Funding announcement for Port Phillip and Western Port Bay
A $2 million funding package for Western Port and Port Phillip Bay will provide safer and more accessibility facilities for recreational and commercial boaters.
Information on this page
About the funding package
The local port facilities in Western Port and Port Phillip Bay accommodate more than 73 million visits every year and serve as a base to 600 businesses such as commercial fisherman, fishing charters and tourist operators. The ports also make a major contribution to the livability of the region with access to recreational boating and water-based activities vital to the social fabric of the local community.
Parks Victoria, the port manager for the local port facilities in Western Port and Port Phillip Bay, has identified a list of projects including repairs to navigational aids and maintenance dredging programs to ensure safe navigable depths for boaters.
The $2 million funding boost is in addition to $4.36 million provided to Parks Victoria for ongoing asset maintenance and renewal.
Work to be carried out under this funding includes:
- $450,000 for dredging at Patterson River
- $900,000 for dredging at Queenscliff
- $250,000 for maintenance dredging at other sites in Western Port and Port Phillip
- $160,000 for emergency repairs to navigation aids
- $240,000 for pier, jetty and mooring maintenance
Media release
10 Aug 2011 - Local ports $2 million upgrade in Port Phillip and Western Port
Video transcript
[Video footage shows Dr Denis Napthine and colleagues announcing the Local Ports Funding]
Dr Denis Napthine:
"We know that that commercial fishing, recreational fishing and boating are really important to the quality of life, to the economy and to local jobs across Victoria and, particularly, in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port, we have a number of local ports that are really active and indeed these local ports, most of which are managed by Parks Victoria, have 73 million visits each year. That’s an enormous amount of activity from both the commercial sector but, particularly, the growing recreational sector."
"So, as Minister of Ports, I’m pleased to work in partnership with Parks Victoria in management of these local ports and we provide $4.4 million each year to Vic Parks to help them maintain these assets and keep these ports active and open. But, I’m pleased to announce today that, in addition to that annual funding, that we’re providing an additional $2 million lump sum for Parks Victoria for really important works and part of those works are $450,000 for dredging of Patterson River to remove the silt, to make the channel deeper for boating, make it safer, to make it more accessible and to make this active waterway even busier, which is really terrific for this local community."
"There’s an additional $1.1 million for other dredging across the state. There’s money for improvements and fixing navigational aids and, really, this $2 million is an important asset protection and expansion of our local ports in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port. It’s absolutely essential that we not only do the routine maintenance but we actually have an injection of additional funding to catch up on some of that dredging, catch up on some of that maintenance of piers and jetties and moorings, catch up on some of that maintenance, in terms of navigational aids and signage and so, in addition to the ongoing funding of the $4.4 million a year, today we’re announcing that an additional injection of $2 million to make sure that we have safe boating facilities, more accessible boating facilities and boating facilities that will add to the usage and enjoyment of all Victorians."