Environment

The Cape home owner Ned Fitzpatrick: "We’re trying to leave the world a little better for our kids." Photos: Alastair Brook

A NINE-STAR prefabricated home delivered to Cape Paterson on an electric truck is being promoted as a model for low-carbon housing in Australia.

The three-bedroom modular home was built in a factory in the Yarra Valley, trucked more than 160 kilometres to The Cape and installed within days.

Owners Ned and Sarah Kilpatrick say they wanted an energy-efficient “forever home” that would be cheaper to run and more resilient in the future.

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Rental remedies

18/5/2026

Ventnor resident Leela Maki: Energy Efficiency Program
made her house more comfortable.

By Dee Smith

ACROSS Bass Coast and South Gippsland, a shift has been happening inside some of the region’s coldest, draughtiest homes.

Since 2023, Mycelia’s Energy Efficiency Program has been working with local households to tackle the everyday problems that make winter harder than it needs to be - heat leaking out through gaps, old appliances working overtime, and bills that climb faster than comfort levels.

The program focuses on the basics that make the biggest difference: draught‑proofing, insulation, servicing existing heating and cooling appliances, and helping people to understand how their home actually uses energy. They’re small, practical upgrades, but the impact is immediate. Homes stay warmer, bills drop and people breathe a little easier.

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Ready to buy an EV?

1/5/2026

TRPI volunteer Mary Whelan demonstrates a home EV charger – compact, safe and suitable for most residential properties.

By Celia Whelan

SALES of EVs are surging, thanks to the fuel shortage resulting from war in the Middle East.

Battery electric vehicles accounted for a record 15.4% of new light vehicle sales in Victoria in March 2026, 86 per cent higher than a year earlier.

If you’ve been curious about EVs but aren’t sure where to start, Totally Renewable Phillip Island (TRPI) is hosting a free community information session at the Phillip Island RSL on Saturday - and it’s nothing like visiting a car dealership.

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Partnering for plovers

29/4/2026

Plover lovers gathered at Kilcunda to talk progress on plover protection.

By Sally O’Neill

THE room was full of plover lovers recently as West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (CMA) and partners gathered at Kilcunda on Bunurong Country to talk progress on plover protection as part of their Toward Zero Extinctions: Protect the Eastern Hooded Plover project.

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by West Gippsland CMA, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

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Floating wetlands take root

16/4/2026

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RMIT-led trial shows improved water quality and biodiversity in farm dams across Bass Coast

By Finn Devlin

An RMIT‑led trial in Bass Coast is showing how floating wetlands could transform the health and productivity of Australia’s 1.8 million farm dams.

The partnership with Melbourne Water and Bass Coast Landcare Network is trialling the floating wetlands on dams across the region. Early results have shown improvements in water quality, biodiversity and emissions reduction.

The floating wetlands act as natural filtration systems, where plants form underwater root matrices that attract a microbial community to help transfer nutrients, trap particles and cool the water. This chain reaction improves both the health and look of the farm dam.

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The power trip speeds up… again

3/4/2026

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Werner Theinert: "The question is no longer whether – but when – to make the switch."

By Werner Theinert

Since my previous article, The Power Trip Speeds Up (July 17, 2025), the Cheaper Home Batteries Program has gone crazy. More than 200,000 home battery systems have been installed nationwide, with a total installed capacity of the combined systems touching 5GWh in the last few weeks. We are no longer in “first adopter” territory.

In fact, it’s become so popular that the Federal Government will be changing the rules on the May 1 to reduce the 30% discount on the larger battery systems.

I’ve been busy doing presentations for various community organisations, and for friends and neighbours. Discussing solar PV, home batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and resilience to power outages and communications failures.

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Eco made easy

16/2/2026

ABC presenter and festival guest Craig Reucassell will present on simple choices we can all make to help the environment.

By Alice Anderson

ENVIRONMENTAL challenges can often feel overwhelming. The Bass Coast Sustainability Festival is about making big ideas feel simple, practical and fun.

At its heart, the festival is a family-friendly celebration of community, creativity and caring for our environment. It’s designed for curious minds, whether you’re already living sustainably or just starting to ask a few questions about how you can do things a little differently.

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Rhyll leads the charge

13/12/2025

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UP TO 60 Rhyll households will have their electric hot water systems switched from night-time to daytime operation in a trial that could set a model for renewable energy communities.

The change, from March 1 next year, is designed to make better use of the region’s abundant solar energy by heating water during peak generation hours, between 9am and 3pm. The existing early-morning boost period from 4am to 6am will remain in place.

The trial will be run by Totally Renewable Phillip Island (TRPI) in partnership with AusNet to tackle a growing challenge for renewable energy communities: how to use surplus solar power rather than wasting it.

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A nose for trouble

4/12/2025

Trainee dog handler Zoe Kellett with Blaze, who is trained to hunt out foxes.

DOGS and humans alike are being trained to keep Phillip Island fox-free, with Phillip Island Nature Parks expanding its conservation dog team.

Nature Parks received $50,000 from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action Nature Fund and matched support from the Penguin Foundation to recruit a trainee dog handler to improve the response and capability of the conservation dog team.

This year, new trainer Zoe Kellett joined Craig Bester, who brings over 40 years of expertise in conservation dog training and handling.

Zoe and Craig are working with the next generation of detection dogs: Marbee, Milly, Macey and Blaze.

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Community spirit blossoms in Coronet Bay

3/9/2025

The threat of wild weather didn't deter locals greening the Coronet Bay foreshore.

By Linda Nicholls

DESPITE a night of wild, windy weather, the sun shone on Coronet Bay the next morning (Saturday, August 30) as locals rolled up their sleeves for a community planting in the Banksia forest along the foreshore.

Those who promised to come, came, and a few extras registered on the day, proving that Coronet Bay’s community spirit is as hardy as the native plants they were putting in the ground.

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Nature to the rescue in Western Port

16/8/2025

A landmark project will use mangroves, saltmarsh and seagrass
as the first line of defence against climate change in Western Port.

By Jess Brady

THE Western Port Biosphere and RMIT University have launched a new project to restore critical coastal wetlands and protect Western Port’s communities from the growing impacts of climate change.

Enabled through $900,000 in philanthropic funding from The Ian Potter Foundation and additional contributions from project partners including RMIT, this three-year initiative will restore and protect mangroves and saltmarsh, monitor ecosystem health, and engage private landholders and the broader community in nature-based solutions on Bunurong Country.

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Slogans won’t save our beach

23/7/2025

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Let’s listen to the coastal engineering experts who’ve done the work on Inverloch Beach.

By Trevor Forge

THE “promo” for the Inverloch Foreshore Action Group community engagement session promised we would learn of “a far better, logical and common sense solution … than what Melbourne bureaucrats are dictating”.

Instead we got more of the same dictatorial, bullying, “do-it-our-way” rhetoric about rock walls and rock bags, and a suggestion that beach nourishment was not favoured by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Anyone who attempted to question “the facts” or put an alternative view was quickly shut down.

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The power trip speeds up

17/7/2025

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All-electric living

By Werner Theinert

WE’VE done it! We’ve electrified everything! Every box on the sign has been ticked!

The Nissan Leaf (62kWh battery) has over 70,000kms on the clock and the BYD Seal (82.5kWh battery) which arrived in April last year, now has 20,000kms on the clock. The BYD Seal is a truly amazing car. Range anxiety is now a thing of the past with its claimed 600-650km range probably more like 500-550km. This “range anxiety” has been further reduced by the slow but continuing installation of additional EV Charging stations throughout the region.

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It’s official. The Western Port Woodlands matter.

8/6/2025

The government has recognised the value of the woodlands. Now to turn recognition into protection.

By Catherine Watson

THE conflict between sand quarrying and protecting biodiversity in the Western Port Woodlands has been a festering sore in the Bass Coast community for more than 30 years.

With 11 quarries already operating in the woodlands, and several more approved, a planning panel for the Bass Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) project was tasked with sorting out the mess.

This was one of many messes they had to deal with but it was the most contested DAL issue, with more than 500 submissions calling for increased protection for the woodlands and a solitary submission from a multinational mining company calling for more protection of sand mining.

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In the line of fire

15/5/2025

On December 19 and 20 fire swept through the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve, threatening residential and farming properties in the Gurdies and further afield.
Around 192 hectares was burnt including 125 hectares of the reserve and 50 hectares of
the council’s native vegetation reserve. Firefighters managed to save all dwellings,
although sheds and fences were lost.

Mike Clarke in the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve, April 2025. “Managing fire for people and wildlife is not rocket science, it’s much more complex than that.”

By Professor Mike Clark

MOST Victorians recognise that we live in a highly flammable landscape and that was really brought out as the Gurdies fire came close to houses adjacent to the reserve.

Fire has been a part of this landscape for millions of years and we know the general narrative that because of that it bounces back, in some cases pretty quickly. In the Gurdies reserve you can see the resprouting from epicormic buds beneath the bark, doing what comes naturally and there's signs of acacia seeds that have been triggered to germinate by the heat or smoke produced by the fire. Superficially you'd say “Oh well, everything's back to normal again."

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Living lightly

28/2/2025

Permaculturalist Rock Coleman shared his knowledge at last year’s Garden Gems series.

ARE you interested in growing veggies? Do you want to learn about solar panels and home batteries? Are you trying to live a more sustainable life?

Bass Coast Shire Council has launched Living Lightly Bass Coast - a series of workshops that will run across the year to help residents learn new skills to live more sustainably.

Workshops will be presented by experts that will focus on making homes and communities more affordable, sustainable and resilient.

They build on the success of last year’s Garden Gems and Sustainable Living series.

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Signs of life

2/2/2025

By Catherine Watson

Dr Sera Blair calls it “searching for life after a fire”. Exactly four weeks after the Gurdies fire, she and Victorian National Parks Association colleague Jordan Crook began the process of documenting the return – and survival – of wildlife.

They were not yet permitted into the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve due to Parks Victoria’s concerns about hazardous trees, so they began work in Bass Coast Shire Council’s adjoining 52ha Native Vegetation Offset Reserve.

The fire started near the Sand Supplies quarry, and burned through this reserve on the first day, threatening homes in Woodland Close. A wind change the following day pushed it north, threatening homes along the Gurdies Road and Island View Road.

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Russ stands his ground

1/2/2025

News update, Feb 9, 2025
Following an onsite meeting between Russ and the council, the requirement for clearing was reduced to slashing a two-metre strip around the perimeter of the bushland. Russ says the work has been done and he’s satisfied with the outcome. The council will inspect the site to ensure its standards have been met.

Russ Williams: "This is virgin, virgin, virgin native bush.’”

By Catherine Watson

YOU might pick Russ Williams for an ageing rocker but you would never guess that he spent most of his working life as a real estate agent.

Nor would you pick him for a typical greenie, but the long-time Coronet Bay resident is ready to defend his patch of bush against what he sees as an over-reaction of bureaucracy.

A week ago he received a fire prevention notice from the council ordering him to clear the undergrowth in the bushland on his small beef farm.

“I couldn't sleep that night,” Russ says. “I’ve never had this before, not in 50 years.”

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Rich pickings in Proving Ground

14/10/2024

Hundreds of distinctive and rare Strzelecki gums have been found in the former Holden
Proving Ground. Photo: Irene Proebsting

THE largest stand of critically endangered Strzelecki Gums in existence has been found at the former Holden Proving Ground, confirming its status as a biodiversity hotspot.

At almost 900 hectares, this is the largest patch of uncleared land in Bass Coast and the central chunk of the Western Port Woodlands.

Now owned by VinFast, the proving ground is currently on the market and a coalition of 20 conservation groups is pushing for the eastern portion of the site to be acquired for conservation purposes.

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Earthly delights

12/9/2024

At Eden Rise, Daphne and Joe Proietto have transformed paddocks into a five-acre native garden.

By Kate Anderson

The Open Gardens Victoria spring season kicks off with two beautiful native gardens in Bass Coast Shire, opening on the weekend of September 28–29.

Nestled in Woolamai’s rolling Bass Hills, Eden Rise has stunning views out to Western Port, French Island, and Phillip Island. It was originally a horse agistment property with little more than sheds and a handful of trees, but owners Daphne and Joe Proietto have spent the past 13 years transforming grassy paddocks into a stunning five-acre garden. Work commenced on the garden long before the house was built.

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Saving our beaches

12/9/2024

Storm surges on September 4 pound the Inverloch coast. The South Gippsland Conservation Society is pushing for urgent dune reconstruction to prevent further damage.

By Philip Heath

THE South Gippsland Conservation Society believes the draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project provides a comprehensive framework for staged coastal adaptation for the next 50 and more years, taking into account anticipated climate change impacts.

Adaptation pathways for each section of the coastline between Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap, including Anderson Inlet, are set out, with identified actions linked to anticipated increases in sea level and other triggers.

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To solar or not to solar - that is the question

11/9/2024

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Tim Herring crunches the numbers on home battery storage.

By Tim Herring

WHEN we bought our house, it had an old, small solar system (over 10 years old) which didn't work very well. After the start of the Ukrainian war, shortages caused gas and coal prices to increase significantly and flooding in Australian east coast coal mines helped keep the prices high. We decided to put in a new solar system of sufficient size and battery capacity to make a reduction of at least 60 per cent in our annual electricity bill - at that time around $2200 per annum.

I got four quotations from local suppliers in October/November last year. The industry norm is to quote only the final figure for the system, but I had insisted on a breakdown of prices for each item. I noticed that most providers were leading with solar only (no battery) and I figured out why pretty quickly – the "basic" system of 5-6kW was being quoted as "free" after subsidies. This was undoubtedly attractive, but didn't stand up to proper examination. There were two subsidies (Solar Vic PV and STCs) totalling around $5,000, plus a "subsidy" of $6,000 which was actually an interest-free loan – requiring repayment, albeit at zero interest. Hence the very low prices.

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The tourist trap

10/9/2024