MANY PUBLICS PARTICIPATION - ces.vic.gov.au · Accepting and promoting change 66 ... Carlisle River 120 Summary 120 ... 8 MANy PuBLICS PARTICIPATION INVENTIVENESS AND CHANGE

07-11 Feb 2011M

ildura to Macedon

11-15 Apr 2011

Orbost to Korum

burra

23-27 May 2011

Kinglake to C

orryong

20-24 Jun 2011Portland to M

t Moriac

06-09 Sep 2011

Staw

ell to Kaniva

28-29 Nov 2011

Horsham

to Nhill

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two thousand and nine>ten>eleven>twelve> > >

PARTICIPATION

MANYPUBLICS

INVENTIVENESSANd ChANgE

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Whatpeoplesaid ...“ ”

‘Wefeelthatourcommunitiesareuniquebecause ofthestrongbondswithinfarmingfamiliesand

thestrongconnectionsbetweenpeople…thisisavaluableresourceandanemotionthatcouldbeutilised.’

ParticipantfromBoort,PyramidHill,WedderburnandWycheproofSecondarySchoolforum.

‘IwassodelightedthatOrbostwaschosen becausewe’renormallyleftoutoftheloop.’

LizFalkiner,OrbostNeighbourhoodHouseCoordinator.

But, we also know that local knowledge is often not well understood - ‘Communitynarrativesaboutwhathappenedthe lasttime,whatwillwork,andwhythisdoesnot

makesenseareoftendifficulttoarticulatetooutsiders,andwhentheyarespoken,theytendtotranslateas‘attitudes’or‘opinions’ratherthanknowledge;‘anecdotal’ratherthanproven,and,thus,ultimately,ofless,weight.’1

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CONTENTSPARTICIPATION 8

CHAPTERONE 12Inquisitive and spontaneous – young people inventing the world 12

Introduction 12

From Sale to Swan Hill 14

The places we visited 14

Kaniva College: peer learning and participation 14

Kinglake Middle Primary School: communication grows confidence 17

Narrawong: sustainable programs 18

Boort, Pyramid Hill, Wedderburn and Wycheproof: respect for the environment 20

Beyond the schools 22

Summary 23

Statewide Natural Assets 24

CHAPTER TWO 26

The Wimmera: a river, a region 26

Introduction 26

The Wimmera 27

Environment in the Wimmera 28

The torrent 32

Resilience and responsiveness 36

Participation and communication promotes insight 37

Landcarer conversations and participation 37

Local and active inventiveness 40

Inventiveness in the face of uncertainty 42

Issues on the ground 45

Dependency, partnerships and change 50

Summary 53

CHAPTER THREE 54

Many Gippslands: change across the region: Orbost to Korumburra 54

Gippslands: cultural and environmental facts 54

Getting to East Gippsland 58

Rural Women Leading Change 59

Support for a change agenda 60

Better communication and respect for knowledge 62

The power of local agency: getting to change 63

Accepting and promoting change 66

Change and change management 68

Breadth of issues: working with complexity 71

Common threads: complexity and collaboration 73

Reflections after the tour: participation and change 77

Summary 79

CONTENTSCHAPTER FOUR 80

Corryong to Kinglake: climate change, drought and fire 80

Statistics of engagement 80

Engaging background 80

Corryong – where blackberry is a ‘people issue’ 82

Practicalities 84

Looking for solutions and learning to adapt 84

Evident change 86

People acting for themselves and government failures 89

Participation and cooperation 92

Trail blazers and leading practices 95

Blending participation and communication 96

Participation, dialogue and solutions 96

Community building and dealing with frustration 99

Summary 101

CHAPTER FIVE 102

Convincing Ground to Moriac 102

The rivers and wetlands 102

Local initiatives: programs, developments and awards 106

Case studies and context 108

Planning for change 110

Local government challenges 112

Layers of learning 114

From tree reserves to kitchen tables: the value of conversation 117

Carlisle River 120

Summary 120

CHAPTER SIX 122

The View from Mount Wycheproof 122

Mildura to Macedon 122

The Mallee 123

North central catchments 125

Resourcefulness 126

Sharing the load: strength and knowledge 129

How best to report and inform 133

Inevitable change 134

Small, local and achievable 134

Obstacles to get around while getting on with it 136

Change built on relationships 143

Operational issues and the long haul 147

Change and diversification 149

Summary 151

CONTENTSCONCLUSION 152

APPENDIXES 154

Appendix One 154

Methodology: Participation – our way 154

Appendix Two 158

International Participation – some background theory 158

Appendix Three 159

Brisbane Declaration 159

Appendix Four 162

Portland Field Naturalists’ Club submission on controlled burning 162

ENDNOTES 165

MANy PuBLICS PARTICIPATION INVENTIVENESS AND CHANGE8

Many places, many peoplePARTICIPATION

OneofmystatutoryobjectivesastheCommissionerforEnvironmentalSustainabilityistoenhanceknowledgeandunderstandingofissuesrelatingtoecologicallysustainabledevelopmentandtheenvironment.3

In 2011, many people across regional Victoria came to meetings we convened and talked to us about environmental issues. We had specifically sought out regional views about environmental aspirations.

This report reflects our discussions. I have compiled it specifically to report back to those who joined us in this enterprise.

People were generous, and they told us they were simply delighted to be included in conversations about the environment. They shared their views. They spoke of their knowledge about places of social, economic and cultural importance, and about localised environmental action in places they love and respect, however unremarkable these places might or might not be to others. This report celebrates their commitment.

For those who pick up this report but who were not participants in our environmental conversations, I expect you will find the sheer extent of the community’s exuberance, some of which is described here, inspiring.

Fundamental messages from this work are:>Thereisanastonishingamountofinventiveandintelligentenvironmental

workbeingdoneinthecommunity,oftenbyvolunteers,acrossgenerations,socialandculturalbackgrounds,geographiesandsectors.

>Therearemanypublics,acrossthestatedeeplycommittedtoenvironmentalsustainabilitywhorecognisetheneedforchangeandwhowanttobepartofthateffort.

>Thosedrivingchangearebothplanningcarefullyandactingspontaneouslyand,whilesupportisalwayswelcome,theyarenotwaitingforoutsidedirection.

>Communitiesandindividualsaredrivingchangeinplacestheyknowandcareabout,andtheyarecollaboratingextensivelyandbuildingnetworkscommittedtosustainableefforts.

>Muchofthebaselinelocalknowledgeunderpinningthiscommitmenttochangeisoflongstanding,sometimesintergenerational,anditwouldbeconstructiveifitwasaffordedrespect.

>Meaningful,nottoken,participationinformaldiscussionsaboutenvironmentalissuesandsolutionsisabasicrequirementforinventivenesstothrive.

>Supportfor,andthenurtureof,networksbuildscommunitycapabilityandindividualandcollectiveconfidence,andthisinturnpromotessustainableoutcomes.

>Aparticipatingcommunitywillbebetterabletodealwithextremeeventsandcalculateriskandrespond,reducingrelianceuponexternalintervention.

>Environmentalreporting,theworkofmyoffice,mustbeaccessibleandresponsivetobeusefulandeffective.

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We met people in a range of settings, from Corryong to Port Fairy and Orbost to Mildura, in a program that exposed all of my staff to the insights and long local environmental histories of highly motivated, inventive and resourceful people.4

People spoke to us in halls, clubrooms, neighbourhood houses, council chambers, university boardrooms and research facilities; at field or tree planting days; at the end of a road or in a paddock; in national and state parks; by the side of a river or ephemeral wetland; under a red gum or on top of a ridge or granite rock; in kitchens and health services.

We invited ‘citizen scientists’, volunteer recorders, school students, farming men and women, business people, people who were simply interested and those who were highly motivated, to meet and talk. People from widely divergent backgrounds – the many publics – participated in conversations about the environment and human interaction with it.5 People talked about the many ways they made room to manoeuvre, cleverly and collaboratively, about environmental matters. We heard about success stories and frustrations, halting first steps and the confidence that comes when action produces good outcomes.

Together we explored perspectives, aspirations and action about biodiversity, water conservation and floods, drought, growth, energy efficiencies, waste management, skills and careers, and the challenges and opportunities that climate change presents.6

We heard about data gaps, community action, reporting problems, and positive and negative outcomes. We found that a great deal of highly localised and inspiring applied environmental effort was taking place among people who understood the ‘big picture’. Our conversations were intense, often unguarded and, on our part, deliberately open-ended.

We actively sought broad observations and case studies of environmental practice rather than opinions on policy positions. We did not limit our consultations to a fixed method of inquiry but adopted a broad-based approach to elicit the widest possible input.7

A serial inventiveness, robustness and persistent resourcefulness typified the people who met with and talked to us. People are not simply waiting for knowledge deposits from bodies such as ours. People are acting to protect and care for the environment and position themselves for change.8 As they do so, they want timely, accessible and understandable information about the environment, biodiversity, climate change and risk management.

Nardoo in hand

Wattle seeds in the hand of

a Narrawong Primary student

No-Till worm in hand

What climate change means to me – Aleisha Mahony

Photo courtesy of South West Climate Change Forum


Beyond those opening remarks, this report reflects the community’s insistence on the intrinsic merit of people involving themselves in environmental works and participating in discussions about the physical, social, cultural and economic value of those works.

Participatory processes are a powerful driver of the changes that many people believe to be essential if we are to become a sustainable society, ready and willing to deal with climate change, and able to arrest environmental degradation.

Focusing on the value of participation, as this report does, reflects the growing acceptance of the value of engagement and interaction in all its complexity: in wide-ranging discussions, in policy determination, and when used to inform choices about environmental management. Promotion of participatory processes, particularly in environmental contexts, has become the norm internationally, nationally and locally.9

Networks and the alliances that authorise and support innovation and promote the autonomy that is pivotal to action have been apparent everywhere. People spoke expansively about the environmental benefits of intra-group participation and external stimuli in animated, candid, thoughtful and analytical ways. It was involvement, sometimes with our assistance, which appeared to encourage people to build on collective understandings and action. Sometimes these collaborations appeared to simply extend possibilities and numerically increase groups, but they always linked people and aided cohesion, opening up lines of communication and the possibilities of sharing deep insights and measured and urgent proposals for action.

Effective participation, because it is a dialogue between insiders and outsiders, has the potential to fundamentally shift discussion.10 Subtly, it can be highly effective in changing the power dynamic by eroding hierarchy and negotiating and cultivating new, ‘other’ relationships and understandings upon which people are already, because of the dialogue, poised to act.11

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Barmah Forest National Park

Narrawong Primary

No-Till Wimmera

Kings Billabong Mildura

Grampians National Park

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Professor Kate Auty PhD, MEnvSc, Dip Int Env Law (UNITAR), BA(Hons)LLB, MAIcDcommissioner for Environmental Sustainability

Paul Jackman checking his rehabilitated wetland site at clear Lake

Because participation opens up a complex web of interactions, exposure to other meanings and intellectual cross-currents, and because it invites surprises and interruptions, introducing the possibility of both positive and negative unintended consequences, it is an essential ingredient for change.12 Its promise is the intensification of inventiveness and the nurturing of resourcefulness.

New scholarship tells us that participation, as purposeful and enabling ‘social learning’, builds resilience and resourcefulness, equipping people to ‘adapt and respond’ to transformative and extreme events.13 Studies of disaster responses have shown that those who start with a participation ethic will respond more effectively to the challenges of ‘rapid onset emergency interventions’, resisting dependency. Further, these sorts of collaborations, introducing different ways of thinking and ‘social’ or ‘active’ learning, have the potential to produce creative and compelling outcomes.15

A community that is networked and communicates, that is forged on relationships, and that innovates as a function of sharing insights, becomes more confident. This community will be the one we need to both adapt to and militate against climate change.

Our discussions across Victoria caused us to consider the comment:‘…whenthebestdevelopmentprogramsaredone,thepeopleallsay,“wehavedoneitourselves”.’16

Many of the stories we record in this report are a compelling illustration of just this.

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1Inquisitive and spontaneous – young people inventing the world

ChAPTER ONE

IntroductionThepotentialforenvironmentallysustainableactionislocatedinmultiplesettings,isdrivenbymanyimpulses,hasmanychampions,andcanbebothfunandapplied.Youngpeoplehaveshownusthis.Theyhaveasignificantroletoplay,ingroupsandindividually.Theyarecuriousandinventiveandchallenging,becausetheyareintellectuallyunconstrainedandencouragingandbecausetheyareopentopossibilities.Riversofyouthfulenthusiasm17abouttheenvironment,fromwastereducing‘nudefood’daystotheprotectionofbiodiversityinschoolwetlands,haveflowedoverusinmyoffice.18

We have seen enthusiasm for environmental sustainability play out in many ways, for instance in the diversity of school programs. Children’s art as invitation to the vegetable garden of the KoroitPrimarySchool is a reminder of possibilities and of the productive fun to be had outside. Tree planting and ‘bug hunting’ days draw out interest and cultivate capabilities. MiddleKinglake’sPrimarySchool’s new administration building’s internal green wall sparks interest in green growth; MurtoaCollege’s wind turbine and straw bale classrooms are a reminder of alternative energy potential and other ways to think about green building techniques.

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Murtoa college wind turbine

Kaniva college

Koroit Primary garden

Apollo Bay college

Kinglake Middle Primary

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Young people respond in a variety of ways to this iconography and to school policies and programs. The lessons for us have been: there is no singular ‘authentic’, representative young person,19 and that, once engaged, young people have a vital and exuberant participatory role to play in all our sustainable efforts.20

Involvement promotes networks, teamwork and self-reliance, and it can productively unsettle ‘settled’ understandings. For instance, Frankston Secondary College’s sustainability team resists the characterisation of young men as uninterested in the environment, while demonstrating the power of peer learning.21

Schools’ sustainability conferences, held at Dookie College, Ballarat Grammar (Earthnormous Big Day Out) and Mill Park Secondary College (EarthAction 3) clearly show the importance of group work and the role of enjoyment in the attainment of good environmental understanding among youth.22

Members of Frankston High

Environment Committee


Rotary Warehouse Melbourne

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Kaniva college bike recycling

From Sale to Swan HillAt opposite ends of the state, at WellingtonShire and at SwanHill, we know that participation is creating potential. In very diverse situations, groups of young people have come together to learn, teach and effect change where they can. In Sale, the Shire of Wellington Youth Council promotes two-way learning about respect, stewardship and participation. Practical efforts involve support for Earthfirst bushfire recovery and better transport management, reducing isolation and carbon kilometres. Youth Council promotes the local government Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

In SwanHill, disabled young people, retired farmers, the Green Corps, TAFE and Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) all collaborate to share and build skills – among the teachers and the student group. OzGreen hosted YOUth Leading Australia there in 2010, which they then YouTubed.23

The places we visitedYoung men and women who came out to meet with us introduced us to many fresh, inventive and personalised environmental stewardship efforts. Every conversation taught us something about participation, resourcefulness and local understandings of environmental complexities. Change, continuities and environmental stewardship were everywhere in seemingly simple conversations about what was being, and could be, done.

Kaniva College: peer learning and participation

Multiple connections have been made with students of KanivaCollege in the Wimmera catchment.24 This illustrates the ways in which connections and participation expand networks and provide openings for action.

These young people have internalised a number of sustainability messages. They do so in groups and singly. Their collaborations, understanding of the importance of teamwork and desire to live sustainably was evident in their actions and their talk. Kaniva College is not formally a ‘sustainable school’. Its success is driven in a highly localised way, out of community.

Meetings with participants in the Hindmarsh Project and the Environmental Farmers Network gave us depth by introducing us to some parents. Next, our first visit to the school provided the conditions for promoting the connection of Sustainability Victoria, the Kaniva Neighbourhood House and the school community. After that, the students connected us with the Green Team at Rotary’s international aid warehouse in the western suburbs of Melbourne, when they delivered their recyclable goods. Information exchanges as a result of this have their own ripple effect.

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Kaniva college’s husbandry project

At the school, students talked excitedly and thoughtfully as they guided us around their vegetable garden, showed us the wetlands that had struggled through the drought, and justifiably skited about their animal husbandry and the numerous awards they had won.25 Some students were mulching vegetable gardens with straw from the animal holdings. One young woman was using the school greenhouse to propagate local seed stock for farm plantings.


Instituting agricultural recycling/circularity meant that their lettuces were given to the local hotel in exchange for kitchen scraps, which were fed to the school’s chickens. We were given packets of the chick peas the students grow and have processed and commercially packaged.

It took us a while to tour their extensive recycling storages – from the woodwork shed to the bottles, cans, bikes, books, bibles and old spectacles and computers.

While the talk was about a curriculum concentrated on ‘agricultural science’, everything they did and showed us mirrored, in all but name, ‘sustainable practice’.26 Farming men and women say sustainability is core business for farming families. Kaniva’s school promotes this through peer learning, participation and thoughtful consideration of issues in active programs. If clearing practices were once the norm, promoting ‘loss of biodiversity and a degradation of water quality through over-extraction, saline discharge and soil erosion’,27 the future has the potential to be very different.

After ‘walking the walk’, a select group, across all years, talked to us about sustainability and their role in it. Weather and climate impact their town as much as their garden and livestock. Drought had affected the ‘mood’ as well as the economy of the district. Watchful, they were aware of associated health issues. Climate was not an abstraction. They spoke about tracking, making and accommodating change, monitoring the weather, and more mechanically, testing soil health.

Our second connection with the Kaniva students came when they delivered their recycling in Melbourne. A long drive concluded with the handover of books to Rotary in Somerville Road, the students themselves lumping the consignment onto pallets for storage prior to shipment.

At a later stage, Kaniva’s bicycles will join recycled Australia Post motorcycles for a new life somewhere else.

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Kaniva students and teachers at Rotary Warehouse Melbourne

Australia Post motorbikes at Rotary

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Kinglake Middle Primary School: communication grows confidence

Burnt down in 2009, KinglakeMiddlePrimarySchool has physically and emotionally re-created itself on the old site, re-enrolling many of the students from the time before the fire. Painful memories of twisted wreckage have been displaced by new water tanks, new garden beds and new plantings.

Visible manifestations of good practice are introduced to the students by the sustainable building, which was designed with local input – heaters that automatically shut off, light sensors, more effective use of natural lighting, and an internal garden wall. Gardens and grounds have been re-established by students, families and teachers. At morning assemblies, supportive, informed and involved parents provide public affirmation of waste reduction strategies, and students told us that their 2011 Nude Lunch rubbish weighed in at 55 grams, 15 grams more than the year before.28 This may seem like a trifle in the scheme of things but it is an indication of group interest and priorities – these young people care to do better.

Serious thought, preparation and planning had gone into all the student presentations about energy reduction, water conservation, biodiversity protection and waste management.

Teamwork drove change. Energy team members not only had light bulb replacement projects, collected data and learnt how to understand it, but they also understood the importance of communication, producing a newsletter. Energy beyond the school grounds was saved by walking or riding to school.29

One child told us that Kinglake’s single set of traffic lights:‘…wastealotofenergy’.

Biodiversity was reflected in dirty hands, worm farms, water watch on the creek, planting trees, the green wall, and sponsoring the Leadbeater’s Possum. They knew that Phascogales, secretive and threatened, had to be protected from foxes; shooting in the Mount Sugarloaf Reserve should not be permitted as it impacted native species; Kinglake National Park, which had burnt so catastrophically in 2009, should be cared for notwithstanding its dangerous potential; bush tracks should not be overused as they became eroded, and that this impacted fire truck access.

Water team members focused on conservation: using water bottles, stopping dripping taps, and having dual-flush toilets, tanks and rain gauges at home.

Universally they liked the taste of rainwater:‘…betterthantownwater.’


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Junior and senior waste teams helped each other. They encouraged the reuse of scrap paper, composting, and recycling toner and mobile phones (a Zoos Victoria program).

And they:‘…likebinduty.’

With ever increasing confidence, as the morning wore on, these young people told me my environmental reports should talk to local people about local matters, and that stories are important. All the media – books, movies, posters and photos, the internet and YouTube – should be used. Buoyant, light-hearted comments, however, could not be other than tinged with the gravity of the memory of the 2009 fires, even though this topic was not explicitly raised. Fire management underscored a conversation about local radio and better transmitters.

Demonstrating the interplay of my visit and their sense of importance in environmental stewardship, I have since been told that recognition of the work they have done ‘empowered’ the students.30 Affirmation is a significant enabler, and it only comes from communication.

Narrawong: sustainable programs

Travelling to Port Fairy and Portland, we called into the small beachside primary school at Narrawong in Gunditjmara country, just south of the culturally significant Lake Condah.

The lesson from Narrawong is about immersion and involvement. Programs work if they are cyclical: introduced and then reintroduced. Successful programs will be most effective if the hard localising work has been done in the beginning, as this makes them real, relevant and consequently sustainable.

Narrawong exemplifies the organic extension of the classroom into the environment. Some schools struggle with embedding ‘biodiversity’ in the curriculum. In this little school, with the aid of Coastcare, biodiversity as a team response was a core ‘subject’. Stepping out the front door, this group of young people, immersed in nature, bounced off each other’s knowledge and enthusiasm. Independence of thought and action was balanced with a team ethic.

Coastal plantings of endemic species behind the primary dune were the focus of our tour. Local seeds were collected in brown paper bags, chopsticks were used for ‘drilling’ holes, seedlings were staked and weed mats were positioned. Students demonstrated their knowledge of local flora and fauna and their awareness of erosion, feral rabbits and planning issues.

Indigenous people’s use of plants came as lessons through the relaxed and subtle involvement of local senior Indigenous people, and by parents and teachers open to other cultural understandings.

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Richard Frankland, senior gunditjmara man, described the students learning about biodiversity and natural systems as:‘…foreverbusiness.’

A local Rainbow Serpent program concentrates on resourcefulness and self-reliance, and art is used to promote these values. Interest in the importance of Indigenous understandings of the world has extended to adding local language to the curriculum.

A feature of this thriving school community is that there are:‘…alwayslotsofideas.’

One of the parents who spoke to us when we visited commented:‘…ourprogramstartsfromanunderstandingofmulti-usesofland,involvestheincorporationofeveryone,andhumaniseswhathasbeende-humanised…goodcurriculumwillchangetheculturallandscapeandreinforcechange…’31

As a small community, the school exudes sustainability – environmental, social and cultural. Energy economies are also being internalised with the use of solar power to drive a computer. At Narrawong there is confidence that things can be done, locally, even though resourcing change provides challenges.

Narrawong Primary


Boort, Pyramid Hill, Wedderburn and Wycheproof: respect for the environment

Boort,32 PyramidHill,33 Wedderburn34 and Wycheproof35 secondary colleges agreed to a number of young women students coming to Boort to meet and talk to us during the 2011 floods. Water still washed up to the road verges, filled the gullies and listlessly rolled across paddocks as the students made their way to our meeting.

Each school group staged a presentation about sustainability, school gardens, drought, floods, climate, the environment, the life of a farming family, health, isolation, and social and economic opportunities.

Agriculturalists, they told us, are important: they have eyes and ears for environmental condition and they innovate to produce more sustainable practices. As young members of primary producing and regional township families, they reminded us that they clearly understood the issue of food and farm security.

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Boort, Pyramid Hill, Wycheproof and Wedderburn

School students

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One young woman said of her life in a farming community:‘…witnessingbirth,growth,death–ittoughensyouup.’

Paraphrasing her comments another student said:‘…yougettounderstandlifecyclesandtoappreciateandrespecttheenvironmentwhenyouliveinaplaceof…hothousesandhighwinds…’

Nevertheless, a genuine feeling of ‘freedom’, a word used a number of times throughout the morning, gave them the space to build character. Character, confidence, energy and a cheerful but nuanced openness, tempered by the lingering stresses of being dependent upon the environment for their worlds, typified their contributions. Like the Kaniva students, they spoke of the health implications of climate impacts, or the stresses and pressures they and their communities felt in times of drought, and then, almost immediately, of floods. Resourcefulness was a refrain across the presentations, a simple ‘getting on with it’, knowing the environment was not always your friend or benign.

As with Kinglake Middle Primary School, feedback reinforced for us the importance of these seemingly out-of-the-way conversations. We were told that it was:‘…importantthatyoungwomenaregivenopportunitiessuchasthis…asitstimulatedinterestandraisedunderstandingaboutissuesassociatedwithsustainability.’

and‘…thevoiceofyoungpeoplefromruralsettingsshouldbeencouragedinmattersrelatingtosustainability.’


Beyond the schoolsAs the regional tours unfolded, many families and mentors promoted an environmental discussion with their young people. Orbost, Yarram, and Bright all introduced us to young women who wanted to participate in our meetings.

At the OrbostNeighbourhoodHouse, two young women spoke about isolation and the need for good sustainability education. Connecting sustainability and the broader

environment in personal actions and in relation to jobs, university choices, and across schools and sectors was seen as important. Newly acquired skills needed to be returned to communities. Orbost school’s sustainability committee and activities were driving an understanding of the need for change

and the potential for technology to reduce greenhouse emissions and isolation.

On a rainy, windy morning Kayla Groombridge, YoungVictorianLandcareroftheYear, met us at Yarram’s Tarra River, a river restoration

site between Tarraville and Robertsons Beach. Kayla talked about addressing illegal dumping, illegal camping, deterioration of river banks and boat launching with this Landcare project, which she started by writing to CoastAction, DSE, local government councillors, Yarram Yarram Landcare

Network and the Robertsons Beach and Tarraville Communities Neighbourhood Management Group (which she now chairs).

Kayla met us on site because:‘…it’seasiertounderstandwhenyoucanseewhat’shappening.’

She knew the place itself would help us understand.

Frankie MacLennan,36 who organised this meeting, describes Kayla as:

‘…determined…andcommittedtoherownpathinLandcare,withoutdependenceonadultleadership[who,with]astrongbeliefinwhatsheisdoingmanagestofindwaystosupportherpassionwhenevershepossiblycan.’

At Bright, two young women attended an evening meeting with local small and medium business men and women. Their involvement in environmental issues was promoted through the Alpine Shire Youth Council’s Climate Change forum. Thirty young people and a panel came together to talk about climate change science, cut through the myths and formulate ideas and actions to safeguard the future of the Alpine Shire.

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Orbost Rural Women’s Network

Kayla Groombridge and Frankie MacLennan

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One of the young women37 was able to take up work experience in my office, about which she made this comment:‘…I’vealwaysbeeninterestedintheenvironment…IspentaweekinMelbourneworkingwiththeCommissionerforEnvironmentalSustainabilityOffice…Iwenttoteammeetings…Imetsomeveryinterestingpeopleandlearntrealskillsthat IknowIwilluseinthefuture.Iwasevengiventhechancetoputsomeofmyownideasforward,whichwasarealhonour.’

The sharing of ideas about environmental issues and reporting is fundamental to finding other ways to deal with complex and confronting challenges. Confidence to do so will only come with involvement. A visit to Aitken College that later won multiple sustainability awards in 2011 also inspired this young woman to consider ways to expand sustainable activity in her school.

SummaryThe activities we were told about have initiated new behaviours or put in place new processes. These iterative processes are not trying to solve the problem (there is no right solution). Rather, success lies in the adoption of a process that can ‘propose interventions and resolutions that shift or nudge change.’38

The fundamental message from the meetings we had with young people across the state is:‘…Wediditourselves…withalittlehelpandahandupfromotherswhounderstoodtheimportance.’

The storyline is of young people sharing knowledge in and of local places and, by doing so, gaining knowledge, confidence and an ability to reach beyond the known.

That resourcefulness grows from participation was demonstrated to us by these young people while we learnt another important lesson: that offices such as mine can make a difference by encouraging involvement, respecting divergent views, acknowledging the need to be in the conversation, and taking the time to reflect upon outcomes. We are participants too.

Bright Environmental

Sustainability Dinner


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DELATITE RIVER

FITZROY RIVER

BUFFALO RIVER

TIM

BARRA RIV

ER

AC

HE

RO

N R

IVE

R

SALT C

REEK

SPRING CREEK

GENOA RIVER

BASS RIVER

CURDIES R

IVER

THU

RR

A R

IVER

MO

OR

AB

OO

L RIVER

PER

RY

RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

PLE

NTY

RIV

ER

AIRE RIVER

YAR

RO

WEE R

IVER

LANG LANG RIVER

DEDDICK RIVER

MU

RR

IND

AL

RIV

ER

LERDERDERG RIVER

BAR

KLY R

IVER

WE

NTW

OR

TH R

IVE

R

WATTS RIVERTA

RWIN

RIV

ER

LOCH RIVER

TARAGO RIVER

AVO

N R

IVE

R

BIG RIVER

Wyperfeld NP

Murray - Sunset NP

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP

Wilsons Promontory NP

Corner Inlet Marine & Coastal Park

Barmah NP

Croajingolong NP

Mount Buffalo NP

Errinundra NP

Coopracambra NP

Wilsons Promontory MNP

Lower Glenelg NP

Hattah - Kulkyne NP

French Island NP

Baw Baw NP

Kinglake NP

Great Otway NP

Burrowa - Pine Mountain NP

Point Addis MNP

Nooramunga Marine & Coastal ParkTwelve Apostles MNP

Cape Howe MNP

Point Hicks MNP

Gunbower NP

Alfred NP

Warby-Ovens NP

French Island MNP

St Arnaud Range NP

Discovery Bay MNP

Bunurong MNP

Ninety Mile Beach MNP

Brisbane Ranges NP

Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP

Greater Bendigo NP

Heathcote-Graytown NP

Port Phillip Heads MNP

Terrick Terrick NP

Lower Goulburn NP

Corner Inlet MNP

Mornington Peninsula NP

Yaringa MNP

Churchill Island MNP

Port Campbell NP

Dandenong Ranges National Park

Brady Swam N.P.Organ Pipes NP

Black Dog Creek N.F.R

Yea

Ouyen

Nhill

Yarram

Orbost

Echuca

Cohuna

Stawell

Mildura

BendigoHorsham

Portland

Hamilton

WarragulTraralgon

Swan Hill

Melbourne

Mansfield

Korumburra

Bairnsdale

Camperdown

Maryborough

Lakes Entrance

Sale

Bright

Wodonga

Corryong

SheppartonWangaratta

Warrnambool

Parks and ReservesState ForestOther Public LandMarine National Park/SanctuaryCoastal Park/Reserve

RAMSAR wetlandsHeritage RiversWaterbodiesMajor WatercourseHighway

Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial Data Library, 2012.0 50 10025

Kilometers

N#

© The State of Victoria, 2012.

This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that thepublication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims allliability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.

SUGGAN BUG

GAN RIVER

GLE

NE

LG R

IVE

RStatewideNaturalAssetsC

HA

PTE

R O

NE

25

BROKEN RIVER

KANGAROO LAKE

HOWQUA RIVER

MA

CA

LISTER R

IVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

AB

ER

FELD

Y R

I VE

R

BEM

M R

IVER

ARTE RIVER

ERR

INU

ND

RA

RI V

E R

LAKE HUME

LAKE TYRRELL

LAKE EILDON

LAKE KING

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE MOKOAN

WARANGA BASIN

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE DARTMOUTH

LAKE ALBACUTYA

LAKE COLAC

LAKE MULWALA

LAKE EPPALOCK

KOW SWAMP

LAKE COLEMAN

LAKE GNARPURT

LAKE BURRUMBEET

MURRAY RIVER

LOD

DO

N R

IVE

R

AVO

CA

RIV

ER

WIM

MER

A R

IVER

OVENS RIVER

HO

PKIN

S R

IVER

CAM

PASP

E RI

VER

GLENELG R

IVER

YARRA RIVER

TAM

BO

RIV

ER

KIN

G R

IVE

R

SNOW

Y RI

VER

MO

UN

T EM

U C

REE

K

BULL

OCK

CRE

EK

WANNON RIVER

GO

ULB

UR

N R

IVER

AVON

RIVER

MIT

TA M

ITTA

RIV

ER

KIEWA R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

BUCH

AN R

IVER

FIERY CREEK

CAN

N R

IVER

SEVEN CREEKS

BIG R

IVER

BET BET CREEK

MO

YNE

RIV

ER

DELATITE RIVER

FITZROY RIVER

BUFFALO RIVER

TIM

BARRA RIV

ER

AC

HE

RO

N R

IVE

R

SALT C

REEK

SPRING CREEK

GENOA RIVER

BASS RIVER

CURDIES R

IVER

THU

RR

A R

IVER

MO

OR

AB

OO

L RIVER

PER

RY

RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

PLE

NTY

RIV

ER

AIRE RIVER

YAR

RO

WEE R

IVER

LANG LANG RIVER

DEDDICK RIVER

MU

RR

IND

AL

RIV

ER

LERDERDERG RIVER

BAR

KLY R

IVER

WE

NTW

OR

TH R

IVE

R

WATTS RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH RIVER

TARAGO RIVER

AVO

N R

IVE

R

BIG RIVER

Wyperfeld NP

Murray - Sunset NP

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP



Barmah NP

Croajingolong NP

Mount Buffalo NP

Errinundra NP

Coopracambra NP


Lower Glenelg NP

Hattah - Kulkyne NP

French Island NP

Baw Baw NP

Kinglake NP

Great Otway NP


Point Addis MNP


Cape Howe MNP

Point Hicks MNP

Gunbower NP

Alfred NP

Warby-Ovens NP

French Island MNP

St Arnaud Range NP

Discovery Bay MNP

Bunurong MNP


Brisbane Ranges NP


Greater Bendigo NP



Terrick Terrick NP

Lower Goulburn NP

Corner Inlet MNP


Yaringa MNP


Port Campbell NP




Yea

Ouyen

Nhill

Yarram

Orbost

Echuca

Cohuna

Stawell

Mildura

BendigoHorsham

Portland

Hamilton

WarragulTraralgon

Swan Hill

Melbourne

Mansfield

Korumburra

Bairnsdale

Camperdown

Maryborough

Lakes Entrance

Sale

Bright

Wodonga

Corryong


Warrnambool




Kilometers

N#



SUGGAN BUG

GAN RIVER

GLE

NE

LG R

IVE

R

BROKEN RIVER

KANGAROO LAKE

HOWQUA RIVER

MA

CA

LISTER R

IVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

AB

ER

FELD

Y R

I VE

R

BEM

M R

IVER

ARTE RIVER

ERR

INU

ND

RA

RI V

E R

LAKE HUME

LAKE TYRRELL

LAKE EILDON

LAKE KING

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE MOKOAN

WARANGA BASIN

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE DARTMOUTH

LAKE ALBACUTYA

LAKE COLAC

LAKE MULWALA

LAKE EPPALOCK

KOW SWAMP

LAKE COLEMAN

LAKE GNARPURT

LAKE BURRUMBEET

MURRAY RIVER

LOD

DO

N R

IVE

R

AVO

CA

RIV

ER

WIM

MER

A R

IVER

OVENS RIVER

HO

PKIN

S R

IVER

CAM

PASP

E RI

VER

GLENELG R

IVER

YARRA RIVER

TAM

BO

RIV

ER

KIN

G R

IVE

R

SNOW

Y RI

VER

MO

UN

T EM

U C

REE

K

BULL

OCK

CRE

EK

WANNON RIVER

GO

ULB

UR

N R

IVER

AVON

RIVER

MIT

TA M

ITTA

RIV

ER

KIEWA R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

BUCH

AN R

IVER

FIERY CREEK

CAN

N R

IVER

SEVEN CREEKS

BIG R

IVER

BET BET CREEK

MO

YNE

RIV

ER

DELATITE RIVER

FITZROY RIVER

BUFFALO RIVER

TIM

BARRA RIV

ER

AC

HE

RO

N R

IVE

R

SALT C

REEK

SPRING CREEK

GENOA RIVER

BASS RIVER

CURDIES R

IVER

THU

RR

A R

IVER

MO

OR

AB

OO

L RIVER

PER

RY

RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

PLE

NTY

RIV

ER

AIRE RIVER

YAR

RO

WEE R

IVER

LANG LANG RIVER

DEDDICK RIVER

MU

RR

IND

AL

RIV

ER

LERDERDERG RIVER

BAR

KLY R

IVER

WE

NTW

OR

TH R

IVE

R

WATTS RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH RIVER

TARAGO RIVER

AVO

N R

IVE

R

BIG RIVER

Wyperfeld NP

Murray - Sunset NP

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP



Barmah NP

Croajingolong NP

Mount Buffalo NP

Errinundra NP

Coopracambra NP


Lower Glenelg NP

Hattah - Kulkyne NP

French Island NP

Baw Baw NP

Kinglake NP

Great Otway NP


Point Addis MNP


Cape Howe MNP

Point Hicks MNP

Gunbower NP

Alfred NP

Warby-Ovens NP

French Island MNP

St Arnaud Range NP

Discovery Bay MNP

Bunurong MNP


Brisbane Ranges NP


Greater Bendigo NP



Terrick Terrick NP

Lower Goulburn NP

Corner Inlet MNP


Yaringa MNP


Port Campbell NP




Yea

Ouyen

Nhill

Yarram

Orbost

Echuca

Cohuna

Stawell

Mildura

BendigoHorsham

Portland

Hamilton

WarragulTraralgon

Swan Hill

Melbourne

Mansfield

Korumburra

Bairnsdale

Camperdown

Maryborough

Lakes Entrance

Sale

Bright

Wodonga

Corryong


Warrnambool




Kilometers

N#



SUGGAN BUG

GAN RIVER

GLE

NE

LG R

IVE

R

BROKEN RIVER

KANGAROO LAKE

HOWQUA RIVER

MA

CA

LISTER R

IVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

AB

ER

FELD

Y R

I VE

R

BEM

M R

IVER

ARTE RIVER

ERR

INU

ND

RA

RI V

E R

LAKE HUME

LAKE TYRRELL

LAKE EILDON

LAKE KING

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE MOKOAN

WARANGA BASIN

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE DARTMOUTH

LAKE ALBACUTYA

LAKE COLAC

LAKE MULWALA

LAKE EPPALOCK

KOW SWAMP

LAKE COLEMAN

LAKE GNARPURT

LAKE BURRUMBEET

MURRAY RIVER

LOD

DO

N R

IVE

R

AVO

CA

RIV

ER

WIM

MER

A R

IVER

OVENS RIVER

HO

PKIN

S R

IVER

CAM

PASP

E RI

VER

GLENELG R

IVER

YARRA RIVER

TAM

BO

RIV

ER

KIN

G R

IVE

R

SNOW

Y RI

VER

MO

UN

T EM

U C

REE

K

BULL

OCK

CRE

EK

WANNON RIVER

GO

ULB

UR

N R

IVER

AVON

RIVER

MIT

TA M

ITTA

RIV

ER

KIEWA R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

BUCH

AN R

IVER

FIERY CREEK

CAN

N R

IVER

SEVEN CREEKS

BIG R

IVER

BET BET CREEK

MO

YNE

RIV

ER

DELATITE RIVER

FITZROY RIVER

BUFFALO RIVER

TIM

BARRA RIV

ER

AC

HE

RO

N R

IVE

R

SALT C

REEK

SPRING CREEK

GENOA RIVER

BASS RIVER

CURDIES R

IVER

THU

RR

A R

IVER

MO

OR

AB

OO

L RIVER

PER

RY

RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

PLE

NTY

RIV

ER

AIRE RIVER

YAR

RO

WEE R

IVER

LANG LANG RIVER

DEDDICK RIVER

MU

RR

IND

AL

RIV

ER

LERDERDERG RIVER

BAR

KLY R

IVER

WE

NTW

OR

TH R

IVE

R

WATTS RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH RIVER

TARAGO RIVER

AVO

N R

IVE

R

BIG RIVER

Wyperfeld NP

Murray - Sunset NP

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP



Barmah NP

Croajingolong NP

Mount Buffalo NP

Errinundra NP

Coopracambra NP


Lower Glenelg NP

Hattah - Kulkyne NP

French Island NP

Baw Baw NP

Kinglake NP

Great Otway NP


Point Addis MNP


Cape Howe MNP

Point Hicks MNP

Gunbower NP

Alfred NP

Warby-Ovens NP

French Island MNP

St Arnaud Range NP

Discovery Bay MNP

Bunurong MNP


Brisbane Ranges NP


Greater Bendigo NP



Terrick Terrick NP

Lower Goulburn NP

Corner Inlet MNP


Yaringa MNP


Port Campbell NP




Yea

Ouyen

Nhill

Yarram

Orbost

Echuca

Cohuna

Stawell

Mildura

BendigoHorsham

Portland

Hamilton

WarragulTraralgon

Swan Hill

Melbourne

Mansfield

Korumburra

Bairnsdale

Camperdown

Maryborough

Lakes Entrance

Sale

Bright

Wodonga

Corryong


Warrnambool




Kilometers

N#



SUGGAN BUG

GAN RIVER

GLE

NE

LG R

IVE

R

Ramsar Wetlands

BROKEN RIVER

KANGAROO LAKE

HOWQUA RIVER

MA

CA

LISTER R

IVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

AB

ER

FELD

Y R

I VE

R

BEM

M R

IVER

ARTE RIVER

ERR

INU

ND

RA

RI V

E R

LAKE HUME

LAKE TYRRELL

LAKE EILDON

LAKE KING

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE MOKOAN

WARANGA BASIN

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE DARTMOUTH

LAKE ALBACUTYA

LAKE COLAC

LAKE MULWALA

LAKE EPPALOCK

KOW SWAMP

LAKE COLEMAN

LAKE GNARPURT

LAKE BURRUMBEET

MURRAY RIVER

LOD

DO

N R

IVE

RAV

OC

A R

IVER

WIM

MER

A R

IVER

OVENS RIVER

HO

PKIN

S R

IVER

CAM

PASP

E RI

VER

GLENELG R

IVER

YARRA RIVER

TAM

BO

RIV

ER

KIN

G R

IVE

R

SNOW

Y RI

VER

MO

UN

T EM

U C

REE

K

BULL

OCK

CRE

EK

WANNON RIVER

GO

ULB

UR

N R

IVER

AVON

RIVER

MIT

TA M

ITTA

RIV

ER

KIEWA R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

BUCH

AN R

IVER

FIERY CREEK

CAN

N R

IVER

SEVEN CREEKS

BIG R

IVER

BET BET CREEK

MO

YNE

RIV

ER

DELATITE RIVER

FITZROY RIVER

BUFFALO RIVER

TIM

BARRA RIV

ER

AC

HE

RO

N R

IVE

R

SALT C

REEK

SPRING CREEK

GENOA RIVER

BASS RIVER

CURDIES R

IVER

THU

RR

A R

IVER

MO

OR

AB

OO

L RIVER

PER

RY

RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

PLE

NTY

RIV

ER

AIRE RIVER

YAR

RO

WEE R

IVER

LANG LANG RIVER

DEDDICK RIVER

MU

RR

IND

AL

RIV

ER

LERDERDERG RIVER

BAR

KLY R

IVER

WE

NTW

OR

TH R

IVE

R

WATTS RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH RIVER

TARAGO RIVER

AVO

N R

IVE

R

BIG RIVER

Wyperfeld NP

Murray - Sunset NP

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP



Barmah NP

Croajingolong NP

Mount Buffalo NP

Errinundra NP

Coopracambra NP


Lower Glenelg NP

Hattah - Kulkyne NP

French Island NP

Baw Baw NP

Kinglake NP

Great Otway NP


Point Addis MNP


Cape Howe MNP

Point Hicks MNP

Gunbower NP

Alfred NP

Warby-Ovens NP

French Island MNP

St Arnaud Range NP

Discovery Bay MNP

Bunurong MNP


Brisbane Ranges NP


Greater Bendigo NP



Terrick Terrick NP

Lower Goulburn NP

Corner Inlet MNP


Yaringa MNP


Port Campbell NP




Yea

Ouyen

Nhill

Yarram

Orbost

Echuca

Cohuna

Stawell

Mildura

BendigoHorsham

Portland

Hamilton

WarragulTraralgon

Swan Hill

Melbourne

Mansfield

Korumburra

Bairnsdale

Camperdown

Maryborough

Lakes Entrance

Sale

Bright

Wodonga

Corryong


Warrnambool




Kilometers

N#



SUGGAN BUG

GAN RIVER

GLE

NE

LG R

IVE

R


”

2 The Wimmera: a river, a regionChAPTER TWO

Introduction‘[IntheWimmera]thehistorictrendofpopulationdeclineischanging.AsHorshamcontinuestogrowastheregionalcentre,manysmalltownsarealsoexperiencingslightgrowthinpopulation.’39

This trend towards more new, unconnected people in the landscape provides an interesting launching pad for reflections on community and individual resilience and the role of participation in promoting resourcefulness in an age where climate change will be impacting the region, exposing it to more extreme events.

The Wimmera’s long drought, punctuated by fires in the Grampians, was terminated by epic flooding in 2011, which changed the landscape to such an extent that wetlands appeared in places where non-Aboriginal people had no recall of them. Towns in the region were cut off, and communities that already understood themselves to be remote had to contend with a whole new understanding of ‘isolation’.

Accepting growth and CSIRO climate change projections,40 both old and new residents of the Wimmera will need to think of ways to work with environmental uncertainty. This will require greater levels of participation.

CH

AP

TER

TW

O

Dimboola Weir Park signage – restored twice after natural disasters

27

The Wimmera

Data collected from Department of Sustainability and Environment, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Planning and Community Development and Wimmera Catchment Management Authority


Wyperfeld NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP

St Arnaud Range NP

Brady Swam N.P.

AVOCA

RIVER

WIMMER

A RI

VER

GLENELG RIVER

FIER

Y CR

EEK

WAN

NON

RIVE

R

HOPK

INS

RIVE

R

BET

BET

CREE

KAVON RIVER

RICH

ARDS

ON RIV

ERMACKENZIE RIVER

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE LONSDALE

LAKE BURRUMBEET

LAKE ALBACUTYA

!Wimmera RegionTour Locations

Parks and Reserves

State Forest

Other Public Land

Marine National Park/Sanctuary

Coastal Park/Reserve

RAMSAR wetlands

Heritage Rivers

Waterbody

Major Watercourse

Roads

Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial DataLibrary, 2012.© The State of Victoria, 2012.

0 20 4010

KilometersN#

WIM

MERA

RIVER

Environment in the WimmeraThe Wimmera landscape is scored by one major river that, highly unusually, flows inland. The Wimmera River is classified as ‘heritage’ from Polkemmet Bridge south-west of the West Wail State Forest and directly south of the Little Desert National Park up to the Lake Agnes and the Wirrengren Plain in the Wyperfeld National Park.

WimmeraRegionalTourLocations

Indigenous cultural connection is evident, not just in the Ebenezer Mission ‘ruin’ and cemetery, but also along the length of the Wimmera River, where canoe and coolamon trees proliferate.

Mines that provide Melbourne households with rock salt were at one time a place where local Wotjaboluk people obtained work. Uncle Patrick Kennedy reported working at a salt mine beyond Ebenezer Mission in his overcoat until he was physically unable to continue.41

The Barengi–Gadjin Land Council operates as a natural resources management organisation examining areas of significance along the Wimmera River. A memorandum of understanding between Indigenous landowners and councils has helped to clarify roles and responsibilities.

CH

AP

TER

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O

Little Desert Nature Lodge

Wyperfeld NP

Little Desert NP

Grampians NP

St Arnaud Range NP

Brady Swam N.P.

AVOCA

RIVER

WIMMER

A RI

VER

GLENELG RIVER

FIER

Y CR

EEK

WAN

NON

RIVE

R

HOPK

INS

RIVE

R

BET

BET

CREE

K

AVON RIVER

RICH

ARDS

ON RIV

ER

MACKENZIE RIVER

LAKE HINDMARSH

LAKE BULOKE

ROCKLANDS RESERVOIR

LAKE LONSDALE

LAKE BURRUMBEET

LAKE ALBACUTYA

!Wimmera RegionTour Locations

Parks and Reserves

State Forest

Other Public Land



RAMSAR wetlands

Heritage Rivers

Waterbody

Major Watercourse

Roads

Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial DataLibrary, 2012.© The State of Victoria, 2012.

0 20 4010

KilometersN#

WIM

MERA

RIVER

Sunrise at the Little Desert N

ature Lodge

Ramsar Wetlands

29

TheMountArapiles–ToonStatePark, 230 metres high, comprised of quartz and sandstone, and home to the Red-tailed

Black-Cockatoo, Red-necked Wallaby and Brush-tailed Phascogale presents the best rock climbing sites, 2,000 of them, in Australia.

Peregrine Falcons, threatened in Victoria, return to the park each year in spring to breed. Endangered species, the Rock Wattle and Skeleton

fork-fern, populate the slopes.

Private and personal commitment to environmental conservation in the region plays out in an estimated 163 Land for Wildlife habitat sites and

183 Trust for Nature covenants, which cover an area of 6,244 hectares.42 Volunteer bird monitors in December 2011 recorded the Powerful Owl,

Painted Snipe, Australian Pratincole and critically endangered Intermediate Egret in the regional ‘challenge’. Local farming families hold membership of

the Environmental Farmers Network.

In the strangest of places environmental surprises can be had. In defiance of feral or household cats and dogs, a pair of Bush Stone Curlew can be found at the central HorshamWimmeraRiverPark. The Dimboola Memorial School retains its own plot of undamaged Mallee – one of the great carbon sink species.

The national park, named after the Scottish range by Major Mitchell, and given the Indigenous place name Gariwerd, jaggedly ruptures the surrounding plains. Rare, vulnerable, critically endangered and threatened species and communities can be found across the range.

Bush-stone curlew at Horsham Wimmera River caravan Park


GrampiansspecieslistedintheEnvironmentProtectionandBiodiversityConservationAct1999

Commonname Scientificname EPBCcodeCloverGlycine Glycine latrobeana Vulnerable

DownyStar-Bush Asterolasia phebalioides Vulnerable

ElegantSpider-orchid Caladenia formosa Vulnerable

GrampiansBitter-pea Daviesia laevis Vulnerable

GrampiansRice-flower Pimelea pagophila Vulnerable

OrnatePink-fingers Caladenia ornata Vulnerable

RiverSwampWallaby-grass Amphibromus fluitans Vulnerable

SpiralSun-orchid Thelymitra matthewsii Vulnerable

TrailingHop-bush Dodonaea procumbens Vulnerable

Williamson’sBush-pea Pultenaea williamsoniana Vulnerable

GrampiansBitter-pea Borya mirabilis Endangered

SouthernPipewort Eriocaulon australasicum Endangered

MetallicSun-orchid Thelymitra epipactoides Endangered

SmokyMouse Pseudomys fumeus Endangered

SouthernBrownBandicoot Isoodon obesulus obesulus Endangered

SwiftParrot Lathamus discolor Endangered

Brush-tailedRock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata Vulnerable

DwarfGalaxias Galaxiella pusilla Vulnerable

GrowlingGrassFrog Litoria raniformis Vulnerable

HeathMouse Pseudomys shortridgei Vulnerable

Long-nosedPotoroo Potorous tridactylus tridactylus Vulnerable

Red-tailedBlack-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksi Endangered

YarraPigmyPerch Nannoperca obscura Vulnerable

Brambuk Tourist Centre serves to inform visitors about Indigenous culture and continuities, biodiversity and public enjoyment of the park. The small town of Halls Gap provides accommodation and services for tourists.

Smokey Mouse

Photo courtesy of Jenny Nelson

Grampians National Park Silverband Road storm

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Spiral Sun-orchid

Photo courtesy of Mike Duncan Nelson

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Landslides in Grampians National Park

Grampians National Park Silverband Road storm


The torrentOur first formal visit to GrampiansNationalPark followed the 2011 floods.45 Seven months later, massive slides of mud, boulders and gravel were still visible.46

Parks Victoria staff members, some resident in the area, were present during and remained throughout the floods, shouldering public, personal and organisational risks. They could only adapt to the events, resourcefully and with as much resilience as they could muster.

Expecting extremity, staff proactively evacuated the park, installed 55 gates across park entrances, and personally, and by air, toured camping grounds and car parks. Parks Victoria staff, with the public, sandbagged Halls Gap.

Parks Victoria staff worked to evacuate the town. Wave after wave of road obstructions were cleared while winds battered the park repeatedly, taking out phone connections and roads. The Air Services Australia telecommunications tower on Mount William was knocked out but not damaged.

Other agency personnel were initially disbelieving of the level of damage. The Grampians was deluged with 300 mm of rain in 24–48 hours. Impacts included damage to 500 km of road, seven car bridges and 22 pedestrian bridges. The park was closed entirely for five months. Landslips of varying degrees tallied 192. Eight or nine landslips rolled into HallsGap. Landslips remained a dominant feature across the length of the western ranges for months. The Dunkeld–Halls Gap Road was blocked for seven months.

community participate in sandbagging to save Halls Gap during storm*

Flood waters Halls Gap

Grampians National Park*

*Photos courtesy of Parks Victoria Grampians

Wannon River during Lake Bolac Eel Festival

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Boulders on road in landslips*

Boulders on road in landslips*

Small creek after landslides*

Road damage from storm*

At Zumsteins, logs compressed around the bridge, forcing flood waters through the town. Brambuk Tourist Centre was under 1 metre of water and 30 centimetres of mud. Stony Creek was flowing freely through the town, and every shop was flooded and shut. The water came to within 10 centimetres of the main bridge.

Silverband Road Grampians National Park*

Silverband Falls walking track Grampians National Park*

GRAMPIANSNATIONALPARK


Silverband Falls after the destruction

Mt Victory landslide during the eventMt Abrupt landslide after the destruction*

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Silverband Falls when flooding first

started*

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Giant boulders in riverbed moved during

landslips

In the park itself, Silverband Road was very badly damaged, sustaining the combined impact of two or three landslips. Water undermined, lifted, buckled and broke up the asphalt. Large channels up to 20 metres wide tore out the bush and tree cover. Boulders the size of cars were deposited at intervals down the valley. Some roads and walking tracks will never reopen. Mount Victory Road only reopened on 18 November 2011 and the walkway to the Venice Baths, with 300,000 visitors a year, is likely to remain closed to the public.

The McKenzie River, a tributary of the Wimmera, previously contained in a bed 2 metres deep, now courses through an eroded 12-metre drop. Returning to its usual flow regime, a mere trickle now joins the Wimmera River.

Lake Bellfield the principal source for drinking water for the region, came under threat. Lake Wartook remained at 107 per cent of capacity for two weeks, requiring the use of the second emergency spillway.

ParksVictoria employee Head Ranger Grampians National Park David Roberts reported the impacts of this deluge.

A man not given to exaggeration, he told us:‘WhenpeopleinHallsGaphearheavyrainontheroofnow,anxietylevelsstarttorise.

No-oneknewtheywereatriskoflandslidesthatcouldcompletelyaltertheirlandscape.

Peopleareusedto20metresofsoilbeingalandslip;nottheavalanches

we’vewitnessed.Hugeboulders,biggerthantrucks,weremovedaroundlike

theyweresmallstones.Thousandsandthousandsoftonnesofsoil,rocks,timberandroadscrackedliketheydoinan

earthquake–thiscausedintenseshock.’

It was in this environment that the Parks Victoria staff worked through the nights and days.

The McKenzie River joins the Wimmera River – the calm after the storm


”

Resilience and responsivenessNatural cycles can and do respond with resilience. Parks Victoria staff reminded us that brolgas have rebounded, numbers of the heath mouse have bounced, and wetlands have been flushed.

People can be both vulnerable and resilient. During the crisis, members of the public and Parks Victoria staff responded quickly, proactively and innovatively, but as we should expect, some are now fatigued.

In some cases, Parks Victoria staff had just recovered from the 2006 fires when these floods were upon them, tearing up the carefully planned and executed recovery work of the previous years.

They talk now about this being:‘…deeplydiscouraging.’

Parks Victoria staff made do with the resources available to them, including human resources. They made decisions, sometimes taken quickly and with potentially lasting impacts, which were not always well understood at the time. This has the potential to create anxiety for everyone involved.

Brolgas nesting St Marnocks

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Photo courtesy of Peter Forster

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Participation and communication promotes insightIn an emergency situation, the skill required to engage a non-resilient public is of enormous value and sorely tested. Call this ability ‘community engagement’, but it really is the capacity to empower people while encouraging participation and providing them with guidance in situations of great uncertainty. The value of this skill set is not well understood.

In these extreme circumstances, participation and sharing has been promoted, and communication has taken many forms. Involvement occurred on a number of levels, picking up on lessons learnt from the earlier fires.

Parks Victoria staff coordinated the early response and collaborations until the shire took over. The public actively sought information and joined in the efforts being undertaken. Public meetings were called and completely candid tours were conducted. Then all the agencies – VicRoads, catchment management authorities and local government – worked together. Regular meetings have since become routine. Partnerships and relationships have been forged, discussions and consideration of mutual and individual issues take place, information is shared and problems jointly solved.

Upfront and honest communication has been followed by writing up, and briefings with the community, businesses and other agencies have been bedrock. Openness avoids miscommunication and typifies more healthy relationships and better outcomes. People are more immediately self-reliant and this has long-term benefits.

Working through this disaster, Parks Victoria has been prompted to review all of its disaster responses. The focus is on cultivating participation, which assists in the development of emergency response skills across a wide array of stakeholders, including staff and the general public.

Landcarer conversations and participationSitting down to talk to ‘landcarers’ and others supported a calmer consideration of community activities and how the value of participatory processes is understood. Community organisations bring people together, reinforce the importance of the work they do, encourage both individuals and groups, enhance participation and promote self-reliance. Shared local knowledge prompts self-reliance and works to future-proof the public and private domain.

ProjectPlatypus program manager with a full complement of people in their specially hired bus showed us the country they care about.47 Members come from a vast landscape, from the Grampians to the Pyrenees. Project Platypus partners other Landcare groups, has 230 volunteers and involves eight school groups and a work-for-the-dole group. These environmental stewards blend social, economic and environmental concerns across farmland, townships, schools and other volunteer groupings. TheProjectPlatypusAnnualGeneralMeeting to which we were invited, was very well attended, clearly providing connections, supports and encouragement.

Practically, the project and the public work on weed and feral pest eradication, reconstructing wetlands, and forging formal and informal biolinks. They see the urgent need for this work given the extent of land clearing in the past and the vulnerability of small mammals, including threatened bandicoots. The field trip grounded our understanding of the work being done and allowed a range of people to participate in a conversation about these activities on country about which they had expertise. The full extent of the project, planting 75,000 trees to date, is directly attributable to the organisation and the manner in which it includes people in the work.


Our guides took us to properties that had been cleared, originally in compliance with government regulations, where landscape restoration was now the aim.

Local knowledge extended to the recall of named old residents associated with particular places; the lay of disused roads and the viability of bogs; the time of the last flood and height of the water; a knowledge of which bridges were washed out. Our guides told us about fire patterns (how local grasslands burn with greater speed than woodlands) and fire histories.

One property, encompassing an old disused Aboriginal greenstone quarry had been partially restored over the past 20 years, before Project Platypus started. Benefits of tree planting and abandonment of drains were explained to us. Swampiness associated with fluke was abated even in years of heavy rains. Salinity was reduced.

People recalled that some paddocks had been:‘…whitewithsaltinthe1990s.’

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Not only had tree planting helped to reduce salinity, but the efforts of those who participated on the work had helped bring change to conservative farming methods.

At one property, notwithstanding the recent very heavy rainfall, we were told, as farmer’s do, that more was always welcome, as falls were still ‘way below’ average. Here, salinity reduction over 20 years of tree planting was obvious. A previously unusable creek paddock was now stocked. Tree lines provided stock shelter belts and brought birds that balanced insect numbers.

Our attention was drawn to a stand of Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBdC Act)-protected buloke at

the foot of a paddock.‘…themostsoutherninthestate.’

Endangered by farming practices, these are feeding sources for the endangered South-eastern subspecies

of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo.

Immense local pride in the retention of this stand of buloke was obvious.

South-eastern Red-tailed Black-cockatoo

Photo courtesy of South-eastern Red-tailed

Black-Cockatoo Project www.redtail.com.au

Photo taken by Wayne Bigg

”

Bulokes


”

Local and activeMatter-of-fact self-reliance promoted the continuation of the local SustainablePasture/ProductionGroup after its establishment in partnership with the Department of Primary Industries (DPI). The group now has 128 local members, one part-time staffer, and an ethos of self-promotion, collaboration and the active sharing of information.

Moving from land-based stewardship efforts, we met with the CEO of the WimmeraCatchmentManagementAuthority(Wimmera CMA), David Brennan, a local with a local’s extensive knowledge. This catchment management authority, like others we met with around the state, involves itself in community issues, sponsoring participation about matters of interest to local people.

These conversations taught us that climate change was being felt unevenly and the science was often misunderstood and ‘not popular’ when it provided a critique of old farming practices. The comment was made that it would be helpful if climate scientists found a way to better communicate climate change uncertainties without paralysing people in terms of what they should do.

Again, on the changing nature of farming and climate uncertainties, the benefits of native vegetation in a carbon farming regime had to be communicated meaningfully.

Innovators could struggle to implement change so, we were told, it was important to empower people with information and the ability to act. The observation was– ‘Weneedtomakesurethatwedon’tmissoutonopportunities.’

A short but intense conversation about change management in uncertain times provided a focal point for our discussions. Techniques had to be flexible and adaptive, well communicated, and based on and reflective of local priorities. Where centralisation limits meaningful participation, understanding is likely to be reduced and inventiveness and resourcefulness constrained.

The persistent local view was that participatory land management and conservation practices had benefits. If these practices were launched and nurtured locally, they would work. Wetlands tender in the Wimmera, with 25 per cent of Victoria’s wetlands, was a case in point.

A compelling illustration of the success of localised wetlands tender was witnessed at Paul and LizJackman’s farm at Clear Lake in the West Wimmera. At the Jackman’sfarm a tender attached to a long-held family farming property was approved over three to four months, and then equally quickly, acres of productive farming land were fenced off and planted with local native species. The relationship between the local tender partners was warm and supportive. Discussion about different ways of doing things was convivial and respectful, and understandings of preferential plantings and proposals were worked out very quickly, taking advantage of the wet conditions.

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Paul Jackman, standing in the water and holding nardoo in his hand, talked about:‘…brolgasonthewetlands[whenhewasalad].’

He and Liz hope to see them back. Herons and spoonbills have already returned. Frogs can be heard at the house about a kilometre away in the evenings. Plants like ‘Early Nancy’, the New Holland Daisy and cane grass are also back in the watered flats.

Paul Jackman retrieving Nardoo from his newly rehabilitated wetland. Two years ago this area was a dusty sheep paddock


”

Wetlands in the region had already responded well to the rains, and this program encouraged local participation, supported enterprise and celebrated gains. This successful partnership now promotes broader participation in wetlands stewardship in the district.

After talking to the CEO of the WimmeraCMA, we also spoke to some of the organisational staff.49 Our conversation began with a focus on the instrumental.50

As we exhausted those topics, we turned to a discussion of relationships, partnerships, participation and trust. Comment was made – ‘Youcan’tjusttellpeoplewhattodo;theyhavetotrustyou.’

Community engagement, community ownership of projects and publication of results locally were all features of the Wimmera CMA program. The potential to build resilience both socially and economically could be facilitated through the Carbon Farming Initiative and land buybacks.

Inventiveness in the face of uncertainty We accepted an invitation to visit the VictorianNo-TillgroupatCoromby. Starting with eight local farmers, some with long histories in the region, the group is actively involved in, and promoting (both among themselves and more widely), peer-based learning about innovation in cropping techniques.

The group is completely independent of government and relies upon the input of its members only. It is participatory, collaborative and authorising. The farmers drive the program themselves.

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We heard a lot about why they were participating and innovating.‘We’realldrivenbydebt.’

‘Weallwanttoleaveourplacebetterthanwegotit.’

‘…there’llbeno-oneleftinthefarmingcommunityifwedon’tgetoutthereandhelpeachother.’

‘Wehadtomakedecisions–leaveorchange.’

‘…adversitybreedsinnovation…’

‘Theclimateischanging.Ithasbeenthesecondwarmestwinteronrecord.’

As ‘social learners’, typically adopting new techniques and obtaining new information through word of mouth, they suggested that they:‘…preferlisteningtootherexperiencedfarmersonthetopicratherthanthescientistswhocanbehardtofollow.’

Craig Schodde, of Coromby, has been quoted:‘…wearealllearning,anddayslikethis…whereweallgettogether,areagreatwayoflearningfromotherpeople’sexperiences.’


”

”Those in this network:‘…doesn’twantthenewcomertorepeat[ourearlier]mistakes.’

A network of people, a group of participants, learn from each other. Networking lends itself to a mentoring program and encourages outreach. No-Till farmers have been conducting information stalls and talking to people at farm field days and bringing in expertise to discuss innovation. Collectively they were delighted to be sharing ideas, as this keeps the community ‘alive’.

They found that sharing and working successfully on new methods of farming has been revitalising and:‘…helpedgetthepassionbackintothemforfarming.’

No-Till farming allows them to stay on the land and do the things they want to, raise their families, produce food, make a living, and be challenged and intellectually stimulated. It is rigorous.

‘…it’sasystemthatyouhavetodoproperly.Youcan’tchopandchange.’

Wryly humble about their achievements, the conversation bubbled along about ‘good timing’, as they commenced operations during the drought when soil moisture was at a premium. They innovated and were not risk-averse, helping each other to make the hard decisions, which have paid off – they had low start-up costs, were less dependent on rain, were able to grow a crop in drought, had better soils and would be sustainable in bad years.

They had moved into a new era, adapting to change – they had to be farmers, accountants, engineers and innovators.

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Issues on the groundDemonstrating the cultural capacity of the region, our Horshampublicforum was accompanied by a photographic display and presentation.

The evening’s discussion was very issue-driven, underpinned by an acceptance of climate change science.

Planned burning was criticised by many of the 40 people in this forum, and also later at the Regional Leaders Dinner, for its deleterious impact upon biodiversity and tourism. The view was that the current activities were based on poor science and the region already struggled with the legacy of clearing practices.

Talking No-Till farming coromby


LAKEALBACUTYA

Nhill

Stawell

Horsham

Dimboola

Glenorchy

Warracknabeal

Wimmera Heritage RiverPublic recommended extension

of heritage river classification

Wimmera-Avon Rivers BasinPublic Land

RAMSAR wetlandWaterbodyRoads0

20

40

10

Kilometers

N#

Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial Data Library, 2012.


”The question was asked:‘…dowereallyneedtoburninthemiddleofnationalparks?Therearenoassetsorriskstocommunityoutthere.This…impactsonbiodiversitytothedetrimentofeveryoneandifitistotakeplaceitshouldbebasedonaccuratesciencenotoutdatedscience.’

We were told that extending the Wimmera River’s heritage status to Glenorchy would help address the biolinks and biodiversity issues in the region. This aspiration is being driven by the Wimmera River Improvement Committee, which involves local people in broad partnerships across interest groups.

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LAKEALBACUTYA

Nhill

Stawell

Horsham

Dimboola

Glenorchy

Warracknabeal

Wimmera Heritage River

Public recommended extensionof heritage river classification

Wimmera-Avon Rivers Basin

Public Land

RAMSAR wetland

Waterbody

Roads0 20 4010

Kilometers

N#Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial Data Library, 2012.© The State of Victoria, 2012.

WimmeraHeritageRiveratpresentandasproposedbymembersofthecommunity

Ramsar Wetlands

47

Waste management or lack of it concerned a lot of people. The absence of a policy on e-waste, especially for TVs; the potential for turning waste into energy (pyrolisis); lack of container deposit legislation; and the costs and carbon emissions associated with transport of waste were all raised. Some participants cited the Warrnambool e-waste operation (see the Portland Sustainability Group effort on pages 115-116 later in this report) and the use of recycled concrete in the airport runway as examples of practices that should be more widely adopted.

As we heard in other places, renewable energy, the reduction in the feed-in tariff and changes in the wind farm policy did not reflect community aspirations. Failing to communicate these issues well left the general public unable to develop informed views, and this was not good enough. Energy efficiency was keyed into the conversation when a participant urged people to reduce consumption and demand and recognise that sustainability was all about growth and consumption. Raising the need for greater self-reliance, one Kaniva resident wanted to talk about the community generating its own energy.

The message everywhere was that public transport timetabling was inadequate and bike paths were needed to encourage bicycle use. Complaints about the lack of car parks reflected the dependence on cars. Given Horsham’s very flat terrain, this was something about which real progress could be made.

As the conversation turned to sustainability in schools it also focused on change and how to affect it. Making bike paths or recycling ‘cool’ was one way to go, but there also had to be better and improved access to information. Leadership was seen as one solution, but so was a self-reliant population.

HorshamHouseB&B shows what self-starters desiring change can do. Convening a meeting at the house we toured the premises with a number of local business people, some of whom later requested additional information.

Issues for this house included the initial difficulty in getting finance for solar panels. The proprietors had however been able to track energy use from a baseline as this was facilitated by the former owner’s release of back-records and green tourism was paying off with repeat business as a direct consequence of their green credentials.

Environmentally sustainable small business tour Horsham Bed and Breakfast


When we toured the Wimmera River with the DimboolaRowingClub, we were told about the flood response work of the locals, and we observed the extent of damage to the weir from the recent floods and heard about the impacts of this to the town and district. The drought had cost the club a generation of rowers and the loss of the weir’s capacity to hold back waters meant the regatta, the district’s only revenue raiser, was also threatened. Reconsideration of what the water means led to the acknowledgement

of its social and cultural as well as economic value. The townspeople have much in common with the people who continued to hold the

Eel Festival at Lake Bolac when it was quite dry, and also with residents around Lake Boga in developing a cultural understanding of water.

Beyond the impacts on the rowing culture of the town, in the three days Dimboola had to prepare for the floods, the community, without official approval, pitched in building levees, which saved the town. Community was harnessed quickly in the absence of organisational structures. External emergency services personnel arrived and were told to take notice of local knowledge, in particular, the lay of the land, which resulted in backup flooding drains, was well understood by locals but not by outsiders.

Collaborations emerged at every stage of the response and recovery efforts. Speedier results

emerged where there were good relationships, partnerships and respect. One of our guides said:‘…youcan’trelyononesingleagencywhenemergencieserupt.’

And wisely, the observation was made that emergency management is not:‘…aboutoutcomes,butabouthowwegetpeoplethinking.’

River red gum retained at Dimboola Weir

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Damaged Weir Dimboola

HindmarshShireCouncil, in response to submissions from the Barengi-GadjinLandCouncil, kept the old river red gum near Dimboola Weir because it has cultural value.

The Wimmera River links all those we talked to, but their understandings of it differed across the community. What did bring them together was the need to communicate, share, collaborate and get involved in the face of the flood events. The public had to ‘get thinking’ about how to deal with extreme events, and involvement sponsored inventiveness.

It was warm the day we met with the CEO, mayor and councillors at Hindmarsh Shire Council in Nhill.52 Our meeting with the shire, councillors and Greening Australia showed an understanding of the community participation process, underpinning change, which seeks to be both broad and deep, inspire other links and find innovative ways to achieve better, stable and sustainable outcomes.

Old Nhill is architecturally interesting, the energy saving method, night air purging, featuring on a couple of skylines. The council needs a new building, and they are planning for one which is solar passive, solar powered and co-generation energy-efficient. Water restrictions and smart metering is encouraging rate payers to consider waste and efficiencies in all their forms and to appreciate the built environment in different ways.

Rethinking ‘waste’ as a resource, underpins the plan for a pyrolysis plant, which will convert waste and reduce transportation costs and the carbon footprint, not just for Hindmarsh but also for local government partners in the West Wimmera and Yarriambiack.53 Munyip Roadside Grasslands Restoration Project also involves a partnership, with Greening Australia.54 Each of these plans fits within the ambit of the Wimmera Mallee Sustainability Alliance.55 Further advancing the ethic of sharing, Hindmarsh Shire also pairs up with Grampians-Wimmera-MalleeWater(GWMWater).


”

Hindmarsh draws upon community resourcefulness and promotes sustainability by every means possible. Climate change, to which the region will be vulnerable, necessitates innovation and self-reliance, and it will produce opportunities for early adopters of transformative changes.

We met the GWMWater CEO, engineers and sustainability personnel in Horsham, in their building with its north-facing window shades.

The drought fundamentally changed the water delivery business model. No longer was it possible to think about water as a limitless resource which could be wasted with impunity. The massive waste of water along the 17,000 km of channels, with as little as 10 per cent of the water getting to destinations, was just unacceptable.

Water engineers with social and cultural understandings of water talked to us about their response to this and about balancing the competing interests and sustainable practices, knowing that their professional expertise and inventiveness was essential to adapt to changing circumstances. The answer was the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline.

Built in only three and a half of a proposed 10 years the pipeline has received awards for its innovation, expedition and environmental outcomes. Notably, it was awarded the 2009 Engineering Excellence Award for Infrastructure (projects over $20 million) and the 2011 Engineering Excellence Award for Environment.

At the same time, community interest in the water savings and other project potentials, meant that it was possible to contemplate other innovations. Birchip Cropping Group, a community participation innovator in its own right, raised the loss of water in channels for native species as a downside of enclosure. As the finished pipeline freed up 80,000 ML for environmental flows, an innovative ponding solution was created with 100 ML provided for wetlands.

Dependency, partnerships and change

Beyond practical and community-driven changes GWMWater has had to consider ‘downstream’ changes. The corporation is a:‘…climate-dependentbusiness.’

GWMWater building designed for the sun –Horsham

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And, long before the public really noticed the big drought, the corporation had been aware of run-off droughts and begun to think about adaptation as follows:‘…dryspellslookliketheywillcontinue.’

In the public domain, drought has fundamentally changed the way water is understood. Landowners barely responded to recent inquiries about decommissioning. New property owners have never had water entitlements, so they have nothing to lose by these changes. Knowing that dry is the ‘new normal’ and complacency is not a plan, the corporation has partnered the community in adjustments, education and partnerships for change.

GWMWater has been active in communicating the message of water conservation to years 9–10 students. School students and their parents adopted and ran with the program ‘Phil the bucket’. The public have changed their gardens to be water efficient and their endeavours need to be both led and partnered by GWMWater.

The corporation promotes the use of grey water. Councils in the region got on board with guidelines and suggestions about health and safety for grey water systems. Reflecting community concerns and the need to work together to find solutions for water demand issues, golf courses, race tracks, and sporting ovals are now all part of the process.

In relation to water quality and broader conservation concerns GWMWater has worked with Project Platypus for the Wimmera River for 16 years. Their combined efforts have seriously remedied the degraded nature of the upper catchment which supplies water for the community. Other partnerships and involvements have included native title groups, the DSE Parks Victoria, catchment management authorities and sustainability networks.

Barengi–GadjinLandCouncil in Horsham report that the partnerships around employment on the pipeline project have served to break down barriers and promote opportunities that would not otherwise have been available. The information flow has been two- way with multiple dimensions. It is clear that innovation is supported by helpful relationships, and people are more inclined to support the initiatives they own or care about.

Sustainability and the meaningful cultivation of community participation is now core business for GWMWater.57 Thinking innovatively, age-old methods of moving water, such as the gravity feed from the Grampians, are valued as energy saving techniques, just as are the possibilities of new technologies.

WimmeraRiverImprovementCommittee (Horsham Urban Landcare) members have been very active in developing the river issues.58 Active for more than 30 years, the committee endeavours to involve the local community in its work. At Horsham, the Wimmera River provides one of the few catfish breeding grounds in Victoria, and the expansion of the wetlands in Horsham, with the support of developers and the council, is a significant achievement for bird numbers, fish populations and community amenity.

John Francis and Gary Aitken Wimmera

River Improvement committee


The principal goal of the committee at this time is to have the whole of the Wimmera River declared a heritage river, but the members also simply want local people and visitors to enjoy and understand this interesting river.

In the meantime, partnerships have been forged in unusual places. The program BrightKoorisRising, a short and intense program offered through Horsham DSE, worked to build participation by the local community and was well received by local environmental groups like the Wimmera River Improvement Committee.

Work on the NhillCommunityGarden was reported back to us as we worked our way across the Wimmera. A group of locals can see potential for working together across sectors and cultures, involving business, sustainability advocates and farming people.

A piece of ground has been sourced, a committee is working on the idea, the group is determining how to progress, they have overcome red tape about their work involving young people, and they are now landscaping their site.

These achievements are driven by the energy of the participants who see the garden as a resource for goodwill, produce and recreation, and as a part of a larger movement to encourage people to grow their own, reduce food kilometres and cultivate relationships.

Nhill Garden committee September 2011

Nhill community Garden committee

members November 2011*

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*Photo courtesy of Emily Gash Nhill Free Press

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SummaryA stand-out feature of community engagement in places of importance to people is that issues and myths can be raised, practical solutions discussed, information shared and sourced, and change exemplified and made possible.

People’s resourcefulness saw them taking on rigorous intellectual challenges in addition to performing in a great range of other more usual and additional roles, including farming, engineering, accounting and innovation in and about these roles.

From emergency situations, through Landcare and local farming groups, small-scale improvement committees, groups that are seeking to re-establish Indigenous connectivity, school groups and major corporations involved with massive engineering projects, gardens and wetlands, it is apparent that better solutions will be found, and they will be more sustainable if the public is involved in a meaningful way. Every place we went in the Wimmera served to reinforce that message. When exposed to people dealing with crisis, it was abundantly clear that they were more resourceful if they were self-reliant.


Gippslands: cultural and environmental factsIndicative of the sense of isolation associated with the most eastern parts of the Gippslands, even the Bidawel, the traditional landowners in the far east, were called ‘outcasts’. The region is now acknowledged as Gunai Kurnai country.

3 Many Gippslands: change across the region: Orbost to Korumburra

ChAPTER ThREE

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Snowy River re-vegetation projectSnowy River tree planting

Snowy River re-vegetation Moogji workcrew

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At the time of European occupation, the region could be described as a place ‘of crystal lakes and winding streams of silver’.59

Gippsland is a place for rarities, the Giant Gippsland Earthworm, listed as a threatened and protected species,60 is only found in South Gippsland’s Bass River Valley, and the region supports the only Victorian populations of the Eastern Bristlebird, Diamond Python and Stuttering Frog, all of which are threatened species.

In terms of land mass, the Gippslands make up 17 per cent of Victoria’s geographical area. Coastline extends for 700 km, and 60 per cent of the area is public land made up of state forests, remnant vegetation and national and marine parks.

The region is prone to natural disasters. Its forest cover was recently subject to bushfires (2006–07 and 2009) and severe flooding occurred in 2007 and 2011.

Bushfires2002–2009EasternVictoria

Yea

MoeSale

Omeo

Euroa

Erica

Cowes

Noojee

Cobram

Yarram

Orbost

Buchan

Bright

Foster

Maffra

Wodonga

Rosebud

Seymour

Benalla

Kyabram

Kilmore

Numurkah

Warragul

San Remo

Lilydale

Jamieson

Corryong

Traralgon

Alexandra

Wonthaggi

Melbourne

Mansfield

Frankston

Leongatha

Dandenong

Warburton

Shepparton

Cann River

Beechworth

Rutherglen

Myrtleford

Bairnsdale

Yarrawonga

Whittlesea Marysville

Wangaratta

Tallangatta

Lakes Entrance

Major Wildfires (Seasons)2008/092006/072002/03Other Wildfires (2002-2009)

Public LandWaterbodiesMajor WatercourseHighway

0 40 8020

Kilometers

N#


This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and itsemployees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind oris wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims allliability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from yourelying on any information in this publication.

Yea

MoeSale

Omeo

Euroa

Erica

Cowes

Noojee

Cobram

Yarram

Orbost

Buchan

Bright

Foster

Maffra

Wodonga

Rosebud

Seymour

Benalla

Kyabram

Kilmore

Numurkah

Warragul

San Remo

Lilydale

Jamieson

Corryong

Traralgon

Alexandra

Wonthaggi

Melbourne

Mansfield

Frankston

Leongatha

Dandenong

Warburton

Shepparton

Cann River

Beechworth

Rutherglen

Myrtleford

Bairnsdale

Yarrawonga

Whittlesea Marysville

Wangaratta

Tallangatta

Lakes Entrance

Major Wildfires (Seasons)2008/092006/072002/03Other Wildfires (2002-2009)

Public LandWaterbodiesMajor WatercourseHighway

0 40 8020

Kilometers

N#


This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and itsemployees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind oris wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims allliability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from yourelying on any information in this publication.


Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP


Errinundra NP


Baw Baw NP

Nooramunga Marine & Coastal Park

Croajingolong NP

Bunurong MNP


Lind NP


Corner Inlet MNPShallow Inlet Marine & Coastal Park

Beware Reef MS

ARTE RIVER

LA TROBE RIVER

AVON RIVER

TAM

BO R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

YARRA RIVER

BIG RIVER

MITCHELL RIVER

MERRIMAN CREEK

ACHER

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BRODRIB

B RIVE

RDARG

O R

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BUNYIP RIV

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RIVE

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TIMBARRA RIVER

PERR

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VER

ALBERT RIVER

BASS

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ABERFELD

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BARKLY RIVER

TANJIL

RIV

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WEN

TW

ORT

H R

IVER

MOE RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH

RIVER

TARA

GO R

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WATTS RIVER

JORDAN RIVER

BLACK RIVER

ERRINUNDRA

RIVER

WELLINGTON RIVER

LAKE KING

LAKE WELLINGTON

LAKE VICTORIA

LAKE REEVE

LAKE EILDON

LAKE COLEMAN

THOMSON LAKE

LAKE EILDON

! South EastTour Locations

Parks and Reserves

State Forest

Other Public Land



RAMSAR wetlands

Heritage Rivers

Waterbody

Major Watercourse

Roads

Source: DSE/DPI Corporate Spatial Data Library, 2012.© The State of Victoria, 2012.

0 20 4010

KilometersN#

GOOLEN

GOOK RIVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

BEMM RIVER

SNOW

Y RIVER

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Heritage rivers course across the whole landscape.61 The Genoa River is heritage listed from the NSW border to just upstream of Wangarabell. The Bemm River and its major tributaries, the Goolengook, Arte and Errinundra Rivers from the estuary upstream, are all classified. The Snowy River, from the NSW border to its ocean outfall at Marlo, is heritage. The Suggan Buggan and Berrima Rivers from the NSW border to the Snowy River confluence, the upper Buchan River from Mount Cobberas to the Campbells Creek confluence, the Mitchell and Wonnangatta Rivers from the Wonnangatta headwaters to Lake King, and the Thomson River above Cowwarr Weir are all listed as Heritage Rivers. The Aberfeldy River within the Baw Baw National Park is also defined as Heritage River.

Wetlands are of equal importance. Gippsland Lakes, including the Heart and Dowd Morasses, the Corner Inlet and Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Parks are all listed under the intergovernmental “Ramsar Convention” on wetlands.

Alpine NP

Yarra Ranges NP

Snowy River NP


Errinundra NP


Baw Baw NP


Croajingolong NP

Bunurong MNP


Lind NP


Corner Inlet MNPShallow Inlet Marine & Coastal Park

Beware Reef MS

ARTE RIVER

LA TROBE RIVER

AVON RIVER

TAM

BO R

IVER

THOMSON RIVER

YARRA RIVER

BIG RIVER

MITCHELL RIVER

MERRIMAN CREEK

ACHER

ON R

IVER

BRODRIB

B RIVE

RDARG

O R

IVER

BUCH

AN RIV

ER

NIC

HOLS

ON R

IVER

BUNYIP RIV

ER

MORW

ELL

RIVE

R

TIMBARRA RIVER

PERR

Y RI

VER

ALBERT RIVER

BASS

RIV

ER

ABERFELD

Y RIVER

BARKLY RIVER

TANJIL

RIV

ER

WEN

TW

ORT

H R

IVER

MOE RIVER

TARW

IN R

IVER

LOCH

RIVER

TARA

GO R

IVER

WATTS RIVER

JORDAN RIVER

BLACK RIVER

ERRINUNDRA

RIVER

WELLINGTON RIVER

LAKE KING

LAKE WELLINGTON

LAKE VICTORIA

LAKE REEVE

LAKE EILDON

LAKE COLEMAN

THOMSON LAKE

LAKE EILDON

!South EastTour Locations

Parks and Reserves

State Forest

Other Public Land



RAMSAR wetlands

Heritage Rivers

Waterbody

Major Watercourse

Roads


0 20 4010

KilometersN#

GOOLEN

GOOK RIVER

WONNANGATTA RIVER

BEMM RIVER

SNOW

Y RIVER

Ramsar Wetlands

57

Public and institutional commitment to environmental issues plays out in the sustainable schools program with an estimated 20 per cent of schools (42) taking part in the AuSSIVic schools program. East Gippsland’s Waterwatch volunteer network comprises 72 groups and individuals, monitoring 109 sites. West Gippsland deploys 35 monitors to assess water quality at 44 sites. Gippsland has an estimated 984 Land for Wildlife sites and 363 Trust for Nature Covenants covering 9,929 hectares.

The Gippsland Lakes contribute an estimated $250 million into the economy per annum. The Gippsland Lakes, Wilsons Promontory, far east Gippsland and the Victorian Alps together with Phillip Island attract 35 per cent of all Victorian international tourists.

Just to the west of South Gippsland is theUNESCOWesternPortBiosphere Reserve, which concerns itself with ‘man in the environment’.

Marrying environment and economics, Gippsland supplies 60 per cent of Melbourne’s water needs from the catchments in the region’s state forests. Macalister Irrigation District (MID), with over 600 km of water supply channels, covers 33,000 hectares.

The Gippsland Regional Plan 2010 records an estimated economic output of $28.36 billion. Manufacturing, mining and freight employ 12 per cent of the regional workforce, and generate 33 per cent of regional output.

Mining (including oil and gas extraction) is the second-smallest sector in terms of employment numbers, yet is the third-largest sector in comparative regional output. Gippsland holds some 16 per cent of the world’s brown coal reserves. Gas produced within Gippsland is the most significant source of gas supplied to Melbourne.

Dairy farmers in the Yarram area are critically aware of nutrient run-off, effluent management and water availability issues. MurrayGoulburnCo-operative(MGC)successfully conducted the first Australian milk company pilot program, the FarmEnvironmentProgram, to explore and make trouble-free technology for environmental management on farms.62 The pilot has promoted expansion across Gippsland, the north-east and western Victoria.

The region of Gippsland has over 1 million hectares of agricultural land,63 but there has already been significant fragmentation of productive agricultural land for urban development and bush blocks.

Western Port Biosphere Annual General Meeting


Despite climate and soil quality variability, intensification of agricultural activity is expected, and the region is positioning itself as the Australian food bowl of the future.64

On low estimations, population is expected to grow by 50,000 by 2026 and the total number of households is expected to increase by 16 per cent between 2010 and 2020.

Research conducted at the Churchill campus of Monash University, often in partnership with the local community, actively seeks out the potential for change. Studies are being undertaken in the Strzeleckis involving hardwoods and DNA sampling of koala populations; algal bloom energy potential is under the microscope; Land for Wildlife and the School of Environmental Engineering are thinking laterally; and sustainable technologies in the Latrobe Valley and better mass transport options, agricultural water conservation techniques and sustainable tourism are all being examined. Partnerships with companies and niche markets are being explored; heat events are being studied with service providers; planning issues around growth corridors is a focal point for growth and sustainability and doctoral work on carbon storage is working through the issues.

Sustainability aspirations are playing out in intensely practical ways. Paul Barton the facilities manager of the Monash University Churchill campus, told us at this meeting that from 2005 to 2010 the university had made a number of changes that saved 23.6 per cent on energy use, which translates into $600,000 in savings. A 37 per cent saving in water use was made in that same time frame.65

Gippsland TAFE works on skills and networking, the promotion of sustainable education and the reduction of its carbon footprint.

Getting to East GippslandThe drive from Melbourne to Orbost takes hours.

Meetings are rarely convened beyond Traralgon or Bairnsdale. Public participation most often necessitates travel for those ‘further out’. Sheer physical isolation is compounded by social and cultural separation when people have to travel, alone or in small groups, to talk (and more often, to listen).

Community capacity is obscured by a lack of exploration at the extremities. Relationships are not created. Visitors gain only partial insights and retain a semblance of the expertise which only serious participation supports. (See Appendix One on participation methodology.)

Development theorists have long supported the need for taking the discussion to the place, not the place to the discussion, so we went to Orbost to hear what people had to say about their aspirations, achievements and concerns about environmental matters. Our meetings were spread from Marlo, just south of Orbost, to Korumburra – from pea picking to coalmining country.

Marlo is situated on the coast south of Lake Corringle, an 800 ha state game reserve used for duck shooting – Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Mountain Duck and Chestnut Teal. To the east is Cape Conran Coastal Park, 11,700 ha, providing protection for some of the ‘wilderness coast’ and several significant species of orchids and the Little Tern, Smokey Mouse, Ground Parrot, White-Bellied Sea Eagle and Australian Grayling. The Dock Inlet is a pristine coastal stream that ends in a freshwater coastal lagoon. Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary, off Cape Conran, is of enormous importance.

We learnt an early lesson about the multiple meanings of ‘planning’ here at our first meeting in Orbost. People in far east Gippsland have planning concerns that differ from those in west or south Gippsland. One group is concerned about isolation the other about increasing proximity through urban encroachment.

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Rural Women Leading ChangeDriving in from Marlo to Orbost to start our discussions, we followed the lower reaches of the Snowy River.

Orbost, built above the floodplain of the Snowy River, exists, like its cousin Heyfield in no small part because of the timber industry. OrbostRuralWomenLeadingChange(RWLC) met us at the Neighbourhood House, a hub of conviviality, comfort and reinforcement, where new communication technologies are concentrated and used with alacrity.

Rural contexts are as complex as urban ones and we met farming women, townspeople, school girls, and newcomers. Long-haul residents provided rich local knowledge, memories and insights.

A newer resident talked about the need to ‘relocalise’ people.

Dealing with our interests first, the use of case studies in environmental reporting met with immediate approval, as this would give people a voice about localised issues, processes and projects. Jargon, scientific or bureaucratic, should be dispensed with, as accessible information fed public interest. By way of extension, it was suggested that if reports reflected successful pilot projects, the replication and waste associated with episodic and terminated funding might be reduced.

Biodiversity’s importance had to be elevated, not just because the environment was fragile but also because a diverse natural environment provided tourism opportunities and was the inheritance and entitlement of youth. Tourism entrepreneurs – for instance, the recent influx of bicycle tourism operators – brought reflective comments about change and continuities. The group felt that carbon farming’s biodiversity co-benefits presented as an effective method of changing minds and practices.

Matters of local interest were canvassed.

Issues of isolation opened up the discussion. Distance from Melbourne or other centres was raised, as was the need for better transport options. We were referred to the local bus timetable.

Orbost Rural Women’s Network


Busroute Frequency Timetable

Batemans Bay to Bairnsdale

1 per day Mon – Fri 10.55

Sat 10.40 Sun 14.45

Bairnsdale to Batemans Bay

1 per day Mon – Fri 12.34

Sat 12.55 Sun 13.35

Canberra to Melbourne

1 a day – 2 to 3 days per week

Tue & Fri 15:50

Sun 14:45* Reservations required

Melbourne to Canberra

1 a day – 2 to 3 days per week

Mon & Thu 12.30

Sat 12.55* Reservations required

* Only operates in school holidays

Take-up of technology was the resourceful way of dealing with the issue of isolations. Broadband would be useful. The Neighbourhood House provided a variety of technologies, a venue and training site, and distance was no longer paralysing.

Use of technology produced co-benefits by reducing travel, risk and carbon emissions. Acquisition of new skills promoted innovation and opportunities generally and in the event of emergencies such as bushfires.

Expansion of technologies, particularly by youth was a plus.

Fear of change, a theme to which we returned, in respect of novel technologies, needed to be addressed.

Energy efficiency, and the communication of the co-benefits of sustainability associated with renewables, had to be better communicated and information made easy to digest and accessible.

We were told that conflicting views about climate change were overcome once the merit of energy efficiency was raised even at an intensely local level where positions might be entrenched.

The co-benefits of reducing consumption and waste were clear. Told that Orbost recently lost power for 48 hours, the conversation opened up to discussion about self-reliance and micro-energy – as heard in Horsham.

Support for a change agenda Building regulation standards were said to be obviously inadequate, and the lack of guidance or inducements and sanctions for poor practice frustrated people. Industry competition was non-existent, particularly in the bush.

As these women managed their businesses, they were multi-skilled and knew sustainability was imperative, they saw themselves as agents for change, but it nevertheless remained a challenge to think and act holistically. Implementation required support, organisationally, socially, in governance and proactively. Information had to be readily accessible, reliable and trusted. Reinforcement through non-judgemental conversations about mistakes, sharing ideas and cultivating expanded networks would promote change, and the social and cultural environment to support this had to be created. Participatory processes would be a positive step to attainment.

Change and its implementation was a major focus of our discussion. The discussion was couched in terms of: implementation; hands-on and collaborative leadership; firm and loosely linked networking; framing and leveraging; research access and applicability; regional contexts, and even what the theory of change might be.

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Implementation examples are legion – schools all over the state provide examples. Orbost was no exception, with solar panels, draught-proofing, new energy-efficient light fittings, and recognition of the economic and environmental co-benefits.

Conversations unfolded about parallel strategic interactions, and the need for operational and tactical interventions fed the discussion.

Significantly, concern was expressed that isolation can contribute to the hardening of polarised positions, and that it could be difficult to change the views of people in smaller communities. Sobering observations about the culture of smaller towns and fear of change were offset against providing information and generating awareness that change is not a threat.

A role for government existed – to draw people into a change agenda but, critically, local people had to be actively and meaningfully involved.

The award-winning town of Heyfield echoed and exemplified all of these issues. Here implementation has been underway since 2009 with their energy saving SustainableSmartTownFlagProgram.

Flying the flag in Heyfield

HEYFIELD


The Flags Program is predicated on trusting relationships, community-driven, participatory, subject to a sliding scale of approvals, and both simple and highly nuanced. Residents get a coloured flag for their roof depending on their energy efficiency achievements, with the colours graded and placed and replaced by the program. The flags are home-dyed, torn up sheeting. The Flags Program inspires, informs and empowers those who join, and also remains open to the inclusion of new members. It shows what a small community can achieve without government funding and with a public involvement ethic.

We met a diverse group of local people at their base, the Neighbourhood House. Typical of their resourcefulness and understanding of the need to communicate the message, they organised their own media and some local awards presentations as a feature of our visit.

Begun by surveying the whole community, the core group got the district involved and talked about environmental, social and economic co-benefits. Self-help drives the project. Long-term unemployed people are trained and the Ambulance Service is sponsored.

In the first six weeks of the program, 360 homes joined. The final green flag, attached to the successful participant’s roof, is a ‘powerful statement’.

Some fundamentals apply. Participation is actively encouraged, communication is paramount, jargon is not used, and the whole community is regarded as the solution to energy efficiencies. Again, the school is involved with its own program, a new commercial kitchen and a vegetable garden.

Innovating in this way is possible in all settings. Implementation requires considered action and a sound basis in participation, inclusive leadership and a pluralistic foundation, and being open and flexible.

Better communication and respect for knowledgeThe many Gippslands gave us many Gippslanders, and even an organisation such as Rural Women Leading Change (RWLC) gave us varied perspectives as they conjured up the core themes of participation, self-reliance and change.

We met with women in Bairnsdale, Traralgon, Yarram and Warragul. They gave us their time before work and after work, and they talked about personal, professional, environmental, economic and social and cultural issues and the associated co-benefits.

In Bairnsdale, farmers, members of Uniting Care and local government, retirees and younger women with children, met us at St Mary’s Parish Hall. Issues including illegal dumping of asbestos and, waste management and sanctions were canvassed after an initial discussion about improving the relevance of environmental reporting through better communication and case studies.

A general observation was made that a lack of respect for knowledge acquired over years of practical work seemed to typify decision making, and that encouragement of meaningful participation by local people in local environmental issues would promote change, support efforts already underway, break down artificial divisions between the city and the country, and result in people being better informed and able to make smarter choices.

As we have found everywhere, education of young people for environmental sustainability was important to this group of women. Young people were seen as capable of passing on the lessons to family. Additionally, the capacity of older people to instil sustainability messages should be valued and two-way learning promoted.

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The power of local agency: getting to changeLarge talking circles delivered comments thick and fast.

We were told that reporting using regional examples would develop networks to both source and provide information and constructively consider pressing, localised issues.

Regional consultations had to be participatory, listening dialogues. People who live and work in the region are trusted and well positioned to suggest, inspire and sustain the leaps, experiments and risks involved in innovation. Local participation is less likely to follow the whim of an isolated decision maker.

Government had to avoid co-opting or stripping out content only to sanitise local commentary, as this implied disdain for true collaboration, and promoted inertia and a loss of confidence in both the government and the local participant. Participation of local people should not be used to gain public acceptance of policy decisions that had already been taken. Partnerships based on regionalism and respect are necessary but it should be remembered expectations of constant volunteering were becoming oppressive.

We heard about local resourcefulness and activity. We also heard that waiting for approvals from the centre was frustrating and potentially paralysing. We heard:‘…thereislotsofworkgoingon.’

And, a non Indigenous person reflecting a comment made by a senior Indigenous man in the west of the state said –‘…Melbournedoesn’tknoweverythingthatishappening.’

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A better, more effective ‘regional conversation’ was necessary for change and would:‘…workforallofus.’

A good deal of comment explored the role and needs of farmers. Even though farming people had a store of information that could be much better used if only it was respected, it was recognised that some traditional productivity-based farming practices could be detrimental to the environment.

Appropriate, relevant and rigorous information had to be communicated. The carbon farming initiative was raised. Incentives were necessary and explanation out in the public domain was imperative.67

Scientific method and conclusions required elaboration. Assumptions were made about access to knowledge – “farmers don’t read scientific journals”. Finding the time to acquire and act on new information was often a struggle.

Examples of useful information included the DPI’s Climate Dogs, even though it needed tweaking for Gippsland; the CSIRO portal for coastal communities; and material about the Transition Towns movement. Agricultural extension services were still necessary in relation to soils, and crop rotations and the increase in weekend farmers made information distribution even more important. Legislation should be better explained.

Innovators and sustainable practitioners, men and women, had to be cultivated, and cared for, and skills and local leadership should be valued.

Talk of a whole community – farmers and environmentalists, old and new, long- and short-term residents – with everyone working together, illustrated the level of interest in a participatory ethic for change.

One participant observed:‘Weneedtofindtheconnections.’

A final comment drew some of the threads together:‘Hereweare,tellingstoriestoeachother.Thepowerofprogramsislostiftheyarenottalkedabout.Wedon’thearaboutthegoodthings,andweshould.’

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At Yarram we met with a smaller group. Diversity and vitality here, as elsewhere, marked those who made the time to contribute. The group included Women on Farms, a dairy farmer, community carer, biologist, sustainable hobby farmer, local government councillor, volunteer, and musician and science-forestry graduate.

This group raised specific issues and challenged governments of all levels to respond.

Regulatory requirements for housing should insist upon sustainability, solar power and grid interactivity; mains water should be better planned; a one-stop shop should dispense benefits, subsidies and programs; episodic funding was counterproductive; waste reduction and recycling required promotion and accessibility; and local government rate structures should promote changing practices. Planning decisions had to afford local views some meaningful status.

Meaningful, not token, public participation was necessary and should be sponsored.

Climate change produced comments of serious concern. Projections of regional sea-level rise were worrying and climate change action plans were essential. Retreat, relocation and design issues all need to be considered.

Other planning decisions, or lack of them, which required action, included rail networks, mass transport options and the potential for accessing school buses.

Rural Women Leading change and Women on Farms Yarram

Yarram Yarram Landcare Network


”

Accepting and promoting changeAspirations for self-sufficiency and a deep commitment to resourceful community organisation across the whole gamut of local interests, from fire prevention to health service provision, typified the group’s conversation.

Initial comments reflected our view that an effective State of the Environment Report would not only provide information but also report on how people impact their environment in many ways in local settings and across sectors, positively and negatively.

Among the positives was all the work done voluntarily, without funding, which can be simply exhausting. Creative solutions were also the product of resourceful, participatory communities. And the cumulative impact is a community that is more resistant and able to deal with surprises or shocks, less vulnerable, and, because more resourceful, less risk-averse.

Such communities are more able and likely to try to promote change.

One woman commented:‘…Weusedtopreparepeoplebetter.Climatechangeisgoingtopresentuswithnewanddifferentchallenges–extremeevents,issuesaboutfoodsecurity,uncertainty,communityfragmentation,problemsduetolackofintegration,jurisdictionalconflictsand

intergenerationalproblems.’

Communities needed to be able to respond to these issues. Plans, skills and cultivation of resourcefulness were all essential ingredients.

WarragulRWLC sits in the Shire of Baw Baw, and we met after hours at the tertiary education site. A large group of women from many backgrounds and sectors came out to talk to us.

We heard that the shire is promoting recycling, e-waste disposal, energy-efficient light bulbs, rebates on compost bins, worm farms, and 4 star washing machines. Being the sixth-fastest growth area in Victoria and ambitious to be carbon neutral, the shire is attacking the issue from all sides.

Thirty people in the shire are being trained as sustainability leaders, representing a major shift in understanding over the last few years. Organisations should support shifts to sustainability so that communities are leading change.

Changes in demographics and land use pose challenges to this other Gippsland. They cannot be ignored and they are being factored into discussions.

RWLC also met us in the government offices in Traralgon.

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Rural Women Leading change Warragul

67

Raised immediately, education for sustainability was again seen as a conduit for information. Those aged 20–30 years were seen as disengaged with sustainability issues.

Conversation about communication, with social media as the new tool, abutted concerns about poor public transport as climate change and sustainability issues. Planning about roads, housing, health, an ageing population, air quality and public land use exercised the group.

Opposition to the planned-burning regimes was expressed.

Although clearly recognising the need for change, this was one group that expressed the view that it was government assistance that would drive it, in retrofitting, infrastructure and compulsory energy efficiency in buildings. Regulatory responses were required.

Baw Baw Shire is not alone in working out ways to generate an interest in change and focus it on local issues and people. WellingtonShiresaw the importance of acting and generating interest in sustainable behaviour and got operational in 2006.

Council and Community Care Gippsland Green Team got together and got active from Bairnsdale, to Leongatha and Sale, creating a local leader, a green ambassador. A network of up to 400 people came together to work on change, resourcefulness, and participation.

Momentum was lost in the long, slow grind of developing policies, dealing with episodic grants funding, and running and driving programs, but they have now regained ground, and a lot of this work culminated in a Green Staff Day in October 2011.

Traralgon Rural Women’s Network

Gippsland Uniting care Green Staff Day Sale


Locals are fulfilling early aspirations with focus on green tourism, slow food, food tourism, sustainable growth and encouragement of ‘thinking global, acting local’. Ambitions extend across all the Gippslands and their geographies, interests, sectors and organisational cultures.

Wellington Shire took advantage of an internal restructure to bed down sustainability as core business, exemplified by an environmental sustainability strategy and Wellington 2030, developed in consultation with others, supported by the Local Government Sustainability Accord.

The Wellington Shire Council Plan 2010–2014, as a result of the 2009 review of Wellington 2030, states that sustainability is a central focus that underpins the four strategic objectives of governance, development, environment and liveability. The council now has an environmental sustainability strategy and supporting implementation plan that identifies nine themes. The first of these is natural environment, and others such as transport and development make reference to climate change and sustainability.68

The Sustainability Group acts as a conduit for the conversation about change. It works to reflect local interest and deliver on sustainability priorities, including educational and early-years programs (eco-project bulk buying, reducing waste, generating co-benefits). Messages are communicated by newsletters, blogs, word of mouth and local media, cultivating trust and respect.

Using all these processes, we heard local shire “promotes” participation and encourages the public to innovate and take risks, trying out localised adaptive and sustainable practices. Networks and partnerships are a cornerstone for change, not only in townships.

Change and change managementRestoration of biodiversity, local ecosystems and wetlands is recognised as the stewardship responsibility of local government and private landholders. Landcare has had an enormous effect on the way landholders look at management and stewardship in the region, and partnerships, including Urban Landcare, are being investigated. Rate rebates for Trust for Nature sites should be considered.

A little out of chronological order, as our meeting with the SouthGippsland and BassCoastShires was convened on the last day of the Gippslands tour, it is useful to make the following comments here.

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Korumburra public meeting

Korumburra

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”

A large group of people assembled at the Korumburra Italian Club, and they took a number of hours to caucus and report back on matters of importance and concern.

They agreed with our observations that communication of good examples should be reflected in environmental reports and that case studies would promote understanding of the issues.

Crossing urban and agricultural landscapes, each group of participants considered complexity.

Interconnection of nature and the community and the dependence of each upon the other, climate change and a need for leadership and personal action were all knitted together. Sustainability education in schools was seen as a necessary.

Problems presented including the sustainable and coordinated management of hard and e-waste; urban encroachment on agricultural land and townships not equipped to deal with surges in population; counterproductive and even perverse incentives for unsustainable building design; the lack of meaningful community participation in planning; sustainable farming strategies for food production and problematic fertiliser dependency; roadside and private invasive weed management.

Better communication of the meaning and impacts of product life cycles and embedded energy would be timely. Incentives change practices.

Growth and population had to be sustainable.

Again, change management and promotion was a persistent theme. Renewable energy was raised at table after table, and highly localised cooperative bulk purchase programs raised and praised. In the region, the SouthernSolarHub-EnergyInnovationCo-operative has made this possible. It was “shameful” the change was made so complex when there was a general acceptance of the need to reduce energy consumption and increase use of renewables.

Comment came:‘…Lotsofpeopleareonthevergeofchange.’

‘…Peopleinourregionarereadytogoonsolarpower,theylikealternativepowerasasourceofenergy.’

Communicating effectively and connecting with the community, bottom-up not top-down solutions, and participation were tied to the conversation about the need and support for change.

During this tour of these many Gippslands, we had attended the launch of the ClimateWorks,MonashUniversity and LaTrobeCityCouncil multi-party production of the region’s LowCarbonGrowthPlan. Extensive participation was undertaken to get to this plan.69

Regular, not sporadic, community action and persistent local networking grounds the plan, and the work that has been done to promote it will be pivotal to its success and a vast range of people have made contributions to the work. Specific interest in climate change, its environmental implications and its potential impact on local communities, both negative and productive, was expressed at our community meetings in Gippsland. Being provided with a tool that demonstrates both the need for and the ease of action is enabling.


Picking up on Wellington Shire’s comments about Landcare, and its role both in its own right and as a partner in processes to benefit biodiversity, we met with a number of Landcare groups and heard about others, all working on partnerships, participation and stewardship of country. They are all planting trees, but they are also doing much more, and thinking about and effecting change.

MaffraandDistrictLandcare talked about the power and prevalence of the local perspective. It was the view of the meeting that environmental reporting should recognise the benefits of sharing and involvement, make the messages accessible, meaningful and fun, and engage people. In reports, innovation should be celebrated as different ways of doing things. Exploration of new networks and adaptation to new technology will not only promote change but also advance resourcefulness and resilience in the face of climate change uncertainties and opportunities.

One of the big messages for any sort of useful reporting has to be: be prepared to learn from mistakes. Another is: participate, develop relationships and explore all options. And finally: work out the shared goals of the community and build on them, rejecting isolation as a mindset.

Information needed to be fast-tracked because climate change, ‘just one more challenge’, and climate positioning will provide carbon sequestration possibilities, which innovators, including farmers, could explore and exploit.

Starting in the early 1980s, the work of this group was pre-dated by the AvonTreePlantingGroup, so the local Landcare Network has been gathering the story and generating a cultural shift over 25 years. Notwithstanding the length of this work, change is often driven by people before structures are created, with early action providing the launching pad for things that happen later. Funding and formal organisational structures are only a part of what drives environmental consciousness and action. For this group, the means of effecting change is well outlined in the Gippsland Future/Food Sustainable Agricultural Leadership Course.71

Participants spoke of the potential that arises out of times of change and uncertainty. People on the land watch; they know the land, they study the weather (they have to) and they form views about what needs to be done. They talk and network about soil health, peak oil, climate change. And once they have talked, they get working. Trees have always been of value and socially valued, but there will be other new opportunities with carbon farming.

There was a place for leadership, however, as conservative farming communities they need politicians and departments to provide information and support. There was also a place for respect and recognition of the work done by the farming community in looking after the land. Reliance upon others was not the pressing message from this meeting. People were involved, considered, and working on change and innovation.

YarramYarramLandcareGroup, operating for 16 years around Jack and Albert Rivers, has 300 members, a progressive board and three Landcare staff, and is diverse, thoughtful, fond of the area and determined to innovate. Groundwater, the break-up of larger farms, the Victorian-Auditor General’s report on Parks Victoria, and building controls and planning participation came up in the discussion.

Coastal responsibility of this group stretches for 100 km (Seaspray to Welshpool), the hinterland extends back 40 km, and connectivity can be problematic. The landscape is diverse, with a warm temperate climate and high environmental values.

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WestGippslandMarineCoastalParks

A restoration plan for Jack and Albert Rivers requires blackberry eradication of 3,000 ha and, given the level of private ownership, strategic biodiversity choices will have to be made. This Gippsland differs markedly from east Gippsland, made up of great swathes of public land.

Breadth of issues: working with complexityFor this group issues are of enormous breadth. The coast project at Woodside runs over three to five years; links state forest with the coast; involves multiple partnerships; and deals with different ecosystems and biodiversity and other challenges, from coastal salt marsh protection to gorse weed invasions, recovery from the 2009 fires and provenance of plant types. Dry land salinity, salt-tolerant plantings, drainage, nutrient run-off and introduced species are all intellectual, management, and physical challenges. Biodiversity and farm care are complex, and they need to be tied together to promote healthy environments and the economic viability of farming. Sustainable futures involve the people and the environment working together.

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Coordination is important and uncertainty is troubling. Episodic funding and its insecurity and the responsibility of part-timers administering large amounts of funds can be a problem. Breaking up larger farms for sale was a major concern. Communication was a challenge. For best effect, newsletters, websites and brochures need to draw people into the conversation, not alienate them. Awards are important to celebrate best practice.

dairy farmers, working at the extremities, know that change is a way of life. New skills and take-up of alternative technologies are necessary to deal with new and old challenges. One farmer/landcarer made the point:‘…Wecouldalwaysbedoingmore,innovatingeverywherewithpipelines,transportsharing,methanecollection…’

Integrated farm mapping presented both challenges and opportunities. Experimentation for the carbon-constrained age was the new driver. Mitigation and adaptation to climate change were dual aspirations. Carbon price mechanisms would force change at a faster pace.

This group was reflecting on environmentally sustainable options. Carbon offsetting was possible through eco-tender, and it was suggested that the Strzelecki and Gippsland forests had carbon sink potential. But there were also questions – the exclusion from carbon pricing mechanisms may be a problem, and how was this all going to work?

One person made the point:‘Itshouldbeeasiertotapintotheopportunities.’

An inspired list of possibilities for change was outlined by one farmer and affirmed by others.

Dairying could be an example of holistic, greenhouse-sensitive ways of doing things. One truck could pick up all of the milk; they could reduce their use of nitrogenous fertilisers, which are greenhouse potent; there had to be better ways of dealing with methane-potent dairy effluent; solar and wind power and solar water and green cleaning should be the norm; electric vehicles for short farm trips should be considered; micro-energy generation is possible and should be explored; and pit silage should be used. If the Bureau of Meteorology was looking for submissions on its fact sheets, dairy farmers should be responding, as partners.

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Life-cycle assessments were suggested as a way of understanding the footprint of dairy farming in the region, and the questions were:‘…morecomplexthanwhetherajerseywasamoreefficientmilkproducerthanafriesian.’

None of these issues were considered in isolation from the social and cultural fabric of the area, and every conversation was about change and the intelligent mapping of possibilities. Change was seen as a way of life, adaptation as the mechanism to deal with it, and innovation as the way to sustain farming. A willingness to explore and reinvent emerged from the meeting.

In Traralgon we heard about the growth of UrbanLandcare, and we heard about and were taken to see some farming successes. People who spoke to us care passionately about repairing the river, and real improvements in biodiversity have been attained, largely by farming families. A big program of willow removal and riparian revegetation had been adopted to improve river health.

Public participation was seen as central to change as, even with goodwill, government intervention could be bureaucratic and stultifying. Local resourcefulness was to be celebrated, as ground-up, self-sufficient programs seemed to be highly successful, even without incentives.

Beyond a straightforward interest in planting only local provenance native species, we were introduced to people involved in the bushfire fire recovery partnerships (GreeningAustralia, the WestGippslandCatchmentManagementAuthority[West Gippsland CMA], the public and Landcare). Their work showed that rigid perspectives were not always the most helpful in dealing with crisis recovery. People who knew the country well were in a good position to undertake recovery work, maintaining what they could and by innovating, sometimes by planting non-natives, which in certain settings would more usefully frustrate future fire events. Participation bred a conversation that accepted that flexibility was important, and it bred confidence as a result of respectful discussions, and competence and capacity.

Common threads: complexity and collaborationLooping back to where we started this tour, the SnowyRiverRestorationSites near Orbost and Marlo are illuminating about participation and people’s skills and resourcefulness.

Ken Judd team leader Snowy River Forest Park

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Great interpretation, good and sound aesthetic works, and a schools program that takes children out to places to see things well done at the Snowy near the coast brings the Gippslands together.

Listening to the program coordinator at the interpretive site, which doubles as a demonstration site for successful river works programs, his interest and the lyrical way he spoke of the Snowy River, not as an icon but as a local site, makes it clear that this end of the Snowy was and is an ‘occupied place’. It had its own way of speaking to the people who worked with and on it and enjoyed it. It is not simply a beautification project; it is a working environmental project, a skills developer and a cultivator of participation.

Operationally, the lower reaches of the Snowy River around Orbost at the downstream jetty are a project about willow removal. Strategically and tactically, though, the project is about encouragement of best practice in the face of quiet but significant resistance by those who still like willows and who worry about loss of habitat and the erosion that will occur once they are removed. When is a weed a weed?

Conflicting views, about change and persistence, and their interconnections, have resulted in accommodations, and the insightful and instructive utilisation of co-benefits as an environmental protection methodology. The willows are cut back and poisoned but not pulled out of the river banks. Removal of willows from headwaters has been a consistent objective that has necessitated community discussion and strategic planning running in tandem. Again, the discussion was about change but the remedy has been collaboration.

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Snowy River Orbost

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Volunteer work and community partnerships concerned with Snowy River rehabilitation augment the post-secondary educational sector work that is done through agencies like the MoodjiAboriginalCouncil, an active driver of the rehabilitation works.

Ranger and associated educational opportunities for Aboriginal people often provide long-term employment in places of cultural and social significance with a diverse range of other personal and community benefits. This has proved to be the case in other states and territories, and it is now being demonstrated in far east Victoria.

Aboriginal men and women from the area and people from other parts of the country have been involved in the physical rehabilitation of the river and in the process they have been rebuilding their communities and connections to country, building relationships with non-Indigenous people and landowners, and acquiring skills and a cultural repertoire that some thought to be lost.

Two catchment management authorities cover the Gippslands. In the east, the EastGippslandCatchmentManagementAuthority (East Gippsland CMA) runs weed and pest animal control programs (From the Highlands Down and Protecting the Best), and addresses the operational, participatory and ethical issues associated with landscape restoration.

A vast area of public lands across complex geographies requires resources to be spread thin. Organisational partnerships are important: VicRoads, with its corridor role, is involved and the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, NSW is also a partner.

It is the experience of the Snowy catchment group that small communities are more enabling than large ones, finding it easier to work together towards common aims. There is a need for the message to be spread or communicated in a fashion that engages people and does not alienate them.

Whether operational or organisational, public or private, collective efforts are imperative. Long-term vision is required, and planning time is an essential part of the work, as is monitoring and factoring in cost. Communication of both the need for works and the process has to be given sufficient time and be properly orchestrated.

A site visit on the Snowy told us the following additional detail. Logging along the river continues to be a problem and the river remains degraded along many of its reaches. In some instances the remediation, preservation and conservation efforts spark tensions with landowners, and there are conflicting views about the use of willows for erosion control. Water quality is still impacted by nutrients coming off farm land and there has been a history of use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).

East Gippsland CMA presentations illuminated the benefits of top-down information to counter weed infestations and to deliver on the policy of ‘protecting the best’ – country of high value and most intact. A significant role existed for government and agencies in ‘indicator choice’, data acquisition and presentation and large area assessment.


TheGippslandNaturalResourcesReportCard

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Particular emphasis was placed on a rainforest restoration project, which clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of community and government information sharing efforts and participation. The range of environmental benefits stretched from biodiversity to aquatic ecosystem health.

Real value was said to attend community involvement: community provided knowledge, fed the need for change in a highly localised fashion, gifted their time and energy, contributed without payment, and cared, often passionately, about the outcomes. Community also has networks that can only be wished for by agency staff.

The WestGippslandCMA, an equally complex region, but for different reasons than the EastGippslandCMA, conducted a survey of 1,200 of its stakeholders.

Beyond finding that there is a gulf between policy makers and community, and a common language required to bridge that gulf, the survey turned up a number of messages that we have found reflected across the state.

Drivers of change included past success, peer participation, social acceptance, and a desire to live in a sustainable way. Barriers to change were financial, a lack of labour, age, too much or a lack of understanding of bureaucracy, and a lack of support – social cultural and economic. Agriculture continued to be a big influence on environmental management, and personal relationships are an essential ingredient for any change to occur.

This report is now out. It can be found at www.wgcma.vic.gov.au.

Reflections after the tour: participation and changeAcknowledging the need to maintain connections with people about environmental reporting and responding to invitations to return, we went back to Gippsland a number of times. Importantly, we attended the MarineandCoastsInteractiveForum at Paynesville.

Very useful information was forthcoming, and really important insights were also gained about community processes for change. Cross-agency and cross-community collaborations sponsor greater confidence, trust and participation, and develop new competencies. The forum brought along the public, listened to their contributions and celebrated their ingenuity and their sparklingly local contributions.

Beware Reef near Cape Conran is being monitored and surveyed for its reef fish colonies and species by volunteer recorders/citizen scientists whose work has been recognised by the science community as being as good as anything the scientists can produce. Their work fills a knowledge gap. Shipwrecks, cross-currents and community all come together in this inventive confluence.


”A dPI marine scientist observed:‘…wehaveoneoftheworld’soceancurrentandspeciesclimatechangehotspotshereinthesouth-eastwhichisnotwellunderstood…[this]…meanswecandogoodresearchandmaybehaveimpacts.’

Partnerships and participation such as that proffered on Beware Reef are rare, highly beneficial and precious demonstrations of the value of

capturing the interested participants.

A presentation on Corner Inlet, a unique marine embayment, not an estuary, raised again the need for commitment and action to improve environmental communication.73 Corner Inlet Connections, connected

and committed, explores the unique and relatively unknown qualities of the area to inform but also actively engage

people in environmental management, again, innovating.

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common Seadragons

Images courtesy of Parks Victoria & Museum of Victoria

Mushroom Reef

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SummaryThe Gippslands we visited enabled us to hear people who spoke extensively of change and its management in environmental settings. They very clearly see the need for change and they appreciate their role as partners in this enterprise. Often they think that the government, the centre, the departments and the reporters need not only to listen to suggestions but also listen to the questions which are being asked. Government needs to provide reliable and accessible information and reinforce public involvement and initiative.

We also heard that a community that is engaged will be inventive and better able to cope with the environmental challenges thrown up by growth and contractions, population change and density, climate change, and the increase in slow attrition and accelerating extreme events.

The more isolated Gippslands may have greater fear of change but, as found elsewhere, become involved and less risk averse where their local knowledge and resourcefulness is valued and applied to find solutions collaboratively.

Powerful lessons emerge from communication of farming practices that work, as well as of those where mistakes are made. The greater and deeper understanding that follows from candid but sensible conversations builds confidence, capabilities, an interest in inventiveness and the teamwork necessary to face and deal with uncertainty.

Images courtesy of Parks Victoria & Museum of Victoria

Grey Mangrove

Weed Shrimp

Brittlestar

Gooseneck Barnacle

Red Mullet

Pygmy Leatherjacket


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Yorta Yorta climate change Group

Statistics of engagementTwo catchments, the Goulburn Broken and the North East, and water boards – Goulburn Murray Water, Goulburn Valley Water and North East Water, 172 Landcare groups, greenhouse alliances and multiple other small and large efforts both networked and individual, support and drive environmental sustainability across the north-east.

Surprising as it may seem, 5 per cent of all solar energy in Victoria is generated in Towong Shire, with only 0.1 per cent of the state’s population.

The number of formally engaged sustainable schools is 69 of 226, a total of 31 per cent. Trust for Nature Covenants totalling 199 cover 8,981 ha. Reflect public commitment to the environment. Land for Wildlife properties from Benalla to Alexandra and across the north-east number 838 and cover 123,560 hectares.

Engaging backgroundThe route from Wodonga to Melbourne follows the earliest colonial stock route to Port Phillip which is itself a amalgon of Indigenous and non-Indigenous tracks and is a historical link to stories about clashes with Indigenous people, bushranging and selecting.

Indigenous people with traditional associations are today included in the management of parks and in the development of natural resources management strategies. Yorta Yorta people have had some success in their aspirations to regain customary land with joint management agreements to the Barmah National Park and they were the first south eastern Australian Indigenous group to form a climate change group.

Rochelle Patten, a Yorta Yorta elder, remembers her earlier associations with the Murray, recalling:

‘…alwaysbeingbytheriver…[whichisnot]ascleanasitwaswhenIwasgrowingupandthefish–MurrayCod,theYellowbelly–don’ttasteliketheyusedto…’74

4 Corryong to Kinglake: climate change, drought and fire

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Aunty Rochelle Patten Yorta Yorta Elder

Aunty Rochelle Pattern with her solar panels

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Barmah Red gum during floodingUncle colin Walker Yorta Yorta Elder

Indigenous and non-Indigenous people meeting at Barmah Lakes

– including members of the Yorta Yorta climate change Group


Population in the region is upwards of 290,000 people and, as in Gippsland, the larger regional towns are growing rapidly. Population growth has generated cultural diversity as recent refugees join earlier European migrants who have long lived and worked in the region.

The north-east comprises 5 per cent of the Murray Darling Basin but produces more than 50 per cent of the water out of that basin. Breaking this down: the far north-east catchments, 2 per cent of the land mass, produce 38 per cent of the water and the Goulburn Broken Catchment, constituting 3 per cent of the land mass, produces 13 per cent of the water.

The Ovens River is one of only two heritage rivers listed along its total length, and it is also completely unregulated.

Resort to the use of canals in the Goulburn was first entertained by Major Mitchell in 1838 when he looked at the country and:

‘… felt conscious of being the harbinger of mighty changes … [in] a country where canals could answer the better distribution of water over fertile plains.’75

The terrain is infinitely variable, stretching from alps to river plains.

Plantation pine in the far north-east is in its second cycle, and plantations have been contributing to the economy since 1962.

Corryong – where blackberry is a ‘people issue’ We ended the north-east tour in and around Corryong. The area is classified as ‘remote’, and services can be described as lacking as a result. We took the Snowy Valley Way out through the revived recreation of a drowned town, Tallangatta, to the Shelley Forest Camp Hall, where we first sat down to talk.

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Blackberry Taskforce Shelley Park Forum

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Our interest was initially sparked by the public participation that underpins the work of the Blackberry Taskforce, for whom weed management is a ‘people issue’. Supporting eight communities, the taskforce program now covers:‘…175,554haofprivateandpublicland…involves256landmanagersonvoluntaryblackberrymanagementagreementsand[hasmapped]12,824haofblackberry…’76

By bus, organised by the Landcare Network, we drove through to Walwa, Tintaldra, Cudgewa and Corryong, skirting the Burrowa–Pine National Park, Mount Mitta Mitta Regional Park, the Cudjewa and Corryong Creeks and the Murray River. We passed the Pheasant Creek Flora Reserve, classified as having ‘high conservation value’, and providing a wildlife corridor between national park and state parks.

One participant talked of such corridors being:‘…thecreationofanaturalparkparadigm…’


PracticalitiesAlong the way, we talked and listened, and when we stopped we talked and listened.

People came in from their homes and off their tractors and out of their paddocks to have a say about environmental reporting and their work in environmental contexts.

At one stop, a farmer attended to specifically raise the issue of the recent floods and necessary recovery work. He was concerned about poor resourcing and time delays compounding difficulties given the potential for further events. Fifteen years of drought had been broken by floods from September 2010 to February 2011, damage was extensive, and prevention work needed to be done “now”.

At one of our meetings, a farmer attended in his blue overalls, saying:‘…thedaysaregettingshorter,thehillsaregettingsteeper,thereismorebookworkandthewilddogproblemisfatiguingandfrustrating.’

But he specifically wanted to talk about climate change and the impact changing climate was having in the valley, on farming and biodiversity.

In the farming settings across the district, we heard about feral pigs, dogs and deer – the latter with their perverse formal protections. Willow removal was discussed as was erosion control. Roadside weeds and split responsibilities concerned people here as elsewhere. The systemic issues of poisoning weeds and polluting the environment were discussed.

Looking for solutions and learning to adapt

Throughout the tour, we heard about the value of participation, the need for a community voice and the challenges of climate change. People said:‘…onceyou’vegotcommunityownership,youcandoalmostanything.’

‘…thepeopleherearenotjustnamesonalist…’

‘…wearenotwaitingforgovernment–wearegettingonwithwhatweneedtodo…’

‘…youhavetobetacticalandstrategic–andgetoutofthetechnologystoneage…’

‘…wearerequiredtocontinuallytickboxeswhenwecouldbespendingthetimecreatingsolutions…’

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‘…thereisplentyofworkinenvironmentalsustainabilitybutpeopleareexpectedtoalwaysdothisvoluntarilyandthatisunsustainable…’

‘…wehaveneverhadadroughtinthesevalleys,thenin2003welookedaroundandwewereindrought,andthenwestartedtothinkaboutwhatclimatechangemeanttous,here,wherewethoughtwewereinsulated.’

One of the younger farmers said he had:‘…grownupwithdrought.’

His understanding of ‘how to farm’ is now based on a probable future climate and climate change uncertainties. He told us he was now more likely to be looking for solutions and learning to adapt – being inventive like his No-Till colleagues as the other side of the state. These sentiments were echoed across the region.

Choices and changes have been made to adjust and adapt. Drought-proofing, involving establishing perennial pastures in hilly country, is just one of the adjustments. Alternative farming regimes, techniques and crops have been trialled, and adopted or discarded depending on success. Trial and error had become a farming methodology.

Farming people have got smarter, inventing solutions, hunting out niche markets and products. Of all things, dung beetles had been utilised to improve soils, and the program had captured imaginations and ‘done good work’.

Adjustments brought insights, and the need for an integrated management approach was repeated by a number of participants. As we heard in Gippsland and the Wimmera, people knew it was important to have a go and not be afraid of making blunders, as a lot could be learnt from those ‘mistakes’.

While local knowledge was of prime importance, partnerships with researchers had proved to be very useful in introducing solutions and providing avenues for exploring local knowledge and information. Research clusters were seen as ‘the way to go’, building on local knowledge and feeding it back into the community using innovation and networking opportunities.

We were told that there is a place for local government in addressing change and driving inventive solutions. TowongShire has a history of exploring research partnerships and importing expertise in creative ways to address local issues. People are keenly interested in dealing with local concerns and are therefore interested in the possibilities that evolve from sharing knowledge and involvement in experimental projects. If the atmosphere supports creative solutions, it encourages and inspires. In this ‘remote’ part of the state, isolation has been rejected as the mindset, and the community jointly promotes change and inventive responses.

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Evident changeIn Corryong, at a town hall meeting, the mayor talked about partnerships for innovation,77 active participation, exporting their success stories, leadership, and the replication of their innovations across local government.

Towong Shire provides a compelling example of community partnerships driving change through its solar panel bulk buy program, the first in Australia. Small though the population is – 6,000 ratepayers – it feeds 10 per cent of Victoria’s renewable power back into the grid through the Pure Towong Energy bulk procurement scheme.

Down south and at the foot of the ranges, a community meeting combining the very new, and those who had been around for generations, was convened at the WhitfieldCafé.

They felt their status, both positively and negatively, as a smaller, remote community. Special histories and abiding attachment to places typified the commentaries of long-term residents. These sorts of understandings should be understood and factored into environmental planning and reporting processes. Local knowledge about flooding and fires was an aid to better planning and should not be overlooked. Studies undertaken would be improved if this knowledge was embraced actively and respectfully.

Isolation was a pivotal issue in a crisis, but it also impacted planning about schools, facilities and health services, all of which were shifting with changing demographics. Change would require consultation. The range of plans and strategies – Draft Rural Land Strategy, Rural Conservation Zone Plan, King Valley Master Plan – had to be tailored to local needs. Meaningful consultation was a major, sometimes unmet, issue. Inventive methods of responding to change, such as the work of the local arts group, had to be supported as a significant part of the holistic response.

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Blackberry Taskforce and corryong townspeople

Towong community forum

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Climate change and extreme events were seen as having ongoing and dramatic impacts upon people, forests and forest roads and bridges, on tourism and community cohesion. Those with long associations with the valley and the forest had felt changes in the micro-climate. Changes in snowfall and snowline creep had occurred. Biodiversity had been affected. Bandicoots were no longer found around the area, and a family of sea eagles had also gone from the valley.

Three massive bushfires had struck the region in recent times, potentially affecting water quality. Even if the community was prepared for the fires, massive disruption would occur given the nature of the terrain. Local wetlands had been impacted, as the fires across the wetlands were fierce, but the extent of damage was not really known, even now, years later, as research was not being conducted. New fire-related problems developed with new industries: the wine industry was potentially badly affected by smoke taint.

Solutions were not easily found for the complex array of issues associated with planning for potential crisis, and here, as elsewhere in the state, people expressed unease about the arbitrariness of the prescribed burn-offs as mandated by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

Those who attended this meeting had personal stories to tell about the impact of the bushfires, about fighting and putting them out, and about the damage left in their wake. They valued their own knowledge and shared it for better outcomes.

A seemingly simple dinner in Bright in the Alpine Shire – 92 per cent public land – with youth and local government and local business, focused attention on climate adaptation, self-reliance and planning. Local confidence in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) was high, and climate change was accepted as problematic, with the snow and tourism industries potentially badly affected. It was important to plan for change and local people had to be involved in that process, as they had been in the recent Citizens’ Jury.

Environmental issues discussion Bright

Whitfield café

Whitfield


Participators in tourism and new food industries recognised sustainability as core business, and diverse and integrated agricultural practices sponsored by research partnerships, such as the CSIRO project in the Ovens Valley, were essential. Problematic failures in relaying information to the public to assist them to make changes that would position them for energy, water, infrastructure and climate change challenges in the future were a disappointment and had to be remedied.

Co-benefits from environmental action had to be explained better and explored; communication had to be personal, ‘kitchen table’-type meetings (as we were later to hear at DemoDAIRY in the south-west); and reporters and legislators needed to recognise the value of local knowledge, and record and celebrate it.

Illustrating the level of thoughtful planning taking place in communities, Harrietville residents brought their ‘adaptation plan’ to this meeting.

HarrietvilleEnvironmentalandSustainability:AFive-YearPlanThefollowingsuggestionshavebeendevelopedbyrepresentativesintheregion

1. A consistent environmentalmarketingmessage and awareness program for all hospitality and services providers in the town. This strong message of environmental responsibility, such as saving energy, water and reducing waste, etc., could be used by every provider.

2. A whole-of-town researchprogram to find out all the potential energy sources and the best technologies that deliver them. Provide data on just how much energy could be saved in Harrietville by solar and other alternative sustainable energy initiatives.

3. A sustainability educationprogram for the town, using invited guests and public forums; e.g. the best/cheapest energy providers, experts on solar energy and domestic applications, composting of domestic food waste, the best waste water treatment, how to save on our energy bills, what are the best plants to grow.

4. A means of toxicwastedisposal for the town. The removal of toxic wastes (wet and dry batteries, heavy metals, residual farm and commercial chemicals, computer and audio/TV equipment). Large quantities of food waste generated by commercial establishments could possibly be processed by a commercial digester and recycled.

5. An overall uptake of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems across the whole town. Solar technology present in public places (parks, main streets, bridges, community hall, major street signs, etc.) as well as on roofs of residents who have converted to solar energy generation for economic and environmental reasons (see more below).

6. Extended and improved walkingandcyclingtrails with comprehensive signage, both historical and environmental, which related directly the quality of our air and water and pristine mountain environment.

7. Develop and extend the relationshipbetweenkeygroups within Harrietville, the ASC and State and National Parks Victoria and DSE. Comparisons with interstate indicate potential for development of an ongoing relationship with these authorities.

8. Roadside drainage in the town and water run-off and pooling on private properties. Heavy rains have demonstrated clearly the low-lying areas of the town and its potential for significant flood damage should the Ovens River be breached.

9. A whole-of-town ‘educationservice’ in regard to local flora and management/control systems. This puts the onus on individuals to support existing state and local authorities who have weed management programs and goals.

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10. Personal healthandlifestyle matters was raised as an issue and the way in which town infrastructure can support those who wish to take opportunity to enjoy the quality of the environment … clean water, fresh air, exercise potential, etc.

11. A 10 year plan to regenerate the areas degraded through the dumping of tailings material by dredging processes in the recovery of gold while still respecting the heritage aspect of the tailings areas as an important part of Harrietville’s history.

12. Independence from externalenergyproviders; i.e. we generate our own. Instigating research into the viability of alternative energy production options (hydro, thermal, solar, wind) with a view to remove Harrietville from the electricity grid.

People acting for themselves and government failuresMeetings at the BeechworthNeighbourhoodHouse and the ToyLibrary, and with the Indigo Shire Environment Advisory Committee brought together highly educated and very diverse concerned and active people with intensely local action plans about sustainable practices, the environment, climate change and co-benefits.

Local work was necessary to support adaptation and mitigation. Small-scale activities, including a walking school bus, toy library and active travel in the township, demonstrated willingness to act across generations, and gave impetus to others and other proposals. Basic transport infrastructure being absent, scope existed for small, personal participations such as cool relief centres and a vulnerable people’s register to address heat impacts – local initiatives of varying degrees of success.


The IndigoShireEnvironmentalAdvisoryCommittee comprised farmers and towns people with deep professional and highly localised science and social science expertise. They saw the wisdom of using substantial, not superficial, local case studies in environmental reporting across a range of issues, from population growth and demographic changes to forestry, agriculture and household consumption patterns. Highly sophisticated local knowledge was often treated disdainfully, and meaningful participation of local knowledge holders was necessary to promote better environmental outcomes in biodiversity and water. Increasingly there was a need for two-way information flows to respond to climate change and promote adaptive action and innovation.

An associated issue was the over use of regional environmental volunteerism, necessary in the absence of serious, sustained environmental action by government. The flip side of this observation was that the public acquired or built upon an acute understanding of the need for innovation and change, as a function of this culture of volunteerism and a willingness to take part. It was concluded that participation bred the potential for

action and change and it was best cultivated in local settings where it was flexible and organic.

Mansfield’spublicforum demonstrated the importance of this level of local immersion, displaying the already substantial work of the local sustainability committee, where business, agency and community people came together.

Business was interested in succeeding in a low-carbon future, and while some thought government should do more to subsidise changes others simply wanted better, more timely information upon which they would then act themselves. Green and sustainable tourism business opportunities, about which there was keen interest, were adversely impacted by public transport fragmentation, poor presentation and lack of coordination.

Climate change, the carbon economy, carbon accounting and life-cycle assessments had to be better understood and information conveyed more effectively. Accessible information was necessary to overcome the paralysis that underscored the need to ‘get things right’, and, this information had to speak to the new demographic, which included weekenders. Adjustment, adaptation and inventiveness would only be possible if mistakes were seen as learning exercises.

Energy efficiencies, waste management, isolation, centralisation and an absence of support were described as issues. Waste could be better understood as a ‘resource’ if alignment and integration promoted opportunities to exploit its potential value. Here the disposal of TVs was a major waste and recycling problem.

Snow tourism, central to the economy of the region, would need to re-create itself in the face of climate change, which could be both a challenge and provide potential. Proponents of the reopening of Mount Buffalo chalet saw the potential for changing tourism patterns, from snow activities to high-altitude lakes and tramping, with the potential to actually extend the tourism season. Marketing was a major component of this ‘new mountain’ ethic and also presented openings for those who had ability to innovate and explore technology. Planning and building codes in a tourist enclave were important if the message was clean, resourceful, inventive and green. The lack of proper regulation about even simple things was frustrating. Sustainable building practices should be cultivated and supported in commercial buildings and provide exemplars.

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Indigo Shire Environmental Group

– Beechworth

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Out on the flats at the Winton (Old Lake Mokoan) Wetlands ‘Yacht Club’ we met with the BrokenBooseyConservationManagementNetwork. An overarching issue for this group was the urgent need to address biodiversity loss. Wetlands such as the Wimmerawetlands,LakeCondah were described as fundamental biolinks. The 2011 Australian State of the Environment Report supports this suggestion and cites connectivity as a major issue for landscape restoration.78

Responding to our interest in environmental reporting, the group thought reporting had value if it both engaged with the local and informed beyond the already known. Reports had to be accessible and reflect different perspectives, including those of agriculturalists and industry. Citizen science, often lost in hard scientific studies, should find a place in reports. Indicators of environmental condition were of course useful, but could mirror ‘stamp collecting’, overlooking local observations describing vegetation and its interdependence across sites in very great detail. Results could be better if community members were involved.79

Various heartfelt observations were made of the manner in which government delivered programs. It was felt that episodic funding and program inefficiencies wasted limited resources. There was a need for deployment of extension officers and the heavy reliance on volunteers ground people down. Comments were made of the disappointment which attended the commencement and then cessation of pilot programs. Salinity control was cited as an example. Delays and deferrals caused frustration and time lines could be arbitrary and artificial. There was a sense that goalposts shifted causing duplication, competition and dismay. City-based departments could be more responsive to localised concerns.

Broken Boosey conservation Management Group members Winton wetlands

Broken Boosey conservation Management

Group Winton wetlands

Winton wetlands


”

”

Participation and cooperationBrokenBooseyConservationManagementNetwork worked constructively to address some of these issues and built partnerships to expand capacity, generate resourcefulness, encourage participation and highlight issues.

Reflecting on localised issues the point was made that‘…itisdifficulttodealwithprojectsifthedoerisnotastayer.’

The range of tender and covenant arrangements available for nature conservation, from bush to wetland tender and TrustforNature, were all celebrated for their ambition and for empowering people. However, it was not desirable to pit applicants against each other in competition for limited resources. Cooperation was infinitely better than competition, which was unhealthy and counterproductive and sponsored confusion and exclusion.

As one participant put it:‘…please,canwehavejustonegame?’

In line with the ongoing interest in timely information provision necessary to support change agendas I left this meeting reflecting on the question:‘…howdoescarbonaccountingorsequestrationfitin?’

My Shepparton meeting with Tracy Taylor the coordinator of the GoulburnBrokenLocalGovernmentGreenhouseAlliance provided one answer: through better information developed through participatory approaches, which is how this alliance has worked to respond.

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Goulburn Broken Local Government

Greenhouse Alliance

Travelling Display Launch

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”

Alliances can be pivotal to organisational change, promoting integration, alignment, knowledge exchange and more effective cultivation of talent and inventiveness – a learning process that builds adaptive capacity. Collaborative approaches encourage the sharing of expertise, encourage other collaborations, have deep local roots, and potentially cover geographic and social areas efficiently. The participatory approaches that underpin the formation of alliances can more effectively ensure the development of organisational and institutional skills like planning for change, networking and assisting to exploit efficiencies, which come with scale and local knowledge.

This Greenhouse Alliance is comprised of seven local governments, their environment officers and the Shepparton Council Waste Management Group, and it is predicated on memoranda of understanding and a relationship with the local regional Aboriginal parties. It took years to get to this stage. Time was used constructively in broad and narrowed discussions, negotiations and reviews of process. Over time, there was extension and contraction of numbers of participants, changes in personnel, loss of momentum, and then renewal. The process was organised but organic.

Development of the alliance’s adaptation plan was challenging, as mitigation was well understood, but designing adaptation plans takes other skills, such as coordination and collaboration.

Tracy told me:‘Weusedournetworksveryextensively.’

Simply clarifying briefing instructions with others was useful. It focused the work, led to better outcomes, and drew many people into the development workshops, including the local EPA, local government and external stakeholders like the cannery, to consider questions of asset management, planning, communication and economic development.

Every consultation exercise was complex, and pockets of individual resistance were encountered and extraordinary inputs made. Organisations and groups that understood institutional sustainable practices were well placed to engage. Support from senior management, the Local Sustainability Accord and ICLEI (the International Association of Local Governments for Sustainability) was essential, as they provided a solid authorising and mainstreaming environment.

Planning, hard work, negotiation and renegotiation, and the cultivation and welcoming of extensive public participation, have now given way to communicating the messages at every opportunity, often to people who feel a sense of connection or ownership of the process.

This hard, committed work over years is reflected in other local enterprises, which have been working away in environmental settings for what seems like generations. The GoulburnMurrayLandcareNetwork, formed in 1995 and covering 3,000 square kilometres and consolidating 39 Landcare groups, met with us in the Congupna Pony Paddock, where they talked about land restoration work in dairying and orchards. Land-use change, water use, farms becoming derelict and food security all presented as challenges.


By way of contrast, we then met with a very new group, the TaturaTransitionTown group, who had just lost their bid for Climate Communities funding for a program to reduce the use of plastic bags in the main shopping street. We talked about their efforts to sponsor renewable energy and ‘Build it back green’ when retrofitting, about community participation, and about change and retention of skills in communities to help effect change when technical skills were necessary. Peak oil exercised this group’s interest.

RumbalaraFootballNetballClub, an Aboriginal sports network founded on healthy lifestyles and respect, invited us to visit on a training night. Like the Tatura Transition Town Group, Rumba had failed to gain Climate Communities funding for their sportsground lights. Ambitions for a ‘green precinct’ remain undiminished. On this evening, with the CEO, Paul Briggs, we talked to young Aboriginal people about sustainability and the importance of healthy lifestyles, as in this cultural milieu these two aspirations are twinned, producing clear co-benefits.

Big centres that we visited on the tour – Wangaratta and Wodonga – provoked discussions about climate change, energy efficiency and renewables, biodiversity and all the community efforts being undertaken to promote and protect it, knowledge as a social phenomenon, and participation for change.

We arrived in Wangaratta to find the town and district actively debating the new Rural Conservation Zones: announced, withdrawn and amended over a couple of days. Polarised views were being expressed as to whether landholders should be permitted to subdivide and sell smaller holdings, and what the cut-off point should be.

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Tatura Transition Town proponents

Paul Briggs cEO Rumbalara Football Netball club

and young people taking time out from training to

talk sustainability

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Trail blazers and leading practicesBefore we attended the community meeting, women of the WangarattaandDistrictCommunityPlanningGroup took us through their community sustainability work.

Supported by the Department of Planning and Community Development, the group had been operating for three years, and it blended a very diverse range of skills – farmers, agricultural researchers and health professionals. Objectives included forging conversations about community concerns, local knowledge, and local solutions around health and wellbeing. Practically, projects requiring a champion were identified and positive outcomes sought.

In a small but light room in the council buildings, the women started to explain their programs and interests. We listened to thinkers, farmers, mothers, scientists, collaborators and leaders, committed environmentalists with deep understandings of the triple bottom line. They were focused on encouraging participation at every level of their communities, while at the same time adjusting to change and innovating, networking, assisting each other and developing skills for self-reliance. The group included trail blazers: families ahead of government programs to such an extent that their tree lots are now classified as endangered ecological landscapes that they are unable to harvest.

Climate change was real; adaptation and mitigation responses were necessary. In their working lives, these women were adapting to a drier climate by diversifying their stock, intellectualising their farming operations and finding the range of new and interesting possibilities, from local food production to rural land strategies. They talked about the potential for new industries – honey and almonds, hops and plastics, and solar energy. And they also discussed the old–new questions of groundwater use and overuse, research needs and data utility. Practical measures, like appliance choice and smart metering, were being adopted whenever the potential arose.

Wangaratta Public Forum

Wangaratta and Districts community

Planning Group meeting


Blending participation and communicationTheir ‘project’ has grown exponentially from an original membership of 80 to 500 people, and they are documenting the work they are doing through newsletters and other media. Aware that poor communication of outcomes and options will undermine their efforts, and because they individually value participation in their communities, these women are joining and running mothers’ groups and toy libraries; they are championing groups like the Greta and District Action Committee; joining the Drought Committee and emergency committees; and meeting with others through the Wangaratta Sustainability Group/Network and the Regional Women’s Reference Group on Climate Change. Members were participants in the highly productive and instructive Wangaratta and Alpine Shire citizens’ juries. Participation and communication blend, both essential to the success of their work, promoting interest and effectiveness, informed scrutiny of issues and clarity about concerns and possibilities.

Overtly, their work is leaving an impression on the built environment, as they are restoring community halls and then bringing people into and actively using them. They press on, planting grasses and joining tree planting days, and talking about responses to climate change, attending committee meetings, talking up and supporting each other and the wider community. Their collegiality appears to have inspired confidence, and sharing has authorised change in subtle and obvious ways.

Linkages have been forged with other like-minded groups. Wangaratta Sustainability Network provided a reassuring source of support, and information and was collaboratively working hard to mainstream and normalise the sustainability message through practical programs like open house. Remarkable as it may seem, even as this level of adaptation and change is taking place, even as they are innovating and adjusting, they are asking themselves whether the agricultural sector is valued.

This high-powered, elevating meeting gave way to a Wangarattacommunityforum in the council chambers. Local government, visible by Mayor Anthony Griffiths’ attendance and presentation, was a significant participant, supporting environmental action, in particular on climate change and responding to comments and questions about the Rural Conservation Zone decision. Later in this meeting, we were to hear that local government had to be bold and drive an informed discussion, and that co-benefits of responding to climate change should be communicated better.

After outlining the role of my office, the meeting was thrown open to the community for comment and discussion. Again we heard of the need for effective, accessible, environmental reporting, that, at an intensely practical level, inefficiencies in program delivery should be exposed and cease, and that the agricultural sector was not out of step with the desire for sustainable futures. On a very instrumental level, questions were raised about the effectiveness of the Victorian Firewood Strategy, the difficulties in recycling, and waste disposal requiring coordination. The point was made that it was very hard to believe that such basic issues suffered such apparent inertia.

Participation, dialogue and solutionsThe Wangaratta Citizens’ Jury was raised as a good template for involving random public members in civic conversations, and the observation was made that people ‘needed’ to get together, talk and raise issues to resolve them.

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”

Climate change was confronting the region, with drought, floods, uncertainty and projections of drier, hotter years. Hard choices would have to be made in the lead-up to and during extreme events. Choices – stay or go, rebuild or retreat, leave the farm and re-create yourself – would be easier if people were more resilient and better able to deal with the issues.

Promotion of self-reliance and resilience was important and necessary. Only by dialogue and participation in the conversation would lasting, if not completely satisfying, solutions be found.

Frustration about regional energy dependency, difficulties in gaining good, regional solar energy information and installations, and the absence of interest in bio-energy from tree plantings were all discussed. Strong grassroots support for renewable energy existed but implementation was difficult if local organisations lacked structural support.

One voice was raised in complaint about people having to effect change without supports. Another was raised about episodic and piecemeal funding for projects. A third person spoke briefly about the cultivation of rural entrepreneurs and leadership.

Farmers’ markets and food kilometres were tied together with commentary about carbon kilometres, and car-pooling and isolation were twinned. Technology was seen as a means to deal with isolation and promote self-reliance and resourcefulness.

BiralleeParkNeighbourhoodHouse in Wodonga brought us into contact with a program of local food production, involving and skilling-up people with disabilities.

Young people came along to show us their skills in the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. One of our team has simply written of this afternoon:‘…[heretherewas]anemphasisonbuildingresiliencethroughstrongersupportnetworksandasenseofcommunity.’

Biralee Park Neighbourhood House gardeners and cooks


”

From Biralee we shifted our focus to the WodongaTafeSpacecommunitymeeting, where the building itself has received critical acclaim for its green credentials.

One person dismissive of climate change science attended this meeting.

The forum was otherwise made up of people who had come to talk about solutions to environmental issues and celebrate the work being done on the ground. Interest and enthusiasm attended holding forums such as this to specifically talk about the environment.

Some early criticisms got the discussion going. Continual heavy reliance upon environmental volunteers was an irritation, with the assertion made that the “centre” was almost completely unaware of community views and effort being undertaken to effect sustainable changes. Environmental projects needed funding even though volunteering was so expansive. Government’s inability to tap into the possibilities that this would stimulate was a real concern, and the question was asked: if the superannuation industry and others were finding innovative ways to invest for the future why couldn’t government?

But, possibilities, not unrelenting negatives, became the focus. Sophisticated understandings of systemic issues were then threaded through the discussion about land-use planning, peripheral urban development, changing populations, education, and the need to ensure the continuity of good projects.

Waste as a ‘resource’ and better management and integration played out as a discussion thread, as it had done across the state.

As we found in Wangaratta, renewable energy was championed, and the potential for distributed energy was raised. A speaker talked about how he thought the community was perfectly happy to pay for innovation in renewable energy because these programs were proactive and necessary. Some thought that strategies for appropriate development had to be developed and the comment was made that businesses and the education sector had a lot to give towards effective, inventive and novel partnerships. More could always be done.

Sustainable schools initiatives were sound, grounding and stimulating for more than the student body.

Climate change messages should focus on:‘…whatsolutionscouldlooklike.’

Climate conditions and resource use commentary gave the person who disputed the climate science a chance to have a say. His views were simply passed over: not argued about, not challenged.

Very powerfully, the point was made that concentration on loss should be replaced with understanding of potential, resourcefulness, and adaptive actions and mitigation.

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Community building and dealing with frustrationCollaboration then became a focus: being essential for local people, local government, educators, greenhouse alliances and sustainability groups. Partnerships actively sponsored the sharing of ideas, enriched the dialogue, and made it possible the for exciting, useful work of longevity to take place in regional settings. There was value in kitchen table conversations about climate change and sustainability, as these really touched people and aided better choices.

Yea, on the Yea River flood plain, and Taggerty on the higher plains, bring us back to small regional towns, their commitment to community building, and, in these two cases, their exposure to flooding and bushfires respectively. We met with women in both places: farmers, members of local government, university graduates and slow food adherents.

The Murindindi Shire Environment Strategy which recognises the value of sharing local resources and pooling information was provided to us at Yea.81 At Taggerty we were given a highly personalised outline of the impacts of the fires of 2009.

Both groups saw benefits in environmental reporting, citing local case studies to demonstrate environmental issues. Both said that the involvement of the public had to be purposeful and meaningful, not tokenistic and fleeting. And both found trusted informants and accessible information personally and in group settings, enabling, particularly as farming was a struggle given recent fires and flooding, with their associated costs and isolation.

Champions, volunteers and community builders were tired and frustrated, even though they were genuinely effective and infinitely more able to assess local issues than ‘hired hands’. Continuity of funding and of regional job opportunities in environmental settings was necessary, and the perception and reality had been that this was not happening. A pervasive lack of certainty in the region was an impediment to advocacy and action.

All the women we spoke to value community action and see it as the driving force for change. They confirmed the views of others across Victoria that there should be greater inclusiveness of community views and voices in environmental management.

Slow food, carbon kilometres, food tourism were focal points. A ‘can do’ attitude to climate change mitigation and adaptation, disappointment and frustration at a perceived lack of political will across the whole spectrum were dominant themes. Climate science continued to be diluted and disputed, and communication efforts had to be increased because controversy should be understood in context and transition is difficult even with information. Carbon offsetting was intriguing people, and better information would be both helpful and encouraging.

Smart transport options had to be developed, including better timetabling and free fares at particular times. It had taken the tragedy of the 2009 fires for service to be improved on the outer rim of Melbourne.

The stewardship of biodiversity had to be elevated to an overarching ethos. Refugia were under threat, crown land was not being looked after, agricultural practices left a lot to be desired, and if fencing was effectively free for creek frontages it was difficult to understand why this was not being done. Grants for environmental work could be better linked for greater impact and effect.

The annual timber release plan was criticised, as were untenable, destructive and deeply regrettable planned-burning regimes. The development of the Green Wedge led to criticism of ministerial call-in powers, the lack of interest in inter-regional equity and independence, the failure to protect remnant vegetation and the lack of clarity about the rules.


”

The women from Taggerty were deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of understanding of weekenders about fire, fires risks and management. The communication gap was a chasm, particularly for those who had inherited farms. The geography of the region played a major part in the extent and ferocity of the fires around them in 2009, smoke taint was an ongoing issue, and the extent of damage to local flora and fauna was both hard to gauge and distressing.

The need to be flexible in the face of the projections for more and more extreme events should include consideration of deciduous tree plantings. Finally, they said:‘…thephysicaluglinessofthefireravagedlandscapehadimpacteduponthemleavingscarsofadifferentkind.’

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Fire damage in the Warby Ranges Ovens National Park

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SummaryFarming practices being adapted, smart solutions found, and concerned people sharing and valuing each other’s knowledge to get through crises and deal with changed environments; this reality underlines the importance of local understandings to environmental reporting and future planning.

Community involvement and the work people volunteer to put in to environmental projects or emergency relief creates valuable relationships, and the experience gained creates a vast resource of local knowledge. There is also concern that there is an over-reliance on volunteers; that volunteers are a finite resource; and that people get used up and tired. RWLC makes it plain that knowledge brokers with local networks are of prime importance and should receive support both financially and more broadly.

Requirements for timely, reliable and appropriate information and other solid support to businesses wanting to make changes to their carbon footprint, to green tourism enterprises, to weekend farmers, to the new wine industry and older farming concerns were voiced. Willing, participating publics appreciate the complexity and interdependence of their lives, and are not satisfied with arbitrary decision making, which fails to appreciate what their experience has taught them. Governments come and go, but people are critical to the places where they live.


WhenyoustandwithGunditjmaraseniormanRichardFranklandattheedgeofthesouthernoceanattheConvincingGround,anoldinter-racialbattlesite,planningseemsastrangehumanactivity.

The rivers and wetlandsThe whole south-west region (as we have defined it), from the South Australian border to Geelong, is a demonstration site for sustainable practices by the oldest living culture. Lake Condah is presently the subject of an application for World Heritage Listing as a place that reflects Indigenous heritage and non-Indigenous arrival.

5 Convincing Ground to MoriacChAPTER FIVE

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Richard Frankland at convincing Ground

Lake condah

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Classification of heritage rivers (the Glenelg in the west, and the Aire in the east) reflects recent efforts to recognise natural value. From Hopetoun Falls Scenic Reserve to the ocean outfall, 35 km of the Aire is classified as heritage, and that river is listed as a Victorian Representative River for its entire length.

The Glenelg, 500 km long with an estuary expanse of 70 km, includes nationally important wetlands. Towns of Balmoral, Harrow, Moree and Chetwynd have had their environmental amenity improved by GlenelgHopkinsCatchmentManagementAuthority(GlenelgHopkinsCMA) and Landcare over 165 km. We saw Hopkins River flood restoration works by this catchment management authority and we stood on the bank of the Hopkins with Gunjimara elder Jim Berg.

Gundijmara elder Jim Berg and Possum clarke-Ugle at the Hopkins River at Framlingham

Traditional eel netJustin Saunders

Lake Condah


To the east of the Aire, Corangamite Catchment Management Authority has promoted restoration on the Barwon, Moorabool and Gellibrand Rivers covering a distance of 46 km and an area of 176 ha.

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Stephenson’s Falls

Parks Victoria catchment Management Authority and DSE with Mike Hill (Sustainability Victoria Deputy chair) and Lorna Pitt

corangamite

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Ramsar listing of nine separate lakes combines to form the Western District Lakes site in the volcanic plains between Winchelsea and Camperdown. Lake Corangamite, one of the nine lakes, is the largest permanent saline lake in Australia. The area has been an important drought refuge for waterbirds and it also provides shelter while the birds are temporarily flightless during moulting periods. The 10 year anniversary of the restoration partnership of the lakes was held on 2nd February 2012.

SouthWestRegionalTourLocations

Nationally important wetlands include Eumeralla/Yambuk Lake and the Merri and Rutledges Cutting.

Mount Eccles NP

Mount Richmond NP

Grampians NP

Lower Glenelg NP

Great Otway NP

Point Addis MNP

Twelve Apostles MNP

Discovery Bay MNP

Brisbane Ranges NP


Port Campbell NP

Brady Swam N.P.

Merri MS

Point Danger MS

Eagle Rock MS

Barwon Bluff MS

Marengo Reefs MS

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LAKE CORANGAMITE

LAKE COLAC

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Parks and Reserves

State Forest

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Ramsar Wetlands


Local initiatives: programs, developments and awardsThe volcanic plains of the Western District have been the subject of an ongoing discussion about a UNESCO Biosphere classification.

The south-west (Ballarat, Colac, Geelong and Portland) has 1,519 Land for Wildlife sites. Trust for Nature holds 10 trust properties in the south-west covering 746 ha, and 183 covenants covering 6,244 ha are committed by the public.

Local government is doing its bit. Five municipalities have endorsed the G21 Geelong Region Plan to undertake a number of joint environmental projects, notably restoration of the Barwon River Parklands and the former industrial sink, the Moorabool River. The plan also involves a biodiversity risk analysis; collaborations associated with the Climate Change Taskforce; a farming incentive program; generation of a Regional Roadside Advisory Committee; and support for transition towns.

The Healthy Urban Building (The Hub) is a relocated, retrofitted, workshop and sustainable living demonstration site at the Warrnambool Community Garden.

Art and craft feature as teaching tools for sustainability, and a culture and sustainability project called Reuse and Create – Cultural Communities Learn About Climate Change has been located in Geelong, drawing on the area’s multicultural depth.

To the north, in 2010, Melton Shire received the Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria award for Sustainable City of the Year and an award for Protection of the Environment for its work on the White-bellied Sea Eagle and the award for Energy Innovation.

More recently, in 2011, KABV awards were made for Protection of the Environment to the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee for its Hooded Plover collaboration with Birds Australia.

And, again at the beach, Bells Beach won 2010 awards for clean beach, community action, Towards Zero Waste and the Pam Keating award for Energy Innovation.

The Surf Coast Energy Group’s Grow It! project provided 60 people living in the Surf Coast Shire with hands-on training, and support and practical advice on household food production to help reduce the area’s ecological footprint.

Barwon Water partners with others to bring the Environmental Home and Garden Expo to the Geelong foreshore.

Community leadership by the coalition BREAZE (Ballarat Renewable Energy And Zero Emissions Inc) – involving approximately 600 members, extending south from Ballarat, promotes information sharing through its website and online forums, and organises a network of volunteers on every aspect of sustainable living, including the solar feed-in tariff, rebates and the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) Green Paper. It runs courses and a food cooperative, and has coordinated solar installations.

Lake Bolac Eel Festival was held together by community tenacity even when the lake was completely dry in the drought years. Last year, the associated Wannon River walk illustrated the extent of the flood-related landslip problems in the region.

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Along the Wannon River walk

Wannon River walk landslip Dunkeld


Portland Sustainability Group has been a highly significant contributor to effective health and climate change co-benefits programs such as the Primary Care Partnership Pass the Parcel program, solar bulk buying, energy efficiency and other workshops, and recycling.

Regional university campuses and TAFEs also enthusiastically embrace sustainability efforts.

In the region, the University of Ballarat’s Sustainability Policy fosters a culture of change innovation and reduces the university’s ecological footprint. Sustainability is incorporated into teaching and learning, and consultancies and community engagement make energy efficiency a key performance indicator. Partnerships underpin research projects about resource constraints and engineering solutions, small business entrepreneurship and the operation of community organisations such as Landcare. The university hosts the National Centre for Sustainability, which is undertaking a major research project on the Hopetoun Community Sustainable Energy Initiative. The autumn 2011 sustainability newsletter covered green developments in the vice chancellor’s office, a new bus stop, replacement of bottled water, improvements in the e-waste program and sensor lights for lecture theatres. The 2010 Sustainability Report recorded a drop in greenhouse gas emissions of 8 per cent, electricity use reductions of 6 per cent, air travel dropping by 49 per cent, paper

consumption by 30 per cent, but increases in water use by 9 megalitres and natural gas by 7 per cent.

Case studies and contextEarlier visits to Hamilton, Lake Bolac, the Wannon River, Colac and the Lakes, Lake Condah, Jigsaw Farms, Hopkins River, Newstead, Ballarat and Geelong provided context for the south-west tour.

ColacRWLC brought together women from all over the district. They heard about my environmental reporting framework, and responded by observing that mainstreaming of environmental issues was important, and that clear messages and effective information flow were based on relationships. The portrayal of regional issues and personal stories resonated with people who wanted to know what to do in the places where they live. Localised case studies setting out best practice would be highly useful because the translation of ideas into action required careful and pointed communication.

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Pass the parcel

A new approach

to energy

efficiency

Household energy prices have been and will continue to rise.

Pass the Parcel is a new project to a

ssist residents o

f the Glenelg and

Southern

Grampians Shires save

money and becom

e more energy effici

ent. An iButton

(a small

temperature data log

ger) will be used

as the main part

of a parcel of en

ergy efficiency to

be

passed througho

ut the community.

The iButton measures

temperature in the h

ome and this temperature

can be compared to

outside temperature

, energy bills and

level of comfort.

Participants will t

hen see their ow

n house temperature

graph, and be ab

le to make positive cha

nges to their

awareness, beha

viour and adapt

their homes to be

come

more energy efficie

nt and as a resul

t save money.

Participants will b

e supported to l

earn more and make

change by work

ing with others i

n the community, at

tending

workshops and r

eceiving information an

d being linked to

local solutions.

November Update:

Five parcels hav

e been hosted by

the craft group

at Hamilton Neighbour

hood House in

November beginning th

e journey around

the Hamilton Co

mmunity. This initial

stage of the

project has provi

ded a fantastic o

pportunity to tri

al the process an

d gather feedbac

k about

parcel contents

and opportunitie

s for further dev

elopment. Thirteen peo

ple have so far

participated in th

is trial. A worksh

op to look at iBut

ton data and stra

tegies to reduce

energy

costs will be he

ld at the Neighbo

urhood House o

n Monday 22 Novem

ber followed by

a

focus group with

participants wh

ich will inform the rest

of the project.

The project will

be launched in P

ortland in Decem

ber through to M

arch 2011.

For more information contact Jo Brown on 555 18563 [email protected]

Pass the Parcel is supported by the Victorian Government Sustainability Fund,

managed by Sustainability Victoria.

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Sustainability Victoria’s regional work was presented, after which the group discussed their own activities and interests. The dialogue included commentary on a solar bulk buy for the town, which has now come to fruition, and is one of many useful contributions to local sustainability practices. The Heyfield community energy efficiency program and the Newstead Sustainability Festival were celebrated as community projects. Coming out of long years of drought that had impacted the farming and town communities, this group talked about participation, innovative action and change.

In small group discussions, participants ‘covered a lot of ground’: water, energy, transport timetabling, and the meaning of a carbon ‘cost’. Food security and carbon miles should produce an interest in farmers’ markets, community gardens and sustainability in schools. An ageing population and low incomes presented environmental as well as social and economic challenges.

The water scarcity message and changed water use practices were indelibly marked on the public psyche even though the rains had arrived. Understanding of the interconnectedness of above- and below-ground water sources had increased, but more work had to be done about this.87

Carbon and climate change became a focal point. Carbon tax questions were driving irrational outbursts, fuelled by poor information. In the light of this problem, every group asked what they could do, how to get and share information, and whether there were opportunities to make a living out of alternative things like carbon sinks. Leadership was necessary at the local, state and federal level, as people needed ‘authorisation’ and support to effect change.

colac Rural Women’s Network

colac Rural Women’s Network


Planning for changeThe general impression around the room was that interest in living and working sustainability was gaining momentum. People sought out alternatives, and requests to locate information, and the sharing of knowledge and skills was becoming more common. This upsurge in interest was still confounded by people’s lack of a connection to nature; knowledge gaps; knowledge being hijacked, and, as we heard in East Gippsland, a fear of change.

Culture change and ‘education’ drove an enthusiastic conversation. Education had to be targeted and fun – not dreary. Climate science and sustainability were hard enough to distil and deliver without being dull, uninviting and uninspiring. Action required thoughtfulness as its companion.

Resonating with comments made in farming communities, mistakes should be accepted, as people feared to act:‘…incaseawrongturnwastaken.’

The need for change was evident. Short-term thinking was not helpful, and feedback loops and the systemic nature of change and inertia had to be better understood. Continuities were needed, and programs about solar and other renewable energy needed to be hard-wired. Replication was necessary and unhealthy competition should be rejected.

The meeting concluded around the comment:‘Weneedtosupporteachother,collaborateandshare,pushtheboundaries,mainstreamtheissues,communicatebetter,andmakereportingmoreeffective.’

Our south-west tour began in PortFairy, where the risk of sea-level rise impacting the town and surrounding region is deeply concerning.

MoyneCouncil deals with these issues on a daily basis. Causeway erosion, housing at East and South Beaches, groundwater exchange and inundation pressures create coastal planning and policy conflicts. Housing developments have been rejected amid questions of liability. Litigation is both a pressure and a cost, and it requires dense preparation, always with the potential for loss.

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Leisure and tourism is already being impacted: the Peterborough Golf Course is at risk due to collapsing mud caves and cliff erosion. Broad-scale retreat may be a viable solution to sea-level rise, but this is not well understood, is difficult to explain, and meets with opposition, and because the threat or risk is drawn out over time responsiveness lacks apparent immediacy.

For the town and beaches, storm surge damage was a visible manifestation of potential climate change projections, and more than a little disruptive. At the time of our visit, the Port of Portland was closed as a precaution due to storm surge.

A draft environmental sustainability strategy, funded by the Local Government Accord was about to be presented for approval when we spoke to the Moyne Council.

Moyne Shire reports on climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies through its Local Greenhouse Reduction Action Plan, and it is a member of Cities for Climate Protection Australia, for which there is a Milestone Five Report. Climate change is a ‘wicked’, complex problem running over time requiring interventions at a number of levels and sites. Careful planning and highly targeted communication efforts and strategies are needed now and have to be ongoing. In response to the issues, the council promotes greenhouse action through its small-to-medium business energy efficiency project newsletter Energise Business. It also has a program of green purchasing.

The environmental committee meets regularly, and community representatives participate in wide-ranging environmental considerations. The point has been made that, for some, biodiversity protection can be contentious where most land is privately owned.

Port Fairy causeway during storm surge

Photo courtesy of Moyne Shire


Local government challengesWaste processing is as potentially fraught as any other issue. Renewable energy planning particularly about wind energy is polarising. Moyne Council entertains 40 per cent of Victoria’s renewable energy, including wind energy installations. Proponents of wind farms in the northern reaches of Moyne negotiate with the Southern Grampians Shire, as the proposed development will cross into the northern shire. Wind does not stop at local government boundaries. Costs are not constrained to building turbines; roads require maintenance for the additional heavy traffic during construction. Planning studies and scrutiny of applications is time-consuming and resource-intensive for local governments.

Local government is facing new and accelerating challenges. It must lead and hope to inspire confidence in a rapidly changing planning environment. It has to engage, listen to and inform its private and business ratepayers, tenants in the area, tourists and government departments. And contemporaneously it has to deal with its own resource constraints and explore and exploit its own skills level while recognising the need to cultivate and access external planning specialisation.

Public participation and the skills to cultivate and extract useful local knowledge from such exchanges will be key to managing this dialogue, and Moyne accepts that councils benefit from the attainment of these skills.

Physically, answers will arise out of hard engineering works, as has always been the case, but ‘soft’ and social and community development skills will be necessary.

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codrington wind farm

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According to Oliver Moles, Moyne’s director of Sustainable development:‘Councilisproposingtousebothsoftandhardengineeringsolutions(suchassandpumpinganddunereplanting/stabilisationaswellasrockwallrepair).TherepaircoststothedamagedseawallonPortFairy’sEastBeacharecurrently$2.5million,butthisisonlyforpartialrepair,andwaveenergycontinuestoattacktheprimarysanddune.

We’vegotthereportsandestimates.Andthenwe’vegotaraftofbarriers.’

While Moyne deals with these issues, Warrnambool Council is both enjoying and confronted by population growth requiring careful planning. Forging of alliances and relationships, promotion of public participation and effective consultation will be necessary to address potentially competing experiences. Learning from the work of others, Moyne has studied the work done by the Clarence River Council in Tasmania.

A tour of the coastline followed, and although we were presented with the physical effects of coastal erosion, the talk was all about mechanisms and methods of informing people, engaging them in the decisions that would impact them, and finding ways to build a self-reliant local community, capable of dealing with extreme events.

Erosion is a significant practical issue, as it is anticipated that over 20 years some beaches may be gone. Sea walls are an available engineering solution, but soft infrastructure and planned retreat are equally viable, and intelligent planning around these conflicted proposals is a means to resolution.

Better communication, collaborations, relationships of trust, and participation of interested people and other observers are the building blocks for acceptable solutions. Access to and ground-truthing of information continues to be a major issue.

Port Fairy rockwall


Layers of learningPortland public forum was attended by a number of very committed people on a stormy night. Our team was joined by Mike Hill, Chairperson of the Sustainability Victoria Board and Lorna Pitt from Westwyk Ecovillage in Brunswick. After commentary about the role of my Office, Mike spoke about the role of Sustainability Victoria and the Local Government Sustainability Accord. This led into a conversation about distributed and renewable energy and the relative merits of wind power, biochar and broad-scale solar.

Lorna presented to the group on sustainable building and energy efficiencies. There was universal agreement that intensely local ‘sustainable house days’ were valuable as a means of sharing information and involving, informing and inspiring people. LakeCondah’s energy-efficient building structures were canvassed, and one participant with very distinct views that climate change was a hoax talked about his many years of living sustainably in low-energy and water use housing that he had built himself.

Damein Bell of the Gunditjmirring attended, representing local traditional owners. Groups which were represented included PortlandSustainabilityGroup,88 SouthWestBiocharActionGroup, PortlandFieldNaturalists and PortlandandCapeNelsonLandcare.

In comments about fire management regimes, the observation was made:‘…theaveragepersonwhositsintheirhouseinMelbournehasnoideaofwhatisgoingonintheregions.’

The field naturalists produced their submission on the Code of Practice for Fire Management on Public Land. Each of them had long associations with the region, worked with others, saw the benefits of biodiversity and the impacts of loss, and regarded the controlled burning program as a disaster for the bush, flora and fauna. Research needs are difficult to address, as it has proved difficult to attract students to the region given its isolation.

In March 2011 Museum Victoria, Parks Victoria and Gundijmara people of Lake Condah collaborated to undertake a collaborative “bush blitz”.

Two new blind crustacean species were found in local underwater caves. Two new species of moths have also been located. Truffle species not previously known to the regions and an alpine region katydid were also found. Bush blitz scientific field reviews have been conducted all over the country. This was the first blitz with Indigenous people from the south of the continent.

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damein Bell wanted to see research about cultural, small-scale and timely burning in the region, and expressed concern about the promotion of growth rather than biodiversity, making the point:‘…Melbournethinksitknowseverything,buttheyneedtolistenandweneedtoshareknowledge.’

A long discussion took place about education for sustainability, ranging across curriculum, training in management for sustainability, and the layered nature of learning. Schools needed access to good information about biodiversity and building management for better environmental outcomes. Immersion of children physically and intellectually was essential, and programs needed to be more than superficial. Follow-up was important.

Green skills for post-secondary education were actively promoted through the South West TAFE Diploma of Sustainability.89

Better communication and respect for local contributions requires commentary on the role of the PortlandSustainabilityGroup(PSG), which was not formally represented at the public forum. This group simply refuses to accept negative stereotypes about isolated or remote communities and it demonstrates the powerful underlying message of participation being an enabler.

In 2011, bulk purchases of solar panels for 300 homes were sought via partnering with a private company. The company could only provide 200 kits, so a waiting list was created. The program has resulted in a sister-city relationship with the Chinese providers, and the PSG employed a coordinator to manage the project’s success. Bulk buying produced $600–800 discounts, education and support, and tailored/larger systems (2 kW to 3.2 kW) for those without natural gas whose use was 40 kW/day instead of the Australian average of 16 kW/day. Panels were being delivered by the shipping container, taking advantage of Portland’s port status, even if ‘isolated’. The target was to install 150 kW, but actual installation was 700 kW. The average solar uptake in Australia is about 6 per cent. Portland is at 9 per cent because of this project.

Community education was used to encourage uptake and be a positive experience, generating understanding of co-benefits of economics and renewable energy education, even if people struggled with the climate change science. Even those who don’t accept the climate science are delighted with their systems and are working towards pumping more energy back into the grid. Solar has been a contagion and a vehicle for sustainable practices. Youth are proud of their parents, and it becomes a cycle.

After Portland’s success, Colac got involved. Colac Otway Sustainability Group has now installed 100 solar systems, has a couple of hundred members and runs its own projects.

Throughout 2011, PSG ran monthly energy saving and gardening workshops for 20–30 people involved in the solar project. Pacific Hydro provided $400 per workshop, and the Glenelg Shire has also provided funding for remote and low income households.


Innovatively reminding people of their achievements, participants fill in a postcard, leave it with the PSG and then receive it in the mail weeks later as a booster.

This year, PSG will focus on these workshops, and this in turn builds on the messages out of the fresh food workshops with home-grown and cheap supermarket items that have been held with the local Sustainability Cafe subsidised by the shire. Two out of three workshops sold out, feedback has been positive, and more are planned.

The PSG membership has ebbed and flowed; people move away and others join; people become very tired. Other local organisations have been helpful, with service clubs and men’s sheds providing assistance.

The 2011 TV recycling program missed out on Sustainability Victoria funding, so PSG decided to have its own collection and deliver TVs directly to Warrnambool for recycling. Advertised in the local paper, the program filled two b-doubles – 26 tonnes worth of recycling. A local logistics company donated plant and labour, and the council provided the collection point.

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Portland Sustainability Group

Portland Sustainability Group TV recycling effort – 26 tonnes

Photos courtesy of Portland Sustainability Group

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From tree reserves to kitchen tables: the value of conversationA visit to BranxholmeWoollyTeaTreeReserve with two members of BranxholmeProgressSociety demonstrated how big the challenges are, how determined people can be and how important group support is.

The whole community had been engaged to discuss the benefits of restoration of a native landscape, where initially a rose garden was suggested as a means of attracting tourists. Views were actively shared, and the Woolly Tea Tree reserve, a rambling native reserve, was agreed upon. On the face of it, a long effort has been made for a small piece of land, but it establishes some level of biolink that would otherwise simply be weeds or a cultivated garden of introduced flowers.

On a wider scale, we revisited Jigsaw Farms, building on the good work done in earlier years on the Potter Farms. At Jigsaw Farms, Landcare is being delivered on a landscape scale. All the creeks are fenced off, Birds Australia planting depths are adopted and the farm is rewarded with zero stock losses. Biolinks and ephemeral wetlands are being established. Other remediation works, on a smaller but equally necessary scale are being committed by GlenelgHopkinsCMA at sites around Dunkeld, with local crews.

Branxholme Swamp Scrub

Branxholme


Hamilton’sNationalCentreforFarmerHealth and WesternDistrictHealthService talked us through their research projects and the health co-benefits from environmental and climate change actions. They had found that rain had reversed the acceptance of climate change science, the price on carbon was not well understood, and that poor communication and uncertainty clouded discussions about science and access to programs. Some of those matters were reflected in a broad afterhome discussion with women from Hamilton from a broad spectrum of background

The National Centre and Health Service told us of heated and highly personalised debates about the industrial landscapes and alleged health impacts of wind farms had been very disturbing and nullified interest in the benefits of renewable energy technologies.

Internet services were patchy – 50% internet access across the Grampians – and communication had to be effected by multiple means. Combining climate change and health messages was effective.

An openforuminWarrnambool brought the public, Landcare, catchment management authorities, local government and state government agencies together to hear presentations and discuss issues of interest and concern.

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Warrnambool public forum

Jigsaw farms

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The University of Ballarat presented on regional landscape change, groundwater and collaborative research networks, wetlands and winter pools, river regulation and lessons for management. Research linkages in project design and delivery and stakeholder engagement is a significant element of the work they were doing. Landcare presented a picture of the work they are doing in consultation with the public and in multidisciplinary settings.

Access to information and people’s ability to comprehend it were issues. Planning laws and their application promoted fear and mistrust, and did not promote sustainability. The lack of interest in local knowledge offended people.

Catchments were visited on the following day, and the Tiger Quoll captive breeding program was explained to us in the late evening at the OtwayWildlifeCentre.

Otways community members talked us through issues. Landcare and the Apollo Bay Local Government Climate Change Action Group talked with deep concern about the lack of community consultation about groundwater, and about the inadequacy of data and scientific research. Since then a new report, the South West Victoria Groundwater Atlas has been produced and can be found at www.srw.com.au.

One of the participants made the point that conservation efforts were always improved with community involvement, which contemporaneously built capacity.

Organisational structures seemed unable to deal with the extent of the problems, and they often lacked community representation. Landcare Networks were not able to deal with the extensive landslips in the Otways in the last big rainfall events. Coordination and funding were lacking.

Siloed agencies and information, regulatory requirements, replication and lack of continuity frustrated people. Land-use issues and the potential development of large complexes like hotels in special natural places was worrying, as was the threat to forest coupes and ill-considered proposals for ‘controlled burnings’.

Development all along the Great Ocean Road was out of touch with the realities of the region and bore no resemblance to public aspirations. The perception was that development would proceed regardless of opposition.

DemoDAIRY, a commercial dairy with research and demonstration sites and a board drawn from shareholders, operational since the early 1990s near Terang, is an illustration of commercial and environmental innovation in action. The project was conceived at a time when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) appeared to have little relevance for the dairy industry. This thinking resulted in the coming together of a highly collaborative, frankly but constructively candid, group of sectors – the network – of universities, businesses, primary industries, innovative agency personnel, researchers and catchment management authorities. The DPI extension model was used to engage with the public, recognising the importance of participation through small self-directed groups. This methodology is still used at DemoDAIRY.

Since the establishment of the project, the early proponents have considered the benefit and outcome of taking the discussion to people at their kitchen tables. This method of engagement has both produced and reflected a real commitment to innovation. Open forums guided by the participants have resulted in a broad interactive mix. Those involved have forged interests and actions out of relationships. In the face of new challenges, exploring options and innovations together, people have led and responded in a highly creative fashion, remaining intensely open to the most up-to-date scientific input. Those involved in the project have a real interest in and capacity to effect change.


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We were told that the development of demodAIRY, with its projects ranging from filtration of nutrient ponds to a carbon tender plot, was underpinned by:‘…[an]honestandrespectfuldialoguethatdidn’texcludeanyone…[wewere]…justwillingtokeepcommunicatingandacceptdiverseviews…’

Sustainability was now not just operational and core business, but it appeared in the mission statement.

Carlisle RiverFrom business on this large scale to community business on a small scale, the CarlisleRiverCommunityGroup demonstrated similar levels of self-reliance, resourcefulness and commitment to kitchen table conversations.

The community group was dealing with challenges similar to those across the state: a changing demographic, extensive use of volunteers who were weary, issues of fire safety and the development of strategies to deal with this. Its relative size renders it potentially powerless to resist the extraction of groundwater and the use of flows for Warrnambool and Geelong. The remoteness of the Carlisle River forces the community to take responsibility and self-manage.

At Moriac we met with a group that was bringing young people to a small regional farming property from the streets of Geelong. The group driving this program were demonstrating how exposure to nature builds confidence and self-esteem in young people who have had a tough childhood.

SummaryThe importance of communication, more and better communication, and clear, consistent and accessible, localised data are dominant themes. The public’s enthusiasm for a sustainable environment and, in relationship with others, to be actively part of finding solutions, is buoyed when personal stories and case studies are heard and understood. There is a job for government, and great benefits to be had in utilising what people bring to the process of participation to effect change; value adding with appropriate support, leadership and specialist knowledge. People learn from each other and about themselves and their environment from enduring extreme events.

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DemoDAIRY


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Mildura to MacedonDisaster situations, because they disrupt normal life, often create opportunities for people to learn new things. One of the first effects is to heighten awareness of the problems that led to the disaster: the vulnerabilities of the community to natural hazards or human conflicts. For instance, in the wake of an earthquake, people are ready to learn techniques for earthquake-resistant building.90

In other community settings this plays out in various ways -‘…Ifwelookattheclimatesciencealone,withoutdoubtwe’llseegreaterdegradation…whichcanbequiteupsettingandmayindicatethereisnohopeforrestoration.ButifwefactorinthegrowingpeoplemovementthatishappeninginVictoria…thepossibilitiesareendless…itgivesamuchmoreinspiringandhopefulpicture…’91

‘…evenknowingwhat‘carbonfootprint’meansforourbusiness,hastakentime…[and]…Ineveryyearofthepastdecade,atleastone(andusuallymore)strongenvironmentalchallengeshavehit–drought,severelyreducedwaterallocations,birdplagues,frost,hailandtoomuchrainatthewrongtimes…There’sonly20remainingorchardistsaroundherenow,comparedto120notevenahundredyearsago.’92

The north-west tour took us from extreme events to highly effective public participation and personal achievements through innovation in the space of five days.

We started planning the 2011 north-east regional tour with NorthWestRuralWomenLeadingChange in September 2010. Mildura was our starting point. Macedon was where we stopped and went home ourselves.

Our north-west region incorporates catchments, bioregions, water boards, local governments and school regions, and includes volcanic plains, mountain ranges, river flats, wetlands and grassy plains, the Mallee and the north central region.

As we planned this work, we expected hot, dry days; the drought had yet to break. But, as we now know, hot and dry did not happen in February 2011. January and February 2011 delivered testing conditions of a very different kind. February rains followed a very wet January.

Floods ripped across, and slowly ground through, the north and west, isolating towns, undermining infrastructure, damaging communication networks, and unnerving and galvanising the public, their elected officials and emergency service personnel.

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In spite of the floods, people said ‘come anyway’, wanting to talk about environment, society and the economy. As we set out, Mildura was deluged, compounding the flooding in Charlton, Boort, Kerang, Carisbrook, Wycheproof …

The Mallee

Data collected from Department of Sustainability and Environment, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Planning and Community Development and

Mallee Catchment Management Authority


The Mallee is named for the eucalypt species that typically grows in the region and through to South Australia and Western Australia. The country can translate from saltbush, claypan and sandy ridges to open, low-lying and scrubby understorey, but it is typified by fragile soils and low rainfall.

Indigenous people in the region have desert, river and wetland associations, and maintain connections in New South Wales and South Australia. One of Victoria’s earliest missions was established at Lake Boga. It collapsed due to lack of Indigenous interest.

Even after waves of non-Indigenous land distribution and the installation of irrigation, about one-third of the marginal country in the region remains in public hands. Murray–Sunset National Park, Wyperfeld National Park, Hattah–Kulkyne National Park and Murray–Kulkyne Regional Park, a further 500 small reserves and some dryland state forest make up conservation, tourism, recreational and biodiversity enclaves.

Living Murray sites of iconic status at the Hattah Lakes and Lindsay–Wallpolla–Mulcra Islands add to the diversity of the northern plains. The Yarriambiack and Tyrrell Creeks run into classic Australian ephemeral wetlands, and it is estimated that up to 900 wetlands dot the Mallee region. Fourteen of these are listed as ‘nationally significant’.

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Mallee

Photo courtesy of Mallee Catchment Management Authority

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LAKE BULOKE

LAKEEPPALOCK

KOW SWAMP

LAKE BOGA

CAIRN CURRANRESERVOIR

KANGAROO LAKE

THE MARSH LAKE CULLEN

LAKE TUTCHEWOP

TULLAROOPRESERVOIR

LAKE CHARM

Avoca

Kerang

Echuca

Cohuna

Bendigo

Kyneton

Swan Hill

St Arnaud

Wycheproof

Castlemaine

In a recent BushBlitz,Ned’sCorner in the far north-west ‘corner’, gave up some remarkable data to scientists and volunteer recorder-citizens. One hundred and fifty different moths were sighted, of which 10 per cent were previously unrecorded. Thick Tailed Geckoes, the Fat Tailed Dunnart, the endangered Great Egret and a total of 41 plants listed as rare, vulnerable or endangered, were also recorded. Burrowing frogs like the Pobblebonk, encouraged into the open by the recent wet conditions, were also found in numbers.

From the region, cereal production runs at 50 per cent, dried fruit at 100 per cent and up to 30 per cent of Australia’s wine grapes come off the irrigation lots. The area’s citrus, avocados, olives and vegetable crops supply domestic and export markets. Fragile, shallow soil types, prone to wind and other erosion, and Mallee scrubland, have been cleared, cultivated and watered to accommodate these levels of production.

North central catchmentsIts dull geographic descriptor notwithstanding, the north central catchments of the Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca and Avon-Richardson Rivers, taking in about 13 per cent of the land mass of Victoria are equally interesting: just different. Aboriginal people describe this country as having been a food bowl.

The Avoca River runs into the Avoca Marshes.

In years of heavy rainfall the Avoca joins the Campaspe and the Loddon, pouring out into the Murray. The Avon-Richardson drains internally into Lake Buloke. These river catchments are severely salt affected.

Bounded by the Great Divide in the south and Mt Carmel to the east, the terrain was hacked, sifted and treated by miners in our early colonial past. Diggers’ cicatrices or scars, cutting up the box-ironbark forests, can still be seen everywhere. Old and new forestry practices are evidenced across the expanse of the catchments.

Changes in the demographic, and the subdivision of larger holdings, create complex management and planning issues, transport and other infrastructure needs and difficult biodiversity and biolink challenges.

Delivery of water across the region confronts water boards and Coliban Water struggled to maintain water supply to the Bendigo’s growing population during the drought.

North Central and Swan Hill have 826 LandforWildlife sites. TrustforNature covenants in the north-west, including the Wimmera, total 343 and cover 21,148 ha.

In the Bendigo region, the BendigoSustainabilityGroup(BSG), partners with the MountAlexanderSustainabilityGroup(MASG) and SustainabilityVictoria to support 1,000 households in the installation of photovoltaic (PV) systems (Goldfields Solar Hub Solar Photovoltaic Bulk Buy Program). BSG and MASG’s ‘renewable energy conversations report’ involved volunteers in conversation with over 780 members of the public about renewable energy in the electorate. An online tool for the central Victorian region plots home and business green initiatives on a Google Earth satellite image emanating from Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance. A sustainable foods action group is also active in the area, trading produce and exchanging ideas.

Photo courtesy of Mallee Catchment Management Authority

TheAvocaRiverandAvocaMarsh


Resourcefulness

MtWycheproof, the smallest registered mountain in the world, at 43 metres, and central to the town of Wycheproof, was surrounded by the 2011 flood waters. Local women associated with WycheVision met us ‘at the peak’, as the water was still to evaporate, run off or be absorbed.

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From the top of Mt Wycheproof looking out at floods

Mt Wycheproof

Dinner on top of Mount Wycheproof with

Rural Women’s NetworkRecord-breakingVictorianFloods–January2011

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Wycheproof

Mt Wycheproof

Ann Durie


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Floods, particularly after so many years of drought, provided Wycheproof locals with real insights into the viability and effectiveness of their emergency plan, their community networks, and their personal and group ability to cope with the uncertainty inherent in the management of extreme events.

gaynor doreian, Acting CEO of the Shire of Buloke, told us that because many Buloke staff were on leave or stranded by the flood waters:‘…membersofBendigoCouncil’sstaffandMilduraCouncil’semergencymanagementteamcametohelpus.Itishardtoputintowordshowmuchwevaluedthecontributionofourcolleagues.’

Shortly after the floods in Buloke, parts of Mildura experienced flooding. Talking to one of the staff from Mildura I learnt that work in the recovery centres in the region had assisted them. When they returned to Mildura they saw the need to review their own Emergency and Recovery Plans [which up until then had been heavily focused on fire events] and this meant they were better prepared for their own floods.

‘...Sooftenwedevelopplansbutneverhavetheopportunitytofullytestthem.Whilewehavedesktopauditsthereisnothingaspowerfulastherealthing.ThroughouradversityandthefloodingofCharlton,Donaldandotherpartsoftheshire,thestaffatMildurawereabletoexperienceandlearnfromtheaftermathofthefloodsandasaresulttheywerebetterpreparedwhenthetimecametoactlocally.’

Partnerships and participation provided the basis for informed tactical action across different terrain and across time.

This group of women, surrounded by water, were already resiliently planning the next events – the festival, tourism, dinner on the mount and their approach typified others across the floodplain.

In the flood-affected region, we visited individuals and sat down to listen to groups all of whom talked about sharing, participation, and the value of local knowledge and relationships in dealing with extreme events. These attributes all contributed to resourcefulness.

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At a pigfarm, we found a family who had lost their piggery to the flood waters. The pigs had to be moved onto concrete from straw, which meant the loss of RSPCA certification. Water still lay about the roads and paddocks, and had come to within centimetres of inundating the farmhouse. Children were relocated and parents had to retain level heads. Machinery had to be operated in uncertain light and without any clarity about the level of the waters to be expected, or the swiftness with which those waters would run.

It is hard enough to talk about a place that has just undergone, let alone live through, such major environmental upheaval. People experienced real dislocation, and they remained shocked and in a state of loss and disbelief. Some young children were seemingly buoyant but the strain showed on others.

Sharing the load: strength and knowledgeSuch conditions are not always or necessarily conducive to resolve and resilience. In this case, as in others, we heard that sharing resources, sharing the work and collaborating to help hold things together made people stronger, whether this was within families, on streetscapes or out in the paddock.

CharltonVolunteerCentre convened a meeting of a very diverse group of women who left clean-up tasks to talk to us. For them, floods had been ongoing since the previous September (as for Parks Victoria people in the Grampians post fire and floods – extreme events had become the ‘new normal’).

Possessions had been lost, the hospital closed, houses became uninhabitable, and schools and other semblances of order uncertain. Economic recovery and insurance cover was not guaranteed. Rubbish, potentially toxic, remained unexplained, mould was starting to appear inside houses that seemed to have avoided damage, and stagnant water had started to smell. The rubbish pile of white goods and mattresses was enormous.

Flood damaged rubbish charlton


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Inappropriate regulatory regimes unnecessarily constrained recovery efforts. Well-meaning, helpful outsiders, both professional and non-professional, with limited local knowledge, were unsuccessfully attempting to coordinate efforts. Local meeting places or knowledge hubs and existing local knowledge brokers had not been used as effectively as they might have been. Information flow had been poor and conflicting.

A lack of formal government preparation typified the relief effort in the early stages. This meant that local people helped each other, and quickly and simply responded to events as they unfolded. Piecemeal though this was, it was effective, pointedly responsive and useful. It also encouraged local responsiveness independent of waiting for Melbourne to act. People pitched in, participated, designed their own solutions, and got things done as best they could.

Boort was still surrounded by water, although the roads were now passable. Having met the group of young women mentioned [in an earlier chapter] we now met senior women in the community who remained bright and committed and who took the time to promote those around them, encourage cooperation and sponsor resourcefulness.

We were told again of the value of local knowledge:‘…It’slikeifyoudon’thaveasciencedegree,youdon’thavetherighttobeheard.Whetherit’son-groundlocalknowledge,citizenscienceorwhateveryouwanttocallit,theinformationwehaveisnotonlyvaluable–it’sessential.’

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Piles of flood refuse in charlton

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Flooding at Boort


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Some months later, we sought feedback, and a thoughtful participant made these comments about the many phases and faces of renewal:‘…Weareverymuchinthefloodrecoveryzone.Somepeopleareyettoreturntotheirhomes.Othersareinbutwithverybasicamenitiesandsomestillhaveconsiderableareasoffarmlandunderwater…thewateryousawwhenyouwereupourwayhasmovedthrough,withtheexceptionofanumberofextinctlakesbeingveryvisibleagain.Thebirdlifeisabsolutelyamazing,frogscanbeheard…thereare[still]anumberoflandholdersworkingtheirwaythroughsignificantchange.’

Extreme events breed change and, for some people, new or augmented coping skills. People grow, learn other skills, find new depth of character or recall what they thought they had lost. Some build resilience and some just fold in on themselves. Participation, respect for ability and difference, and cross-sectoral collaborations are all evident in the places that sustain change. These abilities and qualities sustain those who need support, and encourage those who can cope.

The owner–operator of SimplyTomatoes, a farm factory in the area, had us towed onto the premises in a boat behind a tractor.

Flooding at Boort – means of transport

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Here, before the floods, local people had reinvented themselves in the face of drought, changing climate and environmental conditions. The factory now packages and sells tomatoes, and an adjunct industry is the manufacture of woollen quilts and catering. Engineering refrigeration by partially burying shipping containers reduces costs and shows initiative.

During the floods, this farming couple had shared their resources, plant and energies with others, as had many others. Cooperation was universal, ignored constraints imposed by outsiders, and was offered without qualification. People were drawing on reservoirs of goodwill and an old ethic of collaboration in times of crisis. Many people took pride in being able to share their long local knowledge of what to expect of the floodwaters.

We reached Cohuna by a circuitous route from Kerang, which was flooded. The CEO of the GannawarraShire took time out of her busy schedule and guided us. Cohuna brought together agriculturalists, dairy farmers and environmentalists.

How best to report and informWe initially talked about environmental reporting, and we were told it would be useful if science and local knowledge, or ‘ground knowledge’, data and historical data, were incorporated and balanced.

Farmers’ knowledge was valuable, valid and should be included, as they had a real, even if often unrecognised, interest in sustainability for longevity and succession. Collaborations would achieve more than top-down approaches and participation should be genuinely supported.

The group thought that effective communication was at the root of good environmental practice, and that this would be promoted by a narrative and case-study approach, describing the work done and the lessons learnt.

Flood recovery would require coordinated government responses, not the silos that presently existed. Businesses and the financial and superannuation sectors had a role to play, and they all had to be in conversation with each other to get the best outcomes.

The lack of regulatory consistency or local relevance was a plague, and this was compounded by the extent of the floods. The level of absolutely necessary self-help, pointedly in relation to the building of levee banks, would remain unresolved without careful thought and collaborations. Those who had experienced the floods, resolved their own problems, and helped with those of their neighbours, now had a level of personal and local knowledge that was incapable of replication by outsiders. The store of local knowledge from the past had now been exponentially augmented.


”

Inevitable changeClear sighted and refusing to dwell on disaster, these women knew that the discretionary spend on tourism was not going to replace farming as an industry, but they also knew that farming changes were inevitable in the light of climate change.

One participant commented:‘…this[change]isnow.Wearefacingasituationwherewehavetoconsidertheneedforenvironmentaltriage–let’sberealistic.’

Choices would have to be made about what can be sustained and what is important to the local community.

Interestingly, this discussion was about decisions the public would make, not about government intervention or policy. Discussion about policy centred on the unpleasant tone of the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) process (as it then was).

Change had to be discussed, and this conversation had to be held in a less confrontational way, recognising pain, and knowing there would be winners and losers. A range of conflicted views and debate was not unhealthy, and it should be given air. Decisions that would last would be the ones based on conversations and the active inclusion of everyone. Better outcomes and less fragmented communities would be sustainable if built on these foundations.

Consultation was not participation. Consultation was formed around needing a decision about an instrument within time frames. People were cynical that facilitation was often used to attain outcomes already determined within such set parameters.

Small, local and achievableAt the local level, and providing examples of good community practice, this group wanted to talk about making changes. Places where this was happening ranged from the green star accredited men’s shed to water entitlement reductions.

At the Harvest Hotel in Echuca, we met with local government representatives and women from Landcare, other organisations and simply interested individuals, who provided us with feedback about reporting and talked about specific issues.

Indigenous knowledge was raised as an important source of local and environmental knowledge. Again, case studies and local knowledge were to be celebrated.

Local people were the ones at the forefront on biodiversity and decisions were being made on small, fragmented and episodic budgets. The tone of the meeting was to support local people looking after local concerns, but there was also a strong feeling that government should lead by example.

People were hungry for good, clear messages, and we were told that environmental information should be readily accessible, distributed and subject to ongoing meaningful evaluations. Contemporary and historical local knowledge was an important element of any environmental reporting, and it was time that official formal reports on environmental quality recognised this.

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Sustainability in schools and recycling were really important to this group, as was mental health and the social fabric of their communities.

Turning back into the Loddon Mallee region, we stopped at Ouyen and SeaLake, where small intense groups talked about things that mattered to them. Much of what we talked about concentrated on climate change and co-benefits. Achievements came through collaborations and participatory processes.

At OuyenWomen’sHealth, our interest in having a conversation about environmental reporting was a novelty, and other reports and data were welcomed.

For them, the issues were stark. Health, mental health, and climate variability merged. Communication was important, and DPI’s Climate Dogs drew praise as an accessible education tool about climate change, tailoring messages to communities. The use of local knowledge brokers would involve and encourage people on otherwise complex environmental messages. Inconsistent messaging lacking an understanding of context and the need for clarity was a constant concern, feeding uncertainties and making already fragile communities more vulnerable. Mixed messages and uncertainty about impacts of climate change over time were elevating levels of distress and depression about the future of small towns and the agriculture that supported them. Old questions about salinity and groundwater remained.

Not only did women merge the issues to reflect the way issues played out in the region, but they also saw the use of blending skills for climate change outcomes, so that health workers (for instance) would be enabled to tell stories and find solutions in meaningful ways across sectors. The Health Centre had already contextualised climate change and environmental issues by applying a new language: ‘cool relief community centres’ were being used to deal with heatwaves, and waste was a ‘resource’. Health workers were trusted and responsible.

Peppering the discussion was talk of isolation and the potential of new technologies, and the retention of youth, but only with proper access to skills and careers. Change was the ‘new black’ and people had become better at adjusting but internal community support mechanisms were a significant part of the solution. People couldn’t wait for government even if some programs were funded.

SeaLake, a small township in the Buloke Shire, produced a dynamic group of young women farmers and mothers, including the chair of the SeaLakePreschoolCommittee and the chair of the NorthernRWLC group. These women had been exposed to the work of organisations in other small towns, notably the Birchip Cropping group, which focused on finding solutions for drought conditions and vulnerabilities, acting as a conduit for information and research.

But even though there were lessons to be learnt from other communities, they wanted to talk about their own achievements, collaborations and aspirations.

Rural Women’s Network Sea Lake


Firstly they wanted to say they loved being where they were, and that raising families in rural settings had obvious advantages. Top of mind was intergenerational equity. Working with what they had, they started a toy library and a book exchange. These expressly reduced waste and packaging, promoted sharing, quietly built achievements and provided openings for other initiatives.

Action by the townspeople had resulted in the retention of the bush nursing service. Learning from other communities had helped direct action but local vision and clever building fabric was needed so that one program led to another and designs could be interchangeable. Every meeting could be used for the promotion of community values and niche possibilities. For instance, simple drought funding had been turned into useful multi-faceted programs, even when resources had to be found for a new community centre.

Environmental amenity was a social and cultural issue, and participants spoke about the Wimmera pipeline delivering water savings that were good for agriculture and economies, but also the community as it directly contributed to Green Lake receiving water, raising people’s spirits towards the end of the drought.

Community planning was an important exercise, making people think about their local places and what they wanted to achieve in and for them. The drought, relative isolation, and the possibilities that these things both opened up and closed off made them adept at inventive thinking and adaptation. Through participation they motivated and promoted agency and ideas.

Leaving the relative isolation of these smaller towns, it may be instructive to examine the role of larger towns – like Mildura.

The SunraysiaTAFE building in Mildura was the site for our first discussions. Three meetings of different character and structure were conducted in this important local education facility.

Obstacles to get around while getting on with itWe arrived seeking a discussion about the use and examples of case studies for reports. RuralWomenLeadingChange wanted to encourage dialogue about leadership and change. Some participants had operational issues that they wanted to explore, and others were glad to talk about the work of their organisations.

Participation played out on a number of different levels to a number of agendas.

The open forum, constructed around the work of local women leaders, for which an open invitation had been issued, was chaired by the CEO of the MalleeCatchmentManagementAuthority, Jenny Collins.

Jenny Collins and Lesley Palmer, CEO of the LowerMurrayWaterBoard, presented on the climate change adaptation strategies in the region. The flooding of the town provided an interesting backdrop for the presentations. Flood mitigation work constitutes an ongoing agenda item in the Lower Murray Water Board’s Annual Report for 2010–11.94

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Disclaimer:This map may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do notguarantee that the map is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particularpurpose and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or any consequence which may arise from you relying on any information on this map.

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Women in the meeting wanted to talk about the failure of top-down policy development and how counterproductive silos of government decision making and responsibility were, particularly when issues were identified and contested. Local research supported by local knowledge funnelled through local ‘knowledge brokers’ was promoted as having real merit but often excluded.

Contrary to the interests outlined in many of our subsequent meetings, convened as they mostly were around change, participation and innovation, a few participants focused on consultation about particular government policies and an operational interest in reporting ‘indicators’ for determining environmental quality.

Other women raised concerns about the need for the more effective and inviting communication of science. Communication about biodiversity, climate change, energy issues, water conservation (surprisingly in the circumstances) and extreme events had to be both more effective and timely. To facilitate this, more extensive use of localised knowledge brokers to deliver information tailored to particular audiences was essential. Picking up on our concern about dense and impenetrable reporting, members of the group actively supported the need to avoid ‘information overload’.

Loss of youth from the regions and the consequent export of skills and information were tied with improving access to all streams of post-secondary education and program relevance. Given the focus of climate change and the implementation of the Carbon Farming Initiative, it was reasonable to demand carbon accounting as a skills base in the region.

Map courtesy of Lower Murray Water


Tourism potential and the role of local government were raised as means of creating scope and potential in the region, but it was no magic bullet.

This was not a group fixated with reliance upon Melbourne or central agencies. They were not even particularly concerned about the role of the centre in funding or policy development, except as it impacted.

As the meeting wound down, conversations continued between individuals about a range of issues, including networking, access to information, what local women and people were good at, and how to effect change collaboratively without focus on the impediments.

This group of women was resourceful and active in the pursuit of matters of importance to them. Focal points needed to be found, such as the meeting itself, but once found, interest, intelligence and activism was not lacking.

A tour of the NationalCentreforSustainability at the SunraysiaTAFE building followed, conducted by the manager Dr Yasmin Chalmers. Everything about this complex is interesting, and a testament to thinking laterally. The garden is a water miser, and the main building is constructed out of rammed earth. Although criticised for its musty smell, its sustainability attributes were welcomed as a demonstration site in the town.

Renewable energy might be the metaphor for this group. The TAFE maintains a travelling sustainability trailer, independently and locally funded. This project demonstrates the potential for renewable energy through external installations of solar and wind power. The centre also runs a sustainability curriculum demonstrating the level of capacity it has for a change agenda driven from the heart of the institution.

Talking with this group the focus was on local research collaborations and on what could be done, not their frustrations. Their ethos was of resourcefulness and innovation.

The LaTrobeUniversityMurrayDarlingFreshwaterCentre, a multidisciplinary research facility, provided us with an understanding of some of the work that can be done in research settings in the regions. Threshold data is being gathered to inform the study of environmental resilience and the research is being used to demonstrate the applicability of engineering solutions to natural resource problems. Rare fish species such as the Murray Hardyhead are the subject of study and action.

Multidisciplinary research interests and local immersion promote interest about more effective methods of science communication.

An evening with the local regional development group and the local council and women from RWLC brought together change agents and community development specialists to talk about projects and interests in the region. The work of local groups, the Mildura Region Solar Hub (led by Mildura Development Corporation and involving Sunraysia Institute of TAFE), Mildura Rural City Council, Sunraysia Sustainability Network and the National Centre for Sustainability, has culminated in a significant solar program for the region.

After careful research, the group will install 785 kW of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels in the region in the current financial year, which will offset about 56,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide during the next 20 years. Packages are tailored to the Sunraysia, which has more sunshine hours than the Gold Coast, and will include all government grants, 10-year full manufacturer’s warranties on panels, an optional 20-year warranty on inverters and a five-year installation warranty. The Rural City of Mildura Council intends to install 50 kilowatts of solar panels on its buildings. The Hub will inform people.

AroundAgain is a community partnership between the Mildura City Council and the Sunraysia Sustainability Network, which recycles waste at the Mildura Tip. A community focus drives this effort. Abutting a wetlands site, this facility intends to build a mini-CERES (community environment park) on site.

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Highly effective and usefully labour-intensive, this cottage industry encourages participation and generates skills and benefits for the whole community. One of their major achievements is that there is no need to ship waste to Melbourne. It would be impossible to calculate the value of this workplace. They are doing small things, taking small steps, but the work is grassroots, networking and apparently highly satisfying for local people, at all levels of the business. Here the working conditions for the number of disabled staff are good, with airy and light spaces. There is a caring ethic, and one of the objects is to cultivate skills.

This facility had worked to deal with the growing e-waste problem (which we have heard about all over the state) and regulatory barriers and government inaction. An e-recycling team stripped the valuable raw materials out of computers and TVs, turning a profit for the organisation.

copper recycling

‘Around Again’ Mildura


A great deal of work had been done to inform and engage the community about recycling, which keeps even ironic recyclables, such as exercise bikes, out of landfill.

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‘Around Again’ Mildura

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Indicative of the complexity and range of things that can be done to effect environmental changes, we left waste treatment to visit the KingsBillabong on the following day.

At this site, volunteer recorders have been working on monitoring bird numbers for many years, self-funding the purchase of one of the best available telescopes.

Wyperfeld NP

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The group includes highly skilled scientists and gifted amateurs. Their work is important, and they gain a genuine sense of empowerment from the work they do.96 Their work educates others about the nature of our particularly Australian ephemeral wetlands, water systems of real complexity.

Their last bird count is a telling example of the importance of volunteers:‘…atLakeKramen…beforetheenvironmentalflows,theLakehadbeendryformanyyearsandtherewerenobirdspresent.Lastweek[9-13January2012]withthelakealmostfullwecounted335AustralianWoodDucks,19pinkearedducks,279greyteal,40blackswans,76Australasiangrebesand500Eurasiancoots.Sincethegoodrainsofthelasttwoyearsthetotalbirdpopulationhasalso

increaseddramatically.AtourregularChallengeBirdCountinDecember2010werecorded136speciesand6577individualbirdswithin40kmofMildura.InDecember2011werecorded173speciesand19,293individualbirds.Addingwaterdoesmakeadifference…’GeorgeKerridge,personalcommunication,January2012.

At King’s Billabong, the new water regulator, made from recycled plastic, will be less intrusive to install and use than old engineering works would be, and the proper regulation of the water flow into the wetlands will produce an appropriate management regime.

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King’s Billabong

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Management of the system can also help members of the public to understand that this billabong is not, and never was, a permanent lake. Its attributes when both dry and wet will be better understood and appreciated.

Our subsequent visit to HattahLakes involved a discussion at the interpretative centre and a visit to the water’s edge. Our guides were delighted at the increase in water levels. The effort that has gone into the interpretation makes it digestible and highly useful.

Change built on relationshipsThe role of the community in buying environmental water for the lakes was a bright illustration of the power of the public in environmental matters when galvanised by NGOs. The water saved the lakes in the middle of the drought.

Now there was flooding, but this would not provide enough water for the backwaters, and thought would have to be given to what might be lost and what should be saved if priorities had to be formed. The differences in Australian conditions were again discussed. Ramsar standards were inapplicable. Our ecosystems were different and should not be confused with European ones.

Having a visit on site was important to gain an understanding of the ecosystem and also to give those who care about that system the chance to talk about this passion.

Hattah Lakes

Hattah Lakes


South of the floods and as we entered Bendigo region, we stopped at the CentralVictorianSolarCity site97 north of the town, where we inspected a multiple-stakeholder business seeking to leverage community interest in renewable energy in ways similar but different to the Hepburn Wind farm south of Daylesford.98

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Hattah Lakes meeting

Leah Sartori at Bendigo solar installation site

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In Bendigo, the PepperGreenFarm, a Bendigo Access Employment project, located on the site of an old Chinese marketplace/garden, employs disabled people in a commercial vegetable garden. The parallels with the Around Again Tip Shop in Mildura are obvious, but beyond employing disabled people these projects are potentially sustainable with greater than superficial longevity.

As with the Mildura enterprise wanting to further sustainability on site through the built environment, PepperGreen Farm has new green star buildings that are in constant use.

Pepper Green Farm Bendigo

Pepper Green Farm Plot Bendigo


In Bendigo, women came from all over the district to a RWLC meeting, where they presented on sustainable work being done everywhere, exemplified by the BendigoFarmers’Market, the JumpUpschoolprogram, the CityofGreaterBendigosustainability program and the BendigoSustainabilityGroup itself.

As the formal presentations finished, people started talking about other things happening in the region. Local action matters, is meaningful and gathers people in. The Farmers’ Market is just one example of the germ of an idea, expressed almost in a whisper, gaining adherents and quickly becoming a highly satisfying outlet for personal and community aspirations for sustainable practices.

This group was made up of confident, sharing women who were thinking about what they were doing, finding ways to include others and participating in genuine, useful projects that they cared about. Confidence was generated by doing, and by the persistent recourse to collaborations based on trusting relationships.

A short visit to a private home on GreenhillAvenueatCastlemaine was a nice illustration of the benefits of community participation for attainment of more satisfying and comfortable lives. A number of people in the street have clubbed together to produce a ‘community’, which shares, helps each other, raises children together and tries to extend itself to others.

The difficulty of inspiring the uncommitted to change was raised, and the absence of connections presented as a problem.

At MountAlexanderShire we met with Mayor Janet Cropley, the CEO and staff involved in environmental issues and gained an insight into the range of programs being delivered. We talked about the shire’s draft State of the Environment Report and Action Plan.99

This Shire, taking in the towns of Castlemaine, Harcourt, Newstead, Guildford, Chewton, Elphinstone and Maldon, has high levels of interest in and understanding of environmental issues, building over the years. Community expectations of local government increase correspondingly. ‘Melbourne-scale’ environmental planning and projects are expected, but difficult to deliver as, for a small council, the pool of funding is not on the same scale. Local participation has contributed and been tapped but this is not an inexhaustible resource.

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Bendigo Rural Women’s Network and Bendigo Sustainability Group and other community members interested in environmental sustainability

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Operational issues and the long haulAt the operational level there is particular concern over lack of access to electricity data from power companies for planning purposes and to develop meaningful and attainable emissions reduction targets. The lack of a benchmark is frustrating action. Regulation can be a blocker, and integration across jurisdictions is necessary.

Transport options to Melbourne with a good train service make the town of Castlemaine a very attractive satellite regional town, attracting people seeking a better lifestyle. The town will only grow, bringing new challenges.

BudaHistoricHouse was the site of the RWLC evening meeting in Castlemaine. A large group of women from many different backgrounds and across generations came along and heard what we had to say about reporting.

Again, as was the case at almost every place we stopped, the dialogue was two-way. As in Bendigo, this group wanted to talk about the things they are doing to engender sustainable practices in their neighbourhoods, from preserving street fruit tree windfalls to the Newstead Sustainability Festival.

The fruit preserving physically pre-dated the government grant, and has taken off in a big way, with requests for information coming in from all over Australia. This makes the community a victim of its own success (rather like Mount Alexander Shire), as talking to others takes time, and people who are doing things are often time-poor.

Their advice was:‘…havesomefunandtakeadvantageofthepossibilitieswhichpresentthemselves–straightawayandwithothers.’

At the CommunityHubinMaryborough, a stone’s throw from the newly restored railway station, we met with a group of women who had come together to both talk and listen.

‘Long-haul’women,nottreechangers,acrossagegroupsandsectorsandwithdiverseviewsattended.Notwithstandingtheirgeographicalproximity,thisgroupcouldnothavebeenmoredifferenttotheCastlemainegroupswemet.

Although they were a long way from the north-west floods, they too had been impacted and roads had been cut and isolation and damage occurred.

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In talking about the flooding as an unusual and extreme weather event, the group canvassed climate change and the need for improved scientific information.

A lot of individual effort was being made to adopt sustainable practices, and community participation was being generated. Many said meetings such as this were very good in bringing people together, providing access to knowledge brokers and hubs of activity. One participant commented that it was ‘great’ to have local people speaking instead of just listening.

At the end of the meeting, one woman interrupted the convenor’s concluding remarks to say:‘ThishasbeenthemostexcitingandusefulmeetingIhaveeverattendedhere.’

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carisbrook cFA at flooded river crossing

Photo courtesy of ABC Rural Caleb Cluff

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Mount Alexander Fruit Farm – Katie Finlay

The discussion was coordinated by a local woman with arts affiliations, and we heard from a local cellist and bike rider, an oil producer and a home owner, who talked about their work and sustainability as a lifestyle commitment.

This was one of the few groups that focused on our three questions (see Appendix One) in group sessions, but they, like everyone else, covered a lot of ground. The meeting ended on a high note, and it appeared a number of participants would go away to build networks and continue the discussions.

Our final meeting for the tour was convened at the MacedonRangesCouncil chambers.

Failure of federal government programs, green loans and other programs that raised hopes and then dashed them was a focal point. Deep despair was expressed by one woman about the failure of her green loans business. The episodic nature of policy and programs was again raised. The regulatory impasse about wind energy for small enterprises was the subject of criticism.

A desire for certainty about information and regulation was expressed a number of times – with government holding the responsibility for this.

Energy and costs raised the usefulness and accessibility of the Energy Ombudsman.

Local government was seen to have not met community expectations around planning or bringing certainty to different aspects of the debate.

Tourism concerns were brought out in one of the examples, particularly around the behaviours of people on holiday (tendency to be careless with resources) versus their behaviour at home. Oddly, this was later focused upon by the young people at the Middle Kinglake Primary School.

Individual action appeared to typify the environmental efforts of people in this meeting. A correlation appears to exist between local government and community actions, and a heavy reliance upon government for action stood out.

Change and diversification


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We saw a very pointed example of individual action changing process and personal philosophies when we took up the invitation to visit a third-generation family orchard, MountAlexanderFruitFarms, at the foot of Mount Alexander, Harcourt.

In 1998, Katie Finlay and her husband Hugh purchased the property from her father Merv, who still works the organic orchard. Organics has led the business to a greater interest in biological farming, and adopting as core practice ‘feeding’ the soil using compost and compost tea rather than from artificial fertilisers.

Their commitment to organic production is blended with family values and a family-run business, and they find it is satisfying to have a holistic view of their life, work, and family evolve.

At a personal and operational level, adapting to climate change is confronting.‘Asfarmerswe’reveryawareofthechangingclimate,andwanttomakesurewearenotaddingtotheproblem.’

In the last decade, self-motivation has progressively driven change. Fruit varieties and growing routines have been changed to respond to a changing climate. This requires business planning and agricultural and other research, being open to innovative practices and being prepared to drive change. It also involves some trial and error. The work is physical but also intellectually predicated as it is on being inventive and leading changes.

The Finlays are committed to a carbon neutral business and lifestyle, and they have completed a five-year sustainability plan100 which they reviewed in 2011.

‘Thesustainabilityplanhasprovidedtheorchardbusinesswithadifferentglasstolookthrough.Thismeansthatalldecisionswithinthebusinessareplacedagainstthevaluesoutlinedintheplan–thesepromotesimplicity’(KatieFinlay,2011).

The orchard is planted like an old-fashioned ‘garden’, with small plantings of more than 80 varieties of organic fruit, including cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples and pears. Shifting away from a monoculture to widely diversified plantings has many advantages. It spreads the harvest more evenly over a longer period so that no single variety ever poses too big a job promoting mechanical farming practices. It spreads the risk. It reduces disease pressure across the whole property. And it means that most varieties can be picked, sold, and eaten when they are at their peak.

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Katie and Hugh recently discovered that in diversifying the plantings they have unwittingly returned the property to a very similar state to its original plantings, over 100 years ago (Harcourt Historical Society).

The Finlays believe that in a rapidly changing climate they and others will have to be adaptable. They have witnessed and accept that environmental conditions are going to be increasingly variable, more extreme and unpredictable.

Commitment to a revegetation project, where they are creating a wildlife corridor from the Mt Alexander Regional Park through to a pocket of remnant vegetation on the west of their property, is a fine example of environmental stewardship. And serious engagement in local associations and groups has them making input into Harcourt Applefest, Landcare, proposals for carbon farming, Mt Alexander Sustainability Group and Coliban Water’s reconfiguration of the valley’s 150-year-old irrigation channel network – the lifeblood of the Harcourt fruit industry.

This ethic of participation, generating not only personal agency and resilience, typifies the culture of the people we met all over the state.

SummaryAgain we heard stories of people’s resourcefulness, their collaboration blind to difference but confident and trusting of local capabilities in the face of extreme, no longer rare, events. Conversation about environmental reporting called for the valuing of these stories or case studies and the incorporation of this ‘grounded knowledge’, including Indigenous knowledge, with scientific and historical data.

This opinion may be shared across the state, but it is also very clear that different communities have very different issues, and this underlines the worth of local knowledge and participatory processes.101

Women in agriculture were keen to ensure that we understood that they saw sustainability as a concern of real immediacy, as unless they were operating sustainably, their enterprises, dependent upon environmental services, would not themselves be viable in the long term.

The constraints of regulatory regimes and authorities are often perceived as misguided, and people disliked the tone of some consultations as being over-facilitated when participation needs to be inclusive, not repress difference, nor presume the acceptance of given frameworks or require consensus.102 Government leading by example, giving clear, consistent messages – better planning and information that was tailored and accessible, was called for.

The impact of change and uncertainty on people’s mental health, isolation and issues of intergenerational equity are matters that health workers and community are ‘on to’, knowing the disproportionate burden that women carry, and the importance of building connections, support mechanisms and providing new initiatives.


The boomerang speaks of much more than its shape ...

The stories that have unfolded here derive their authenticity and inspirational qualities from the relationships that people have with each other and with the places they know, and to which they relate in simple but subtle ways. These places might be a farm, a forest, a river, a creek bed, a mountain, a town or a school.

Everywhere we travelled, we found people driving deeply personal and inventive efforts to modify and moderate practices, which were proving to be environmentally, socially and also economically unsustainable. Community collaboration threaded through all this public activity and our discussions across the state.

Many places we visited provided unexpected insights. Sometimes the unintended consequences of community and individual action were as important as those that were intended. Every place we visited enlivened our discussions and provided us with knowledge that will be central to, and impact upon, the science communication and environmental reporting out of this office.

In place after place, people told us what they were doing but also of their desire to see environmental improvement and change. Narrow operational issues were raised, but the focus invariably turned to a broader more inclusive discussion about how to get to change, how to support change, how to determine what will work, and how to include the public in this work.

Participation was clearly seen as a signal force in generating change, in promoting inventiveness and in building resourcefulness. Involvement of people in the care of our country, its grasslands, wetlands, mountains, rivers and its fauna and flora was recognised as important. It boosted confidence and the commitment of others and set an example in all walks of life. Collaboration through community and sustainability groups in waste, water and energy conservation, and broad-scale efficiencies was enabling and inspiring.

In an attempt to faithfully record the information for which my office has become a filter, this report reflects not just the physical environmental work being done but also the participation that so insistently underpins and guides it.

One particular visit exemplifies the instrumental and the symbolic.

In south-west Gippsland, we stopped at the correctional facility Wulgunggo Ngalu Learning Place, where programs for personal and environmental sustainability unfold under the supervision of Indigenous mentors and managers Shaun Braybrook and Shane Charles in a physical structure that meets environmental design standards.

Physically we have brought a boomerang away from that visit.

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The Boomerang

This boomerang was presented to us by a young Indigenous man, Justin McGurgan, now deceased. Justin, in the company of Shane Charles, appears in a photograph on the front cover of this report. I acknowledge his gift, the goodwill in its giving, the links this gifting forged, and, as is appropriate, I pay my respects. I thank Justin’s mother Debbie for permission to use the photograph.

But, in keeping with what we heard all over the state from people engaged in a conversation about sustainability and the cyclical nature of environmental best practice, I want to linger on the symbolism of this gift.

The boomerang speaks of much more than its shape or the substance from which it is carved. Simple and highly sophisticated, a boomerang offers up an understanding of the cyclical nature of a life lived in the environment. On one level it is an implement used to achieve an outcome, sustenance. On another level it returns, fulfilling the cycle of consumption, survival, replenishment.

Justin’s gift, from a member of the oldest living culture, to us, embarked as we are on environmental reporting for other, newer, cultures in this landscape, reminds us of the importance of connection. In the gifting, this boomerang embodies the quest for sustainable or renewable outcomes, the collaborations and participation upon which such outcomes are based, and, fundamentally, it encourages better attempts at plain speaking across complex terrain.


APPENdIXESAppendix One

Methodology: Participation – our way

Relationship building 2009–2010

Our broad-scale tour methodology could not come into being until we had spent some time developing relationships with the public and with non-government and government agencies. Formation of relationships is fundamental to the generation of meaningful dialogue, and it is only through relationships that communication can expand to include others.

We had to develop our own internal commitment to a participatory program by recognising, among other things, the importance of context. We had to build the profile of the office across a swathe of interests, sectors and geographies, and tailor-make openings and encourage people to understand their potentiality as joint influencers/partners in environmental reporting before we could embark upon what came to be a highly ambitious round of discussions, rapid field work, and brief encounters across the state.

It was clear that communication by means of the internet was not as effective as we and other reporters might have hoped, and it was also apparent that dense data-rich documents had to be unpicked to become the companion documents and useful communicative idioms people needed. We were mixing with a public that is better informed and less passive in its methods of receiving and valuing information. We perceived a certain level of disillusionment with government, and a sense that government was not interested in listening to people who had knowledge about places.

Extension of our work program into community activities

The early work of cultivating connections with the public, beyond the centre and the usual suspects, was started and continued from June 2009 through to October 2010.

Initially we spent time talking with any group that expressed an interest in the work of the office, all across Melbourne and into the regions. I spoke at Australia Day celebrations, local councils, group meetings, attended energy efficiency launches, and rode, by invitation, with Melbourne mayors on their Ride to Work bike ride. I asked the team to attend meetings beyond Melbourne and their usual networks.

We sought partnerships and conversations with organisations across the environmental spectrum. We encouraged the public through the sustainable schools program and through agency carbon footprinting to become more involved in strategic audit process.

We built upon this early work with an extended range of local governments, greenhouse alliances, sustainability groups, health providers, small and medium enterprises, Landcare and other agricultural groups, women’s groups and administrators, to share understandings of triple-bottom-line issues.

My office continued to work with those who had been involved in the climate change adaptation work of the Ministerial Council, with universities and environmental specialist and other academics.

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Action

The Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability:

> developed and continually updated a stakeholder list

> actively pursued a regional as well as metropolitan focus

> availed itself of every opportunity to meet with the public, talking about the work of the office and the action which was being taken on the ground

> visited every place to which we were invited

> started to develop relationships around environmental reporting and issues with members of the public, other organisations and specialists in the environmental management and reporting field from accountants to administrators

> cultivated other outsider networks and introduced colleagues and community wherever and whenever the opportunity arose

> fed back good science communication to those who attended meetings and provided connection points where appropriate

> contributed to conferences and provided short articles and letters of support where appropriate

> generated new and built upon old connections with academics, both remunerated and retired

> connected with members of the business community, including water boards and their organisational structures

> specifically engaged with local government whenever possible, and undertook a study of environmental reporting around local government issues

> worked with school groups and responded to invitations to join with schools in their sustainability work, both with Sustainability Victoria and independently

> ensured, for the most efficient use of resources, that if a regional visit was undertaken every opportunity to further connect with enterprising environmentalists and community members was explored.

This work all took a good deal of organisation and strategic planning.

The broad-scale tour

Our first real opportunity to develop a tour of a region came about in the second half of 2010.

This occurred:

> as a result of the work we had been doing to cultivate the profile of the office and involve ourselves in the environmental and other work being undertaken around the state

> as a direct consequence of attending and speaking at a forum held to celebrate Rural Women Leading Change (RWLC), at which time an invitation was received to attend a meeting with women at Ouyen

> in response to the specific request to talk about ‘leadership’ and change agendas

> as a consequence of wishing to explore the potential of our developing reporting ethic which involves the ‘experts’ and the citizen scientist and simply interested public, gaining their stories of successes and disappointments and frustrations

> as a function of taking on additional staff to work on the State of the Environment Report.


Resource intensity typifies this sort of field work, rapid or otherwise, and I requested RWLC assistance to help us organise a number of discussions, taking in the whole of the north-west, from Mildura to Macedon.

This round of visits was our trial for others under contemplation at that time, and so began our multi-site, multi-person conversation and information gathering work for the State of the Environment reporting required of the office.

It was not until we had conducted the first tour, of the north-west region, in partnership with RWLC, that we were able to employ a part-time communications person who assumed the role of coordinating tours through the south-west, the north-east, the south-west and the Wimmera.

Organisation of each tour was a team effort, involving the staff member who had been delegated the particular region – a geographically relatively crude carve-up of the state by quadrant. It was necessary to find some way to tack through the complexity of the organisational networks across the state.

As we expected, people talked about the places from which they came and the important environmental conduits they recognised, delineated by the natural contours provided by rivers, creeks, hills or ranges, or the more sophisticated or artificial boundaries supplied by local government boundaries or re-established re-vegetation corridors such as biolinks or catchment management authority borders.

The lines we drew on the map were of such breadth that they did not limit participation; they actually encouraged it, and sometimes even provided scope to expand conversations into other highly relevant enclaves with new cohorts of participants.

The participants – outsiders volunteer recorders, the interested and the uninterested, the passive and the active

Our ongoing planning kept the initial emphasis on involving members of the public who might not be actively involved in any organisational discussions with government departments primarily focused on environmental issues. It was my view that this would allow us to capture the insights and activities of those people who were other than ‘the usual suspects’.

On many occasions, it was not clear until the meeting commenced who the participants would be.

Networks

On a number of occasions, our visits have generated new relationships and networks. This is one of the important outcomes of holding meetings in places of importance to people. People meet like minds, they share views, they develop new projects and approaches and they connect culturally as well as socially. They realise new possibilities and potential.

We are, interestingly, still finding new associations and networks.

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Facilitation

At no time was a formal facilitation role created.

No facilitator was used to channel or constrain the flow of conversation or to clip the questions or commentaries.

We did ask groups to consider these three questions as a guide:

1. What are the environmental issues facing the community where I live?

2. What should we measure to track changes over time?

3. What new opportunities are open to me and others around me in communicating and understanding science?

Some groups used these questions as a guide post. Others worked around them, and some simply put them to one side and started the discussion where they might have left off in their own communities at some earlier time.

The rationale was to stimulate participation; openly explore issues, and more instrumentally, to find case studies which would provide guidance and change the reporting ethic.

• Most meetings started with a talk about what we do, how we intend to report and how we intend to inform the community.

• An absence of policy promotion – non-prescriptive and open discourse.

• No limiting terms of reference were drafted or subliminally used. There was no pre-existing definition of the problems people were confronting and no desire to arrive at a consensus.

Government policy documents were available but not produced to confine discussions. We had no desire to have people choose between pre-existing policy scenarios and we had no intention of reinforcing or reproducing policy documents.

We were not interested in attainment of the illusion of conformity or homogeneity and stability. We sought an open-ended dialogue.

Tools

On occasion we used the tried and true butcher’s paper, and asked people to talk and consider matters in groups.

But this was not a routine methodology, and on at least one occasion a community conference simply progressed through issues and discussion without adopting this methodology.

Some meetings were advertised in local newspapers and on country radio. No-one was refused access to the tour if they had an interest in attending.

Representation

We knew that representativeness was not only impractical but also impossible, particularly if we had really tapped the uninterested, those who were not the usual suspects for environmental sustainability dialogue.


Appendix Two

International Participation – some background theory

Participation: new norm in environmental contexts.

Participation has been explored and exploited to assist in environmental assessment and decision making for generations, across cultures and jurisdictions.

Planning specialists have used participation as a method for making more meaningful decisions that will stick.111 In highly formal situations even the OECD is requiring public participation of companies to ensure they respond to the triple bottom line.

Recent scholarship about the merits of a participatory ethic commenced in the 1970s and has been proliferating, in waves, ever since. The potential benefits of participatory processes, including more sustainable outcomes, healthier engagement between the public and policy makers, greater ‘ownership’ of outcomes and personal and group agency, are increasingly recognised in the mainstream, notwithstanding some critical interrogation of the seamlessness of the benefits in the development aid literature.112

In development aid contexts

The international message appears to be that sustainable development and community participation go hand in hand, as, unless a project is nurtured by its host community it will struggle and fail.113 It has been suggested that where ‘conventional professionalism’ triumphs, alienating public participation, we see a ‘depressing record of failure’.114

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) across a vast array of development projects and places includes people in decision making processes for better outcomes.115

Internationally the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency, USAID, and the International Relief/Development Agency, accept that participatory methodologies promote more sustainable outcomes and result in long-term cost savings in project implementation.116 When ‘best’ local knowledge – the ‘seamless fabric of lived experience’117 is incorporated, it seems projects are more relevant, effective and useful, and people are more responsive to them.

In environmental settings

Broadly and specifically, the necessity of participation in environmental concerns is accepted.118 The United Nations Rio Convention in 1992,119 affirming the earlier Stockholm Convention120 declares:

‘… environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens at the relevant level …’121

Rio+20 (2012) promises continuing support for this position.

Since 2001 the Aarhus Convention122 has promoted the Public Participation Principle in European contexts. Among other things123 Aarhus tells us that ‘… sustainable development can be achieved only through the involvement of all stakeholders …’124 Globally, the United Nations Environment Program has used the Aarhus Convention to assist in the Development of National Legislation on Public Participation.125

By 2011, the Draft Chrisinau Declaration126 strengthened support for public participation, requiring:

‘… citizens [to] participate in the design and implementation of green economy programs.’

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Appendix Three

Brisbane Declaration

We, representatives of countries and communities, including Indigenous peoples, international institutions, national, state and local governments, academic institutions, and business and civil society organisations from across the world, participating in the International Conference on Engaging Communities, held at Brisbane, Australia, from 15 to 17 August 2005:

1. Acknowledge the universal interest and importance of community engagement, founded in the inherent dignity of people and the values, rights and responsibilities of all people expressed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

2. Welcome the Seoul Declaration on Participatory and Transparent Governance127 in its call for all actors128 in societies to work together to expand and promote participatory, transparent governance for the benefit of their people.

3. Underscore that community engagement is essential to the achievement of the Millennium Declaration including the Millennium Goals for Development.

4. Express appreciation for the efforts of the United Nations and its specialised agencies in helping to advance the practice of community engagement and support of greater participatory and transparent governance.

5. Express appreciation to the Government of the State of Queensland, to the Indigenous peoples for their welcome to country, and to all the people of Queensland, Australia for hosting the inaugural International Conference on Engaging Communities.

6. Express appreciation to the other Australian governments, tertiary institutions and organisations that have sponsored and partnered in the organisation of this gathering, to the staff and volunteers, and to all those who have through participation shared their expertise and experience to build greater understanding, capability and commitment to the practice of community engagement.

Community engagement

7. Affirm that community engagement is critical to effective, transparent and accountable governance in the public, community and private sectors.

8. Recognise that community engagement is a two-way process:

> by which the aspirations, concerns, needs and values of citizens and communities are incorporated at all levels and in all sectors in policy development, planning, decision making, service delivery and assessment; and

> by which governments and other business and civil society organisations involve citizens, clients, communities and other stakeholders in these processes.

9. Affirm that effective engagement generates better decisions, delivering sustainable economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits.

10. Also recognise that effective community engagement enables the free and full development of human potential, fosters relationships based on mutual understanding, trust and respect, facilitates the sharing of responsibilities, and creates more inclusive and sustainable communities.

11. Further recognise that meaningful community engagement seeks to address barriers and build the capacity and confidence of people to participate in, and negotiate and partner with, institutions that affect their lives, in particular those previously excluded or disenfranchised.


12. Further recognise that inclusive engagement requires that Indigenous peoples and the poor and marginalised, are adequately resourced to participate meaningfully in the broader community and that they have a stake in the outcome and benefit equitably as a result of being involved.

13. Endorse the core principles of integrity, inclusion , deliberation and influence in community engagement:

> Integrity – when there is openness and honesty about the scope and purpose of engagement;

> Inclusion – when there is an opportunity for a diverse range of values and perspectives to be freely and fairly expressed and heard;

> Deliberation – when there is sufficient and credible information for dialogue, choice and decisions, and when there is space to weigh options, develop common understandings and to appreciate respective roles and responsibilities;

> Influence – when people have input in designing how they participate, when policies and services reflect their involvement and when their impact is apparent.

14. Recognise the availability of a wide range of methods and technologies, including new and emerging tools associated with the internet, to facilitate appropriate and effective community engagement.

15. Affirm the value of education, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge sharing about active citizenship and community engagement processes and outcomes.

16. Draws attention to the materials and recommendations of the specialised panels and workshops which supplement this Declaration

Next steps

17. The participants from all over the world at this conference:

18. Request the Host Country to bring to the attention of the General Assembly of the United Nations the Declaration of this inaugural International Conference on Engaging Communities so that it may provide leadership globally for its promotion and implementation.

Further call on international institutions as well as national, provincial and local governments to give effect to the values and principles of this Declaration.

19. Express support for more dialogue between international institutions and others with the people of the world about issues of global interest, and the availability of digital and other means to support such interaction.

20. Encourage the tertiary sector and other public and professional organisations to facilitate research and teaching, policy and practice development, organisational development, evaluation and networking to sustain the learnings and connections created at this inaugural International Conference on Engaging Communities.

21. Further encourage the private sector and civil society organisations to implement practical and meaningful ways to be responsive to, representative of, and enabling of the participation of citizens, clients, communities.

22. Note with appreciation the willingness of the Queensland Government to support knowledge sharing and capacity building for community engagement and to be involved in the follow-up to this Conference.

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23. Request the United Nations, building on the success and legacies of this Conference, to assist countries and communities to foster effective community engagement practices by supporting research and training, and documenting successful outcomes and disseminating these widely.

We also know that there is a significant level of frustration that, at the highest levels, leadership is lacking. Access to information could be better and provided in a more timely and targeted fashion. There is a real desire to have environmental, climate change, biodiversity, energy efficiency and other information provided, almost spontaneously. Energy, water and associated efficiency efforts are of increasing public importance and receive more attention through the work of regional greenhouse alliances, ClimateWorks and in the metropolis, organisations like Moreland Energy Foundation Limited and Yarra Energy Foundation Limited and water boards and catchment management authorities. The message about waste and its ‘value’ is more ingrained, even if initially inspired by cost-reduction co-benefits.

We also know that where partnerships are operating well there is an infinite capacity to effect change, locally and more widely. People will engage with specific, often iconic issues of species decline but that they can also very often be actively drawn into matters of intense local concern with relatively little difficulty if a local trustee is involved and the information is made accessible. Local governments, coastal boards, Landcare, biolink groups, environmental farming collectives and catchment authorities across the whole state work harder to promote understanding in local contexts and about local issues. This conclusion is reinforced at the national and international level in a vast array of reports and texts on the building of community ability and the success of projects based on this foundation. It is also reinforced across the generations and across cultures.

Localised disciplinary specialists, sometimes retired but also situated in academic institutions (both TAFEs and universities) have assisted communities across the state, at places as diverse as Kings Billabong in the far north-west, Beechworth and Portland and at the Beware Reef in the far south east.

Consulting widely and disturbing hierarchies encourages better understanding of local contexts and promote more sustainable outcomes (p. 145). Feedback loops, the giving and receiving of information and management of programs all changed to respond to participatory input (p. 120).


Appendix Four

Portland Field Naturalists’ Club (PFNC) submission on controlled burning

Submission to the workshop on the Review of the Code of Practice for Fire Management on Public Land held at Ballarat on Thursday 2nd June 2011

Recommendation 1

Provideaclearstatementofobjectives,expressedasmeasurableoutcomes.

PFNC members are gravely concerned that the statement of objectives will only be in terms of area in order to meet government expectations and which can become a measurable outcome.

The impacts of large scale burns on biodiversity, EVCs, and habitat recovery are not nearly as ‘measurable’ and therefore are at risk of being ignored.

PFNC expects the Code of Practice to reflect consideration for the natural assets of the flora, fauna and structural integrity of areas of native vegetation. This could be achieved by stipulating maximum size of burns and limit the area of any one EVC to be burnt to less than one-third of that EVC.

Burn size, frequency and adjacency should be planned to achieve a mosaic pattern to allow refuges for displaced wildlife.

PFNC members have been appalled at the lack of consideration given to wildlife when fire management is planned and undertaken, therefore it is expected that the statement of objectives include strategies for minimising the impact on wildlife. This should include pre and post burn monitoring of species diversity and population status, thus providing data for measurable outcomes.

Members of PFNC understand that fuel reduction burning operations over time cause gradual changes in the ecology of forests. Therefore PFNC requests that ‘Reference Areas’ be maintained and respected as such and not treated to burning regimens, to allow for comparative data to be obtained between burnt and unburnt areas. This information should be part of the ‘measured outcome’.

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Recommendation 2

Includeanexplicitriskanalysismodelformoreobjectiveandtransparentresolutionofcompetingobjectives,wherehumanlifeisthehighestpriority.

PFNC believe the risk analysis should include:

> atmospheric pollution and its impact on people with respiratory and other issues which could be exacerbated by smoke and its carcinogens.

> an estimate of the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere and that it should be subjected to a ‘carbon tariff’ as other polluters will be. Government departments should be leading the community in addressing climate change not contributing to it.

> the probability of controlled burns becoming uncontrolled and burning large areas beyond containment lines. This probability should be derived from collating the number of burns fitting this category over a set period (such as the previous 10 years) and it should also include the area affected by the uncontrolled burns. This would provide some perspective of the actual area burnt each year. It should also include the additional costs incurred in dealing with the escaped fires.

> the inevitable cruelty to animals as they try to flee the burns, being terrified and disorientated, some become trapped and torched, others suffer burns and are maimed until they either die a slow and painful death, or are taken by predators as they starve in their destroyed habitat or are clubbed to death as being ‘humane’ treatment in the ‘after burn’ clean-up operations. All of this contravenes the Wildlife Act 1975 section 58 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 Section 9.

There is a desperate need for independent wildlife welfare agencies to be part of the fire operations team to monitor the treatment of animals and to render timely aid to injured and suffering wildlife. Helmet cameras would aid in achieving transparency and the collating of information for inclusion in the outcomes.

> the long-term impact on water catchments and watercourses polluted from run-off from burnt areas. Changes in pH from ash-laden run-off. Destruction of habitat in riparian zones can cause significant changes in population status for breeding terrestrial-egglaying frog species. Recovery programs are expensive.

> the risk of erosion and soil compaction following the defoliation of forest canopy and understorey in burnt areas allowing rainfall to hit the ground instead of being filtered through foliage and taken up for these plants.

> long-term effects on species diversity by destroying the ‘leaf litter’ on the forest floor which is the natural provider of slow release fertiliser, protects the soil from temperature and moisture fluctuations as well as being a basis for the food-chain.

> while recognising that protecting human life is a priority, the risks to human life should also be analysed such as proximity to forested areas, the enforcement of building regulations and other safety measures such as safe havens (e.g. bunkers) access to appropriate avenues of egress to be employed by people in order to protect themselves should be taken into consideration. (This could include mandatory building insurance incorporated into council rates such as is included in the motor vehicle registration, to reduce the incentive for people to attempt to defend their assets in the event of an uncontrolled fire.) Humans have the capacity to choose where they live and should therefore analyse the degree of risk they are willing to accept and make their decisions accordingly. Whereas, where wildlife live is governed by habitat and the requirements of individual species, therefore for them to have their populations eroded or desecrated and their habitat destroyed (at least for a time following a burn) every few years in order to protect human life and their assets from the risk of fire, is an inequality that is unjustifiable.


Recommendation 3

Specifythecharacteristicsoffiremanagementzones–includingburnsize,percentageareaburntwithintheprescribedburn,andresidualfuelloading

While the PFNC recognises the need for protection for towns and settlements in close proximity to native vegetation which currently has a zone 1 category, it does not believe that the 4–6 yearly burn interval afforded by this zoning, to be compatible with sustaining biodiversity.

Therefore PFNC is of the opinion that fire management zoning outside the current zone 1 areas should be in accordance with the ecological values and requirements of the EVCs involved in order to sustain the biodiversity. This may mean burn intervals in excess of 15–20 years or not at all.

Zoning which upholds the principles of ‘sustaining natural values and ecological cycles, enhance ecosystem health and diversity, and will be compatible with long-term conservation of biological diversity’* is unlikely to require future forest managers to embark on expensive species recovery programs.

(*Quoted from ‘Portland and Horsham forests, Forest Management Plan 2010, Department of Sustainability and Environment, State Government Victoria.)

This is the International Year of Forests, which translates to an ever increasing concern for the health and diversity of forests globally. To burn the forested areas of Victoria simply because they have a ‘fuel load’ is not justifiable. Wildfires will continue to occur however much is burnt because of the abundance of regrowth following fires whether controlled or uncontrolled as evidenced by the fires which re-burnt areas in the high country of Victoria already burnt in 2006.

PFNC believes the size of a prescribed burn should not exceed one-third of any given EVC and that the residual fuel loading should then be averaged out over the whole of the prescribed burn area thus negating the need to re-ignite areas which did not burn and which then become refuges for displaced wildlife.

PFNC believes that the welfare of wildlife is not given sufficient consideration when planning prescribed burns as the size, frequency and adjacency of burning operations erodes the habitat, food sources and disrupts breeding often for more than one season until the habitat has recovered. Territorial animals also suffer when displaced and they attempt to survive in the territory of their neighbours.

Recommendation 4

Adopttheterm‘bushfire’ratherthan‘wildfire’.

PFNC is of the opinion that the term ‘wildfire’ covers any uncontrolled fire whether it is in bushland, forest, grassland, heathland, or urban areas. The term bushfire indicates a fire in the ‘bush’ and is restrictive in its application unless the other types of habitat are also used to describe specific fires. For the purposes of a Code of Practice it would seem appropriate that a more general term be used.

It is unfortunate that many in the community regard the ‘bush’ as without value or of a threat to human safety. To change the terminology as recommended would do nothing to alter this perception.

Our native vegetation is a valuable natural asset requiring care and protection. Many species are not found anywhere else in the world and public land managers have a global responsibility to protect and secure these populations for the future.

Burning our native vegetation to ‘protect’ it may be an unfathomable concept for future generations to grasp.

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ENdNOTES1 Eversole, R., 2012, ‘Remaking participation: challenges for community

development’, in 2012 Oxford Community Development Journal, 47(1): 34.

2 Wynne, B., 1996, ‘May the sheep safely graze? A reflective view of the expert lay knowledge divide’, in Lash, S., et al, eds., 1996, Risk, environment and modernity: towards a new ecology, Sage, London.

3 Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 2003 section 7 c.

4 Birckhead, J., 1999, ‘Brief encounters: doing ‘rapid ethnography’ in Aboriginal Australia’, in Toussaint, S. and J. Taylor. Eds., 1999, Applied anthropology in Australasia, UWA Press, Nedlands.

5 See Frank Fischer, 2000, Citizens, experts, and the environment: The politics of local knowledge, Duke University Press, Durham and London, for a clear introduction to citizen science.

6 Core business for my office is outlined in the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 2003 and includes: facilitating ‘community involvement in decisions and actions’ that leave an impression on the public’s enjoyment, understanding or use of the environment, and encouraging decision making that ‘facilitates ecologically sustainable development’ and ‘developing solutions and achieving improvements’ for the people of Victoria (see sections 4, 7, 10).

7 See Appendix One as to methodology.

8 Specific examples of environmental practice in communities will be explored in the State of Environment Report 2013, to reflect the store of work and information held by people on the ground and to fulfil the request for accessible, useful, environmental reporting.

9 See Appendix Two for a discussion of the use and application of participation in environmental contexts.

10 Chambers, R., 1983, Rural development: Putting the last first, Longman, London.

11 Cornwall, A. and J. Edwards, 2010, ‘Introduction: Negotiating empowerment’, in International Development Studies Bulletin (41)2.

12 Turnhout, E.S., S. Van Bommel and N. Aarts, 2010, ‘How participation creates citizens: Participatory governance as performative practice’, in Ecology and Society, 15(4): 26; David Mosse, 2001, ‘People’s knowledge, participation and patronage: Operations and representations in rural development’, in B. Cooke and U. Kothari, eds 2001, Participation: The new tyranny? Zed Books, London,16¬35. And for an illustration of the level of complexity participation can entail see the collection of essays edited by David Mosse, 2011, Adventures in Aidland: The anthropology of professionals in international development, Berghahn Books, New York and London.

13 Roling, N.G. and M. A. E. Wagemakers, eds 1998, Facilitating sustainable agriculture: Participatory learning and adaptive management in times of environmental uncertainty, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

14 Jennings, R., 2000, ‘Participatory development as new paradigm: The transition of development professionalism’, Paper presented at the Community Based Reintegration and Rehabilitation in Post-Conflict Settings Conference, Washington, DC. See also Anderson, M. and P. Woodrow, 1998, Rising from the ashes: Development strategies in times of disaster, Lynn Reinner Publishers, Boulder.

15 Goldstein, B. E., 2009, ‘Resilience to surprise through communicative planning’, in Ecology and Society 14(2): 33 (www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art33).


16 Anderson, M. B. and P.J. Woodrow, eds 1989, Rising from the ashes. Development strategies in times of disaster, Westview Press and United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Boulder, p 239.

17 Ray Ison writes about ‘enthusiasms’ creating purposeful activities in ‘Systems thinking and practice for action research’ published in P. Reason and B. Bradbury, eds, 2008, The SAGE handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice, 2nd edn. Sage, London.

18 Since 2009 My Office has been actively drawn into sustainable schools initiatives across the state in collaborations and conversations with Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES), the Catholic Education Office and Sustainability Victoria. Remarkable and persistently committed people have been working with school children for years to grasp and cultivate their enthusiasm for environmental action. Some case studies contained in my 2009 Strategic Audit explore the work which is being done.

19 James, A., 2007, ‘Giving voice to children’s voices: Practices and problems, pitfalls and potentials’, in American Anthropologist, 109(2), 261–272.

20 Work done with youth and children in Bendigo and Coffs Harbour, cited by Wilks, J. and J. Rudner, 2011, ‘Children’s citizenship: Participation through urban planning and urban design’, paper presented at the Cities Conference Melbourne.

21 Green Light Report 2009–2010, Sustainability Victoria.

22 Earthnormous Big Day Out, Ballarat, 2010 inspired by Firestarter’s Kids Teaching Kids State, Landcare and International River Health Conferences held in 2009 and EarthAction3 at Mill Park, 2011.

23 Recorded at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVku90M0Dpo.

24 We have since heard that Kaniva College has received a grant for a whole-of-community garden through the School Specialisation Grants Program Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD).

25 For the past six years, Year 7 students have consecutively won the Cows Create Careers Program which is a national initiative of the Dairy Industry delivered to 197 schools and more than 6,000 students across Australia. Raising awareness of careers in the industry, students are responsible for raising calves, and work with farmers and other dairy professionals.

26 Accredited agricultural studies are offered from Year 9, including alternative pathways for learning via the Vocational Education and Training (VET), Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) and School Based Assessment (SBA) streams. VCAL students in Years 11 and 12 are given responsibility of farm management, planning the overall activities for the farm as well as conducting regular meetings with other year levels, undertaking major building projects and overseeing the cropping of paddocks to provide stockfeed. Limitations are placed on what the school can teach the students as a function of insurance and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) rules about who can drive a tractor.

27 Project Platypus Annual Report 2009/10.

28 CERES Community Environment Park in Brunswick and, more recently, the other formal program, AUSSIVic, have been formally involved in the school’s work. A highly committed teacher and supportive principal make a sustainability ethic possible.

29 The Energy Group, coordinated by Jasmine and Erica, reported closing doors, checking temperatures and thermometers, wearing more clothes, skylights providing great natural light and reducing costs, solar hot water and power, having a power save on the photocopier and turning computers off, making signs and newsletters to get their messages out, reinforcing the messages at school assemblies and walking to school or using bikes.

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30 Karen Faulwetter, reading and recovery and library teacher, sustainability coordinator and environment team.

31 Richard Frankland, personal communication, 2011, Narrawong.

32 Imogen Verley, Mia Angwin and Ruby Vernon.

33 Rebecca Gunther, Jade Gunther and Jessica Hercott.

34 Meg Lockhardt, Maddison Holt, Paige Stephenson and Sarah Last.

35 Maddie Durie, Rebecca Dillion and Nicky Elder.

36 Regional Manager Gippsland, Strategy and Partnerships, Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE).

37 Ellie Packham.

38 Mackenzie, A. and R. Sorensen, 2011, ‘Participation process and change: Negotiating public participation in Metropolitan Planning in the ACT’, paper presented to the Cities Conference, Melbourne.

39 Wimmera Southern Mallee Strategic Directions, 2011.

40 Concerning itself with the need to be prepared for climate change, the Horsham site of the Free Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) partnership between the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), University of Melbourne, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and CSIRO (one of 30 sites globally) is conducting experiments on extrapolations of productivity based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) projections for 2050.

41 Uncle Patrick Kennedy, personal communication, 1996, Ebenezer Mission.

42 Fiona Smith, personal communication 2011, Melbourne.

43 John Francis, personal communication 2011, Horsham.

44 Replication of common name not a replication of the species, see list above.

45 Informants: David Roberts, Lead Ranger Parks Victoria, Jacinta Williamson, Park Planner Parks Victoria (formally policy officer with DSE), Natasha Kennedy, Environmental Officer, VicRoads, David Hildebrand, Senior Engineer, VicRoads.

46 The response to the landslips and other flood recovery work in 2011 will not see any change out of $19 million in the Grampians ($65 million across Victoria). Insurance will not cover all the works that are required. Local governments (Horsham Rural City and the Northern Grampians) have suffered enormous damage. In recent times, 2006, the Northern Grampians Shire responded to bushfire events that also ripped through the range, causing $60 million economic loss.

47 Informants: Michael McMurtrie, former chairperson, Project Platypus; Leigh Blackmore, CEO, Project Platypus; David M, revegetation coordinator; Leanne Jackman, chairperson.

48 Simon Brady, personal communication 2011, Stawell area.

49 La Vergne Lehmann, Allyson Lardner (DSE).

50 Such things as post-flooding water quality, costs, sediment at Lake Bellfield, farm plans, farm sizes, natural resource management, the regional catchment strategy and action plan, and the value of surveying public opinion.

51 Craig Schodde, interviewed by Weekly Times, 21 December 2011.

52 Informants: Dean Miller, CEO, Cr Mick Gawith, Cr Ron Lowe, Cr Rob Gersch, Cr Cliff Miller.


53 The pyrolisis plant would reduce waste to landfill by 90 per cent and save costs and abate greenhouse gases associated with driving waste 80 km to landfill sites. Recycling would no longer need to be driven to Melbourne as is presently the case. The cost of $50/tonne for freight on recycling would be negated. Local jobs for up to 12 people would be created.

54 Suggestions were made that this would stimulate outside environmental and tourist interest and build on another successful grasslands project with VicRoads in the Western District, encouraging people to think in terms of biolinks, so strongly supported in the recently released 2001 Australian State of the Environment Report. The project is innovative and involves scalping the ground to remove heavy phosphorous residues from years of fertiliser applications and the planting of a diverse range of listed endangered species. The plan is regional in its aspirations. Roadside cropping ended in the region in 2006 and Hindmarsh is encouraging Horsham and Yarriambiack to stop roadside cropping as well. Co-benefits include the potential for grasslands to be classified as carbon offsets, and native grasslands are less of a fire risk than weeds and exotics because they retain more moisture in the summer.

55 This is a partnership of seven local governments that provides a regional voice on sustainability. It has been operating since 2008 supported by Local Government Sustainability Accord grants, and it tailors programs to local community needs and aspirations across this large geographic area with its small population and fairly confined local economy. The alliance has used the resources available, such as neighbourhood houses to promote its objectives.

56 The Northern Mallee pipeline served as an example, saving about 50,000 litres of water in 1994.

57 For example, beyond the scope of this report, environmental management systems and action plans are now embedded in operational activities. Environmental reporting is, however, an additional burden for the agency, and they have to find the time and resources to do this properly. The ultimate goal is to merge the annual report and the sustainability report. Energy efficiency is the next challenge, and the aspirational target is to be carbon neutral. Customer affordability will continue to challenge the organisation, particularly as the effect of the carbon tax is as yet unknown. The ongoing political disputation about climate change leads to even more uncertainty. However, the agency understands its responsibility as being more than short term, and definitely not a political issue. The agency has to provide water, the climate is changing, the agency will still be here after the current political hubris dies down, and they have a client base which is dependent upon their work, their thoughtfulness and their readiness to innovate, affordably.

58 Informants: Gary Aitken, Ron Goudie, Ken Flack, John Francis and Max Skeen.

59 Caroline Dexter cited in P Morgan, 1999, Folie a Deux: William and Caroline Dexter in colonial Australia, Quakers Hill Press, Sydney, page 71.

60 Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

61 Heritage Rivers Act 1992.

62 The initial 18-month project in Gippsland’s Yarram region received funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

63 ClimateWorks Australia, 2011, Low Carbon Growth Plan for Gippsland published by Monash University and the Myer Foundation

64 ibid.

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65 Graphs provided by Paul Barton the Facilities Manager at Monash Churchill.

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Savings $0 $3,069 $36,918 $28,905 $40,415 $60,016 $169,323

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Project (only major ones listed) Electric calorifier heating replaced by gas fired boilers (increased usage) 2 hour timers fitted on wall furnaces at residences BAS adjusted to operate 1 hr before occupation (set-points 16 - 23.5°C) - motion sensing to lift to 21°C during occupation (saving divided between gas and electricity)

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Project (only major ones listed) Lighting de-lamped and/or replaced with low wattage globes Electric calorifier heating replaced by gas fired boilers Solar hot water BAS adjusted to operate 1 hr before occupation (set-points 16 - 23.5°C) - motion sensing to lift to 21°C during occupation (saving divided between gas and electricity) Motion sensors to operate heating, cooling and lighting 2000W timed panel heaters with no thermostat in student accommodation 1500W timed panel heaters with thermostat in student accommodation

Cost $80,000 $150,000 $15,000 $30,000

$90,000 $90,000 $45,000 $500,000


66 Fischer, F., 2000, see note 5.

67 The use of field days was raised here as it had been in the Wimmera.

68 www.wellington.vic.gov.au/page/page.asp?page_id=1285.

69 ClimateWorks Australia is a non-profit organisation hosted by Monash University in partnership with the Myer Foundation, and involves the following: Gippsland Climate Change Network, Regional Development Australia, DPI, Department of Transport (DOT), Latrobe Regional Hospital, Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI), Gippsland Local Government Network, Energy Education Australia, Gippsland Trades and Labour Council, Monash University, RMIT, Loy Yang Power, Agribusiness Gippsland, Australian Paper.

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Savings $0 $3,069 $36,918 $28,905 $40,415 $60,016 $169,323

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First impact 2006 2007 2007

Project (only major ones listed) Electric calorifier heating replaced by gas fired boilers (increased usage) 2 hour timers fitted on wall furnaces at residences BAS adjusted to operate 1 hr before occupation (set-points 16 - 23.5°C) - motion sensing to lift to 21°C during occupation (saving divided between gas and electricity)

Cost - $15,000 $30,000

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Actual consumption (kWh)


Actual cost ($)

First impact 2005 on 2006 2007 2007

2008 2008 2010

Project (only major ones listed) Lighting de-lamped and/or replaced with low wattage globes Electric calorifier heating replaced by gas fired boilers Solar hot water BAS adjusted to operate 1 hr before occupation (set-points 16 - 23.5°C) - motion sensing to lift to 21°C during occupation (saving divided between gas and electricity) Motion sensors to operate heating, cooling and lighting 2000W timed panel heaters with no thermostat in student accommodation 1500W timed panel heaters with thermostat in student accommodation

Cost $80,000 $150,000 $15,000 $30,000

$90,000 $90,000 $45,000 $500,000

171

70 Those who contributed included: Alex Arbuthnot and Christine Holland (Agribusiness Gippsland); Robert Greenall (AgVet Projects); Tim Wills (AusIndustry); Shaun Scallan (Australian Paper Manufacturing); Paul Taylor (Bairnsdale Regional Health Service); Roslyn Jenzen and Jeff Nottle (Bass Coast Shire Council); Cr Diane Blackwood ¬ Mayor, Rosemary Cousin, Carolyn Ferguson, Peter Kulich and Raj Manihar (Baw Baw Shire Council); Chris Davidson (Bellwether Agriculture Pty Ltd); Jane Burton and Charlie Spiers (Clean Coal Victoria); Mary Aldred (Committee for Gippsland); Neil van Buuren (Dairy Australia); Mel Barker, Jenny Brown, Glenn Drover, Tim McAuliffe and Tina Sheldon (Department of Business and Innovation); Emilio Di Sisto (Department of Planning and Community Development); Bohdan Bryndzia, Geoff Collins, Alistair Christie, Brian Davey, Helen Dineen, Daniel Gilmour, Jenny Gregory, Darold Klindworth, Dr Peter Moate, Zita Ritchie, Claire Swann, and David Windle (DPI); Simon McCabe and Tania Brooker (DSE); Wayne Berryman (DOT); Dr Nicola Watts (East Gippsland Food Cluster); Cr Richard Ellis ¬ Mayor, Megan Dennett, Rebecca Lamble Brett Lynn, Martin Richardson and Fiona Weigall (East Gippsland Shire Council); Russell Peel (East Gippsland TAFE); Ian Southall (Ecohub Gippsland); Les Hunt (EEA Group); Jonathan Jutsen (Energetics); Lloyd Harrington (Energy Efficient Strategies); Susan Davies and Wendy Davis (Energy Innovation Co-operative); Liz Radcliffe (Environmental Protection Authority); Mark Millis (Flavorite); Danielle Auldist (GippsDairy); Scott Ferraro (Gippsland Climate Change Network); Susan Webster (Gippsland Dairy); Carl Hodgkins (Gippsland Ports); Matthew Peake (Gippsland Regional Waste Management Group); John Parker (Gippsland Trades & Labour Council); Robyn Eva and Kelvin Slade (GippsTAFE); Mark Miller (GreenEarth Energy); Natalie Cook (Greening Australia); Vincent Hurley (Gunns Timber Products); Owen Trumper (HVP); Garry Smith and David Hoch (International Power); Barb Johnson; Cr Darrell White – Mayor, Paul Buckley, Donna Starkey, Geoff Hill, Allison Jones, John Bettson and Lauren Maxwell (Latrobe City Council); Peter Craighead (Latrobe Regional Hospital); Mike Waller (Laver Consulting); Ian Nethercote (Loy Yang Power); Neil Baker (Macalister Demonstration Farm); Graeme and Frankie MacLennan; Steve Hall (Mahindra Aerospace); Andrew Lawson (MBD Energy); Helen Bartlett, Meg Ralph, Mark Sandeman and Brian Stark (Monash University Churchill); Darren Day (National Foods); Graeme Nicoll; Jenny O’Sullivan; Helen Millicer (PACIA); Dawn Parker; Greg Bourke (Patties Foods); David Read; Richard Elkington and Diane Carson (Regional Development Australia); Marilyn Alborough, Charlie Beckley, Leigh Clemow, Ian Guss, Paul Johnson, Merv Moon, Kathleen Malone and Sam Steele (Regional Development Victoria); Peter Erwin (Riviera Taxis); Prof. Peter Fairbrother and Harry Freeman (RMIT); Ken Fraser, Sharni Mann, Lyndal Peterson and Alycia Stivic (South Gippsland Shire Council); Nicole Hellyer (Southern Farming Systems); Luke Wilkinson and Michael Williamson (Sustainability Victoria); Geoff Gay (TRUenergy); Associate Professor Richard Eckard (University of Melbourne); Michelle Anderson (VECCI); Barry Vaughan (VicForests); Brett Jennings (VicRoads); Rob Ashworth, Ian Campbell, Jo Caminiti, Sheryl McHugh and Will Oakley (Wellington Shire Council); and Nick Dudley, Tony Platt and Mikaela Power (West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority).

70 www.climateworksaustralia.com/Gippsland_Low_Carbon_Growth_Plan_Report.pdf

71 www.wgcma.vic.gov.au/programs/partnership-projects/136-furture-food-and-fibre-project.html.

72 For some useful commentary on the difficulties of linking knowledge and action see William Clark and Laura Halliday, 2006, Rapporteurs, Linking knowledge with action for sustainable development: The role of program management – summary of a workshop, National Academies Press, National Research Council.


73 Michelle Dickson reporting on the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority – Corner Inlet Connections communication tool and exercise. One of those who attended the conference observed:

‘Communication is a major issue. For instance Channel 7 News continues to use film footage which is seven years old and there is much better coverage now. One has to wonder what we are doing about communications … that there is not some mechanism to simply routinely update the press.’

74 Rochelle Patten, interviewed in Weekly Times, 21 December 2011.

75 Cited by Brian Walker and David Salt, 2006, Case Study Two. ‘Between a (salt) rock and a hard place: The Goulburn Broken Catchment, Australia’, in, Resilience thinking: Sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world, Island Press, London, p 41.

76 Blackberry Taskforce Report 2011.

77 Involving Sustainability Victoria, the Towong Shire, Victorian Local Sustainability Advisory Committee and the public this partnership was the culmination of five years work around a sustainable local economies drive, over which time sustainability, use of new technologies and general innovation had been embedded in the work the shire did at all levels.

78 Australian Government, State of the Environment Report 2011, 357.

79 See The State of Australia’s Birds 2003; also see Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology discussing citizen science www.birds.cornell.edu/citsci

80 See Commissioner Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Management Systems Strategic Audit, 2010.

81 www.murrindindi.vic.gov.au/Files/Adopted_MSC_Environment_Strategy_2011.pdf.

82 Borough of Queenscliffe, City of Greater Geelong, Colac Otway Shire, Golden Plains Shire and Surf Coast Shire.

83 guerin.ballarat.edu.au/ard/ubresearch/docs/Future_Directions_Oct09.pdf.

84 guerin.ballarat.edu.au/vfed/sustainability/research.shtml#Hopetoun%20Survey.

85 guerin.ballarat.edu.au/vfed/sustainability/news.shtml.

86 guerin.ballarat.edu.au/vfed/sustainability/sustain_docs/2010AnnualSustainabilityReport.pdf.

87 Southern Rural Water 2011, South West Victoria Groundwater Atlas, Southern Rural Water, 30.

88 www.psg.org.au.

89 www.swtafe.edu.au/coursefinder/downloads/environmentSusGis/Diploma_Sustainability_%2821645VIC%29.pdf and http://www.swtafe.edu.au/aboutus/sustainability.aspx.

90 Anderson, M. B. and P.J. Woodrow, eds 1989, Rising from the ashes: Development strategies in times of disaster, Westview Press and UNESCO, Boulder, p 85.

91 Karen Corr, personal communication 2011, Bendigo.

92 Katie Finlay, second-generation orchardist, Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens, Harcourt, personal communication, 2011.

93 A partnership of the Museum of Victoria, Earthwatch and BHP on Ned’s Corner, a Trust for Nature conservation area (purchased in 2002).

94 www.lmw.vic.gov.au/html/about/documents/AnnualReport2010-11LMW.pdf

95 www.milduraweekly.com.au/2011/12/16/sunraysia-solar-innovation-takes-another-step-forward.

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96 Anderson, M. B. and P.J. Woodrow, eds 1989, note 14.

97 www.centralvictoriasolarcity.com.au/solar-parks/bendigo-ballarat-community-solar-parks.

98 See www.hepburnwind.com.au/ and www.embark.com.au.

99 www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Mount_Alexander_Shire_Council_Environment_Strategy_2011_-_2014_web.pdf.

100 MAFG Sustainability Plan.http://www.mafg.com.au/sustainability_plan/index.html

101 ‘Local’ exists not necessarily in a fixed place, but in the multiple and diverse places where people live, work and interact. The challenge is in establishing means to communicate their initiatives and get the lessons shared. Gilligan B, Presentation at Resettling Migrants and Refugees in Rural and Regional Australia, Conference held at University of Melbourne, February 2012.

102 Turnhout, E., S. Van Bommel and N. Aarts, 2010, ‘How participation creates citizens: Participatory governance as performative practice’, in Ecology and Society 15(4): 26.

103 Campbell, C., M. Campbell and S. Blair, 2012, Guiding principles: Facilitating learning, understanding and change through relationships, Report no. 80, Department of Sustainability and Environment.

104 Cornwall, A., and J. Edwards, 2010, see note 11.

105 Some of this work is detailed in the last two annual reports of the office, but not every visit or consultation is included.

106 This approach is more inclusive, can uncover neglected issues and perspectives, and allow for different possibilities to be explored. See the discussion in J. Chilvers, 2008, ‘Deliberating Competence: Theoretical and Practitioner Perspectives on Effective Participatory Appraisal Practice’, in Science, Technology & Human Values, May 2008 vol 33: 421-451. Chilvers recommends such processes as they can expose ‘differences, dissent, uncertainties, and underlying assumptions’ and facilitate access to an ‘inclusive and diverse range of information and specialist expertise’.

107 Ray Ison, see note 17. Ison writes about action research methodology that follows system thinking and practice and states that given the right experiences, people with similar ‘enthusiasms’ might work together – the discovery of similar enthusiasms being a means to orchestrate purposeful action and experiential learning.

108 Sandercock supports participatory processes that are not product driven but, rather, create a ‘safespace’ for people to come together and just talk. Leonie Sandercock, 2003, ‘Out of the closet: The importance of stories and storytelling in planning practice’, in Planning theory and practice, (4)1: 11-28

109 As Læssøe warns, care should be taken that participation does not become ‘the new tyranny’, an integrated part of a managerial strategy ending up with a ‘consensus and win-win oriented ecological modernization’ J. Læssøe, 2010, ‘Education for sustainable development, participation and socio-cultural change’, in Environmental Education Research (16) 1: 49, February 2010.

110 Dietz T and P. C. Stern, eds., 2008, Public participation in environmental assessment and decision making, Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, Division of Behavioural and Social Sciences and Education, National Academies Press, Washington, DC.

111 119 Sandercock, L., 2003 op. cit. note 108; Mackenzie, A. and R. Sorensen R, 2011, ‘Participation process and change: Negotiating public participation in metropolitan planning in the ACT’, paper presented to the Cities Conference Melbourne.


112 See David Mosse, 2011, op. cit. note 13 for a very recent collection of critical essays.

113 Warburton, D., ed. 2000, Community and sustainable development, Earthscan, London.

114 See Korten, D., ed. 1986, Community management: Asian experience and perspectives, Kumarian Press; and Cornwall, A. and J. Edwards, 2010, see note 11.

115 Li, T. M., 2011, ‘Rendering society technical: Government through community and the ethnographic turn at the World Bank in Indonesia’, in David Mosse, ed., note 13, p 60.

116 Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), 1997, ‘Mainstreaming participatory development: Experiences and lessons of the interagency groups on participation’, CIDA Papers; United Nations Development Program Civil Society Organisations and Participation Programs Series (UNDPCSOPP), 1999, Empowering people: a guide to participation; US Agency for International Development (USAID) 1999, Participation at USAID: Stories, lessons and challenges, USAID Participation Forum Series.

117 Bruno Latour, 1993 We have never been modern, Harverster Wheatsheaf, New York.

118 King, C. and M. Cruickshank, 2012, ‘Building capacity to engage: Community engagement or government engagement, Oxford Community Development Journal, 47(1) pp. 5-28

119 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,1992.

120 Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972

121 Principle 10, Rio Convention, 1992.

122 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 1998 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (adopted 25/6/1998 at the 4th Ministerial Conference in the Environment for Europe process and entered into force on 30/10/2001).

123 For instance, the principle of intergenerational equity, links between environmental and human rights, and between government accountability and environmental protection, and the interaction between the public and private domains in democracies.

124 See the UNECE Arhuus Convention website and links for specifics.

125 As well as guiding legislation on ‘access to information and access to justice on environmental matters’.

126 July 2011 Meeting of the Parties of the UNECE in the Republic of Moldova.

127 The Seoul Declaration on Participatory and Transparent Governance made at the Sixth Global Forum on Reinventing Government at Seoul, Republic of Korea, 24-27 May 2005.

128 The ‘community’ or ‘actors in society’ are all those who are potentially affected by or have an interest in an issue, decision, service delivery or evaluation, and include government, businesses, trade unions, civil society organisations, non-government organisations and individual citizens.

END

NO

TES

Documents

MANY PUBLICS PARTICIPATION - ces.vic.gov.au · Accepting and promoting change 66 ... Carlisle River 120 Summary 120 ... 8 MANy PuBLICS PARTICIPATION INVENTIVENESS AND CHANGE