Geelong Environment Council Inc., one of the fourteen Member Organizations of Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc., launched an impressive proposal for a Biosphere Reserve for important parts of the Bellarine Peninsula and the west coast of Port Phillip at a meeting on 12th July 2001 in Geelong. 

The meeting, chaired by the former Federal Minister and ALP National President, the Hon. Barry Jones AO, featured three most informative speakers, and was well attended. Those present included councillors of Greater Geelong, and Wyndham, and the President, Secretary and Treasurer of PPCC Inc. 

After an introduction by Mr Jones, in which he summarized the Biosphere Reserve concept of UNESCO (United Nations Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization) the speakers were: 

• Mr Jim Muldoon, of Environment Australia, who gave a general overview of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere program
• Dr Pam Parker, of the Australian Landscape Trust, who spoke on the development of Biosphere programs in Australia
• Mr Ben Churchill, a Parks Victoria spokesman, who spoke on the values of the Port Phillip Region as ba Biosphere Reserve

The Victorian Government responded to recommendations by the Environment Conservation Council, formulated after lengthy public consultation, for the creation of statutory Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuary areas in Victorian coastal waters, by introducing the National Parks (Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries) Bill 2001 into the Legislative Assembly. That Bill unfortunately omitted some of the recommendations of the ECC, including that for a 120 hectare Marine Sanctuary at Ricketts Point, Beaumaris, in Port Phillip Bay. 

When the State Opposition, and certain Independent MLAs indicated that they would not pass the Bill as it stood, the minority ALP Government, which lacks a majority in each House of the Parliament, chose to withdraw the Bill. It is understood that the Bill is likely to be re-introduced, after further consideration of the objections to it. Those objections largely centred on hotly contested disputes about compensation for commercial fishing interests, whose fishing areas would be impinged upon by the proposed Marine Parks and Sanctuaries. 

On World Environment Day, 5th June 2001, Bayside Municipal Council held a Rally at Ricketts Point to encourage concerned citizens to support the Council’s arguments for inclusion of the Ricketts Point Sanctuary in the Bill. Some 150 people attended, along with media representatives. Speakers included the Mayor of Bayside, Cr Simon Russell; the President of PPCC Inc., Mr Geoffrey Goode; and Mr Bob Whiteway, who has dived extensively throughout the proposed Sanctuary Area, has produced a fine video tape of the underwater environment, and is the Secretary of Black Rock and Sandringham Conservation Association Inc. – a Member Organization of Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. 

Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. has joined with a large number of scientific, conservation, and tourism groups in lending its name in support of a "Consensus Statement on Victoria’s Marine National Parks System" instigated by the Marine and Coastal Community Network of the Australian Marine Conservation Society. It is expected that publicity for that Statement will galvanize widespread community support for the concepts of a Marine National Parks system along the lines recommended by the Environment Conservation Council. It is hoped that the Opposition and Independent members of State Parliament will heed that support. 

The April General Meeting of PPCC Inc. was held at Williamstown, with the assistance of Friends of Williamstown Wetlands Inc, a Member Organization of PPCC Inc. 

The General Meeting, after considerable discussion and debate, and the passing of a number of amendments, adopted three new Policy Statements that the Committee of Management had recommended. These were: 

• No. 11 "Bridges, Tunnels, Pipelines, Cables and Other Engineering Intrusions"
• No. 12 "Remnant Large Open Space Land Parcels in Port Phillip Catchment Area"
• No. 13 "Aquaculture in and near Port Phillip"

Policy Statement No. 12 sets out PPCC Inc.’s view that there is an urgent need for the remaining few large areas of open space around Port Phillip to be required to be kept as open space if the Bay is not to become just an "urban lagoon". It was most pleasing that Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has already acted in the manner hoped for by purchasing at auction a significant part of the Tootgarook Swamp wetland when its private owner chose to sell it. PPCC Inc. contributed an article on that purchase to the Environment Bulletin of the Municipal Association of Victoria (see PPCC Inc. Web site). 

Kingston Municipality is undertaking a foreshore landscape study of its entire foreshore, from Mentone to Keast Park, Seaford. PPCC Inc. has made a detailed submission to the Study, which appears on the PPCC Inc. Web site. 

PPCC Inc. has supported Mordialloc-Beaumaris Conservation League Inc., one of its Member Organizations, by writing to Kingston Council opposing claims in a recent petition by certain residents along Beach Road, Parkdale, seeking removal of trees blocking their view of the sea.