Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to refer to the Victorian government’s plans for channel deepening within Port Phillip Bay on the edge of my electorate of Flinders. I also wish to refer to the effect it has on the marine environment and, in particular, on the business and livelihood of many tourism operators on the Mornington Peninsula. Let me state from the outset that I accept that the proposal is inevitable and that it is likely to happen. However, I seek from the Victorian government one general and three specific guarantees about channel deepening and the protection of the Mornington Peninsula.

The first guarantee relates to the fact that the state government must develop a peninsula recovery plan. The report into the likely effects of channel deepening clearly indicates that it will have an economic and an environmental impact on the residents and on the marine environment of the Mornington Peninsula. There must be a clear and absolute peninsula recovery plan. It needs to set out—and here I refer to three specific guarantees—these core items. Firstly, there must be a guarantee that the health of the marine environment will be restored. There must also be a time line during which that will occur and an allocation of government funds to pursue this project and program. If there is no guarantee, the plan is unacceptable.

Secondly, there must be a guarantee of compensation for each and every business that is affected. My understanding is that in the draft legislation—which was to be considered by the Victorian parliament but which was not prior to the last election—there was no guarantee of compensation for land based businesses on the Mornington Peninsula. There must be a guarantee for both land and marine based tourism businesses on the Mornington Peninsula. Two years of diminished returns would be enough to destroy or damage many of these businesses irrevocably. They are victims of a process over which they have no control and which they may be excluded from in terms of any cost recovery. That would be unjust denial of compensation and unacceptable in the Australian system.

Thirdly, there is the protection of the snapper grounds off Mount Martha. There must be a guarantee that one of the most important breeding grounds in Port Phillip will be protected and will not be harmed. One of the fundamental fish-breeding areas on the Mornington Peninsula in Port Phillip must be protected. (Time expired)