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Hands off our bay

8/4/2021

5 Comments

 
PictureOnce more the community has been forced to ward off an assault on Western Port by big business. Humpback whale breaches in the bay. Photo: Lisa Schonberg
By Jeff Nottle
 
THE AGL proposal to process imported gas in a floating gas factory in the RAMSAR-listed waters of Western Port was always an audacious attempt to take advantage of the ongoing national energy policy void.
 
This move in mid-2018 ignited an immediate response from the Phillip Island Conservation Society which commenced a campaign that continued right up to the recent announcement by Planning Minister Richard Wynne that the State Government would block the plan.

We understood a comprehensive environmental effects statement (EES) was needed to put this commercial decision under scrutiny and lobbied state and federal departments to prepare an EES that covered key environmental issues under both state and federal laws.
 
We also understood that we were up against a determined company with virtually unlimited resources. We needed lots of support to divide the workload of analysing reports and engaging the community. An alliance of environmental organisations was formed that included Save Westernport, the Victorian National Parks Association, Environment Victoria and the Westernport Protection Council. 
Ultimately it resulted in over 6000 submissions to the EES inquiry from community groups, councils, businesses and individuals. The unprecedented response has led to a unified movement of people opposed to the potential degradation of Western Port.
 
Mr Wynne has now rejected the AGL proposal based on potential damage to marine ecosystems as a result of chlorine discharge, lower water temperature and entrainment. PICS argued strongly about those impacts in our submissions to the inquiry and we believe this decision is entirely appropriate.
 
Nevertheless, in his report, the Minister has regarded as acceptable or not relevant many other potential adverse impacts of the AGL proposal on the environment, economy and the community. The argument against the necessity of gas importation was not a factor in rejecting the project. Nor was the impact on climate change or the greenhouse gas emissions from downstream gas consumption or upstream LNG extraction, transport or processing operations.

​Surprisingly the Minister’s report also dismissed concerns raised by many about the adverse impact on tourism, and stated impacts from operational noise and vibration, light spill, landscape and visual impacts, safety, hazards and risks. Impacts on connection to the natural environment, recreational fishing, boating, kayaking, swimming, walking and other social activities were either acceptable or could be managed by “environmental performance requirements”.
Picture
Western Port defenders hailed
November 7, 2019 - PICS president Jeff Nottle reflects on the role of activists in protecting the bay. 

Bay under threat - a timeline
  • ​1968 Phillip Island Conservation Society (PICS) formed to fight a proposed marina at Rhyll.
  • 1988 Canal development proposed for Ventnor. Plan dropped.
  • 1993 Crib Point oil terminal proposed.
  • 2010 Ferry terminal proposed for Cowes foreshore
  • 2013 Liberal State government announces Port of Hastings will become Australia’s biggest container port.
  • 2013 PICS establishes a working group Preserve Western Port to campaign against the port.
  • 2017 Port plan abandoned. 
  • 2017 AGL proposes floating gas terminal at Crib Point.
  • 2018 Labor State Government proposes car ferry between Stony Point and Cowes.
  • 2021 State Government rejects AGL plan for Crib Point.
Final decisions on the project from the Environment Protection Authority and the Federal Environment Minister are expected in the near future.
 
Whilst the community reflects on what could have happened, PICS and the alliance will now switch focus to seeking more permanent protections for Western Port. As a minimum this will include seeking a single and dedicated strategic or management plan.
 
We also believe the marine spatial planning framework recently recognised by the Victorian Government as part of statewide marine and coastal policy should be explored for integrated and coordinated planning of Western Port.
 
The community should not have to bear the significant stress, costs and efforts to ward off ill-considered and opportunist initiatives to exploit and degrade Westernport without fully understanding the value of our natural world.
 
Jeff Nottle is president of the Phillip Island Conservation Society.
5 Comments
Neil Daly
10/4/2021 10:25:24 am

Congratulations Jeff to PICS for its untiring work to preserve Western Port. Hoping your new focus on a permanent protection plan for Western Port will be heeded by those intent on undermining its fragile and vulnerable environment.

Reply
Jane Jobe
10/4/2021 03:52:53 pm

Thanks for publishing the "bay under threat" timeline, which shows just how constant the stress, cost and efforts to protect Western Port have been for more than fifty years. Missing from this timeline is the San Remo marina proposal that was subject to an EES in 1988. The intertidal and subtidal "San Remo Marine Community" at this site was subsequently listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. It's described here: https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/32455/San_Remo_Marine_Community.pdf

Reply
Lorrie Read
10/4/2021 08:08:48 pm

Well done everyone, it seems like the fight is never over, but we are not going away either. Such a relief that the State Government rejected the proposal, but we need to be vigilant.

Reply
Jeannie Haughton
11/4/2021 07:30:51 am

Wonderful wonderful results. Congratulations to all involved and especially leadership team. However your article reveals how sustained sophisticated and professional the effort to protect the environment has to be, and how little quality of life of people is valued in legal vs commercial arguments.

Reply
Kelvin Thomson
11/5/2021 07:18:25 am

Congratulations Jeff to you and the Phillip Island Conservation Society on your role in the defeat of the AGL proposal. Best wishes in your ongoing work to protect Phillip Island and Western Port.

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