The Minister for Environment, Steve Dimopoulos MP has replied to my letter of 14 October 2024 regarding the petition.  

In a letter dated 21/11/2024, Mr Dimopoulos ignores the call to implement a Strategic Management Plan for Western Port and its region.

Rather than take a holistic approach, he’s listed a number of individual programs including “Protecting Victoria’s Environment - Biodiversity 2037” and the "Marine and Coastal Strategy 2022" under the "Marine and Coastal Act 2018".   

The environmental emphasis is centred on Western Port’s marine and coastal environment, and while commendable, it indicates the government does not acknowledge or necessarily understand the biodiverse and interdependent nature of the catchment region stretching from the Strzelecki Ranges to Western Port.   

This government, and I would suggest subsequent governments, is locked into a colonial past founded on administrative areas or “the silo approach” as one petitioner suggested.  If this practice continues, it will negate the Aboriginal approach of caring for Country and open up the prospect of further opportunistic development schemes. 

Former Bass Coast Shire Councillor Geoff Ellis commenting in "The Waterline Bass Coast" sums up the situation: “The land around Western Port, including the Woodlands, up into the hills and beyond are areas of national significance but they have been sliced up by municipal boundaries so there is no consistent guarantee of protection across the region.  Lines on maps mean nothing to trees and critters”.

Please encourage others to sign, for the matter still has some way to go …

Striated Pardalote.  Photo: Jackie Newman.