Macpherson. ‘‘We give them as much stuff as possible. They normally leave with a lot more than they came to pick up.’’

Erin Black, a support worker at Hanover Welfare Services, says the service is vital to making sure many of her clients are prepared for the birth of their babies.

As the number of pregnant women suffering housing and financial difficulties balloons against an increasingly competitive rental market, Black is adamant her service could not manage without St Kilda Mums.

‘‘They have filled the gap for us,’’ she says. ‘‘We are just so limited in what resources we have and often those resources don’t cater for us to be able to get what a new mum needs. It’s more to set them up with housing and make sure they have food and medical care.’’

Black says before St Kilda Mums, caseworkers had to try to access funding through agencies so they could buy items for mums-to-be.

‘‘When we go to St Kilda Mums they make sure we have all the stuff for a baby when it is born,’’ she says. ‘‘Then when we hand it to the women, some just burst into tears because they are just not used to being given things.’’

Hampton East mother-of-two Kristina Anderson was overwhelmed by the help she received from the group when her family fell on hard times.

Anderson moved from New Zealand to Melbourne expecting her second child. Her partner could not find work and the family struggled financially. ‘‘We didn’t really have much to live off at the end of the day,’’ she recalls.

‘‘We were put in touch with St Kilda Mums through my case worker at Connections, we really needed things like a stroller and clothes.’’

Anderson and her partner were humbled by the response they received. ‘‘They gave us a bag of clothing for my daughter, for a two-to-four-year-old, and there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t fit yet, so she still has new things to wear. It’s all really amazing quality stuff – some of the clothes still have tags on them.’’

The help didn’t end there. A message of thanks from Anderson outlining her struggle was posted on St Kilda Mums’ Facebook page, prompting a supporter to offer the family a second-hand car.

‘‘The generosity of the people St Kilda Mums is connected with is unbelievable,’’ Anderson says. ‘‘It is a very overwhelming thing because you don’t expect them to give so much when they don’t even know you.’’

Demand for the service continues to grow, says committee member and mother-of-two Maya Donevska, of Elsternwick. She says the committee is determined to continue expanding to meet demand. Donation days are held across Melbourne, but with limited resources, there are challenges on the horizon.

‘‘Our biggest challenge is finding room to accept donations and store them, but we have no alternative at the moment – it’s a big commitment for us to take on a commercial lease,’’ says Donevska. ‘‘It’s wonderful we have grown as quickly as we have, but now it’s taking it to the next level.’’

A FORMER homeless woman from St Kilda took to the stage with some of the greats of Australian music last week to help raise more than $25,000 for St Kilda Youth Services.

Bek Seccy, 18, joined Paul Kelly, Clare Bowditch, Mick Harvey and Dave Graney, performing to more than 300 people at a fund-raising concert at the new MEMO theatre last Thursday.

SKYS chief executive Emma Crighton said she was “extremely proud” and “touched” to see one of the program’s own students perform alongside the Australian music icons.

“It was a magical moment for Bec and all of us at SKYS.”.

Seccy is a singer, songwriter and self-taught guitarist who found her way into the SKYS music program after being referred by a youth worker. She has since transformed her life.

She performed From Little Things Big Things Grow with the other artists to close the concert.

LAURA BANKS

HALF the schools in Port Phillip have signed up to the state government’s eSmart program that aims to reduce student exposure to cyber-bullying and online sexual predators.

More than 1000 Victorian schools, including 10 of the 20 primary and secondary schools in the City of Port Phillip, have registered to join the $10.5 million program.

The initiative, developed by child protection charity the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, focuses on educating students, teachers and parents about online responsibilities.

Schools are encouraged to create policies, procedures and practices for managing cyber-safety, cyber-bullying, sexting, identity theft and fraud.

Albert Park Primary School, which registered for the eSmart program a year ago, has developed guidelines for its 430 students that detail acceptable behaviour.

The school holds weekly cyber-safety lessons and is in the process of electing two students from each grade to form an eSmart committee.

One of the school’s eSmart co-ordinators, Cassandra Staer, said the program was vital to encouraging “online values”.

“We have iPads and laptops in every classroom so it’s very important,” she said. “It’s about setting acceptable terms of use and instilling the value of being smart online.”

Alannah and Madeline Foundation chief executive Judith Slocombe said Victorian schools were leading the country in cyber safety.

“It is wonderful to see the numbers of schools coming on board with eSmart Schools increasing in Port Phillip,” Dr Slocombe said.

“We’ve been impressed with how keenly they have implemented the smart, safe and responsible online principles across their communities.”

Australia-wide, 1400 schools have joined the eSmart program since it launched 18 months ago.