South Barwon electorate wetlands
Mr CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (09:43): The Victorian government is asking the Geelong and Surf Coast communities if they would like to see Ramsar status considered for additional wetland areas along our fantastic coastlines. Ramsar wetlands are sites that are recognised under the Ramsar convention as being internationally significant in terms of flora, fauna, ecology or hydrology. The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning is currently seeking community members’ views on extending the boundary of the existing Port Phillip western shoreline and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar sites. The proposed areas for addition are the Karaaf wetlands and parts of Lake Connewarre Reserve that are currently not part of the Ramsar site. I believe that both sites are fantastic candidates for expansion under the Ramsar listing and deserve wise management guidelines and attention provided under the Ramsar convention. On my website I have an example submission that reflects my views on this, and I ask residents to please feel free to borrow my submission and adopt it for their submissions. Ramsar listings are significant, and I believe that the wetlands around the Karaaf wetlands and of course Lake Connewarre deserve these additional recognitions.