By Bruce Wardley
A MINORITY report to the State Government’s Climate Resilience Inquiry has uncovered repeated failures by the State Government to deliver practical, community-led solutions to erosion on the Bass Coast.
The Nationals claim the State Government has offered little more than delays and excuses.
“The State Government is all talk and no action,” said Nationals’ MP Melina Bath.
“Bass Coast needs urgent real solutions (including) protection from erosion and infrastructure that can withstand future disasters,” said Ms Bath.
“Coastal communities are watching as erosion threatens infrastructure and public safety, we need action not more studies.”
The Nationals have called for a coordinated coastal erosion strategy.
“We’ve put forward practical, community-led solutions,” Ms Bath said.
Glenn Arnold President of the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club told the Climate Resilience Inquiry layers of bureaucracy were ultimately crippling decision-making and paralysing any action moving forward.
Liberal and National Party members of the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee (EPC) said they fundamentally supported efforts to strengthen Victoria’s resilience in the face of continued climate change.
“Regional communities are being left behind and rural councils in particular are being loaded with responsibilities without resources.
“This is not leadership, it is cost shifting dressed up as reform.”
In considering the recommendations of the EPC the Liberals and Nationals said it was important the State Government recognise the complex challenges faced in building climate resilience including limited financial resources, competing infrastructure needs, insufficient data to assist long term planning and the unpredictable nature of extreme weather events.
Increased regulation was seen as a potential blocker for climate resilience.
The minority report claimed the State Government had neglected and mismanaged Victoria’s climate adaptation response particularly in rural and coastal areas.
Coastal erosion posed a profound threat to communities according to The Nationals and Liberals particularly when it undermined critical infrastructure and public safety.
“The Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club was a stark illustration of this.”
The EPC heard that since 2013 the loss of over sixty metres of protective dune at Inverloch had exposed vital assets to the elements jeopardising not only physical structures but also the lives of those who rely on them.
This is having a cascading effect across Victorian coastal communities according to the State Opposition damaging public and private infrastructure, threatening tourism and local businesses, and eroding community confidence.
“Coastal erosion requires a coordinated response supported by consistent funding and shared urgency, a balanced strategy combining appropriate engineered infrastructure with ecosystem-based adaptations such as dune restoration, and wetlands to provide both immediate protection and long-term resilience.
“Solutions must be - site specific, adaptable and flexible, to accommodate future climate scenarios with collaboration between governments, communities, and experts using best practice.”
The EPC heard local councils were being increasingly burdened by unfunded mandates leaving them financially ill-equipped to meet growing infrastructure and climate adaptation demands.
Bass Coast Shire Council told the inquiry that within the last five years the cost of reconstruction of assets had doubled without factoring in climate change.
