portsea beach, more like an ocean beach

Follow this link to look at the video made out at Portsea Beach last week with Greens MP, Sue Pennicuik and candidate for Nepean, Anton Vigenser.

that's not a beach, it's an embankment

Samantha Dunn - candidate for Eastern Victoria

Anton Vigenser - candidate for Nepean

28 October 2010

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Samantha Dunn and Anton Vigenser, the swells now being experiences at Portsea beach have turned it into an ocean beach, I wouldn't let my young son in the water here anymore.

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“Recent erosion at Portsea Beach demands serious study by Government and the Port of Melbourne Corporation,” says Anton Vigenser, Greens candidate for Nepean.

“The beach is now looking worse than when the erosion began. The area has become a construction zone with all the associated rubbish. Wire, plastic and materials that can cause harm to marine wildlife are lying on the beach. With summer one month away the pressure to ‘fix’ the beach is mounting. Corners cannot be cut.”

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Portsea beach has changed from a beautiful bay beach to a man made construction zone, no longer a beach in the true sense, it's more like an embankment.

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Greens Candidate for Eastern Victoria, Samantha Dunn said “The changes are recent and aren't because of seasonal storms, locals report to me we’ve seen our beach and the bay change before our very eyes.”

“Locals and tourists are gob-smacked. Our once natural beach is now fast becoming ‘man-made’. Many are seriously worried about the scale and planning behind the earth works, and doubt it will even work,” Anton Vigenser said.

“Sue Pennicuik, Greens upper house MP released a report which analysed tidal data from the Port of Melbourne and the research supports what so many residents, swimmers, divers and other businesses in the southern part of part Phillip Bay have been reporting since channel deepening: that tides are higher in the south of the Bay.”

“Despite this, the Port Authority still denies any links, pointing the finger solely at weather. Preliminary analysis of wind data from the past ten years suggests that wind beach erosion, particularly at Portsea was not caused by seasonal weather events alone.”

“A lack of evidence is not a reason to dismiss the erosion. The government was warned by scientists at the time. The government picked and chose what to use in the Environmental Effects Statement. Now our beaches are under increased threat.”

“The surging swells at Portsea have impacted our tourism industry, and will make it less safe for swimming this summer. Swell will also be the greatest problem to overcome when attempting to fix our beach,” Anton Vigenser said, “This is a burden that has cost our community more than just money.”

“We desperately need more data about tides, swells, currents and weather events,to know for certain what is happening,” said Samantha Dunn , “The tragedy is the five metres of sea bed and rock can't be replaced at the entrance and Port Phillip Bay and Portsea Front Beach may be permanently damaged".

greens oppose second lot of draconian stop and search powers

Greens MLC, Sue Pennicuik

For the second time in seven months, the parliament has passed legislation to dramatically increase police powers to stop and search people. The Greens opposed the expansion of the laws in parliament yesterday as they opposed the first bill late last year.

"One of the worst aspects of the new laws is that police will now be able to search children of any age and people with impaired intellectual functioning, in an unplanned designated area, without a parent, guardian or independent person present," said Ms Pennicuik. "It is unbelievable to me the Labour, Liberal and National parties can vote to remove these protections just to make it easier for the police."

"This is an outrageous violation of human rights generally, the rights of the child and the rights of people with disabilities," Ms Pennicuik said. "It is completely unwarranted and simply indefensible."

Under the first set of increases to coercive powers, which came into effect in January, police were given the authority to randomly search citizens without reasonable belief, going even further than the UK anti-terrorist laws. The random search legislation is so broadly drafted it can also be applied to lawful protestors. The latest legislation relaxes even further the circumstances under which random searches of citizens may occur.

"In preparing to debate that bill I studied jurisdictions around the world that already have such regimes. It points to their ineffectiveness and the almost guaranteed negative outcomes of such legislation," she said. "Regrettably, the government ignored that wealth of research and has introduced laws that not only breach the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and responsibilities, but have also been shown to be ineffective."

During the debate last night Ms Pennicuik again moved a reasoned amendment to have the bill removed from Parliament until a comprehensive review of the new powers, introduced in January, could be undertaken.

"I moved this amendment, as I did previously under the first bill, because these are very serious issues, and our approach must be evidence based, not based on manipulation of the community anxiety," Ms Pennicuik said.

The legislation has also come under fire for removing several police reporting requirements.

"There is no justification for doing away with record-keeping," Ms Pennicuik said. "The government keeps saying, without evidence, that these powers are required. Well how will we know when the act no longer requires full record keeping?"

"It is unfathomable that the government is taking Victoria down this road particularly as Victoria enjoys a relatively low crime rate," Ms Pennicuik said. "The government's populist stance is resulting in negative outcomes for Victorians, with policies that simply do not address the causes of crime."

heritage listing is meaningless as heritage property is bulldozed

Greens MLC Sue Pennicuik

Greens spokesperson for Roads and Ports and member for Southern Metropolitan Region, Sue Pennicuik expressed dismay today as Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA) brought forward its plans to bulldoze part of the heritage listed Westerfield property, despite an appeal, which could result in less of the land being needed, still pending.

"I understand that the Frankston Council will be considering a motion tonight to ask LMA to wait for the outcome of the appeal," Ms Pennicuik said. "If LMA goes ahead today regardless, then that shows all Victorians that there is no due process when it comes to the road lobby.

"We now know that Heritage Victoria listing on a property or piece of valuable bushland is totally meaningless because 1) a permit can still be granted to bulldoze a freeway through them, and 2) even though an appeal has been lodged under the legislation, works can still proceed despite the appeal still pending," she said.

"The whole process around this unnecessary and expensive freeway has been flawed from the start when the consideration of public transport and other viable road upgrade options were excluded from the EES study," she said. "The Peninsula Link is little more than a 'make work' project for the LMA. It should have been abandoned when it became clear how much biodiversity will be lost along its 22km route, including habitat for the southern brown bandicoot at the Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve."

"Now we hear that Joyce and Simon Welsh, owners of the historic Westerfield property in the Green Wedge south of Frankston, were notified that clearing will begin today, on 2.656 ha of the pristine remnant bushland on their property," she said. "The proposed freeway alignment will destroy most of the remnant bushland including a dam immediately south of Robinson's Road, which provides habitat for the Great Egret and other visiting birds. This should never have been allowed under the heritage listing."

I call on the Transport Minister Tim Pallas and Environment Minister Jennings to halt the bulldozing until the Heritage Council makes its decision and until vegetation offsets are in place. The Heritage Council decision could see the reduction of the area of bushland to be destroyed and could require compliance with conditions regarding the minimisation of vegetation removal and the relocation of rare plants.

"Last month, I visited the Willow Road Reserve after known populations of sugar gliders, birds and arboreal frogs were deprived of habitat or killed and hollow trees marked for retention or relocation as habitat trees were destroyed," she said.

rising tides in port phillip bay – is channel deepening to blame?

Sue Pennicuik MLC

State Member of Parliament for Southern Metropolitan Region

"There have been growing reports of higher tides, beach erosion, faster currents and an increase in swell (surge from Bass Strait) since the Entrance to Port Phillip Bay was deepened," Greens MP, Sue Pennicuik said today.

The Office of Environmental Monitor (OEM) is reported1 as saying that there is no evidence to suggest that dredging is to blame for erosion at Portsea beach; and that the most likely explanation was natural erosion caused by the local impact of storms and seasonally high tides, exacerbated by the swell rolling in from Bass Strait.

"Tidal data that I have obtained from the Port of Melbourne Corporation and have had analysed, supports what so many residents, swimmers, divers and other businesses in the southern part of part Phillip Bay have been reporting since channel deepening: that tides are higher in the south of the Bay" said Greens MP, Sue Pennicuik today.

"Preliminary analysis of wind data from the past ten years suggests that wind beach erosion, particularly at Portsea was not caused by seasonal weather events alone," she said.

"I am very worried about the tidal changes that are being seen at many places round the south of Port Phillip Bay," said Ms Pennicuik. "It is one of the most serious effects of the channel deepening project that the government was clearly warned about at the time."

"The preliminary analysis that I am releasing today strongly suggests that the average daily high tides have increased significantly at four points in the south of the Bay, by much more than was predicted by the Port of Melbourne on the basis of 'expert advice' in the Channel Deepening Project (CDP) Supplementary Environmental Effects Study2. However, more data is needed about tides, swells, currents and weather events to be able to know for certain what is happening in the south of the Bay", Ms Pennicuik said.

"Unfortunately, the five metres of sea bed and rock can't be put back at the Entrance and Port Phillip Bay may be permanently damaged as a result of the expensive channel deepening project that we didn't need," she said.

western port ecosystem more important than plans to expand port of hastings

The Greens have rejected the government's proposal to abolish the Port of Hastings Corporation and incorporate it into the Port of Melbourne Corporation, under the Ports Integration bill in state parliament this week.

Sue Pennicuik, Greens spokesperson for Ports said. "The Greens have grave concerns about the impact of a larger Port of Hastings on the local environment and on Western Port Bay, which is a Ramsar-listed wetland."

"This is the Year of Biodiversity and our wetlands are havens for biodiversity - we should be protecting and enhancing them. We have already lost too much," she said. "Western Port Bay is a haven for the thousands of water birds that visit it from all around the world every year and a unique tidal mud flat ecosystem that is very precious to Victorians."

"While the Coalition also rejected the Ports Integration Bill, they and the government want to see the Port of Hastings develop full steam ahead into a significant container port," she said. "This is the wrong way to go, we should be looking first at preserving and enhancing the integrity of Western Port for future generations."

"The health and long-term integrity of Western Port is paramount. Any development at Hastings needs to fit in with the long term needs of the ecosystem, not the usual approach of dreaming up a massive development proposal and then trying to 'manage' the environmental damage," she said.

"Western Port has already suffered much damage, in terms of pollution and loss of sea grass and mangroves, due to Port and other activities on its shores," she said. "This level of damage cannot continue into the future and that is the threshold issue that needs to be addressed before any Port expansion plans are entertained."

"The inconvenient truth is most likely that the Port of Hastings should be down scaled, not expanded, in order to preserve the Western Port ecosystem for future generations."