Citizen of the Year – Peter Talbot
Peter was recognised for his outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to environmental conservation.
As leader of 3199 Frankston Beach Patrol since 2017, Peter’s extensive work in organising beach clean-ups, engaging with school groups and advocating for litter reduction initiatives has played a vital role in protecting Frankston City’s 11 kilometres of coastline.
Through this leadership, Peter has inspired countless volunteers, fostering a strong and passionate network, dedicated to sustainability by removing harmful waste and creating lasting positive impacts on the local environment and community.
This dedication to cleaning our beaches and advocating for litter reduction has made a tremendous positive impact on our environment.
These efforts extend to collaborating with other Beach Patrol groups, including 3198 Seaford, showing Peter's spirit of partnership, while work with the Tackle the Tackle project addressing the fishing tackle litter issue provided lasting solutions and encouraged responsible fishing.
“It was a bit of a surprise, but it’s a big honour,” Peter said.
“It’s a wonderful area and it’s great to, in a little way, with the other volunteers, make it safer and cleaner.”
“We remove litter from the beach and foreshore, we raise awareness. We invite school groups down, businesses, all sorts of organisations and over the years we have reduced the amount of litter on the beach.”
Young Citizen of the Year – Quinney Brownfield
Quinney was recognised for his exceptional dedication to education, health and community service through leadership and advocacy.
The award acknowledges Quinney’s contributions to youth engagement, mental health, sustainability and humanitarian efforts, influencing positive change and community benefit within Frankston City.
Quinney's work on the Frankston community's health and wellbeing, is most widely connected to work with Peninsula Rotaract and headspace.
Through Peninsula Rotaract's Toothbrush+ project, a program that Quinney has contributed strongly to for the past year and a half, the Club has raised and donated more than $7,000 worth of hygiene products to local community support centres, including Community Support Frankston, Mornington Community Support Centre, Western Port Community Support, and Southern Nepean Community Support Centre.
Quinney has supported local well-being through support and work with the initiatives of local Rotary Clubs, always endeavouring to involve youth with these projects where possible, with a position on the Rotaract National Executive Board providing the means to do so.
As a member of Frankston headspace's Youth Advisory Council, Quinney uses lived experience with mental health to empower the voices of young people in our community on a committee with regular access to leaders in the mental health and AOD space.
“As a young student volunteering, it’s great for the heart, but you can also gain from it skills-wise and all of that sort of stuff,” Quinny said.
“It’s really a statement to young people in Frankston that you can do whatever you want to do if you really put in the hard work.”
Community Group of the Year – Peninsula Community Legal Centre Inc.
Peninsula Community Legal Centre Inc. (PCLC) were recognised for their outstanding commitment to education, health and charitable services through advocacy and support.
Peninsula Community Legal Centre offers free legal advice to people who live, work or study in Frankston and surrounding municipalities of South-East Melbourne.
This nomination acknowledges efforts to empower vulnerable individuals, improve access to legal services and strengthen the wellbeing of the Frankston community.
PCLC has been providing free legal services to the Frankston community since 1977.
In this past year PCLC assisted 1,695 Frankston residents with 3,083 legal activities, a further 2,500 Frankston residents were provided with legal information through our community legal education activities, media and law reform work.
PCLC secured many positive outcomes and often life changing outcomes for Frankston residents, securing safety orders for women and children experiencing family violence, reuniting families, court orders to ensure the welfare of children, securing relationship entitlements for those undergoing separation and preventing homelessness for renters facing eviction, were the common outcomes for Frankston residents.
Matthew Bolle, Chairperson of PCLC’s board said: “We work really hard in the local community on a lot of different levels with both the legal services we provide, but more broadly than that, the advocacy for positive change in the community and thinking outside the box about more abstract solutions to social problems. We’re really grateful to get that recognition.”