Inverloch surf beach
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:16): (101) My question is to the Minister for Environment. The Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club is under considerable threat from coastal erosion due to the degradation of the sand dunes on the surf beach. The cape-to-cape resilience project proposes major capital works including breakwaters, groynes, rock walls and renourishment to arrest this destructive environment through erosion. Minister, when will your government act to stop the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club being washed away?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:17): Thank you, Ms Bath, for your question. Of course this is a key issue, coastal erosion and sea rise. The combined effects of tides and storm activity and coastal processes and local conditions present real challenges to communities right along the Victorian coastline, and of course Inverloch is an example of where that is seen at its most stark. It is why we allocated $16.9 million in our last budget towards various initiatives to tackle coastal erosion, and it is all contained in our Marine and Coastal Strategy, which is a publicly available strategy on the DEECA website.
It is incredibly important that we do work closely with communities along the coastline, and Inverloch is an important example of that. It is where DEECA is leading the first regional and strategic partnership, or RASP, under the Marine and Coastal Act. It comprises nine agencies and also involves the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. There has been extensive work done to consult the community about what mitigation strategies might best suit the situation in Inverloch. We have invested more than $1.5 million down there installing coastal protection structures on the Inverloch surf beach to protect the public infrastructure, including the surf club that you have raised, and we have invested an additional $850,000 in the RASP to fund that technical assessment that is going to be required to go to stage 2 of that program. I hope that gives you a little bit of a feel for what we are doing down at Inverloch.
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:19): I thank the minister for her response. I take up her points about consultation, but to quote the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club’s environmental officer Warren Cook, a former member of the cape-to-cape resilience project stakeholder group who resigned in frustration due to inaction, Mr Cook says:
Consultation is good, but it has been going on for three years now. It’s time for action …
Minister, after three years of consultation, when will the funding be made available to implement the cape-to-cape resilience plan as a matter of urgency to save this lifesaving club?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (12:19): I do take issue with the way that you are presenting that supplementary question, because I have just taken you through the investment that we have already made in stage 1 of that project. Stage 2 is now underway, and there is an additional contribution of $3.3 million. I know that my colleagues who represent Eastern Victoria are very pleased with the work that is going on down there. The federal government has also contributed $400,000 to undertake that important work, and the consultation with the community will continue. We are proud that we are able to work so closely with the community on these challenges.