• Bayside News Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Read Our Newspapers Online
    • Read the Latest Western Port News
    • Read the Latest Mornington News
    • Read the Latest Southern Peninsula News
    • Read the Latest Frankston Times
    • Read the Latest Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Tuesday, August 9
Trending
  • Season on the line for Seagulls
  • Pythons face an uphill battle, Redlegs stumble
  • Ketch blown ashore in Dromana
  • New program for parking
  • Push to improve station access
  • Teens arrested in BMW
  • Plans form for upgraded youth clinic
  • Striking self-portrait secures art award
Facebook Twitter
Bayside News
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
Bayside News
Home»News»Call for green alert on port’s future
News

Call for green alert on port’s future

Keith PlattBy Keith Platt10 June 2015Updated:10 June 2015No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

OPPONENTS to a container port at Hastings are being warned not to give up the fight just because the state government plans to lease the Port of Melbourne with guarantees of no competition for 50 years.

The Preserve Western Port Action Group wants the government to “pursue sustainable developments that support the tourism and recreational boating industries” as an alternative to further industrialising Western Port.

The group was Infrastructure Victoria to begin its assessment of whether Bay West in Port Phillip or Hastings is the best location for the state’s next container port.

“Detailed submissions will be sought and the government will then decide and legislate on the location before the next state election,” the action group’s president Geoff Nottle said.

“The most persuasive arguments put forward by vested interests will win out and the government is clearly seeking to avoid the political pain of the final decision.”

The action group is also wary of statements by Ports Minister Luke Donnellan and Hastings Port Development Authority CEO Mike Lean that Hastings could be a port for “bulk” commodities.

The group and other environmentalists are likely to oppose any moves to use Hastings for exporting brown coal from the La Trobe Valley or increase shipments of petroleum products and natural liquefied gas (LNG).

Ports Minister Luke Donnellan told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on 22 May that the government is “expecting the Port of Hastings Development Authority to chase opportunities in bulk to continue to grow the port down there”.

“There are enormous opportunities, obviously, in relation to storage of petroleum, because we are importing so much petroleum now.

“I would also like to see them look at chasing down business in the energy sector, because the Latrobe Valley has enormous brown coal deposits, gas and so forth.”

Mr Nottle told The News on Monday that although the government was being “pretty vague” about Hastings being a bulk port, “we would oppose any increase in shipping … or making Western Port another industrialised waterway”.

In a news release from the action group Mr Nottel quotes Mr Donnellan as telling the parliamentary committee that “development of the second container port will be demand driven, with timing determined when the Port of Melbourne reaches capacity”.

“The possibility of a state government industrialising Westernport and building a container port at Hastings is still 100 per cent on the table and our community needs to be aware that this can happen,” Mr Nottle states.

“This ‘demand driven’ approach of the government to a container port is in stark contrast to the build it and they may come approach of the former Liberal National Party government.

“While the economic drivers for the huge investment may have changed, the possibility of Hastings being a container port has not.”

Mr Donnellan has also told the parliamentary committee: “I think we really need a thorough and rigorous analysis by Infrastructure Victoria – by economists, transport planners and the like – to actually get it right. I think we need to, as much as we can, put it into an independent entity to do it, not to put it into the hands of politicians.

“In terms of when we need to make a decision, we would make it during this term.”

Mr Nottel said Bass Coast Shire Council wanted its views to be considered by Infrastructure Victoria.

“With tourism contributing $653 million to the Phillip Island (Bass Coast Shire) economy in 2012-13 representing, 37.9 per cent of gross regional product, employing 5700 people and providing 38.2 per cent of regional employment the adverse impact of a container port could devastate the economy,” Mr Nottel said. Recreational boating added another $500m a year to Western Port’s economy.

First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 10 June 2015

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Keith Platt

Related Posts

New program for parking

8 August 2022

Push to improve station access

8 August 2022

Teens arrested in BMW

8 August 2022

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Aug 9, 2022 - Tue
Chelsea, Australia
4°C
4 km/h, NNW
45%
771.07 mmHg
tue08/09 wed08/10 thu08/11 fri08/12 sat08/13
11/7°C
13/12°C
12/11°C
15/10°C
14/10°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click Here to Read

25 July 2022
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click Here to Read

26 May 2022
Council Watch

Kilkenny a minister

6 July 2022

Push to stop rate collection methods

14 June 2022
Interviews

Murder mystery on the water

25 July 2022
Property of the Week

14 Lynch Court, Mt Martha

26 July 2022
100 Years Ago this Week

Ketch blown ashore in Dromana

8 August 2022
Contact

Street: 63 Watt Road, Mornington, 3931
Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915

Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
About

Established in 2006, Mornington Peninsula News Group (MPNG) is a locally owned and operated, independent media company.

MPNG publishes five weekly community newspapers: the Western Port News, Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Frankston Times and Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News.

MPNG also publishes two glossy magazines: Peninsula Essence and Peninsula Kids.

Facebook Twitter
© 2022 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.