Now, the anxious wait

By Sarah Schwager
THE final day for submissions on the Port of Hastings Land Use and Transport Strategy last week reignited pleas from the community to reject the port expansion plan.
Pearcedale’s Sharon Berry said a petition with 1044 signatures from residents of Pearcedale, Cannons Creek, Blind Bight, Warneet, Devon Meadows, Five Ways and Clyde was presented to the Port of Hastings Corporation (POHC) opposing the Port of Hastings expansion and the Gippsland freight rail link.
Cardinia resident and Southern Victoria Community Action Group (SVCAG) president Catherine Manning said the proposal was not economically, socially or environmentally viable or sustainable.
In a submission to the POHC on behalf of residents, Mrs Berry said the port expansion would devastate Victoria, making it the ‘Port Capital of the Country’.
“That may be great for those few who stand to make substantial amounts of money out of this but why not start by at least properly consulting the public and making informed decisions about more sensitive ways we can improve our economy and encourage a truly sustainable future for everybody,” she said.
“The south of Victoria is a beautiful part of the world to live.
“Not everybody shares the Government’s view that Victoria wants or needs this massive port related infrastructure.”
In an address to Parliament on Wednesday, 14 March, Hastings MP Neale Burgess said the final day for submissions brought “nothing to the Hastings community but a dramatically increased sense of anxiety and dread”.
“The people of the Hastings community have completely rejected the Port of Hastings Corporation, its process and its plan,” he said.
“What support there was for the development of the Port of Hastings has all but been destroyed by the clumsy, secretive and arrogant way the planning and consultation phase has been conducted.”
Mr Burgess urged the State Government to relieve the POHC management of its duties and put in place a body capable of obtaining broad community consensus, rule out a freight rail being imposed on residents, and guarantee that no development of the Port of Hastings proceed without an independent environment effects statement and a complete economic and social effects investigation.
A parliamentary petition is now circulating to table residents’ opposition to the Port of Hastings expansion proposal in Parliament.
Residents can also sign an online petition at www.westernportactiongroup.com.