Trojan Horse distraction

Recently, as I drove up Koo Wee Rup Road towards Melbourne, I got stuck in roadworks for over an hour as I attempted to get onto the Monash freeway. 

The crying of my young daughter added to my distress as we inched along, breathing in diesel fumes. The road duplication is to accommodate a massive expansion in sand mining of up to 5000 trucks every day – literally carting away the Bass Coast right before our eyes. 

This traffic will choke the Bass Highway and destroy our lovely seaside villages, cutting them off from the ocean. 

This is what the expansion of the sand mining industry means for our region.

Our state MP Jordan Crugnale won the last election on a platform to declare Bass Coast a Distinctive Area and Landscape. 

I had high hopes that this would result in protection of our unique coastal environment, but after taking part in the public consultation process, I feel betrayed. 

It appears to be a ‘Trojan Horse’ to allow mining companies to dig up our last remaining coastal forest, to feed Labor’s Big Build and bloat Melbourne to an unliveable 8 million people.

It’s not too late to change course and preserve the majestic Western Port Woodlands for my daughter and her generation to enjoy when they grow up. 

As the Corinella Hall public meeting showed, the candidate that protects the Woodlands will have the people on their side.

Lauren Burns, Inverloch