Community grapples with planning for a climate changed future

When she retired, Sally Allen returned to the place she had spent summer holidays as a child.

She built a breezy off-grid house on the outer barrier, a narrow sand dune near Lakes Entrance, a fishing town on the East Gippsland coast. The barrier is quiet except for the lapping water and wind. There are only a handful of holiday homes and no other permanent residents.

The foreshore of Sally Allen's property on the outer barrier, Lakes Entrance.

You can’t get to Allen’s place by car. Town is a 15-minute journey away in her beloved outboard dinghy. One of her weekly tasks is laying out bracken and driftwood along on the shoreline to try and fortify her vanishing beach.

The unique area is subject to complex planning laws, along with state-wide guidelines adopted after the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. According to the municipal fire authority, all building on the outer barrier needs to be approved individually by the state planning department.

Sally says those restrictions have put the value of her house in doubt, without making her any safer.

Read the story from The Citizen by Claire Capel-Stanley - “Community grapples with planning for a climate changed future.”

Birds are dropping dead off Australia's coast, and it's all our fault

Deep in their burrows, hungry shearwater chicks on Lord Howe Island await a meal. Their parents have been scouring the sea in search of fish and squid. Instead, they return to feed their babies clothes pegs, bottle tops and Lego pieces.

Helium balloon clips are removed from the stomach
 of a young Shearwater on Lord Howe Island.

After 90 days the fledglings emerge from their burrows, stomachs bulging with plastic. They prepare for their first flight. Many are so malnourished they die outside the nest. Others make it to the beach, but their undeveloped wings flap in vain and waves engulf them.

Ian Hutton, a naturalist and museum curator on Lord Howe Island, pulls the bodies off the beach. Researchers slice open their stomachs to confirm the cause of death. Once, they found 274 plastic fragments.

“It’s so upsetting to think this bird has been reared by its parents, it’s been fed and it should have a chance to go to sea but it’s died,” he said.

Read the story by Nicole Hasham from The Age - “Birds are dropping dead off Australia's coast, and it's all our fault.”

Council backs solar farms.

Councillors are celebrating a ‘‘solar city’’ return with more than $300 million and 200 megawatts of proposals across five solar farm projects being considered for Greater Shepparton.

The council on Tuesday night voted for its chief executive to request Victoria’s planning minister decide on the solar farm planning applications in Greater Shepparton.

The council also resolved to invite the minister to establish a process that provides a fair and proper opportunity for all affected stakeholders to be heard.

Background to this week’s meeting detailed that if future applications are lodged, officers propose to also refer those applications to the minister for a decision.

Five solar farm proposals — located in Tatura East, Tallygaroopna, Lemnos, Congupna and Mooroopna — have been detailed by the council in background to the meeting.

These projects would produce an estimated output of 217 megawatts and cost a total $316 million, according to council projections.

The council’s main concern with the applications is ‘‘whether the loss of productive agricultural land . . . for a solar farm produces acceptable planning outcomes’’.

Officers would need to consider conflicting policies and decide on net benefit, considered a difficult task.

‘‘Officers consider that the most efficient method of determining these solar farm applications . . . is to request (the minister) become the decision maker,’’ the report continues.

If agreed, it would ensure decisions were determined faster.

Background also refers to a sixth solar farm application, totalling 100 megawatts and worth $150 million, as being expected in about six months.

In moving the motion to refer the proposals on to the minister, Cr Dinny Adem stressed the ‘‘1000 percent’’ support for solar farms from the council and cited the potential for applicants to get tied up in processes.

Cr Chris Hazelman agreed it was appropriate to refer the items on for government assistance in helping determine such applications.

‘‘This is really the tip of the iceberg,’’ Cr Bruce Giovanetti said, referring to renewable energy targets, predicting ‘‘huge development in this area’’.

Cr Fern Summer moved an amendment to ensure the council also helped develop a strategy to balance the existing prime agricultural land use with large-scale renewable energy applications but did not receive support.

Following the meeting, Mayor Kim O’Keeffe spruiked the ‘‘significant investment’’ forthcoming from the proposals, which presented a valuable opportunity for the city.

Background to the meeting emphasised the motion carried by the council did not remove the opportunity of objectors to two of the projects to be heard.

Story by Thomas  Moir in the Shepparton News - “Council backs solar farms.”