By Luke Voogt
Environmentalists have demanded State Government release its coastal plans for Moolap following fears the critically-endangered curlew sandpiper could become extinct.
Curlew sandpiper numbers were rapidly declining and the bird would die out under existing conditions, Birdlife Australia’s Connie Lee warned.
“This is an urgent issue,” she said.
The 23cm-high bird migrated from breeding grounds in Siberia to Moolap and back annually, Ms Lee said.
“We love seeing these incredible birds around Moolap in summer when they come to forage along the coastline.”
But Australia’s existing laws allowed the ongoing devastation of sandpiper habitats, Ms Lee said.
Birdlife Australia met local environmentalists at a community forum in central Geelong on Tuesday night to discuss plans to protect the sandpiper.
“Today we’re calling on Geelong’s bird lovers to join us in ensuring a future for Geelong’s threatened shorebirds,“ Ms Lee.
“Their future depends on all of us.”
Geelong Field Naturalists Club’s John Newman demanded State Government release its Moolap Coastal Strategic Framework Plan after it completed consultation in May 2017.
“The people of Geelong are passionate about our local birdlife and disappointed about the infuriating lack of transparency and bitter neglect of the Environment Minister to action the management plan for Moolap,” Dr Newman said.
“This plan has been stalled, stuck on a desk in the dark, while valuable birdlife like the curlew sandpiper suffer the consequences.”
Local coalition MP Simon Ramsay in March called for the release of the Moolap coastal plan, slamming State Government’s “secrecy” after years of consultation.
The 1200-hectare area for the plan includes a former Alcoa aluminium smelter site and rolling mill at Point Henry along with a disused Cheetham Salt works, farming land and existing industrial areas.
In 2014 Ridley Corporation entered negotiations with the former coalition state government to redevelop the area with marinas, housing, commercial precincts and a golf course.
The development would have been worth $4 billion and thousands of jobs to Geelong, Ridley Corporation said at the time.
But the proposal was shelved following the election of Victoria’s Labor Government.
“The Andrews Government scrapped those discussions and began the Moolap plan in December 2014,” Mr Ramsay said.
In response, Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said she made “no apology” for the government “doing more work to get this right.”
Ms D’Ambrosio in March anticipated a decision on the final Moolap plan in mid-2018.
But State Government was still finalising the plan after further consideration of buffer zones, she told the Indy on Wednesday.
“We know the importance of the Moolap coast for migratory shorebirds birds and we’re developing a management plan for the area that will take their habitat into account.“
