EVERYWHERE WE TURN, OUR PUBLIC LANDS ARE UNDER THREAT.
OUR BEACHES, OUR WETLANDS, OUR RIVERS, OUR NATIONAL PARKS, OUR FORESTS, OUR WILDLIFE
EXTINCTIONS ARE CURRENTLY RUNNING AT ABOUT 5000 TIMES THE NATURAL ORDER
WE ARE LEAVING A TERRIBLE LEGACY FOR OUR CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN
Is this the sort of future we wish to bestow on future generations?
The members of the Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group (BCRAG) seek your support to establish a Victorian Coastal Alliance to resist Government and business exploitation of the Victorian coast from intrusive, inappropriate and damaging commercial activities.
The Belfast Coastal Reserve (BCR) stretches from Warrnambool to Port Fairy in south-west Victoria. It contains a series of beaches, dunes and wetlands and is one of a handful of public land reserves in the Moyne Shire.
In 1978 the Land Conservation Council (LCC) now Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC), recommended BCR be reserved to conserve the flora and fauna, maintain the stability of the dune system, protect cultural and archaeological sites, and support low-intensity recreational uses such as surfing, fishing, walking, swimming, boating and picnicking.
The Victorian Government accepted the LCC recommendations (with amendments) in December 1979 and January 1980.
However, the present Victorian Government has ignored the LCC documentation and is proceeding to entrench commercial race horse training in BCR by including the activity as a key strategy in the recently released BCR Draft Management Plan, January 2018.
THE Final BELFAST COASTAL RESERVE COASTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN, licences Warrnambool Racing Club to issue permits for up to 250 horses per day training on four beaches (25% of the reserve) turning the beaches and dunes into high intensity training areas. This is fundamentally wrong for scientific, factual and legal reasons and it contravenes the Government's stated management practices and policies for managing and preserving our coastlines and is against community sentiment.
This issue is symptomatic of what is happening across Victoria from Princetown to Apollo Bay, Torquay to the Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland to the highland forests and to the Murray River.
Our public lands and spaces are under siege from self-serving vested interests.
Inappropriate commercial use and development is being given precedence over the health of the environment,
wildlife, Traditional Owner rights and public amenity.
BCRAG seeks to build an alliance of concerned community and environment groups to form a consolidated voice that the Government cannot ignore, which will echo all the way to Spring St in the lead up to the November election and beyond.
BCRAG currently receives the support and assistance of several groups including
Victorian National Parks Association,
Birdlife Australia,
Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners,
Environmental Justice Australia,
Victorian Coastal Council
and the Bob Brown Foundation
together with other community groups.
WE seek your support to protect the Victorian coast for future generations by forming a
Victorian Coastal Alliance of concerned groups and citizens.
We are a community group made up of ordinary people that hope to start something extraordinary;
a collective voice that cares about the management and use of our coastlines and beyond.
Grasping the power of change is difficult for individuals and individual groups, but perhaps as one we can.
Will you lend your support to the proposal of a ’Victorian Coastal Alliance’?
JOIN THE VICTORIAN COASTAL ALLIANCE NOW
Please send an email to