By Catherine Watson

AFTER a month of steady progress, the Inverloch Surf Beach renourishment project has paused while repairs are carried out to the dredge Kirra.

The dredge pump failed early this week but replacement parts and specialist mechanics are on site, and the project team is hopeful sand pumping will restart on Friday.​

By Catherine Watson
 
Australian scientists have documented devastating losses among penguins and seals on remote Antarctic islands as authorities prepare for the likely arrival of H5 bird flu in Victoria.
 
The findings have heightened concern for Phillip Island's internationally significant little penguin colony and Australian fur seal population.
 
Last week scientists from the Australian Antarctic Program released their findings on mortality rates in penguin and seal colonies on remote sub-Antarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands.​

BASS Coast Shire Council has rescinded its previous decision to make part of Surf Parade one-way and will now progress the design of a two-way option for the final stage of the Surf Parade Shared Path in Inverloch.
 
Following community feedback through surveys, public submissions and the Committee of Council process, Council will investigate a two-way design that includes car parking bays while progressing the missing link in the shared path network.

BASS Coast’s new mayor has resigned from his day job to concentrate on a big year ahead.
 
Cr Brett Tessari was re-elected for a fourth mayoral term at Wednesday’s council meeting after Rochelle Halstead stepped down from the role after being endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Bass in the state election.
 
Cr Tessari initially hoped to combine the mayoral role with his job as operations manager for the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition but said he realised that in an election year the mayoral job would take all his energy.
 
​​He said the council had done the ground work for its list of advocacy priorities and he was looking forward to hitting the road.

​By Catherine Watson
 
BRETT Tessari returns to the mayoral chair for his fourth term after he was the sole nomination at today’s special council meeting.
 
“I’m back,” he said, as he took the mayoral chair. “I haven’t sat in this chair for five years.”
 
He takes over from Cr Rochelle Halstead, who resigned from the mayoralty after she was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Bass at the November state election.
 
Cr Halstead said it would be inappropriate for her to continue as mayor while campaigning against the current Labor Government. She will remain as a councillor until election writs are issued in early November. ​

By Catherine Watson
 
BASS Coast has joined the chorus of councils calling for fossil fuel companies to pay for the impacts of climate change.
 
A notice of motion from Cr Mat Morgan at Wednesday’s council meeting highlighted the mounting costs of extreme weather on residents, businesses and council budgets.
 
It called on the federal government to introduce a levy on major fossil fuel companies and launch an inquiry into whether national adaptation funding is falling short.​​

Cr Morgan said Australia’s first national risk climate risk assessment, released last year, found 750,000 properties may become uninsurable by 2050.

By Brad Lester
 
A MAN who narrowly survived drowning has thanked staff at Wonthaggi Hospital’s Emergency Department for helping to save his life.
 
Peter Hawkins was treated at the Emergency Department, operated by Bayside Health, after being caught in a rip at Inverloch Surf Beach that took him up to 400 metres offshore. 
 
Having endured hypothermia after an hour in cool water, breathing in sea water and suffering a heart attack, Peter was later told his situation was life-threatening.
 
He was transferred to Wonthaggi Hospital by ambulance after being rescued from the ocean by a surfer and a member of the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, and stabilised on the beach by paramedics. ​

​By Catherine Watson

ANTICIPATION is building in Inverloch as the long-awaited dune reconstruction project moves from planning to reality.

Contractors are currently preparing a pipeline that will soon be laid along the foreshore to transport a sand slurry that will replenish the Surf Beach.

Around 100,000 cubic metres of sand will be pumped from Anderson Inlet to rebuild the dune along Surf Beach, from the western arm of Wreck Creek to Ozone Street, east of the Surf Club. The work will be carried out in 50-metre sections, starting at the eastern end.

Sand pumping is expected to begin in mid-April and finish by mid-June.

By Denise Dillon

COLD nights will again bring a warm response, with the Bass Coast Winter Shelter set to reopen in June after a successful pilot season last year.

Chair David Rooks said the 2025 trial proved the impact of a community-run winter refuge.

“At the outset we said that if we made a difference in the life of one person, we would be happy. And we did,” he said.

“One of our guests moved into permanent housing. That alone makes the effort worthwhile."

By Maurice Schinkel
 
PLANs for the Port of Hastings have loomed large for Phillip Islanders over recent years as we united with residents across the bay to fight off first a major container port and then a floating gas import terminal.
 
Despite our obvious interest, the Port of Hastings Corporation has released its port strategy for the next three decades without even notifying media in Bass Coast.
 
The corporation is legally obliged to produce a strategy every five years, with the most recent strategy dated 2018! ​