Neil Daly

Let’s get together

25/1/2023

In 2014 75 participants from 40 organisations gathered on Phillip Island to develop a visionary manifesto for the future of Western Port.
Photo: Natalie Davey, courtesy of VNPA

By Neil Daly

When it comes to Western Port, the story of Robert the Bruce comes to mind as he watched the spider trying to spin its web. It eventually succeeded and Robert taking heart from this returned to the battle and eventually overcame the English.

In this scenario, the English are our politicians.

Throughout the long Western Port campaign spanning some 50 years, the community has faced one battle after another.

For example, the current Save the Western Port Woodlands conflict has escalated, but so far the politicians still hold the high ground and are not likely to yield or seek a peaceful resolution. This is an unfortunate situation and now lawyers have been engaged to argue over what could be considered a “Rights of Nature” case.

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Power to the people

16/10/2022

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When I grow up will the world be a better place? I hope so,
for it’s in your hands! Photo: Sally McNiece.

By Neil Daly

THE Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA) has tackled the issue of climate change head on through its webinar series Earth Laws Month September 2022.

ALEA’s mission is to increase the understanding and practical implementation of Earth-centred governance, with a focus on law, economics, education, ethics and the arts. The seminars, spread across the month, dealt with 35 topics and gave its 65 international and home-based scholarly speakers the chance to analyse the subject and chart a way forward.

Perhaps “way forward” is the key phrase. From the Andes Mountains to the shores of Western Port, the pressures that governments are putting on communities and the natural environment in the quest to satisfy the economic bottom line are taking a toll. It’s time the people set the ground rules.

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Caring for Western Port Country

21/9/2022

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Governments and developers will have carte blanche
on Western Port until we fix our “box mentality”.
Photo: Golden whistler by Jackie Newman.

By Neil Daly

THROUGH my articles I have attempted to encourage Victorian MPs to pick up the theme that Western Port belongs to all Victorians, and there is a need to care for Country by embracing the holistic approach so well understood by the First Nations people.

However given our European ways of dividing the natural environment into areas determined by “boxes”, we ignore the Aboriginal people’s understanding that sea, land and waterways are interdependent and know no boundaries.

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Hello Earthlings

17/8/2022

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Image of the Earth rising over the Moon from Apollo 8. Photo: NASA

By Neil Daly

FOR those who have followed my call for a Western Port Strategic Management Plan, I haven’t given up on the concept nor have I been indulging in strange substances, but I have taken time out and joined in the webinar series Space Exploration: An Update for Earthlings conducted by the Australian Earth Laws Alliance. The six-hour seminar spread across three sessions gave the audience the chance to connect with space engineers, space archaeologists, space lawyers, and governance experts from across the world.

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All hands on deck

30/6/2022

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Western Port belongs to all Victorians - your vote can determine its future. Photo: Mark Farr (VicScreen)

By Neil Daly

I have to report that Matthew Guy MP doesn’t want my help to rebuild Victoria.

Neither he nor his parliamentary colleagues have replied to my latest email and it would seem they are not interested in the comments generated by my article A chat with Matt.

I don’t necessarily agree there is a need to “recover and rebuild Victoria” as Matthew Guy suggests, but even if I did agree, the point I was making in my previous article was that any attempt by the Opposition to develop its policy platform must include Western Port and its region.

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A chat with Matt

2/6/2022

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Neil Daly is ready and willing to help Opposition Leader Matthew Guy ‘Recover and Rebuild Victoria’.

By Neil Daly

HAVE you ever had a chat with Matt?

I haven’t, though he invited me, and I imagine many others, to contact him. His email of April 23 2022 said:

“Dear Neil,
As Victoria heads towards a State Election in November this year, it is more important than ever that I hear from you on what matters most and how we can rebuild following two years of lockdowns, lost learning, a mental health crisis, cost of living pressures and attacks on small business.”

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Let’s join the dots

19/4/2022

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Treating Western Port and the region as an entity is the best way to safeguard it. Photo: Western Port Protection Council

By Neil Daly

IN THE series of articles I’ve written in the Bass Coast Post concerning Western Port and its environs, I’ve presented a case that Western Port and its region should be considered as an all-inclusive entity.

The reason I raise this is that the State Government, ably supported by the work of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and input from the Bass Coast community, has tabled the Bass Coast Distinctive Area and Landscape - Draft Bass Coast Statement of Planning Policy document for public consultation.

Depending on your perspective, the Bass Coast Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL) project may be a good or a flawed plan.

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Your election form guide

25/3/2022

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What would Greta say? Graphic: Shutterstock

By Neil Daly

LAST year I invited all political parties in the Victorian State Parliament to nominate for the Western Port Strategic Management Plan Group 1 Handicap to be run on Saturday, November 26.

Prize: The satisfaction that comes from helping the people of Victoria safeguard Western Port and its bioregion.

The acceptance requirements are:

an election policy plank presenting a visionary concept for Western Port and its region;

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A recipe for fun

23/2/2022

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"At last, a chance to help make Western Port a better place” was the chorus. Photos: Andrew Morrison

By Neil Daly

IT WAS Friday December 10, 2021. Twenty-four Grade 4 children from Bass Valley Primary School and their teachers were strolling along the Queensferry foreshore. I think it would have pleased the late Tim Ealey OAM, affectionately known as “Dr Mangrove”, for it was his pioneering seagrass and mangrove work with the school that was the forerunner of what was about to unfold - they had come to plant mangroves.

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It’s time we set the agenda

27/1/2022

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Hartley Tobin and ‘Old Man Grass Tree’, one of the ancient giants of the Grantville grass tree forest. Photo: Meryl Brown Tobin

By Neil Daly

I WOULD like to thank two remarkable environmentalists, Meryl and Hartley Tobin, for giving me permission to use the photo of the “Old Man Grass Tree”, and for their tireless work in helping to preserve our natural environment.

In our discussion, Meryl said “The Old Man Grass Tree has probably stood here since long before George Bass landed nearby at the mouth of the Bass River in 1798 and has seen our wildlife come and go for maybe 300-400 years or even longer.”

The longevity of this amazing plant reminded me that Western Port and its region is an ancient and precious ecosystem dating back to long before George Bass started us on the road to European civilisation.

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Swan & Clarke - a visionary team

1/12/2021

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John Swan

By Neil Daly

JUST under a year ago, I contacted a number of state MPs about the urgent need for a strategic management plan for Western Port and its hinterland, or as we now recognise it as, Bunurong Country.

John Clarke

I based this plea on the visionary work of two pioneering conservationists: the late Emeritus Professor John Swan AO and the late John Clarke.

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Back to the future

4/11/2021

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Neil Daly asks whether the blue carbon method could redress much of the damage to Western Port caused by a century of drainage works and land clearing. Photo: Greg Brave

By Neil Daly

IT WOULD seem the issues I raised in A bolt from the blue, The Cyan Way and Time to walk with nature were on the right track when it comes to carbon sequestration.

In these articles, I indicated how some of Western Port’s foreshore lands could once more become carbon sinks and, on a smaller scale, replicate the natural carbon capture processes the Koo Wee Rup swamp and coastal wetlands once provided.

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Sifting the plans in play

7/10/2021

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It’s time for a new strategic framework for Western Port and its region, writes Neil Daly.

By Neil Daly

LOOKING back at the article For the next milestone, it seems the Government, despite three questions from Clifford Hayes about how to deal with Western Port’s environmental future, has not budged from its original answer. On the other hand, the Opposition, via the Member for Brighton, has moved forward and is now looking to discuss the matter.

In this moment of reflection, for it was January this year when I first contacted a number of MPs about the need for a strategic management plan for Western Port and its region, there were times when it seemed like a hopeless task.
But thanks to the tenacity of the Bass Coast Post readers and to the community stakeholder discussions chaired by the Victorian National Parks Association, the matter has not gone away and I would suggest we have reached the next milestone: a renewed commitment to protect Western Port.

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Question time

9/9/2021

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Why does Spring Street continue to treat Western Port
so differently from its neighbour, asks Neil Daly.

By Neil Daly

TWO important documents are floating around Western Port at present: Victoria’s Draft Marine and Coastal Strategy (Department of Environment, Land , Water and Planning, July 2021) and the Draft Port Phillip & Western Port Regional Catchment Strategy (Port Phillip & Westernport Catchment Management Authority, July 2021).

Also circulating is a document I’ve written called Western Port Strategic Management Plan – Starter Kit (August 2021). I have sent a copy of this document to the MPs on my list and to the new alliance made up of key Western Port community stakeholders now convened by the Victorian National Parks Association.

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A watery makeover takes shape

27/8/2021

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The seagrass research team is likely to turn up anywhere in Western Port in their quest to
restore more seagrass meadows.

By Neil Daly

FIFTEEN months on from my first meeting with the young scientists as described in my article A watery makeover, I found them again at Queensferry, early one Sunday morning.

Yi Mei and Oli were trudging through the intertidal zone some 80 metres or so offshore. They were ‘examining things’ in the mud. This time I had to find out exactly what they were doing for it looked amusing but, at the same time, very serious.

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Has the longest day begun?

28/7/2021

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MPs take note, the people are ready to protect
Western Port once more, writes Neil Daly.
Photo: Nicole Avagliano

By Neil Daly

RECENTLY, two questions have been put to the government by the Sustainable Australia Party about the future of Western Port. These can be read in Some have heard the call and Winter recess – a time to gather our thoughts.

The first question received a ministerial reply that did not answer the question. The supplementary question is awaiting a reply and this could take up to three months.

I imagine the second reply will be much the same as the first, and I hark back to the way successive governments over the last 50 years or so have treated Western Port and its hinterland: somewhere to park a ship or two; industrialise its foreshore; and dig up its sand deposits.

When challenged over such matters, governments fall back to their tried and tested defence of how they value Western Port’s Ramsar wetland and will do all they can to protect it. While this may be so, I believe it’s their way of negating any peaceful and negotiated move by the people to protect the Western Port region.

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Winter recess – a time to gather our thoughts

1/7/2021

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The latest assault on Western Port’s hinterland shows how much we need a complete
land and sea management plan.

By Neil Daly

THE Andrews Labor Government can settle into the parliamentary winter recess well pleased with its efforts: the AGL/APA gas import terminal at Crib Point battle is done and dusted; and its answer to a question about a Western Port Strategic Management Plan (WPSMP) now closes the matter … or does it?

In the Legislative Council on February 18 this year, Clifford Hayes of the Sustainable Australia Party, asked Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to initiate a strategic management plan for Western Port. (See Some have heard the call, Bass Coast Post, March 25, 2021.)

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Dear Reader

1/6/2021

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The late John Clarke: “The problems are quite easily identifiable. They’re not going to be easy to fix, but we have to do it. We caused them; it’s up to us now.” Photo: Trust for Nature.

By Neil Daly

EARLIER this year, January 21, 2021 to be precise, I began sending emails to 28 State Members of Parliament.

These emails focused on the need for a Western Port Strategic Management Plan (WPSMP). Each email gave them an online link to the articles I had written about the subject in The Waterline News and the Bass Coast Post.

This part of my journey is now over, and I have sent the following email to the parliamentary representatives:
“As a way of closing this Chapter on my request for you to consider the Western Port Strategic Management Plan, I invite you to watch the video called Western Port – Cherished and Challenged.

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Time to walk with nature

4/5/2021

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We have to start undoing the damage we have done to the environment,
writes Neil Daly. Photo: Vanessa Wong

By Neil Daly

IN The Cyan Way, I suggested that, with the onset of climate change and the potential inundation of low-lying areas along the eastern arm of Western Port, some of these areas will probably return to their original coastal status and become carbon sinks once more.

Prior to the draining of the Koo Wee Rup swamp, the wetlands and coastal saltmarshes provided a means of controlling and filtering water flowing into Western Port and moderated the effect of waves and storm surges on the foreshore vegetation. This natural ecosystem balanced the competing needs of the flora and fauna of this region and Western Port’s fragile marine ecosystem.

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For the next milestone …

20/4/2021

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Photo: Philemon Yalamu

By Neil Daly

IT’S hard to know what George Bass would think if he sailed into Western Port now, for much has changed, but he would probably be heartened by the Andrews government’s decision not to proceed with the AGL gas import terminal at Crib Point.

Perhaps the most important speculation is what the original custodians of this region would think of this decision – I could say they would be pleased.

It would be fair to suggest that, as well as the 6058 individuals and groups that made submissions to the AGL inquiry, there are many other Victorians and others across Australia and beyond who are pleased.

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