Mayor's Message

By Bass Coast Shire Mayor, Cr Michael Whelan
 
Last Thursday I led a joint delegation of representatives of Bass Coast Shire Council and the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCCA) of which I am the Chairperson. Advocacy is a critical part of the job of Council and that’s why a group of us found ourselves walking the halls of power and meeting MPs and Advisors at Parliament House in Canberra last Thursday.

Our priorities were:
1.    Increased investment and policy change for climate change.
2.    Funding support for the Bass Coast tourism projects, with a particular focus on the Dinosaurs Trail.
3.    Funding support for the road and infrastructure projects.

We met with the Hon Kristy McBain MP the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories who is a very active Minister in the Local Government space and who has a strong background in disaster recovery. We also met with Ministerial Advisors to the Hon Catherine King MP, the Hon Murray Watt, and Hon Jenny McAllister. 

We have identified the need for further investment in climate resilient infrastructure. For example, improvements to housing stocks, roads, council buildings and storm water systems. This was based on work in the Asset Vulnerability Assessment developed by SECCCAand partners. Bass Coast Shire Council is the first to have implemented this tool that investigated the vulnerability of council roads, drains and buildings to the impacts of climate change.

The coastline at Inverloch has experienced significant erosion in recent years and public assets, values and infrastructure are now at risk of damage and loss. We have been seeking strong State leadership to implement a State Planning Scheme amendment and improved data to allow the modelling of inundation impacts. We took the opportunity to also raise this with the federal Government Ministers who in many cases lead meetings of all of the relevant State Ministers, We are seeking funding targeted to financial and advisory services to vulnerable communities to respond to climate change impacts and assistance for housing upgrades.

In discussing these issues at the Federal level, there is a clear appreciation of the challenges facing local government and there are plans underway to consult with key stakeholders through the National Urban Policy.  We also discussed investment to fund the Supporting Vulnerable Communities Pilot and funding support for the Cape-to-Cape Resilience Project to deliver recommendations.

We are finding that everyone is interested in dinosaurs and our briefing on the Dinosaur Trail was received with interest. Specifically, we briefed the Government on our $20 million Dinosaur Trail project including the Gondwana Garden, Wonthaggi, Dinosaur Hunters Adventure Playground, Inverloch, Creative art installations at San Remo, Kilcunda; and Eagles Nest and The Caves.

The tourism project will traverse 40 km from San Remo to Inverloch and increase visitation to the regions by up to 20 per cent, increase length of stay, add $9.5 million per annum to the visitor economy, support 94 jobs in the region each year; and during construction add $23.2 million to the economy and support 134 new and exciting jobs.

Tourism was a focus of the talks as it is such a critical part of our economy, one that we want to continue to grow. We asked to partner with the Federal Government seeking support to progress our tracks and trails strategy.

Council will keep you updated on the outcomes of our advocacy.