Where is the decision making process up to?

Current

Panel Inquiry Hearings are now complete.  The Inquiry is now considering all submissions and evidence in order to make its recommendation.

Two New Submissions Reports Released: Submissions Called For.

Two additionals Reports have been released for Public comment, as noted in Update 11. The CES Supplementary Report considers alternative road access to the proposed breakwater.
The Ancillary Structures Report discusses fish cleaning and boat washing facilities, lighting and toilet facilities. Read these reports and our comments on additional reports .

Council Does Late Backflip on Road Options

At the 11th hour Council’s solicitors inform the panel that Council supports a road along the beach, and not through the headland, as stated in the EES. A road along the beach is also totally unacceptable and must be rejected. Read Council’s letter to Panel (via Maddocks). Read our response (via EDO)

Dates for the Inquiry Hearing

The Panel will be in Mallacoota 14th-18th July to commence the Inquiry Hearing. The Hearing will continue in Melbourne 22nd -25th July, 28th-30th July and 4th-7th August. The public is welcome to attend these Hearings.

The Panel Inquiry Hearing will commence on July 14 2008. The Save Bastion Point Campaign is currently working with the Environment Defenders Office in preparation for this Hearing.

Two additional reports, the Ancillary Structures Report and the Coastal Engineering Solutions Supplementary Report are now on public exhibition and submissions have been called for.

Directions Hearing 31st March

The Council decided to proceed as proponent for the project.

The DSE submission of 5th September 2007 has not been withdrawn, as initially requested by Council. DSE has however narrowed the scope of what it will comment on at the Hearing.

Directions Hearing Feb 20

Another Directions Hearing was held at Planning Panels Victoria. The proponent, the East Gippsland Shire Council (EGSC) has still not resolved whether they wish to continue with the Inquiry.

The Panel directed the EGSC to provide written questions of clarification for DSE and for DSE to provide written responses to these items. For further information on what occured at that Directions Hearing read more Bastion Point Directions from 20/02/08

A further Directions Hearing is to be held at Planning Panels Victoria on 31st March 2008

Adjournment of Inquiry

January 2008 The Inquiry Panel has advised that another Directions Hearing will be held on 20th Feb 2008, to ascertain the status of discussions between Council & DSE in particular & to consider the timing & process of the EES Inquiry from here onwards.

December 17 2007 Environment Defenders Office (EDO), on behalf of the Save Bastion Point Campaign, requests the Inquiry to list another Directions Hearing in February.

Following the September 2007 Directions Hearing, the Panel prepared Directions and a Timetable for the Inquiry to commence on 15 November 2007 in Mallacoota for five days and to be reconvened in Melbourne from 23 November to 10 December.

The Save Bastion Point Campaign proceeded to make final arrangements to prepare its expert witnesses, its oral submissions and have legal representation at the Inquiry.

Instead of preparing for the Inquiry, the East Gippsland Shire Council began a process of requesting that the Panel adjourn the Inquiry. Its rationale was that it needed more time to prepare expert witnesses in light of the SBPC having organised 16, and that it needed time to review matters raised in a submission by DSE. The DSE submission was highly critical of the Council’s proposed development and its final EES documentation.

The SBPC opposed this request in the belief that the Inquiry was finally an avenue for the proposed development to come under public and agency scrutiny and be reviewed by an independent Panel.

The Panel called a second directions hearing for 11 October to hear all arguments about the proposed adjournment.

The Council, usuing a legal team of solicitors and barristers, continued to insist to the Panel that an adjournment was necessary as it was not yet prepared to go to Inquiry and that it may consider withdrawing as proponent of the development. It further insisted that it needed time to discuss with DSE its submission.

On Friday 5th October the Panel agreed to cancel the second directions hearing and adjourn the mid November Inquiry. No new dates were set.

On the 6th of December, in response to a letter from the Panel, the EGSC informed them that it is still not ready to proceed with the Inquiry.

Directions Hearing

The Panel convened a Directions Hearing on 12 September 2007 in Mallacoota. The Panel defined the procedures on how it would conduct an Inquiry in November. Major parties to the Inquiry were asked to present the list of expert witnesses they intended calling to give evidence on behalf of case arguments. The Save Bastion Point Campaign presented a list of 16 expert witnesses which it had been organising for a year. The Council was ill prepared at the hearing and had no expert witness list to present to the Inquiry.

Appointment of Panel

The Minister for Planning appointed a 3 person independent Panel to review submissions and convene a public Inquiry into the proposed development. Their role is to consider the EES and all material presented by the public and agencies and make a recommendation on the development to the Minister for Planning.

Written submissions by public, groups and agencies

482 individuals, groups and key agencies made written submissions to Planning Panels Victoria about the proposed development as described in the EES.

87% of submissions are opposed to the proposed breakwater/ boat ramp development.

Public exhibition of EES

In early 2007, the Minister for Planning approved the EES as sufficiently suitable to be exhibited for public review.

The final EES was made available between 4th June and 16th July 2007 for comment from the public and agencies.

The EES and supporting documents can be downloaded from the EGSC website. You can order a free hard copy of the EES Summary Brochure and a free CD Rom of the full EES from: Michelle Van Aarde, East Gippsland Shire, PO Box 1618, Bairnsdale 3875. Ph 0351539500. Fax 0351539576. Email: feedback@egipps.vic.gov.au.

Printed copies of the EES Main Report, Appendices & Supplementary Reports are also available at costs of $25, $25 & $50 respectively. These documents may also be viewed at selected locations in Mallacoota, Bairnsdale, Traralgon and Melbourne.

Preparing an EES

In August 2000, the Victorian Minister for Planning required the East Gippsland Shire Council to prepare an Environment Effects Statement (EES) on its proposed development as part of an Environment Impact Assessment process under the Environment Effects Act.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) prepared Assessment Guidelines to guide the process of preparing the EES.

The Council commissioned a number of studies to prepare the EES, including those for coastal processes, Aboriginal and non Aboriginal cultural heritage, safety and risk, recreation amenity, visual and landscape values, economic and infrastructure impacts, and ecology.

Once the studies were complete, the East Gippsland Shire Councillors voted on their preferred option for the location, scope and scale of the proposed boat ramp. In August 2005, The Councillors voted to proceed with preparing the EES for public exhibition.

In November 2005, the EGSC presented its draft EES and associated documentation to a DSE convened Technical Reference Group (TRG) for approval to place the proposal on public exhibition. The TRG rejected the draft EES on the grounds that various studies were incomplete, that the document did not meet the Assessment Guidelines and that the document was not of a sufficient standard for public exhibition. The Council was required to carry out further work on the EES and re-submitted it in August and again in November 2006. On each occasion the TRG rejected the Draft EES.