Save democracy, the environment, public amenity and the wilderness of Bastion Pt Mallacoota. Stop boat ramp Option 3b.

The bull dozers and excavators have arrived and have been working for 6 weeks. Imagine a road and a 130m long x 3m high rock-wall right across the beach and into the water just above where the excavators are working. The Bastion Pt Surf break "Broken Boards" is located just above and out to the left of the excavator on the left. You can see the swell starting to line up towards Broken Boards and when it is working it breaks all the way through except now there will be a rock-wall in the way.

Picture an industrial site there.....well that's what is happening. We can stop this at the road and car park stage as any preferred minor upgrade will require a road and car park.

The road and car park are near completion so let's stop it there !!!

The whole boat ramp "so called" democratic process has been sketchy at best. Democratic process has been ignored by many people in public office. Of course they can hide behind this consultation and that bureaucratic process but the fact remains that 88% of locals oppose this development in our front yard and playground.

Former Vic state Planning Minister Justin Madden authorised an independent expert panel of enquiry to look into the feasibility of whether to build Option 3b being a road, a parking area, 2 lane boat ramp and 130m long and 3 m high break-wall, and toilet and fishing cleaning facilities ramp over a beach, over Aboriginal middens and also in the process destroy, by blasting, the reef where locals swim, dive for abalone and forever condemn the point surf break known as "Broken Boards" to surfing history.

EGSC have ignored 88% of locals, recommendations by Maritime Safety Victoria, Vic Dept of Transport, ParksVic, DSE, Mallacoota Surf Lifesaving Club, the Australian Surfrider Foundation ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa6ZdyP2c_0 ), National Parks Association and many others.
The Independent Panel of Inquiry recommended that on all 5 key areas the boat ramp and break-wall known as Option 3b has no net benefit to the community.
Yet the Planning Minister chose to ignore this and gave the go ahead for the Shire to continue the process.
The Panel also revealed that 88% of submissions to the independent enquiry were against Option 3b and all this has been ignored by Vic state govt and EGSC.

Despite repeated contacts and protests from the local community the EGSC has chosen to ignore all these facts and the fact that the area has been listed by Unesco as a World Biosphere Reserve.
Mallacoota is surrounded by The Croajingalong National Park and is renown for it's pristine beauty and is often known as the Wilderness Coast.
This huge development does not fit with the ambience that is Mallacoota Wilderness.
Bastion Pt is a renown surf break which will be destroyed by the development.
Why should one group of transient holiday-making recreational boat owners be given preference over another group of locals who surf and use this area all year round??
It is a surf break for beginners and advanced surfers. A place where informal cross-generational mentoring takes place between older and younger surfers.
It is one of the few natural public amenities available to the town....where people feel safe to surf, swim, take their children and generally interact with each other.
This will be blasted and paved out of existence within the next few weeks by EGSC.

Fact: Not one councillor of the local council of East Gippsland Shire Council (EGSC) who voted for this boat ramp and break-wall lives within 145kms of Mallacoota.
They do not represent our town nor do they visit here often. They only come here to open pathways/walkways and hold private meetings with individual stakeholder groups/lobby groups and well...... they also come to open "boat ramps" and the like.

A review by the Victorian Department of Transport found there to be a less destructive, more economic alternative: a lower scale development that would upgrade the existing boat launching facility without destroying a significant area of rocky foreshore, beach and reef. This lower impact option is preferred by the vast majority of submissions to the review.The East Gippsland Shire Council has ignored this review and has applied to the Victorian Minister for the Environment, for consent under the Coastal Management Act to construct the highly destructive breakwater and causeway road. The Minister should have refused to give his consent to this proposal as it complies neither with the letter nor intent of the Coastal Management Act.

There is a very rotten stench about this whole process and only time will tell. Then, and only then, can we hold those responsible for the rotten stench to account for their actions.

What we can do in the meantime is stop the construction and destruction of Bastion Point Mallacoota by as many people as possible signing this pettition!

We are asking for a minor upgrade of the existing ramp not the huge industrial site that EGSC wants to build. Mallacoota residents want recreational boat owners to come to Mallacoota to fish and enjoy our pristine wilderness but not at the expense of locals and our year round playground.
Both can co-exist but East Gippsland Shire Council don't want this, they don't represent us, they want industrial site Option 3b.

The police cleared us out and the area has been fenced off. They are taking the side of the the developers when DSE, ParksVic, Vic Dept of Transport, Marine Safety Vic, UNESCO and 88% of local oppose it. Shouldn't The police be supporting taxpayers and these govt depts and bodies ?? Where is the loyalty of Police and where do they take their directions from? Very ambiguous to say the least,

This road and car park can still only mean that an upgrade to the existing ramp is the outcome and the community's desired outcome. The break wall and boat ramps are not due to be constructed until April 2014. There is still time to stop this. Keep the signatures coming and share this petition to all.

Please help us stop this permanent disaster from taking place.

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