DREDGING work for the controversial channel deepening project began on Friday amid a flotilla of protestors on surfboards.
Water Police boats were not enough to stop some of the 50 protestors paddling through an exclusion zone set up to protect the dredging ship Queen of the Netherlands as it began channel deepening.
Some of the surfers reportedly touched the giant ship.
Dredging works were allowed to proceed after a Federal Court judge ordered the Port of Melbourne Corporation and the anti-deepening group Blue Wedges Coalition into mediation.
Blue Wedges spokesman John Willis said the group had celebrated a minor victory after the Port agreed not to dredge at the mouth of the Yarra River or at Port Phillip Heads until after a February 20 court hearing.
The Queen of the Netherlands instead headed for the South Channel and has been operating between Mount Martha and Rye.
“It’s a temporary reprieve and it was the commercially responsible thing to do given that the Port of Melbourne Corporation hadn’t even waited for the inquiry process to finish before ordering the dredging ships to arrive,” Mr Willis said.
The corporation had been wearing losses of $250,000 a day between the vessel’s arrival two weeks ago and the start of dredging.
Mr Willis labelled the move to bring the Queen of the Netherlands to Port Phillip before Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett had given the project final approvals as “disgraceful bullying”.
“It’s called holding a gun at our heads and holding a gun at the purse of Victorians,” he said.
Blue Wedges is preparing to go to the Federal Court on 20 February to argue that Mr Garrett had failed to consider the social costs of dredging.
“In his statement it was interesting that the environment minister came up with economic reasons for the dredging and failed to mention the recreational impacts for bird watchers, fishermen, divers and beachgoers,” Mr Willis said.
“This guy (Mr Garrett) is elected to stand up for the environment but, by his own admission, he’s standing up for the economy.”
Mr Willis claimed the economic argument didn’t stack up.
“It’s a $1 billion outlay for a return of $1.8 billion over 28 years, or 22 depending on which report you look at,” he said.
“You don’t need to be an economic analyst to see that’s a negative return when you factor in inflation and the fact that it’s about quarter of what the average superannuation fund returns.”
He claimed the project was about Melbourne’s ports retaining credibility with multi-national shipping companies until the State Government could cook up a longer-term plan.
But the port corporation chief, Stephen Bradford, said the project was vital for business and job growth in the state.
“The Port of Melbourne is a lynchpin for economic wellbeing in Victoria and channel deepening is essential to the state,” Mr Bradford said.
“It will safeguard Victorian jobs now and in the future and, importantly, will drive business confidence in Victoria.”
