Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (19:02): (1400) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is an update on the release date of the cape-to-cape resilience plan. The coastline around Inverloch, Venus Bay and Anderson Inlet is revered by locals and visitors alike. It is certainly dramatic and dynamic. Natural processes such as wind, waves, tides, storms, currents and catchment flows move sand and sediments and are reshaping the coastline. To proactively plan for managing future changes, the cape-to-cape resilience plan has been developed as a long-term plan to manage important places, assets and other values in the future. It has been based on the latest scientific modelling, technical assessments and recommendations from experts including coastal engineers, and is guided by community aspirations and values.

Recently, Ed Thexton, president of the South Gippsland Conservation Society, and I met with the minister at Inverloch surf beach to discuss the milestone of the first action of the cape-to-cape resilience plan, the Inverloch surf beach dune reconstruction project, set to start this coming February, after our busy holiday season. The extension and remediation of the geotextile sandbag wall at the surf lifesaving club, funded by our government, will be delivered by Bass Coast shire, as the land managers, prior to Christmas. Locals have consistently voiced their wish to retain sandy beaches for as long as possible, which in turn helps to protect both public and private assets. The draft cape-to-cape plan went out for feedback and consultation, which closed in October 2024, and we are all keen for the final plan to be released now. We understand it is a living document and not set and forget. Our government has already implemented a number of mitigation treatments in the Inverloch area specifically and has allocated funding and worked closely with agencies including the local council. I look forward to sharing when the final plan will be released and welcome another visit, as always. I thank the team at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action for their work and dedication to this project and our community for being so actively engaged in this adaptation plan.