Weekend traffic provides reality check for shire

YOU don’t have to look far past the Bass Coast Shire Council’s high-level reference document, ‘Community Vision 2041’, to see which issues the council has chased hardest over the past four or more years.

And one of the first priority jobs of the new council must certainly be to throw that document in the recycle bin and start again!

Number 1 on the vision is ‘climate change’, hardly surprising after the council declared a climate change emergency in September 2019, adopted its Climate Change Action Plan 2020-2030 in May 2021 and committed millions of scarce ratepayer and taxpayer dollars to projects and programs on an extensive list of climate-change actions.

Many of these projects and programs are, however, the responsibility of State and Federal government not the local council.

Even in the latest 2024-25 council budget, there’s a long list of such actions including introducing an organics bin for household food waste, delivering more electric vehicle fast-charging stations across the shire, more council-only charging stations to support their own uptake of EVs, delivering a climate resilience toolkit and campaign (whatever that is?), more solar on council buildings, continuing the Biolinks program (habitat enhancement), emphasising pedestrian transport, providing the agricultural sector with a land management rebate, delivering the Urban Forest Strategy, and delivering significant coastal erosion management, including detailed monitoring and grant-funded projects.

Rounding out the top three vision priorities are (2.) Protecting and Enhancing the Natural Environment, and (3.) Healthy and Inclusive Communities.

Among the ‘Healthy and Inclusive Communities’ goals, for example, is “we are committed to reconciliation with our Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community members, and to celebrating and learning from our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage”.

This vision statement no doubt provided some of the strategic justification for the council adopting a policy, in September 2023, of “supporting a constitutionally enshrined voice to Parliament for First Nations people”, in other words, recommending everyone vote ‘Yes’ at the Referendum.

Again, not the job of a local council.

The fourth priority in the Vision 2041 document is ‘Access and Movement’ but you have to look past six dot points about encouraging low-emission modes of transport (including electric tuk-tuks, ferry shuttle, centralised car parking, community transport, car share, bike share, scooter hire, electric charge points), reducing car use in main streets and prioritising walking and cycling before you get to point 4.7 that “we continue to maintain and improve our road networks and advocate for safety improvements”.

And you only had to see what happened on the first holiday long weekend of the spring-summer season to know that the road network, especially on and off Phillip Island, is a first-order priority after you’ve delivered the basics of planning, maintenance, waste management, environmental health and the other statutory responsibilities.

Whether it’s the nationwide publicity given to Phillip Island by The Block or the burgeoning growth of Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, it looks as if visitor demand is set to reach a whole new (scary) level this summer and the road network simply isn’t up to it.

Yes, you can talk about reducing car traffic by trying to divert more people on to the ferry, car shares and public transport and encouraging more people to cycle and walk but the reality is most people arrive by car and they’re going to continue to arrive by car.

The world may be facing a climate change emergency but there’s a traffic emergency looming for Phillip Island right now, the imperative of which is not properly reflected in the woke-leaning ‘Bass Coast Integrated Transport Strategy’ currently in development.

The Bass Highway, the bridge and Phillip Island Road are the direct responsibility of Regional Roads Victoria, but public amenity and safety are firmly in the council’s bailiwick.

They’ve called for $26 million for traffic lights at the San Remo Back Beach Road intersection, $1 million to design an alternate freight route through Wonthaggi and there are “shovel ready” roadworks associated with the Cowes streetscape plan; but the overall problem has not been given the prominence it needs by the council.

It’s not the only “back to basics” issue neglected by the present regime.

So, when the ballot packs for voting in the October council elections are sent out from Monday, November 7 next week, give serious consideration to voting for candidates who are best placed to deliver the practicalities first rather than waste time, effort and ratepayers’ or taxpayers’ money on personal ideologies.