 |
|
|
| President's Report to 1998 Annual General Meeting | ||
| This year has seen the announcement
of a major Victorian Government campaign, 'Bringing the Bay to Life', which
is being steered by a committee of many senior State ministers chaired
by the Premier, Jeffrey Kennett. PPCC Inc. has taken note of this campaign,
as it has of similar past campaigns such as the last ALP Government's 'Making
the Most of the Bay', and has formed some initial views about it. The title
of the campaign; much initial press publicity about it; the fact that the
Bay, rather than being dead, is in so many places a flourishing natural
environment; and, most significantly, the Government's recent undesirable
intrusions into coastal areas such as Wilson's Promontory National Park
and the Nobbies at Phillip Island have given some conservationists good
reason to be wary of this campaign, and the motives driving it. PPCC Inc.
will constantly monitor the campaign, and be alert for any undesirable
projects. It will deal with them on their merits or lack thereof. It might
also be very useful for it to propose some desirable projects also, as
they might well be acceptable to the Government.
The Committee has been supervising PPCC Inc.'s aerial photography of the Port Phillip coast, made possible by a welcome grant from Coastcare/Coast Action. To date three flights have taken place. A list of the subjects photographed, linked to the print and negative numbers for each flight is to be tabled at this meeting, as is a representative selection of the large number of photographs obtained. The Committee has resolved that this list should be placed on the PPCC Inc. Web Site, with examples of photographs there, and an ordering form for the sale of prints, and that should take place before the end of this year. Individual photographs have already been of use to Committee members when dealing with issues they illustrate. It has also been surprising how many changes have been observed in the 3-month interval between the May and August flights. The flights have shown the eroded and anarchic state of much of the Bellarine Peninsula coastline, and that foreshore car parking is an issue that PPCC Inc. needs a specific and incisive written policy on, and that it needs to press for better outcomes on, right around Port Phillip. It is pleasing that the rapid expansion of an inaugural Member Organization, Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc., has been sustained. It still has 850 members. Its President during that expansion, Mrs Val Ross, has been a valued member of the PPCC Inc. Committee during the past year, and we thank her for her involvement with us. She has not re-nominated, as she has decided to concentrate her conservation efforts on her position as one of the five Victorian councillors of the Australian Conservation Foundation Inc. As usual, the PPCC Inc. has been involved in monitoring and dealing with a number of issues around Port Phillip. It has been pleased with the firmness of the State Government in dealing with suggestions that its decision to consolidate, and make safe, chemical storage at Coode Island should be reviewed, and that it should reconsider Point Wilson as a site. Threats to the Frankston foreshore between Kananook Creek and Oliver's Hill from a proposed 'Dolphin Research Centre' and a marina near Oliver's Hill are being watched. Kingston Council's recent 'mistaken' razing - by its contractor - of its best stand of mature Coastal Tea Trees has been pursued, with 'restoration' being under our scrutiny. Bayside Council has been successfully lobbied by Beaumaris Conservation
Society Inc. and Black Rock and Sandringham Conservation Association Inc.
to make more sensible decisions about building densities, and the piecemeal
completion of its foreshore bicycle road, but the major retrograde proposals
for a 'Tea House' at Hampton, and a restaurant on Green Point, Brighton,
loom ever closer. We are grateful to Len Warfe, a PPCC Inc. Vice-President,
for having successfully handled a number of conservation issues on the
southern Mornington Peninsula on behalf of PPCC Inc.
Geoffrey Goode, President
|
||