Kananook Creek Association Inc.
MEDIA RELEASE 8th February 2022
Marina Wars are Back – Community concerns on further delays in investment in revitalizing Kananook Creek
Bayside News 1st February 2022 carries news of new boating plans at Olivers Hill.
Kananook Creek Association has consistently advocated in support of maintaining and improving safe boating facilities and also creating a visitor destination on Kananook Creek Safe Harbour in Frankston city centre.
In October 2019, a unanimous decision had been made by the previous Council to focus on improving the existing Kananook Creek Harbour in the city centre and abandoning Olivers Hill where no private capital investment could be attracted.
This should have been the end of a long and divisive battle for investment on our
coastline.
Our members were shocked at the news earlier this week that the Marina Wars are
back in the absence of any community consultation on the proposal and a lack of
transparent decision making by Council.
Our main concerns are:
Lack of any compelling evidence to justify the recent decision
Council had already fully exhausted all the economic, environmental and social
aspects and found no justification for a new marina at Olivers Hill.
The Minister for Fishing has provided no business case or any other new evidence to the community in support. If the decision is not evidenced based then could this be seen as a
politically motivated decision?
Prolonged uncertainty and indecision are bad for investment and are not in
our community best interest.
Our community wants and deserves peace. After five decades of exhausting Marina Wars on Frankston’s Waterfront, how is community best interest served by anotherdecade (or two) of continued inaction in the Creek Harbour in the City centre and the cost of a never-ending search to justify spending public money on a major marina and tourist destination several kilometres away from the city centre? The site is acknowledged to be the most exposed and least suitable site around the bay. Regional options not considered.
Why is a new marina at Olivers Hill necessary when Victoria’s best “all weather”
boating facility already exists close by in neighbouring Carrum at Patterson River.
Kananook Creek Harbour exists and needs investment to revitalise the City
Centre.
Nowhere is the collateral damage of the Marina Wars more evident than in
Kananook Creek which has been neglected:
• All boat moorings in the Creek Harbour in the city centre lie vacant -they need
to be reactivated.
• Sedimentation at the entrance of the Creek Harbour is not resolved.
• The creek is choking to death on the thousands of tonnes of silt introduced
annually by Melbourne Water and Council drains – routine desilting program is
urgently needed.
• After three decades, the Creek Corridor Management Plan needs to be properly
funded and management issues finally resolved for effective implementation.
• A suitable site at the creek entrance for the Coast Guard secondary
rescue vessel needs to be resolved and a more regional approach needs to
be taken for public funding of marine rescue services.
Can we trust our local Council to be open and honest with the community?
This week’s announcement came as a shock to our local community – why? We were
aware in August 2021 that Council was to commence a community consultation process on a Creek Harbour site for the coast guard secondary vessel – but then nothing happened. Why? What role did Council play in the latest development?
• Council was aware of the Boating Strategy launch on 8th December but has made no media release on a matter of major public interest.
• There has been no community consultation in the lead up to the announcement and no response from Council to legitimate enquiry after.
• The community deserves transparency -Council appears to have said one thing publicly but now seem to have been doing something else?
• What role did our former Mayor play in this?
• What role did our local member play as Parliamentary Secretary for rescue
services?
