THE super-fast collection of more than 2500 signatures for a ‘Save the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club has ensured that the issue will be debated in State Parliament.
However, while the petition, presented to its sponsor in the Legislative Council Melina Bath on Tuesday, is to be tabled on Thursday, September 12, it will be sometime before it is approved and listed for debate.
Hopefully, it won’t take the State Government to move on pro-active measures to protect the surf club and other assets in the town, rather than just the reactive back-filling of sand we have seen in the past few days.
Ms Bath welcomed the presentation of the petition on the steps of parliament on Tuesday saying it was a symbol of the State Government’s failure to tackle coastal erosion in the area, while praising locals for getting behind the club and the petition so quickly: “Club volunteers, local businesses and residents are to be congratulated for standing up against years of inaction by Labor.”
“Disingenuous consultation and layers of government bureaucracy have stymied active intervention, which would have better protect the coastline,” Ms Bath said in a statement she issued on Tuesday.
“In the past 10 years over 70 metres of beachfront has been lost to erosion.
“The Cape to Cape Resilience Project draft plan led by the Labor Government has taken four years to produce and offers no actionable recommendations.
“The community sentiment embodied in this petition is a compelling case for the state government to save the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club and one of Victoria’s safest and most iconic surf beaches.”
Ms Bath emphasised that Labor needs to look a few hundred metres down the beach in both directions to see examples of engineering solutions that are being used to good effect.
“The overwhelming response to this petition shows that the Inverloch community is extremely concerned about the future of their loved beach and public assets.
“Residents understand the critical role the surf beach and lifesaving club play in the town’s social and economic future and are determined not to let it wash away.
“Dune restoration and engineering solutions to combat coastal erosion are long overdue - The Nationals and community are telling Labor, the time for talk is over.
“Thank you to Glenn Arnold and Stephen Duncan from the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club for their exemplary leadership on this critical issue.
“Labor can’t manage money, can’t manage coastal erosion and Inverloch residents are paying the price,” she said.
