Important Announcement to Save Westernport members, donors and supporters
For close to 50 years, Westernport has been under attack from heavy industry that threatens the unique marine and coastal ecology of the Bay. On March 30 the Planning Minister’s assessment on AGL’s EES confirmed that our gruelling campaign against their destructive plans to import and process LNG in Westernport Bay had been successful and this latest onslaught has been repelled.
Following a three year battle, Minister Richard Wynne announced that corporate giant AGL’s application to site a massive gas import terminal and pipeline at Crib Point would not be approved on environmental grounds.
The Minister’s recommendation made national news, while local groups including Phillip Island Conservation Society (PICS), French Island Citizens Association (FICA), Westernport Peninsula Protection Council (WPPC), and the state’s premier environmental protection organisations, Victoria National Parks Association (VNPA) and Environment Victoria expressed their delight at the announcement.
Many of these groups have been working for years to protect the Bay from the encroachment of inappropriate industrial proposals.
Tens of thousands of Victorians said No to AGL’s destructive plan, and working in collaboration with these and many other groups, Save Westernport made sure their voices were heard by decisionmakers, in government and at AGL.
When the project was announced, you helped us pressure Minister Wynne to call for an Environment Effects Statement in 2018.
Later, when money was needed to meet the costs of taking on corporate giant AGL to defend Westernport Bay at the public hearing, you helped us raise it.
When we needed to show just how many people cared, you showed up in huge numbers. When we asked that you tell the government panel why Westernport Bay matters to you, thousands more responded with written submissions that confirmed how dangerous and irresponsible AGL’s plans were.
Our efforts were justified when Minister Wynne’s recommendation determined that AGL’s application to operate a gas factory had been  rejected.


The Minister’s assessment was based on the report written by the members of the Inquiry Advisory Committee (IAC) at the conclusion of the Environment Effects Statement hearing last year.

Appendices to the IAC report can be viewed here.

Save Westernport thanks our local Mornington Peninsula and Bass Coast Shire Councils for acknowledging the overwhelming opposition to AGL’s proposal, and for backing the community’s opposition with the compelling evidence and expert witnesses during the hearing. News of the Minister’s recommendation was welcomed in the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s announcement on Tuesday.

We thank our locals MPs for recognising how dangerous and needless AGL’s plans were and congratulate Minister Wynne for making the right decision.

The Westernport Community can be proud that we managed to fight off AGL, and we deserve to celebrate this win.

We hope you will join our upcoming celebration. Please watch this space for details .

– The Save Westernport Steering Committee