Our Submission on the Council’s draft Climate Resilience Plan
In February 2026 the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council invited the public to comment on their draft ‘Climate Resilience Plan’ (CRP) by responding to a survey on the Council website.
The draft CRP is intended to replace the now defunct (though perfectly good) Climate Emergency Response Plan (CEP) that was drawn up by a previous Council after an extensive period of community consultation.
In April 2025 the current Council, led by Mayor Anthony Marsh and his Deputy, Paul Pingiaro voted to throw out the original CEP and retract their 2019 Climate Emergency Declaration, by a narrow majority of 6 votes to 5.
The Council’s former Climate Emergency Response Plan, or CEP was intended to be a 30 year plan, yet just six years after it was adopted, the CEP was dumped, without consulting Peninsula ratepayers, and despite Council reports confirming that the original Plan was meeting its aims.
Save Westernport is a member of the Peninsula Climate Alliance — a collective of local groups that formed to push back against the Council’s April 2025 decision to retract their 2019 Climate Emergency Declaration and dump the CEP. Upon reading the Council’s replacement Climate Resilience Plan, Save Westernport and the Peninsula Climate Alliance (PCA) found it to be alarmingly inadequate in its draft form, with a flawed focus on ‘adapting’ to Climate Change, rather than working to reduce the Number One cause: – the burning of fossil fuels for energy.
Read Save Westernport’s submission on the Council’s draft Climate Resilience Plan HERE
Among our many concerns was the discovery that a number of key words were missing from the Council’s endorsed ‘Plan Framework’.
Among these are CO2, greenhouse, carbon, emissions, target, net-zero and fossil fuels. These glaring omissions led us to wonder, ‘Why is our Council avoiding taking action on reducing carbon emissions on the Mornington Peninsula ?
The Victorian Climate Change Act (2017) states: “the role of sub-national governments in driving this transition cannot be understated”.
Further concerns about the Council’s draft Climate Resilience Plan can be read in the detailed submission by Peninsula Climate Alliance (PCA) president, Greg Holland.
Save Westernport and the PCA encouraged you all to have your say about the future of Climate Change action on the Peninsula by responding to the Council survey to express the strong community expectation that Climate Change preparedness will be a key priority across the Shire.
Update: in Feb 2026 representatives of our groups in the Peninsula Climate Alliance received an email from Council officers, stating that public responses to the Council survey have confirmed that the Shire will need to significantly revise their draft Climate Resilience Plan to ensure that community concerns about the draft CRP will be addressed in the Council’s final version of the Plan.
This news is welcomed by Save Westernport and other members of the Peninsula Climate Alliance.
Thank you everyone who took the time to respond to the Council’s public survey on the Climate Resilience Plan.
Finally, in January 2026 Save Westernport made a submission on the federal reform of the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) concerning the introduction of Standards on Offsets for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES).
Save Westernport’s Jan 2026 submission on EPBC reform is
HERE
Remember you can support Save Westernport’s ongoing voluntary work by becoming a Member,
or by renewing your annual $20 membership HERE
You can also make a Donation HERE
Thankyou, from the Save Westernport Steering Committee
Picture: Mornington Pier, 2 September 2024
Gregor Carr (Jane Bunn’s Weather Photography 7 News)
Recent submissions by Save Westernport on local matters of environmental importance.
In late 2025 Save Westernport made a Submission on Melbourne Water’s draft revision of the Western Port Ramsar Site Management Plan.
The new Ramsar Site Management Plan will determine how Western Port is managed in the decades ahead, and this was an important chance for community members to have a say.
Melbourne Water invited the public to share our feedback on the revised Western Port Ramsar Site Management Plan, to help them protect this vital ecosystem.
They said: 🌿 “The Western Port Ramsar site is internationally recognised for its rich biodiversity, vital bird habitats and network of wetlands. It plays a key role in keeping waterways healthy, filtering fresh water and supporting marine and coastal ecosystems.
But like many wetlands, it faces growing pressures including urban growth and habitat loss.
That’s why we’re updating the Western Port Ramsar Management Plan to protect the sites precious wetlands for the next seven years. Our team of experts and community representatives have drafted a plan that considers every angle – now we want to hear from you.”
Read Save Westernport’s submission on the draft revised Western Port Ramsar Site Management Plan
A few of our Comments:
– As a Ramsar site of global significance, Westernport’s management must comply with all international obligations determined by the Ramsar convention on Wetlands.
-Westernport’s management must plan for the impacts of climate change on marine and coastal ecosystems.
-Westernport’s capacity to act as a biological carbon sink is an asset that must be prioritised, and the value of its Blue Carbon potential for CO2 biosequestration must be quantified and protected.
-Westernport needs a dedicated management plan, with Marine Spatial Planning to determine areas that are incompatible with new— and existing— development.
In 2022 Save Westernport collaborated with Vic National Parks Association (VNPA) and the Western Port Biosphere, and drafted a Strategic Management Plan for Westernport. Read our Strategic Management Framework here
and sign up to support the Framework at https://www.actforwesternportbay.au
Read Melbourne Water’s draft Revised Western Port Ramsar Site Management Plan
For more please visit https://letstalk.melbournewater.com.au/western-port-ramsar
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Save Westernport also submitted our objections to the proposed expansion of ‘The Eagle’ tourist development at Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula.
Community group Save Our Seat has been leading community opposition to the plans at Arthurs Seat since discovering that the owner/developers are seeking govt approval of a $25 million commercial tourism expansion on State Park land at Arthurs Seat (Wonga) that if approved would include:
– A roller coaster-like Luge ride on tracks running on the escarpment from top to the bottom.
– A 34-metre-high viewing tower at the summit (equivalent to 13 storeys).
– Demolition and re-build of the base station building, built just 10 years ago.
Save Our Seat urged the public to resist the expansion of this commercial development by submitting our objections to a proposal that would exploit and threaten wildlife and detract from public enjoyment of Arthurs Seat State park, on public land belonging to us all!
For updates and more information, please visit Save Our Seat
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EES Scoping Requirements Released
The Final EES Scoping Requirements have been published for the proposed Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal (VRET) in the Port of Hastings in Westernport Bay.
The Scoping Requirements set out the matters to be investigated and documented in the EES Environmental assessment (Environment Effects Statement), which kicks off in mid 2026.
The Final Scoping Requirements have been updated following two rounds of public comment (November – December 2024 & September 2025).
The Final EES Scoping Requirements can be accessed here.
Read Save Westernport’s comments on the draft Scoping Requirements in our submission here or in this article on our website https://savewesternport.org/news/joint-letter-of-concerns-to-victorias-planning-minister/
The EES will be our first opportunity to properly scrutinise the project’s numerous environmental impacts, particularly from proposed dredging to build the terminal. In 2024, concerns about these extensive impacts led fmr Environment Minister Tania Plibersek to reject the Port of Hastings corporation’s initial application outright, due to “unacceptable effects on the Western Port Ramsar wetlands” of global significance to migratory birds, protected wildlife and marine ecosystems, all Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) under Commonwealth Environmental Protection Conservation Biodiversity (EPBC) laws. Read the Minister’s Statement of Reasons for her decision in 2024.
The Port of Hastings Corporation is the project’s proponent on behalf of the Victorian government. More information is available on their website. See ‘Environmental Assessment’ here https://renewableenergyterminal.com.au/
More here https://portofhastings.cmail19.com/t/y-e-qktjdll-dulkjjyhlt-g/
Sign up on here on Save Westernport’s website to receive our regular Newsletter updates about the proposed VRET and its environmental assessment in 2026. https://savewesternport.org/get-our-newsletter/
You can support our voluntary work by becoming a Member of Save Westernport, by renewing your annual membership.
Or by making a donation to Save Westernport.
Thanks 🪸🐠
Joint Letter of Concerns to Victoria’s Planning Minister
In our previous post we shared Save Westernport’s submission on the updated EES Scoping Requirements for next year’s Environment Effects Statement (EES) that will assess the proposed Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal in Westernport Bay.
When we wrote our submission we found some concerning omissions in the terms of reference that will guide the project’s EES environmental assessment in 2026.
Save Westernport and fellow environmental organisations, Victoria National Parks Association, Environment Victoria, the WP Biosphere and Phillip Island Conservation Society (PICS) have written a joint letter outlining our concerns to the Victorian Ministers for Planning, the Environment, Energy, and Ports.
Read our joint letter to the Ministers here
The letter communicates our disappointment and alarm at finding none of the following considerations in preparations for the proposal’s EES assessment to date:
- Victoria’s 2020 Marine and Coastal Act (MACA) was designed to guide exactly how projects in the state’s marine environments should be assessed, yet the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) failed to reference the Marine and Coastal Act in its updated guidelines for the EES.
The Act states: “the structure and function of marine and coastal ecosystems are fundamental to the current and future use and enjoyment of the marine and coastal environment, the resources, goods and benefits it provides.”
It calls for sustainable ecosystem-based management, and requires planners and decision makers to consider:
- ecosystem connections
- scientific and indigenous cultural knowledge
- the cumulative impacts of many decisions ecosystems
- the climate resilience of the ecosystems over time.
We hope the Ministers will take our concerns seriously and ensure that the Scoping Requirements that will guide the EES comply with the MACAct, and a whole-of-ecosystem approach to this project and its impacts on the Bay.
The Port of Hastings Corporation’s plans to build Victoria’s Renewable Energy Terminal (V-RET) continue to move forward, and the proposal’s environmental assessment is due to begin next year. While we support the Victorian government’s commitment to renewable energy and offshore windfarms in Bass Strait, we’ll be making sure that government decisionmakers know that our community is watching closely, and we expect this project’s environmental assessment to be held to the highest standard.
We have not forgotten that the Port of Hastings’ original project design was rejected by former federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who found it had ‘a number of unacceptable environmental impacts on Westernport’s Ramsar wetlands’.
Read Minister Plibersek’s decision here
The Port of Hastings Corporation says they have ‘redesigned the project’ to minimise its impacts, and we’ll know more when their EES reports are released in mid-late 2026.
As the project applicants and proponents, the Port of Hastings’ main priority is to attract new commercial development to the port, and the Victorian govt has charged them with getting this project approved.
In general, the proponents of major developments like this are renowned for downplaying or altogether dismissing potential environmental impacts and other valid concerns.
Beginning at 0:33:25 you can hear some of our concerns discussed in an interview on 3CR’s ‘City Limits’ in October ’25.
French Island is the location for the Port of Hastings Corporation’s next community information session about the proposed VRET terminal in Westernport Bay.
Residents and visitors to the Island will be greatly affected if the project is approved.
When: Saturday, 15 November 2025 (12 pm – 2 pm)
French Island Community Hall, 221 Tankerton Road. https://maps.app.goo.gl/wwokrgrJh5YDUzbf9?g_st=ipc
Finally, you can help Save Westernport meet the costs of ensuring meaningful community participation in this project’s EES environmental assessment in 2026, by making a donation here.
We’ll need to provide our own legal counsel and expert technical & environmental witnesses to represent Save Westernport and give evidence at the EES hearing to refute any questionable claims in the proponent’s EES reports.
Please consider making a donation here
You can also support Save Westernport by becoming a member, or renewing your membership.
Click on ‘Become A Member’ on our homepage here
With thanks
The Save Westernport Steering Committee
Comments invited on the next stage of the proposed Hastings Windfarm Terminal
To comment on the updated Terms of Reference (Scoping Requirements) for the EES environmental assessment of the proposed Renewable Energy Terminal in Westernport, (for Victoria’s Offshore Windfarms in Bass Strait), please fill in the survey or upload your submission HERE before midnight, Sept 24
Read Save Westernport’s new submission on the Updated EES Scoping Requirements HERE
For more information please read Save Westernport’s latest Newsletter
Your comments could include the following:
- The original proposal was rejected in 2024 due to environmental concerns.
- The revised proposal is only slightly changed. It still involves large-scale reclamation and dredging in Westernport- the most since it was named a Ramsar wetland, a Matter of National Environmental Significance (MNES) under the Commonwealth EPBC (Environmental Protection) Act.
- The enormous increase in shipping would impact Westernport’s local communities, marine life and ecosystems
- Projects within a Ramsar wetland MUST NOT result in Biodiversity loss.
- Environmental assessment should consider cumulative impacts and a whole-of-Ecosystem approach
- The Victorian government must invite its own advisers to scrutinise claims made in the proponent’s EES reports, and not leave it to community groups to pay for independent experts, as we saw during the EES for AGL.
- Existing alternative sites need further consideration to minimise or avoid degrading WP Bay
- Westernport urgently needs a Strategic Management Framework
The WP Biosphere has also shared their submission, and they’re happy for us to use it when commenting on the project.
More from the Biosphere HERE https://www.biosphere.org.au/latest-news/victorian-renewable-energy-terminal-vret-community-submissions-closing-soon/
Decision-makers are taking note of how many people respond to this proposal. The best way to let them know we’re watching is to upload your comments before midnight Weds Sept 24
Every submission counts!
Thankyou
from the Save Westernport Steering Committee
Read Our Submission on the proposed Windfarm Terminal in Westernport Bay
In July 2025 Save Westernport made a Submission to the federal government on the Port of Hastings Corporation’s EPBC referral for the proposed Victorian Renewable Energy Terminal (or V-RET) in Westernport’s Northern arm.
Read Save Westernport’s Submission
Although public comments are now closed for this stage of the referral (or application) process, the Port of Hastings Corporation’s various EPBC reports on dredging, marine studies etc should still be available here. The government website is constantly being updated. There will be more opportunities for the public to comment on the project when the Port of Hastings releases their EES reports in 2026.
Many environmental organisations and individuals wrote submissions commenting on the project’s likely impacts. See below.
In addition to addressing the project’s impacts on the ecological character of Westernport Bay, our Submission addressed the implications for residents and visitors from the many unavoidable changes to the visual and regional amenity if this project is approved.
For example, the diagram above, provided by the Port of Hastings, shows that 200m tall windfarm pylons stored upright at the Hastings foreshore will be almost THREE TIMES the height of existing MCG light towers—and nearly as tall as Melbourne’s Rialto Tower.
If the project is approved, over a period of several years, hundreds of these windfarm pylons will be transported by barge from the Hastings terminal and out through Westernport Bay, to facilitate the construction of Victoria’s offshore windfarms in Bass Strait. The potential impacts on Westernport’s Ramsar wetlands are undeniable.
If the federal government decides the proposed V-RET at Hastings is a Controlled Action, the project’s environmental, social and other impacts will be assessed by an Environment Effects Statement (EES) in Victoria.
**Update: In August 2025 federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced that the project is a Controlled Action and will progress to environmental assessment through an EES.**
Read MP News article, Aug 13 2025
View videos about the project and read about what it involves on the Port of Hastings website
Read Submissions about this project by other organisations:
Victoria National Parks Association (VNPA)
Westernport Peninsula Protection Council (WPPC)
Phillip Island Conservation Council (PICS)
We will keep you posted about the project assessments here on the Save Westernport website, and via facebook etc.
To request our newsletters, please email us at savewesternport@gmail.com
You can support our ongoing work by becoming a Member of Save Westernport
or by Making a Donation here
Thankyou
The Save Westernport Steering Committee
Westernport
Westernport’s internationally recognised ecosystems are home to amazing wildlife, incredibly diverse wetlands and idyllic beaches. But, if you’re reading this you probably know just how special Westernport Bay is. This is why generations have fought to protect it – and now it’s our turn.
Endangered Species
The critically endangered Eastern Curlew uses Westernport’s wetlands to feed and recover before returning on the long journey back to its breeding grounds in Siberia. With fewer than 70 in the wild, the equally endangered Orange-bellied Parrot also uses Westernport’s resources over winter before returning to summer in Tasmania. They are the world’s only migratory parrot, and this year Westernport was chosen as the perfect site to release hand-raised chicks that will increase wild populations. These are just two of many endangered species that rely on the ecology of the Bay for survival.
Recovering Wetland
Westernport’s wetlands are undergoing a long recovery from damage caused by agricultural run-off and industrial pollution in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Countless plants and animals have re-established themselves and their future looks good, as long as we can stop any further industrialization of Westernport.
Stop the destruction
The inappropriate demands of heavy industry that defined the Port of Hastings in the 1960s must now be weighed against the urgent need to protect biodiversity and prevent ecosystem collapse. Nothing short of world’s best practice can reverse the damage. You can help by becoming a member of Save Westernport, and by signing up for our newsletter updates here.
Stop The Threat!
Many large corporations and even our own Victorian Government still regard Westernport as a potential heavy industry zone or port. Our work is ‘cut out for us’ in our passion to protect this unique biosphere, & Ramsar designated wetlands.
Scroll down to find out more.
Upcoming Events
Looking to see what we’re all about here at Save Westernport? Come along to one of our upcoming events to get a better idea of what we’re all about and what you can do to help!
