"The arrival of the dredger is a sickening sight. Several passers-by at Point Ormond expressed dismay on seeing the dredger in the Bay," said Ms Pennicuik.

“It is beyond belief that Boskalis, the company that owns the dredger, will be paid half a billion dollars to put the ecology of Port Phillip Bay at risk of irreversible harm by performing a massive dredging operation that we don't even need,” she said.

“It seems the only parties to reap any economic benefit from this stupid and unnecessary project are an overseas dredging company and presumably whichever financial institution loans the $1 billion dollars and rising to the Port of Melbourne Corporation to pay the dredger and other growing costs. We can't be sure because, despite the state government asserting that its support for the project depended on a sound financial strategy, none has ever been sighted,” she said.

“We don't need channel deepening. The Port of Melbourne used to claim that 27 - 30% of ships could not enter the Bay fully loaded. It has even used a figure as high as 43%. No credible evidence has ever been advanced for these assertions. Instead, the PoMC's own SEES* states that only 3.8 per cent of ships leaving or entering Port Phillip Bay need any sort of tidal assistance. That means that 96% of ships do not require any assistance, or deeper channels, to enter or leave the Bay.”

“Channel deepening should be shelved, the dredger sent back to Holland, and the federal and state governments should commit to more sustainable alternatives such as the Brisbane to Melbourne inland freight rail project and promoting Melbourne as a hub for medium ships,” she said.


For further information: Sue Pennicuik 0407 000 270

*SEES, Chapter 6, p.28.