THE erosion crisis at the Inverloch Surf Beach has certainly got the attention of the State Government, as the Labor Member for Eastern Victoria, Tom McIntosh, said in State Parliament last Wednesday, October 30.

But has it got the sense of urgency that the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club President Glenn Arnold managed to inject into the debate, initiated by a petition signed by 2575 people in five days, when he was quoted by the Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad during her speech.

“We are literally metres from dropping a multimillion-dollar building into the ocean. That is crazy behaviour when we could be dropping rocks in front of it and protecting it right now,” said Mr Arnold, who Ms Broad acknowledged was sitting in the public gallery.

Also in the Legislative Council gallery, visiting from the ‘other place’ the Legislative Assembly, was the Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale, who Mr McIntosh acknowledged “has been very active” on behalf of the local community.

The debate was led by Melina Bath, Member for Eastern Victoria, who sponsored the petition so that the issue might be debated at the highest level.

But what has been achieved as a result? Not a lot, if you take what Mr McIntosh MP had to say during his speech.

As some have done before him, he seemed to pour doubt on hard engineering solutions when he noted that “the geotextile seawall (in front of the surf club) caused erosion at the end into the dune, called terminal scour…”

Instead of promoting the trialling of other hard engineering solutions, such as a rock wall that might protect the multi-million dollar surf club building right now, as favoured by Mr Arnold, he’s putting his faith in a large-scale sand replacement project, not due to commence until late 2025, at the earliest.

“Since 2018 the Labor government has invested more than $1.7 million in installing coastal protection structures on Inverloch surf beach to protect public infrastructure and assets,” said Mr McIntosh during the debate in State Parliament last Wednesday.

“This includes the geotextile seawall, which was a $450,000 investment by DEECA; Cape Paterson-Inverloch Road rock revetment emergency works and engineered revetment, which cost $950,000; and $25,000 of work at Wreck Creek.

“DEECA and other agencies are continuing to actively monitor erosion on Inverloch’s coast.

“Land managers, including Parks Victoria, have been supporting short-term mitigation and protection works while the long-term research and planning of the strategic project continues.

“On 7 October DEECA staff met with local community groups, including the lifesaving club alongside the regional and strategic partnership members and member for Bass Jordan Crugnale. The ongoing plan for Inverloch surf beach and the consequences of the recent storms were discussed throughout, and coastal engineers were available to provide the community with additional information.

“The geotextile seawall caused erosion at the end into the dune, called terminal scour, which is expected with the way wave energy behaves at the end of coastal protection structures during high-energy events.

“Bass Coast Shire Council undertook emergency works following the August–September storms to bring sand back to this area, rebuild the dune around the seawall and reinstate the beach.

“DEECA is preparing to engage a coastal engineer consultant to design the large-scale dune reconstruction and beach renourishment, which is funded through a $3.3 million grant from the Commonwealth coastal and estuarine risk mitigation program.

“This large-scale engineered construction work, involving approximately 100,000 to 150,000 cubic metres of sand supporting revegetation, is intended to be undertaken in 2025.

“I look forward to seeing this work beginning soon to help protect this much-loved part of Victoria for future generations, and I want to finish by again acknowledging all those who have signed this petition and the surf club volunteers for the tireless work they are doing.”

But the sponsor of the petition, Melina Bath, fears the “do nothing” approach actually equates with accepting “retreat” and the loss of the surf club building and potentially infrastructure and homes fronting Surf Parade and Cape Paterson-Inverloch Road.

Here’s the complete debate:

Inverloch surf beach debate

Melina Bath MP

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:53): I move: That the petition be taken into consideration. I am pleased to rise to speak to the petition that gained 2575 signatures in a short space of four days, showing how active and agitated the community is about this very important issue. The surf lifesaving club is at imminent risk.

The September storms saw the surf come within 10 metres of the clubhouse, and the fortifying sandbags in front shifted and are under stress and compromised. But of course, when the new clubhouse was built in 2010, you could not see the beach. The clubhouse was over 80 metres back from the shoreline. Only days earlier the Allan government released its draft cape-to-cape resilience plan which ultimately, when you drill down into the bottom of it, says, ‘We will do nothing until 2040 and then the practice, the adaptation, will be to retreat.’

Clearly to retreat would mean not only the loss of the surf lifesaving club but also the loss of the footpath at the side. It could potentially mean the loss of the road at the back and then people’s homes.

As I said, in just a short space of time the community rallied, and I would certainly like to congratulate the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club president Glenn Arnold, Maya Arnold for her work, treasurer Stephen Duncan and members of that fantastic club that is so supportive not only of community but of safety and beach safety and in encouraging tourism to that region, but also the Inverloch Tourism Association (ITA) and other members who rallied in that short space of time.

Coastal erosion is not a new phenomenon. It is a vexed situation and I am not saying that this is an easy solve, but this government is now putting its head into the sand and that sand is literally eroding away. In the space of six years the dunes have receded 70 metres, and what has the government been doing in this time? Labor has been in during this time. What have they been doing?

Well, in 2022 they produced the coastal hazard assessment, and when you drill down, it offers two parts. One is intervention, which includes sand nourishment – nothing wrong with that as a start – and hard engineering solutions that I will not have time to go into in detail. The second pathway was about retreat – sand management and retreat.

The cape-to-cape resilience project has been in circulation for about four years, with the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action as the lead agency of seven government agencies. Recently they finally met with the club, with the ITA and with the South Gippsland Conservation Society, and that was generated from friction born from this petition.

Again, I commend the community – 2575 signatures. These people are agitated about this, and they are calling for intervention and engineering solutions and to save the club and the private assets along that surf beach.

After a four-year period, the government hired external consultants. They really investigated this, but some of the investigations were Post-it notes and push polling. They did not ask the community, ‘Do you wholly and solely agree with retreat?’

And there were limited people – far, far less than these 2500 people. Overwhelmingly the cape-to-cape resilience project is seen to be a frustration to certainly the members of the surf lifesaving club.

Indeed, Stephen Duncan told our recent committee that their representative withdrew due to extreme frustration and the lack of urgency.

And now Labor is talking about this renourishment program – $3.3 million provided by the federal government. Well, indeed that could come in four years when the overseas dredger is available. The community cannot wait on the never-never for action, and I certainly understand that this government needs to listen to those people that signed that petition and come to the party with this.

In the government’s own Marine and Coastal Policy it says it in relation to coastal hazard risks that it should look at all options and aim: … to ensure the most effective management tools are being used at the most effective time.

Well, Labor is failing to understand the importance of this issue, and the government must come and have a proper consultation and include proper experts. It says the best experts have been used, the best available science. Well, I challenge that, and the 2500 people that have signed this petition also challenge it. We need to understand that this is the canary in the coalmine in terms of erosion. This government must listen. It must come to the table, and it must do better than retreat.

Tom McIntosh

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (17:59): I would like to start by acknowledging all those who have signed this petition. This process is an important part of ensuring these Victorians’ voices can be and are heard. Thank you to the surf club volunteers for making the beach safer and for the tireless work that they do through Nippers, patrols, fundraising and events. It is an incredibly important part of our coastal community. I want to acknowledge and thank you for all that you do. I would also like to thank the representatives working with the community of Inverloch to address the challenges arising from coastal erosion; Ms Bath, the sponsor of this petition; and the member for Bass Jordan Crugnale, who is here at the moment, who has been very active with the local community to discuss options from here. Jordan has spoken passionately and at length with me on this issue.

We know that Victorians love heading to the local beach, and around 80 per cent of Victorians visit a beach across our state at least once a year. They are incredibly important not just for recreation but also for tourism, and they help us keep cool and healthy during the hot summer months. Keeping our beaches accessible is critical for visitors, emergency services and local businesses. Investing in and growing our 57 surf lifesaving clubs and our 43,000 volunteers is an important part of this. Many of these surf clubs are like Inverloch, built in the sand dunes overlooking our stunning coastline. To the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club: you absolutely have the attention of the government and of the Legislative Council.

The recent storms, which have been increasing in frequency, have caused significant damage to the dune structure in front of the surf lifesaving club. The damage that we saw in that storm event is not isolated to Inverloch. Eastern Victoria Region, which Ms Bath and I represent, has close to 50 per cent of Victoria’s coastline. Whether it is Seaspray, Mornington, the southern peninsula or indeed Inverloch, coastal erosion is an emerging issue. This section of coast is stunning. It has got thousands of years of cultural heritage and a very significant collection of dinosaur fossils, which has become a great tourism asset. Following the recent storms in September, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has been working with council and other agencies on immediate safety works to restabilise the area around the surf lifesaving club. Further renourishment works are planned for the surf beach foreshore in 2025, with dune reconstruction designs currently in the tender process. The Victorian government is supporting coastal communities to adapt to erosion, flooding and sea level rise.

Since 2018 the Labor government has invested more than $1.7 million in installing coastal protection structures on Inverloch surf beach to protect public infrastructure and assets.

This includes the geotextile seawall, which was a $450,000 investment by DEECA; Cape Paterson-Inverloch Road rock revetment emergency works and engineered revetment, which cost $950,000; and $25,000 of work at Wreck Creek.

DEECA and other agencies are continuing to actively monitor erosion on Inverloch’s coast.

Land managers, including Parks Victoria, have been supporting short-term mitigation and protection works while the long-term research and planning of the strategic project continues.

On 7 October DEECA staff met with local community groups, including the lifesaving club alongside the regional and strategic partnership members and member for Bass Jordan Crugnale. The ongoing plan for Inverloch surf beach and the consequences of the recent storms were discussed throughout, and coastal engineers were available to provide the community with additional information.

The geotextile seawall caused erosion at the end into the dune, called terminal scour, which is expected with the way wave energy behaves at the end of coastal protection structures during high-energy events.

Bass Coast Shire Council undertook emergency works following the August–September storms to bring sand back to this area, rebuild the dune around the seawall and reinstate the beach.

DEECA is preparing to engage a coastal engineer consultant to design the large-scale dune reconstruction and beach renourishment, which is funded through a $3.3 million grant from the Commonwealth coastal and estuarine risk mitigation program.

This large-scale engineered construction work, involving approximately 100,000 to 150,000 cubic metres of sand supporting revegetation, is intended to be undertaken in 2025.

I look forward to seeing this work beginning soon to help protect this much-loved part of Victoria for future generations, and I want to finish by again acknowledging all those who have signed this petition and the surf club volunteers for the tireless work they are doing.”

Gaelle Broad MP

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:04): It is my honour to rise today to speak in support of the petition sponsored by my Nationals colleague Melina Bath to save the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club. President, it would be great just to acknowledge Glenn Arnold, who is the president of the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, and his daughter Maya, who are joining us in the gallery observing this discussion today. There are not a whole lot of lifesaving clubs or beaches in northern Victoria, but I can acknowledge Mildura has a lifesaving club, and I certainly do appreciate going to the beach and enjoying, as Mr McIntosh referred to, the amazing beaches that we have here in Victoria. I remember meeting volunteers from the club at a public hearing in Traralgon as part of the climate resilience inquiry soon after their beach was eroded yet again, and the photos are dramatic. They show the impact that it had and this club that is just on the verge of falling in. The club facilities and the tower are not that old – they were built in 2010 – but that erosion has just ripped the beach away, leaving the area very vulnerable and the facility very vulnerable. The risks are very clear. The club talked at the inquiry about the number of beachgoers going further and further down the beach, away from where the resources are and where the flags are, and this is putting people at risk who are coming to use the beach facilities, because there are very fast flowing currents in the area. The people that appeared on behalf of the club said that it is that sheer lack of activity that is causing frustration to the club. They said they do not know who to talk to, so it was good to hear Mr McIntosh today. Certainly, we do want you advocating for action with the government, because the sand that has been put in there is very quickly moving away, and this is not a facility that can wait years because, as Glenn Arnold said: We are literally metres from dropping a multimillion-dollar building into the ocean. That is crazy behaviour when we could be dropping rocks in front of it and protecting it right now. He said that in front of us at the hearing, and it highlighted the need to take action. We have got to consider the work of the volunteers that assist at the club. It is incredible what they do. Surf Life Saving Australia will tell you that they are the biggest youth movement in the country. They have 50 training programs for young people every year – first aid and rescue. In the region there are a lot of tourists that come to the club. They have 20,000-odd tourists at the front of their beach every year, and they have crowds coming to the beach. They patrol for over 5000 hours. This is a huge amount. There were 7000 preventative actions just last year. They have had a huge increase in the number of people, and we just want to acknowledge the incredible volunteer work that they do. It is no surprise that in just four days there were over 2500 signatures in support of this petition. I think it is very frustrating for people right across regional Victoria, I should say, because Stephen Duncan, who is from the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club, said this at the hearing: The local communities throughout regional Australia are losing control of their community, and they are the ones that actually live in it. They are the ones that have to deal with it every day. I am seeing this a lot in northern Victoria, the impact of major renewable energy projects. Under this government they have taken away the right of repeal. They are fast-tracking developments, and it is very concerning to the local communities. I should also mention that on 30 July I presented a petition in relation to the JB Osborne Theatre. A response from the minister was due on 29 August, which was nine weeks ago, yet the community is yet to receive a response from the minister. Over 1000 people signed that petition calling on the government to assist with restoration works at the 400-seat theatre there, but it has fallen into disrepair. Again, we need the government to listen, because when people raise petitions they are raising concerns that matter to their local communities. I just want to commend the Kangaroo Flat community, who are really advocating for continued progress in this area. But petitions are important and very valuable, and it is very disappointing to see not just this lifesaving club but also the JB Osborne Theatre falling into disrepair under this current government.

Renee Heath MP

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:09): On 2 September wild storms ripped through our state, including in our Eastern Victoria Region. These storms accelerated erosion across multiple beaches, including Inverloch surf beach, which exposed the wreck of HMAS Amazon and caused it to float ADJOURNMENT Wednesday 30 October 2024 Legislative Council – PROOF 89 60 metres along the beach. This ship beached at Inverloch in 1863 and is the number one item listed as being at risk on Heritage Victoria’s maritime register. I was fortunate enough to visit the wreck and see the incredibly well-preserved piece of hull, which is only so well preserved because it had been buried in wet sand for many, many years. The reason I start with this story is to paint a picture of how extensive the erosion is in Inverloch; it caused something which had been buried for so many decades to become so exposed. Unfortunately, Heritage Victoria has stated there is nothing that can be done to preserve this piece of wreckage. But in contrast to the future of the 160-year-old Amazon wreckage, we can do something to save the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, which is barely 25 years old but is facing the same issue. The government have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to their own cape-to-cape resilience project, which includes the Inverloch surf beach. Consultations on these issues started in mid-2021, and even that was two years after the member for Bass said that the erosion in Inverloch was amongst the worst in the state. I am actually beginning to wonder what Labor does all day, because, I mean, this issue has been going on for more than five years, and the residents of Wonthaggi went through a tortuous six months at the start of the year with the environmental planning overlay before it was rectified. San Remo Primary School and Phillip Island hospital are still waiting for their promised funding from the last election, and the people of Lang Lang are still waiting for their bypass and are now in the gun due to the government’s proposal of draft planning controls. Now, back to the Inverloch surf beach and surf lifesaving club. Finally, the government have been dragged kicking and screaming to release their draft cape-to-cape plan, but the final report is not being released until mid-next year, a full four years after the start of the project. The community consultation that has been undertaken over the last two years is extremely flawed. Only a small number of people were consulted. Despite Inverloch having a population of 6400 people, which triples to 20,000 people over the summer months with tourists, seasonal residents and holiday-makers, the government consultation involved two surveys, with 94 responders; two virtual community information sessions, with 50 people; six workshops for 50 people, one of which was an official launch – so a feel-good session – and four sessions with community members, while the other 20 in attendance were all from the department; and some pop-up event, which reached a few hundred people. All this flawed consultation continued with the release of a draft plan and a limited time to make a submission, which has only been extended this month thanks to the action of our colleague Ms Bath. The fact is that Labor has not engaged its residents properly or adequately reported the community’s values. For years this serious erosion of the Inverloch foreshore has caused considerable concern for local communities. In June 2022 the Liberal–Nationals coalition committed $6 million to addressing the erosion of the Inverloch foreshore. The plan was to invest in studies at locations where erosion is seen as a critical problem. Over the past 10 years Inverloch has become one of the worst-hit beaches, with coastal erosion taking 70 metres around the surf club and Wreck Creek. This government must come up with a better plan which includes saving the surf lifesaving club public and private infrastructure as well. The truth of the matter is if something is not done, the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, other than a few sandbags at the front – not the sides, because that is too much – which stop the water coming in the front but allow erosion around the sides, will face some serious issues that will soon become issues for home owners and that street along Inverloch – (Time expired) Motion agreed to.