Tuesday, 28 November 2023

Warrnambool boat ramp

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (19:19): (469) My adjournment manner is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation, and I ask the minister to visit the Warrnambool boat ramp site and see for himself the logistics of the ramp and speak with the commercial and recreational fishers who are unhappy with the new boat ramp, which has proved often to be unusable. Minister, your government has spent millions upgrading the boat ramp after many years of advocacy by commercial and recreational users. Dangerous surges often cause boats to be damaged and people’s safety to be put at risk.

Unfortunately the local boat ramp users tell me that not only has this problem not been addressed but a new problem has developed, where sand is now being deposited at the bottom of the boat ramp, rendering it useless, particularly at low tide. I am told also by the older and disabled members of the community that the boat ramp design makes it inaccessible for them as a ladder must be used to access their boats. I find it quite odd that they have included a ladder to access the boats, because many of the boat users are retired and over 50, and in this day and age you are not supposed to climb a ladder after 50.

Commercial fishers have advised me that due to the inability to launch their boats on a regular basis they must seek out alternative boat ramps to launch. This is a great loss to the Warrnambool economy and a great disappointment after such an investment. At a time when we should be growing our visits to the region to recover from the pandemic, we should be celebrating such an asset and having everyone talk about it for the right reasons. Unfortunately that is not the case. It is such a waste of Victorian taxpayers money, but additionally the local council are left to deal with the silting up of the boat ramp and on a regular basis have to pay to engage an excavator to dig out the bottom of the ramp. This is just another example of this government’s utilisation of taxpayer funds so poorly that the council are actually left with the extra cost due to the government’s mismanagement and cost-shifting approach. The ratepayers of Warrnambool are rightfully angry. Surely the state government is obligated, people say to me, to pick up the cost of this maintenance that has been created by the poor design approved by the state government, not a decision by the local council.

Concerningly, this is not an issue isolated to Warrnambool. During my shadow visits to coastal regions and waterways around Victoria I received similar complaints all over the state, the most recent being the example of the Cowes boat ramp. Recently this boat ramp was launched by the state government. Two million dollars was invested in upgrading the Cowes boat ramp, but users tell me the outcome is no different and in some situations is worse than before, due to the silting up of the bottom of the ramp. So I ask the minister to come to the community of Warrnambool and share with the fisher community the plan to address this. I am told a number have tried to make contact with the department but have not had any response, so we would like to see the minister come and have a look for himself.