"The  damage  that will be caused by the deepening of the Entrance by up to five  metres  is  an  act  of  the  utmost stupidity in this era of climate change.  The  projected  rises in sea levels are up to five metres now, not the 30 cm relied upon by the Port of Melbourne. It is unbelievable that the state  government  is  putting  Port  Phillip  Bay  at  such risk", said Ms Pennicuik.

"Unfortunately,  once  the damage has been done, it can't be undone and the people  of  Victoria will have forever to regret that this was ever allowed to happen", she said.

"We  know  that  rock  scour  damage  is still occurring at the site of the 'trial  dredging' program in August 2005. The Port of Melbourne admitted at the  SEES  Inquiry  last  July  that the Bay may take up to thirty years to recover  from the massive dredging program that is about to commence at the Heads", she said.

"I  can  only  say  that  this  is  an  act  of  vandalism of a significant ecological  asset  that  is being sanctioned by the state government, which should be protecting it", she said.

"The  ultimate  tragedy is that we don't even need channel deepening as the vast  majority  of  ships  have no trouble entering or leaving Port Phillip Bay.  It  reminds  me  of  Lake  Pedder,  flooded  in  1972  by a statutory corporation  that  would  hear no critics, to produce power that in the end wasn't even needed. A priceless asset was destroyed for nothing", she said.

The  Port  and the state government should abandon this project before it's too  late  and  concentrate  instead  on getting more freight onto rail and reaching its 30% by 2010 target. (It's only at about 17% now)", she added.

Further information: Sue Pennicuik 0407 000 270