Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Shire Hall Beach

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (19:20): (839) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment. The action I seek is for the minister to give an update on any long-term solutions being considered for the severely damaged Shire Hall Beach in my electorate. Shire Hall Beach is one of our most central and iconic beaches, yet sadly, with the concrete wave wall installation along Mornington Pier a decade ago, it was warned at the time that there would be drainage issues down from the Esplanade. The 2008 dredging of the heads under Brumby has resulted in Shire Hall being massively eroded and losing sand, resulting in a raw, narrow beach covered with rocks and dark grey sand. The storm made this worse and also collapsed beach boxes last week.

This sand has then built up at Mothers Beach at the other end, which has become wide and shallow, including around the jetties and boat ramps, which I discussed recently with Cassar Fishing, who are one of the many affected. There is funding for a boat ramp upgrade, but this has been delayed by state Labor and in any event likely needs yet another relocation of sand from Mothers to Shire Hall as the ramp is inaccessible, with boats hitting the bottom at mid to low tide. This damage and loss of amenity has reduced visitors to Shire Hall, leading to increased antisocial behaviour, including drug taking, graffiti and rubbish, not helped by the storms. On this, I joined 3931 Mornington BeachPatrol in cleaning up rubbish post storm, and it was the worst I have ever seen it.

Several solutions have been put forward to save Shire Hall, including replacing the Mornington Pier concrete wave wall with a semipermeable wave wall, installing an artificial reef to reduce erosion and encourage sand deposits and fixing the drainage issues and beach restoration once all the former have been done. Short-term solutions like redistribution of sand are unviable and expensive and will result really in nothing in the long term. Without action this will happen again and again and again. What is needed are long-term solutions, which ironically also save costs.

Since 2022 and prior I have asked the state Labor government to work with the shire to take action. This has seemingly fallen on deaf ears, and climate change is often used as an excuse. Yes, climate change is a factor, but the dredging of the heads, concrete wave wall and mass drainage issues – all human interventions – are a major factor in this case. There are solutions. Fixing Shire Hall Beach is critical for locals, tourism, small business, maintaining the character and appeal of Mornington, boating, fishing and more. The solutions mentioned will be good for boat and yacht users as well as beaches and the environment. We can protect the boats and ramps and reduce the sand build-up that affects the mooring, launching and retrieving of boats. We can again build up sand on Shire Hall Beach, restore its beauty, protect the beach boxes, attract locals and visitors, reduce antisocial behaviour and increase health and mental health.