The remains of the Queensferry causeway that ran along the foreshore. What remained of the township was abandoned after it was inundated
in the 1920s. Photos: Neil Daly
By Neil Daly
IN RESPONSE to my article Holding back the tide, I received a letter from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
Written on behalf of Steve Dimopoulos MP, the Minister for Environment, the letter touches on the Allan Labor government’s approach to the environmental problems facing Victoria’s coastal communities.
In part it states: “I would like to thank you for sharing your Bass Coast Post article, ‘Holding back the tide’, which considers if the Queensferry area should be left to revert to a former state rather than see the continuation of mangrove investments to mitigate erosion impacts.
IN RESPONSE to my article Holding back the tide, I received a letter from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
Written on behalf of Steve Dimopoulos MP, the Minister for Environment, the letter touches on the Allan Labor government’s approach to the environmental problems facing Victoria’s coastal communities.
In part it states: “I would like to thank you for sharing your Bass Coast Post article, ‘Holding back the tide’, which considers if the Queensferry area should be left to revert to a former state rather than see the continuation of mangrove investments to mitigate erosion impacts.
“This line of questioning aligns with the Coastal Adaption Planning process outlined in Victoria’s Resilient Coast – Adapting for 2100+. Any intervention in coastal environments has pros and cons that can lead to impacts elsewhere, so land managers follow an adaptive or pathways approach to get the facts before committing to any one option.
"Authorities consider management options in the following order:
“Land managers use independent coastal and geotechnical engineers to assess natural processes impacting an area and identify all variable options. This information gathering process can take time but is an important step to ensure land managers can make the right decision and implement the most appropriate option.”
"Authorities consider management options in the following order:
- Non Intervention – allow marine and coastal processors to occur
- Avoid – proactively locate new uses or development away from the impact area
- Nature-based protection – such as sand management, or restoring or enhancing natural features
- Accommodate – by designing structures to accommodate the risk and reduce exposure to, or decrease impact
- Retreat – potentially decommission or relocate existing structures, assets or uses that may be negatively impacted
- Protect – enhance or construct physical barriers to mitigate impacts. Physical structures such as groynes and sea walls are considered a last option.
“Land managers use independent coastal and geotechnical engineers to assess natural processes impacting an area and identify all variable options. This information gathering process can take time but is an important step to ensure land managers can make the right decision and implement the most appropriate option.”
What comfort this information may be to those at Inverloch, Silverleaves or Warneet, for example, I’ll leave for them to judge.
When it comes to Queensferry, there is no attempt to address its future. It would seem its “ghosts of the past” will have to wait for somebody to identify the “most appropriate option”. However, I imagine it will remain in the too hard basket for years to come. Eventually, nature will have its way.
Conversely, I was surprised to read, “The CoastCare Victoria Program recently funded an experimental mangrove restoration project led by the Western Port Seagrass Partnership to plant 1,000 mangrove seedlings across a 2-hectare site near Grantville.”
There was no attempt to justify why this mangrove work was being undertaken, if its outcome was successful, if further works were planned, or if it was the solution to stemming Grantville’s foreshore erosion and protecting its growing infrastructure.
From what I know, this project is being undertaken in an open and exposed foreshore site where, despite 20 years of effort and experimental planting methods, very few mangroves have survived. It stretches about 3.5 kilometres from the Grantville pier to the beginnings of the flourishing natural mangrove stand at Pioneer Bay.
Conversely, I was surprised to read, “The CoastCare Victoria Program recently funded an experimental mangrove restoration project led by the Western Port Seagrass Partnership to plant 1,000 mangrove seedlings across a 2-hectare site near Grantville.”
There was no attempt to justify why this mangrove work was being undertaken, if its outcome was successful, if further works were planned, or if it was the solution to stemming Grantville’s foreshore erosion and protecting its growing infrastructure.
From what I know, this project is being undertaken in an open and exposed foreshore site where, despite 20 years of effort and experimental planting methods, very few mangroves have survived. It stretches about 3.5 kilometres from the Grantville pier to the beginnings of the flourishing natural mangrove stand at Pioneer Bay.
Pre-2023 experimental mangrove plots north of the Grantville pier.
Harking back to the sequential “management options”, I wondered how much longer it would take for the “pros and cons” to be evaluated by the undisclosed land managers dealing with Grantville’s foreshore problems, and if the time had come to consider alternative measures such as groynes, for the nature-based mangrove approach seems doomed.
For whatever reason, the Allan Labor government seems fixated with this project, which started in January 2023. It is mentioned in the Minister for Environment’s answer to a Question on Notice by the Victorian Greens in July this year regarding mangrove mitigation works along the eastern arm of Western Port.
While the Minister’s reply to the parliamentary question and the letter to me are non-committal, it does open up the discussion. With a state election next year, now may be the time to ask all candidates how they would deal with erosion and the risk of coastal flooding and inundation along Victoria’s vulnerable coastline.
I can report that The Nationals, at a state level, have responded to my article, but as in all previous attempts to interest the Victorian Liberals in environmental matters, the leadership team has little to say. Hopefully, the new Leader of the Opposition may get things moving, for a policy statement would be helpful.
The Victorian Greens have been supportive, as evidenced by their parliamentary question.
Whether any party will pick up on the climate change adaption issues affecting Western Port’s foreshore is yet to be seen. So far, it seems MPs are more concerned with their own electoral longevity. Galvanising them to take collective action to help coastal communities adapt to the changes coming their way continues to be an uphill battle.
Footnote: Following up a question arising from my previous article, RMIT’s Centre for Nature Positive Solutions has agreed to release a copy of their Queensferry research data. I’ll alert Post readers to this, once it’s published.
For whatever reason, the Allan Labor government seems fixated with this project, which started in January 2023. It is mentioned in the Minister for Environment’s answer to a Question on Notice by the Victorian Greens in July this year regarding mangrove mitigation works along the eastern arm of Western Port.
While the Minister’s reply to the parliamentary question and the letter to me are non-committal, it does open up the discussion. With a state election next year, now may be the time to ask all candidates how they would deal with erosion and the risk of coastal flooding and inundation along Victoria’s vulnerable coastline.
I can report that The Nationals, at a state level, have responded to my article, but as in all previous attempts to interest the Victorian Liberals in environmental matters, the leadership team has little to say. Hopefully, the new Leader of the Opposition may get things moving, for a policy statement would be helpful.
The Victorian Greens have been supportive, as evidenced by their parliamentary question.
Whether any party will pick up on the climate change adaption issues affecting Western Port’s foreshore is yet to be seen. So far, it seems MPs are more concerned with their own electoral longevity. Galvanising them to take collective action to help coastal communities adapt to the changes coming their way continues to be an uphill battle.
Footnote: Following up a question arising from my previous article, RMIT’s Centre for Nature Positive Solutions has agreed to release a copy of their Queensferry research data. I’ll alert Post readers to this, once it’s published.