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Blue Wedges will now also seek urgent representation with the New Environment Minister to outline the numerous issues which were not revealed or examined in the recently concluded Panel Inquiry. 

According to Blue Wedges spokesperson Jenny Warfe:

“Port Phillip Bay is home to unique species and wetlands of international importance. Brumby’s threatened massive dredge project will breach international treaty law and desecrate the Bay.

Our new Federal Environment Minister can reject the State assessment report and there would be no need for this case to proceed, but so far we have heard nothing. This will be the first real test of our new Federal government’s commitment to conserving Australia’s unique natural environments and to international obligations.

The project would produce massive plumes of mud and silt throughout the Bay for two years whilst underway. Worse still the Bay’s ecosystems would take many more years to recover from its effects, and may never recover from the toxic time bomb contained in over 2 million tonnes of contaminated Yarra sediments which the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) proposes to dredge and then dump again in the Bay.

Port Phillip Bay provides jobs for thousands of people who rely on a clean healthy environment for their living. It seems unlikely that the PoMC could afford the necessary environmental bond or to compensate all the businesses that rely on the Bay’s water quality for their livelihoods, let alone conduct this implausible and ridiculous $1 billion plus project”.

What's more, the State government has asked the Federal government to provide around half the funds required to complete the dredging to maintenance stage. There is nothing in this project for ordinary Victorians or Australians, so why should taxpayers be required to fund the trashing of Port Phillip Bay?