Push for Western Port-wide protection plan

Cranbourne Star News

28/07/2026

By Violet Li

A petition calling for a legislated, whole-of-region plan to protect Western Port from urban and industrial expansion has gathered more than 3,500 signatures ahead of November’s State Election.

Petition organiser Neil Daly, is calling for the next Victorian Government to establish a Western Port Region Strategic Management Plan, bringing together environmental protection, land-use planning and economic development across the bay’s wider catchment.

Mr Daly said Western Port should not be viewed only as a coastal area.

His proposed “Western Port Country” region would extend from Mount Dandenong along the southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range to San Remo, taking in Phillip Island and part of the Mornington Peninsula.

It would cross Casey, Cardinia, Bass Coast and Mornington Peninsula, with the four councils continuing to operate independently but working under a coordinated regional strategy.

“If you just try to protect the coastal area and ignore the further inland, the hinterland and the water catchment, you’re not really looking at it as a whole concept,” Mr Daly said.

He said upstream activities could affect mangroves, waterways and the bay, while development pressures had grown through expanding suburbs, industrialisation and projects associated with the Port of Hastings.

Mr Daly also pointed to past controversies including the proposed AGL gas project and foreshore erosion as examples of why individual projects should not be assessed in isolation.

The petition is based partly on the Westernport Bay Environmental Study led by Professor Maurice Shapiro in 1973-74 and tabled in 1975.

The report found the region’s biological wealth and “country atmosphere” were among its defining features, and said preserving bushland, forests and broad agricultural land should be a major objective in future planning.

Mr Daly said the warnings remained relevant more than 50 years later.

“Reports come and go and get lost,” he said.

“People forget about them.”

He has written to the major political parties seeking support for the plan in their 2026 election platforms and has raised the issue with local MPs and the Prime Minister, whose office referred it to the State Government.

Mr Daly said the Victorian Greens had indicated support, while he was awaiting responses from Labor and the Coalition.

He acknowledged online petitions did not always compel governments to act, but said the growing number of signatures demonstrated sustained community interest.

“All I can do is keep bringing it to the attention of as many people as I can,” he said.

To sign the petition, visit: change.org/p/save-western-port-protect-its-environment-and-biodiversity-from-urban-sprawl