PEOPLE concerned about Inverloch’s future filled the room at the town’s Community Hub on Sunday, most appearing to support hard-engineering approaches to save Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, the nearby road and houses from the encroaching sea.
While those from the Inverloch Foreshore Action Group continue to call for lasting solutions such as rock bags, the State Government is sticking to its guns, planning to press ahead with dune renourishment and expanded use of sandbags to protect assets.
“We say put stuff there that’s going to last,” Alan Brown AM declared as he took charge of proceedings for the ‘Inverloch at Risk Emergency Meeting’.
Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale, however, argues hard engineering will destroy the beach.
“If you put in a massive wall of rock bags, you’ve kind of given up,” she said.
Mr Brown earlier expressed the view that $3.3 million of funding provided to the State Government by the Scott Morrison Federal Government to protect Inverloch hasn’t been used as it should.
The former Liberal State Opposition Leader is a passionate advocate for the Bass Coast and is not one to take a backward step when he considers its residents are subject to injustice.
He argued the State Government’s plans for protecting Inverloch assets are a “band aid solution”.
“Not one cent has been used to permanently protect this community,” he stressed, saying that were it not for the efforts of Bass Coast Shire Council to implement temporary measures, the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club would have already fallen into the sea.
He praised one of Sunday’s speakers, Cr Meg Edwards for standing up to protect the community by pursuing lasting solutions.
Cr Edwards remarked that she was speaking as an individual councillor, not on behalf of Bass Coast Shire Council.
She stated that not protecting Inverloch will result in far greater cost than doing so, speaking of the potential devastation for affected homeowners and for businesses if inundation is allowed to proceed unchecked, likening the sand renourishment approach to building sandcastles that vanish with the next high tide.
Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club president Glenn Arnold spoke at length about the many ways in which the club benefits locals and those from further afield, arguing that allowing it to be lost to the ravages of the sea is not an option.
Benefits include rescuing those in trouble in the water, helping people who have suffered lacerations and head knocks, providing training that enables recipients to keep themselves and others safe, and dealing with asthma attacks and cardio episodes.
He pointed to the club’s large contingent of Nippers and Juniors and to the fact many of its adult members are part of other crucial services such as GoodSAM, being ready to step in as First Responders when needed.
Mr Arnold also noted the general social benefits for members and those who use the facilities.
Former Woorayl Shire engineer Keith Godridge told the audience of his delight at seeing so many people there on Sunday, emphatic that as a resident of 29 years he doesn’t want to see Inverloch failed by a lack of action.
He argued hard structures don’t cause erosion, but have the opposite effect, advocating the potential of using rock bags, made with durable rope and containing many small rocks.
“The beauty of the rock bags is they absorb the wave forces and are also flexible, bind together strongly, and if needed they can be easily relocated,” Mr Godridge said, arguing they last many times the lifespan of sandbags.
