Thursday, 4 August 2022

Wonthaggi Life Saving Club

Ms BURNETT-WAKE (Eastern Victoria) (20:49): (2039) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Energy and Minister for Environment and Climate Action. The action that I seek is for the minister to intervene in Bass Coast council’s management of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Crown land at Wonthaggi Life Saving Club and to help the club develop a workable plan for its future. Wonthaggi surf lifesaving club has been around since 1938, which means it will soon be celebrating 85 years of saving lives. On 10 May 2019 the surf lifesaving clubhouse was destroyed by severe floods. DELWP own the land and Bass Coast council is the appointed land manager.

The club has been using an onsite portable so that they can temporarily operate while they go through the rebuilding process. In the last summer season the volunteers still managed to save eight lives, despite the challenges of not being able to operate out of their usual headquarters. This portable was given the go-ahead by a steering group made up of members of the surf lifesaving club, DELWP, Life Saving Victoria and the Emergency Services Infrastructure Authority as a temporary facility, because the rebuild is expected to take two or three years. The club was, however, advised by Bass Coat council last year that their temporary portable was now considered to be a permanent building being used temporarily.

This advice contradicts what was originally agreed to by the steering group. Now, as a result, the club has had to bring in and fund building consultants, surveyors, fire engineers and specialists to redesign their temporary building to ensure it meets the new code of permanent building being used temporarily. The $50 000 the volunteers have spent on compliance could have funded critical new lifesaving equipment or gone towards construction of the permanent building. There has been a breakdown in certain relationships of the steering committee and the club desperately needs some direction from the outside authority. There are particular issues around the tenure of the lease being offered by the council.

The volunteers want to focus on saving lives and establishing a permanent structure to meet their needs now and into the future. I call on the minister to intervene in Bass Coast council’s management of the DELWP Crown land at Wonthaggi surf lifesaving club and help the club to develop a workable plan for its future.