28 September 2015: Australia’s coastal councils have called on the Turnbull Government to lead a national collaborative effort to reduce the risk of shark attacks.
Barry Sammels, the Chair of the Australian Coastal Councils Association, said there is an urgent need to identify effective strategies to reduce death and injury from shark attack and to restore tourism activity in Australia’s coastal areas to normal levels.
By Jon Hickman, Chair – Victorian Coastal Council
The Act that established the current coastal governance system in Victoria, the Coastal Management Act 1995, is now twenty years old and, whilst it has lasted well, changes are needed to ensure the legislative framework that governs the coast meets the challenges of the next twenty years.
While the general public is largely unaware of the extent of Illegal sand mining the issue represents a growing global problem, according to Christian Hellwig, a political risk analyst with Global Risk Insights.
Writing in the journal International Policy Digest he warns that an estimated 75% to 90% of the world’s natural sand beaches are at risk of disappearing as a result of illegal mining, which has already caused severe supply shortages and the loss of numerous beaches around the world.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on 31 March show that in the year ended June 2014 the settlements with the highest growth rates outside the capital cities were along the coast, in particular in Queensland and Western Australia.
Lack of adequate policy guidelines and a funding source to deal with coastal erosion is emerging as the most difficult issue currently facing coastal councils.
Most of the councils that nominated issues to be considered in the Coastal Issues Exchange at the 2015 Australian Coastal Councils Conference put coastal erosion at or near the top of their list.
In the view of one council, the lack of clarity on state and national policy in relation to coastal erosion and sea level rise is arguably the ‘major coastal issue of the century’.
By Jon Hickman, Chair of the Victorian Coastal Council
Our parks and public places, our heritage buildings, and our coast and harbours make as much of a contribution to liveability in Australia as our roads, public transport, communications and other utility infrastructure. But while principles behind good financing arrangements for ‘hard’ and ‘natural’ infrastructure are the same, there has been little discussion to date around how to finance the protection and enhancement of our natural and heritage infrastructure – in particular our parks and our coast.