By Shannon Hurley, Victorian National Parks Association and Dr Kat Lucas-Healey, Environment Victoria
Western Port Bay in south west Gippsland is Victoria’s second largest bay and an area of unique environmental value as a Ramsar listed marine wetland. Its seagrass meadows, colour-lined rocky reefs, mangroves and diversity of fish are a delight to behold.
Western Port also provides crucial habitat that 65% of Victoria’s bird population relies on, owing to its intertidal mudflats and saltmarsh which are vital feeding grounds. Birds as small as a matchbox travel from places as far away as Siberia and come to Western Port to feed.
In recent weeks, Western Port is again in the news over the feasibility of an offshore wind terminal slated to be sited within the wetlands. This facility is where Victoria’s future offshore wind farms would be loaded onto ships for installation out in Bass Strait.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek rejected the Allan government’s first proposal early in 2024, mostly because it failed to properly respond to the Bay’s unique environmental values.
The Allan government is approaching this project backwards. If they committed to proper marine planning for Western Port as outlined in the Western Port Framework (a plan already supported by community and business groups around the Bay, Traditional Custodians, local councils, MPs, tourism and outdoor groups) they could have avoided the current roadblock from Minister Plibersek’s office.
The Framework provides a marine spatial plan to run alongside the environmental assessment processes to determine if and how Western Port’s marine environment could support the terminal without causing too much harm, and how it could best be designed to mitigate those potential negative impacts.
The Framework gives the Victorian government the pathway to invest in the environment of Western Port to ensure its ecological values can be sustained while allowing appropriate development to proceed.
Instead of applying proper planning to ensure a future for all of the many values of Western Port, the Victorian government jumped the gun and unsurprisingly was rejected at the first hurdle.
As they take a run up for their second attempt, it’s not too late to get it right.
Shannon Hurley is a Nature Conservation Campaigner for the Victorian National Parks Association. Dr Kat Lucas-Healey is Senior Climate & Energy Advisor for Environment Victoria