HOW much has the Bass Coast Shire Council spent on emergency sand replacement works, to combat storm-surge erosion along the Inverloch Surf Beach?
Has it been “approximately $61,000 per year up until this current financial year” as revealed in a media release on the shire’s website on Tuesday this week, July 22.
But what about the “$223,000 in erosion response works to address immediate risk to assets and beach access” it delivered between August and December 2024, as stated in the December 2024 council meeting agenda, under the heading “8.3 Immediate Protection of key assets in Inverloch in response to Coastal Erosion”?
Or what about the claim made by Cr Meg Edwards, during a discussion on the topic on social media in the past week, that “Coastal Erosion expenditure was $330,000 in FY2024/25”?
And there’s also the report, in the December 2024 council agenda that “in 2020, Council built a 70m sand-filled geotextile container seawall to protect the Lifesaving Club building, at a total cost of $450,000”.
Has that also been taken into account?
Where the average annual expenditure figure of $61,000 on emergency works at the Inverloch Surf Beach comes from is anyone’s guess, but according to the president of the Inverloch Tourism Association, Glenn Morris, speaking on Gippsland ABC Radio this week, we’d be lost without it.
So, what is the money spent on? Mr Morris was asked.
“What it’s about is that when we get events down at Inverloch that cause localised erosion around, say, the surf club, or the access tracks to the beach from various points that make them inaccessible, the council react quickly and bring in trucks to dump sand and try and temporarily reinstate conditions to be safe,” said Mr Morris.
“And in the case of, say, the access tracks, make sure people can get down to the beach safely, and in the case of the surf club, make sure it doesn't get around the corner of the bags that are there and potentially undermine the club,” he said.
Mr Morris applauded the efforts of the council but said there needed to be a longer-term solution, one that was likely to be well beyond the resources of the council to provide.
“I've got to commend the Council for what they did last year and continue to do and to at least keep the beach safe with those temporary Band Aid approaches.
“But the longer term needs a much more considered and sustainable plan of work. I mean, there is work planned in spring by the state government department, which is going to be a large-scale sand dune construction.
“But even that's got a limited lifespan. I mean, if you read their documentation, it's not going to last more than 14 years, but there are circumstances that could reduce that right down to potentially two, and that's extreme storms and or certain works that they may not be doing.
“So, it is a Band Aid solution in that way, and it's not the proper answer. It is going to require a lot of money, and it's not money that the local council needs to be bearing.”
Asked if the community accepted what amounted to a strategy for managing the immediate impact of storm surges and high tides, without providing long-term protection, Mr Morris said there was no option until the government acknowledged a more permanent solution was needed.
“If they hadn't have done that last year, for example, and even this year, we could have had a situation where the surf club building was at risk, and we have access tracks to the beach which are dangerous. So, they've done something that the state government department hasn't been able to do.
“What really should have happened is that the more permanent work solutions that are being talked about, and some that are planned, needed to have happened a lot earlier.”
Mr Morris said he was aware of the $61,000 average annual figure from the shire but also a report that they may have spent as much as $330,000 in the past year.
“It would be interesting to find out more about that but look, it needs a much more considered, far more expensive, permanent type of solution and it's not council that's going to contemplate doing that. It's going to have to come from the state and federal governments.”
‘Retreat’ is not an option, says surf club
Meanwhile, President of the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, Glenn Arnold, has also been hitting the airwaves saying ‘retreat’ is not an option that 100s of homeowners in the firing line at Inverloch want to contemplate, nor do the members of the surf club.
He told the ABC Drivetime on Thursday evening that even if a more permanent solution to the storm surge erosion cost in the order of $20 million it would be money well spent.
“I think there’s been a certain amount of complacency down here because people have thought that the government won’t just abandon them and allow their houses to fall into the sea,” said Mr Arnold.
But he noted that as the word “retreat” was bandied around as a possible option, they were starting to become much more concerned.
More to follow.
Council statement
Here’s what the Bass Coast Shire Council said in its “Coastal Management across Bass Coast” statement in the past week.
Bass Coast Shire Council is committed to being transparent about how it manages coastal erosion and risk across the region, including at Inverloch Surf Beach.
For the last four years, Council has allocated a dedicated annual budget of approximately $150,000 under its Coastal Risk Management Program.
This funding is used to respond to urgent coastal erosion issues across Bass Coast, including at key, high-risk locations such as Inverloch, Silverleaves, Cowes and Kilcunda.
The average expenditure at Inverloch has been approximately $61,000 per year and up until this current financial year, has been relatively low. This reflects the relatively mild weather conditions during this period, following the installation of a sandbag sea wall in front of the Surf Life Saving Club building in 2020/21.
Coastal erosion is highly dependent on prevailing wind and wave conditions. For example, in some years, such as between 2021 and 2024, sand naturally builds up (accretes) on the Inverloch surf beach. In other years, like this one, strong winds and waves result in sand being eroded from the beach and transported eastward toward Point Norman and into Anderson Inlet.
This financial year (2024/25) will see a significant increase in investment at Inverloch Surf Beach with $330,000 allocated for coastal works.
Across Bass Coast more broadly, the Coast Risk Management Program has supported projects at Silverleaves, Cowes and Cowes East. In 2023/24, $46,000 from this program was used for sand renourishment at Silverleaves. The Victorian Government’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has contributed $60,000 to this work.
In total, DEECA has contributed $164,000 to the sand renourishment works undertaken across Bass Coast since 2021/22.
Council continues to work closely with DEECA and advocate to both State and Federal Government on behalf of the Bass Coast community. Monitoring and responding to coastal conditions will also continue. As erosion risks vary from year to year, Council’s approach to budgeting for these works will remain flexible.
To learn more about coastal erosion management or view past project updates, visit Engage Bass Coast.
