East Gippsland Council  made the following resoluion:

1. Notes the Victorian Government’s commitment to undertake a review (the review) and subsequent construction of an upgraded Mallacoota Ocean Access Boat Ramp and the associated Department of Transport proposal to provide an upgraded two lane boat ramp with protective breakwater, known as Alternative H2 (Refer Appendix 1), generally at the location of the existing boat ramp; and
2. Seeks an urgent determination on the review from the State Government and detailed advice on its preferred option, including: cultural heritage, detailed design including costings and visual impact, environmental impact, car parking, further sand management studies etc.to enable prompt implementation of the project.
3. Requests State Government works with the Mallacoota Ocean Access Boat Ramp Community Advisory Committee to finalise the design of the State Government’s preferred option and seek broad community support for that option.

Please see our Media Release.

The council proposal references the report by the Department of Transport on the public submission period on the designs. Please see the DoT report here.

The SBPC submission to the review on Hyder options is here.

If you would like to send a message to East Gippsland Shire Councillors, please copy their direct email addresses from below, or contact phone numbers are available here.

cr.ellis@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.pelz@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.anderson@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.buckley@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.freshwater@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.gamble@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.urie@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.rowe@egipps.vic.gov.au; cr.neal@egipps.vic.gov.au

If you would like a copy of our submission, please contact us on coordinator@savebastionpoint.org. We will be in contact with supporters when we know more about the process surrounding the vote at Council – which will be at least the fourth time Council votes on this project.

Melbourne consultation on Hyder designs

The Melbourne consultation session was held on 7 March with about 50 people attending the session. Question themes that came from participants included:

> The short time period for preparation of submissions.
> The observation that visual amenity was given an overall weighting of 3% in the analyses.
> No assessment or consideration in analyses on the impacts on surfing.
> The fact that the analysis had only been run with the smaller H2 breakwater and not the larger one which was recommended, which has led to confusion as to its final scoring in the analysis.
> Concern with the perception that we are only being offered a ‘choice’ between the large breakwater options H2 and Option 3b.
> Seemingly arbitrary scorings in the analyses that pushed the lower impact Alternative Option down in rankings, and concern that that the Australian Standard for Marinas was being applied in an ocean access situation that was not relevant to a marina.

It was stressed by DSE that they had shown the maximum, or ‘worst case scenario’ length of breakwater in the H2 option, and that the final could be shorter and lower. Unfortunately, no examples of what it could look like in reduced form were available for participants to view.

Submission responses will be collated by Department of Transport to inform East Gippsland Shire Council of community preferences (3b, H2, or other). According to local member Tim Bull, the Government is committed to progressing either option H2 or 3b, both of which contain breakwaters.

Or mail:

Bastion Point Project Team
Freight, Logistics and Marine Division
Department of Transport
PO Box 2797
Melbourne VIC 3001

There will be a public meeting at Mallacoota Golf and Country Club on Thursday 1 March 2012, when DoT will consult on the design. All are welcome to attend, and local member Tim Bull has indicated people will be able to comment.

There may be a possiblity of the Department of Transport conducting a consultation session for Melbourne stakeholders. Please contact the Department on bastionpoint@transport.vic.gov.au and request that this occur for the many people who cannot make it to the Mallacoota consultation (please copy us on coordinator@savebastionpoint.org if you do this).

We would appreciate any comments on the new design. Please provide feedback to coordinator@savebastionpoint.org

Hear a podcast of Leo op den Brouw talking on 3RRR’s Radio Marinara about first impressions of the new design. See article in East Gippsland News for council comment on the design.

An image of the design concept is shown below.

The Option 3b footprint is shown in aqua colour, and the ‘Alternate Option H2′ is shown in grey crosshatch.

An elephant seal visits Bastion Point in December 2011 - Photo Richard Du Heaume

In June this year, Hyder Consultants were engaged by the inter-departmental Bastion Point Project Control Board (the Board) to undertake a detailed assessment of the alternative option at the current site, in order to  produce a report using specific criteria that compares the alternative with Option 3b.

Work commissioned by the consultants has just been completed, and the Board expects to present this material to the East Gippsland Shire Council (EGSC) early in the new year. We understand that EGSC wish to engage with the community prior to its views being finalised. Once the EGSC has provided its input, the Board will be in a position to finalise a recommendation for the Government.

In October 2010, FoM, a key body in the Save Bastion Point Campaign, went to VCAT to obtain documents relating to Bastion Point from the Minister for Planning and the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD). We argued that they had failed to conduct adequate searches in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. We also argued that it was in the public interest to release some documents that had been withheld.

Initially Minister Madden said only one document fell within the scope of the FOI request. Remarkably by the end of the hearing, a further 1,508 pages had been uncovered!

In October this year, the Judge handed down her verdict: she said that a failure by agencies to do a thorough and diligent search thwarted the purpose of the FOI Act, and ordered that the Department and Minister pay the legal costs of FoM. However, she considered that the four documents in contention should be withheld, as it was not in the public interest to release them.

From the documents made available, it appeared that Minister Madden was ready to release an assessment of the Inquiry Panel report within 2 months of receiving it. We believe that this assessment (not released) accepted the Inquiry Panel recommendations of a low key upgrade to the existing ramp at Bastion Point.

However, some undocumented change caused a planned media release announcing his assessment to be cancelled, and the following 6 months saw the progression of Madden’s office directing the DPCD and Marine Safety Victoria to prepare the Minister’s assessment that rejected the Panel findings.

This was despite the efforts of the Executive Director of Planning Policy at the DPCD, who wrote to Madden’s office in relation to a lower impact proposal that had already been suggested by SBPC:

“I suspect that their proposition would support a sensible upgrade of existing launch site – which is what I think most people in Mallacoota thought they were supporting many moons ago when asked if they supported an upgraded facility.

There is a practical solution here where probably $1m – $2m could be allocated to enhance the boat ramp, fix the car parking, … without taking on the huge recurrent costs and impacts that are likely with any other option.. Win Win.”

It is to be hoped that the current government will apply the practical solution suggested by DPCD.