Thursday, 20 June 2024

Great South West Walk

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (17:18): (727) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment. The action I seek is an urgent intervention to expedite the repair of Ralph’s Bridge on the iconic Great South West Walk. This vital footbridge, a key element of the Great South West Walk, was damaged by a falling tree in mid-July 2023. Despite the Great South West Walk’s national and international significance, which has been recognised in numerous tourism publications including the Lonely Planet’s Epic Hikes of the World, Australian Geographic’s Australia’s Best 100 Walks and ABC’s Back Roads, no tangible progress has been made on the footbridge’s repair or replacement in almost 12 months. This government’s bureaucracy is simply tedious.

The Great South West Walk, established by Portland High School students and their families in the early 1980s, is a major asset for Portland and south-west Victoria. It attracts numerous visitors annually and celebrated recently its 40th anniversary. The Friends of the Great South West Walk, a volunteer group, dedicate around 7000 hours annually to maintaining and promoting the walk and have been instrumental in its upkeep. The time that it is taking for it to be fixed is very frustrating, with local offers of assistance and alternative solutions from volunteers falling on deaf ears.

Since the damage occurred, Parks Victoria have closed the bridge, forcing walkers onto a lengthy and inconvenient 5.5-kilometre detour on public roads. This not only disrupts the experience for visitors but also poses safety risks. Despite the immediate need for repair, the response from the government, who are running this process, has been laughably slow. In August 2023 a Parks Victoria engineer assessed the site and promised a report, yet almost a year later no report has been seen. The government insurance process has been initiated, but it is similarly mired in delays, with assessments and further independent evaluations dragging on for months. It took seven months just for the government to allow the tree to be removed off the broken footbridge.

Right now I am told that Parks Victoria has finally lodged the insurance claim, almost 12 months later. However, the volunteers have been told the process might take years, citing the need for a planning process to assess the site, design a new crossing, consult with stakeholders and undergo a procurement process – all to replace a footbridge that has already been there for the last 40 years. The bureaucratic quagmire is not just frustrating, it is a joke. I therefore urge the minister to intervene and get on with replacing a simple footbridge that has been sitting there for four decades. Immediate action is needed to restore access to this treasured walk and support the volunteers in our community who have tirelessly maintained this asset for decades. This is such a load of rubbish – it is actually like an episode of Utopia. Sorry, Speaker, I know you do not like those references.