Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the south of Corio Bay and to the east of the City of Geelong lies the Geelong Botanic Gardens. Dating from 1851, these are the fourth oldest gardens in Australia. Over the years they have had many redevelopments, the last being in 2002, which resulted in a new arid plant display, at the centre of which is the dragon tree. The Geelong Botanic Gardens are served well by the Friends of the Geelong Botanic Gardens, and their president, Jane Salmon.

To the north of Corio Bay, and to the east of Geelong Grammar School, are Limeburners Bay and Hovells Creek. It was here on 16 December in 1824 that the Hume and Hovell expedition south of Sydney reached its southernmost point. Along the edges of Limeburners Bay is a group of white mangroves—one of the southernmost mangrove swamps in the world—and this is an important habitat for the endangered orange-bellied parrot.

Between these two points lies almost the entirety of Geelong’s bay frontage, around Corio Bay. Along this frontage there are dozens of points of interest and beautiful and historic places which speak of the rich history of Geelong. But there is no continuous walking or biking path which connects these two places—the Geelong Botanic Gardens and Limeburners Bay. To be sure, there are paths along much of the route and there is a bike route which will take you from the botanic gardens to Limeburners Bay, but only after diverting you through much of Geelong’s industrial heart. Indeed, it is the north of Geelong, in the suburbs which are often forgotten, where the bay frontage is least accessible and where the suburbs are most disconnected from the bay.

I think that there should be a continuous path—a bike and walking path—which connects the Geelong Botanical Gardens with Limeburners Bay. It is not immediately obvious how one would do this. There would need to be a significant amount of cooperation between the council, the City of Greater Geelong, the port of Geelong and a number of landowners. But if it were able to be done, it would be a wonderful asset for the City of Greater Geelong and it would be a wonderful act of cooperation between all those parties.

This is a small project which highlights how important Corio Bay is to Geelong. It also highlights how much of Geelong remains disconnected from Corio Bay, particularly out in the northern suburbs, and how important the development of the shore frontage of Corio Bay is to the future of Geelong. There has been some media comment in the last few days about that. I support a greater degree of planning cooperation between the Victorian government and the City of Greater Geelong about planning—and, indeed, a long-term plan—on how we might get development along the front of Corio Bay done properly.

For decades Geelong has turned its back on Corio Bay. The city waterfront has been the first occasion where we have seen a reawakening of the bay, and I think that a continuous walking and bike path might just be the trailblazer for Geelong to reconnect to the entirety of Corio Bay.