Proving ground campaign not over yet

GM Holden is expected to announce the sale of the proving ground next week.

By Catherine Watson
 
A COMMUNITY campaign to secure the Holden bushlands in public ownership will continue despite news that the Holden Proving Ground has been sold.  
 
GM Holden is expected to announce the sale of the site to a Vietnamese car company, VinFast, next week.
 
The 877-hectare site is mostly remnant coastal forest, now rare in West Gippsland. In recent years, Bass Coast Landcare worked with Holden to manage and monitor the forest, which is home to several rare and endangered native species, including the southern brown bandicoot.

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The convenor of the Save the Holden Bushlands group, Tim O’Brien, said while news of the sale was a setback it was not the end of the battle.
 
Because the Holden Proving Ground is zoned for farming, the sale will need the approval of the Foreign Investment Review Board. “VinFast may wish or need to divest itself of part of the purchase, like the two rear allotments, formerly Crown Land, which has the highest ecological and habitat value.”

Mr O’Brien said he was grateful for efforts by Bass MP Jordan Crugnale and Bass Coast councillors to secure the bushland. He also thanked members of the group and associated groups who have fought tenaciously for the past six months to preserve the natural and heritage values of this site.
 
He said the campaign to save the Holden bushlands had developed into a much bigger citizen campaign to save the whole corridor of native forest and wildlife habitat on the eastern side of Western Port.
 
“We have now gathered and continue to gather evidence of the value of the habitat, of the endangered (some critically) flora and fauna within the corridor, and of the neglect by Government - despite its knowledge of the existence of endangered species there - of this remnant forest and the incompatibility of the destructive industry that it allows run loose in it.”

Save the Holden Bushlands is seeking

• Interim overlay controls on the HPG site to be initiated by Council and supported by the Minister for Planning 
• Inclusion of the whole forest corridor in the DAL (Distinctive Areas and Landscapes)
• State Government acquisition (in partnership or solely, should it become available) of the rear allotments of the HPG site
• Overlay controls and acquisition (in partnership or solely, should it become available) of the neighboring Boral allotment/lease
• The removal of that forest corridor from the Extractive Industry Interest Area (EIIA) identified under the SERA proposal
• The removal of sand mining activities, and extinguishment of work orders, in the gazetted conservation areas in that forest corridor
• The extinguishment of dormant extractive industry work orders in that forest corridor
• Recognition of that importance of the remaining coastal bushland from Lang Lang to the mouth of the Bass River as a critical biolink corridor to be protected in perpetuity

“We'll not take a step back until that forest corridor is secured for the environment in perpetuity, for the future of this community and for our children.”
 
Ms Crugnale congratulated SHB members on their passionate advocacy and expertise to preserve the site and stressed that it had not been fruitless.
 
She said the area would be considered in the Distinctive Areas and Landscape process and she would meet the new owners of the HPG  as soon as possible. “This is to form and build ongoing relations with them and importantly speak to the high conservation and undeniable ecological and biodiversity values to the area and wider region.
 
“I will invite/bring together representatives of the Bunurong Land Council, Bass Coast Shire Council and the Save the Holden Bushland group with the new owner(s), to meet and discuss the site, its future, the opportunities that exist and the potential working partnerships that could be formed to ensure the area is protected, valued and enhanced.”
 
The council has also expressed interest in working with the new owners to acquire – or at least protect – the rear of the site.

Catherine Watson is a member of Save the Holden Bushlands. ​