Without consultation and ignoring reports they commissioned themselves, the State Government extended Cape Paterson’s Northern Boundary.
This means the area north of Seaward Drive is open to MASSIVE overdevelopment. Currently there is a proposal for the addition of over 900 new houses, more than doubling the current size of Cape Paterson. It’s just too much.
FIND OUT THE LATEST, AND HOW YOU CAN HELPUPDATE: July 2025
NORTHERN DEVELOPMENTThe recent article in the Sentinel Times (29/7/2025) quotes Jim Watson (of Wallis Watson) confirming they “will” take Supreme Court action. Their argument is with a decision by the Planning Minister, not with the CPRRA.
We believe that everyone had the same opportunity to make submissions during consultation on the revised boundary in Dec 2024 and during the previous 5 years. After the endorsed DAL Statement of Planning Policy is gazetted, it becomes legally enforceable, will be reviewed in ten years, and can only be changed by both Houses of the Victorian parliament.
When the Surf Coast (Torquay region) DAL SPP was declared (where a previous Planning Minister had also changed a boundary against panel advice), the developers sought to have the decision set aside in the Supreme Court. They lost and had costs awarded against them.Stay tuned for further updates.
*Council votes as a responsible entity to endorse DAL *Walk the Wonni Wetlands!
Go to the News Page for an archive of past editions of Cape Conversations.
Our next Working Bee will be
This month we are continuing our programme to remove boneseed from the coastal reserve.
We'll meet at the First Surf Beach Car Park at 9am - Lunch will be provided at 12pm at the Wonthaggi Life Saving Club barbeque shelter.
Please wear clothes appropriate to the weather and for snake protection (closed footwear and long sleeves and trousers recommended). The current forecast is for cold and wet weather. We'll decide on Saturday morning if the weather is proving to be too unsafe for our working conditions! Council will provide loppers, secateurs and saws. They will no longer be providing dabbers for poisoning stumps as they are deemed to be too risky for volunteers to use. Where we can, the preferred method for eradication will be pulling out the smaller seedlings. Please bring your own refreshments and water for the working bee. Leone Thiele will, as always, be providing a sumptuous lunch for volunteers at conclusion of the working bee.
Temperatures are rising but the rain continues.
Flax-lilies are flowering.
Pied Currawongs call loudly and often.
The flowering of plants such as Myrnong, (Yam Daisy), indicates the tubers are ready for eating. Bulen-bulen (Superb Lyrebird) males have finished displaying.
Days and nights are of equal length.
"You get a frog and tie his back legs and then put a great big cod hook . . . And you'd have to put a weight. Otherwise you'd see the frog back on the log . . . You'd catch a codfish that way." Martha Wandin Nevin, 1969.
