March 2014

Contents

Introduction 4

Regions by RWMG and councils 5

SV contacts for regions (March 2014) 7

Acronyms 9

Regional features 11 Key facts 12 Demography 12 Political context 13 Regional context 13 Regional priorities 14 Economic profile 15 Industry profile 15 Key Points 16 Funded sustainability project examples 17 SWOT analysis 18

Further reading 19

Sustainability Victoria

Level 28, Urban Workshop

50 Lonsdale Street Melbourne 3000

T 1300 363 744

E info@sustainability.vic.gov.au

sustainability.vic.gov.au

© Sustainability Victoria 2014

Printed on 100% recycled paper

Disclaimer

Information in this document is current as at February 2014. While all professional care has been

taken in preparing this document, Sustainability Victoria accepts no liability for loss or damages

incurred as a result of reliance placed upon its content.

Introduction

This document provides a snapshot of the Gippsland region. It is not an exhaustive compilation of

regional information, but instead focuses on information that is considered relevant to SV’s priority

outcomes in integrated waste management and resource efficiency.

It has been produced by SV’s Strategic Coordinator based in the regios. Information has been drawn

from plans and strategies, including regional strategic plans and growth plans, and other documents,

as well as discussions with key regional personnel.

This document aims to assist SV staff to understand regional conditions so that SV and our

stakeholders (e.g. Regional Waste Management Groups) can

• Work more effectively across the portfolio

• Design and develop relevant programs and projects

• Prepare their business plans.

Regions by RWMG and councils

Region RWMG and Executive Officer LGA/councils

Barwon South

West

*Barwon RWMG

Enzo Bruscella

Colac Otway Shire Council

Greater Geelong City Council

Queenscliffe Borough Council

Surf Coast Shire Council

*South Western RWMG

(Waste Reduction Group)

Cydoni Edwards

Corangamite Shire Council

Glenelg Shire Council

Moyne Shire Council

Southern Grampians Shire Council

Warrnambool City Council

Gippsland *Gippsland RWMG

Mathew Peake

Bass Coast Shire Council

Baw Baw Shire Council

East Gippsland Shire Council

Latrobe City Council

South Gippsland Shire Council

Wellington Shire Council

Grampians *Desert Fringe RWMG

Wayne Lovett

Hindmarsh Shire Council

West Wimmera Shire Council

*Grampians RWMG

Kerrie Tomkins

Ararat Rural City Council

Horsham Rural City Council

Northern Grampians Shire Council

Yarriambiack Shire Council

*Highlands RWMG

Philip Clingin

Ballarat City Council

Central Goldfields Shire Council

Golden Plains Shire Council

Hepburn Shire Council

Moorabool Shire Council

Pyrenees Shire Council

Hume *Goulburn Valley RWMG

(Resource GV)

Nick Nagle

Campaspe Shire Council

Greater Shepparton City Council

Mitchell Shire Council

Moira Shire Council

Murrindindi Shire Council

Strathbogie Shire Council

*North Eastern RWMG

(NevRwaste)

Brooke Hermans

Alpine Shire Council

Benalla Rural City Council

Indigo Shire Council

Mansfield Shire Council

Towong Shire Council

Wangaratta Rural City Council

Wodonga Rural City Council

(and three Alpine resorts)

Loddon Mallee *Calder RWMG

Peter Chudek

Greater Bendigo City Council

Macedon Ranges Shire Council

Mount Alexander Shire Council

*Central Murray RWMG

Karen Fazzani

Buloke Shire Council

Gannawarra Shire Council

Loddon Shire Council

Swan Hill Rural City Council

*Mildura RWMG

Amanda Blakney/Melanie Bell

Mildura Rural City Council

*NB. The ministerial Advisory Committee has recommended amalgamation of RWMG’s. As recommendations are enacted by government, revision to this document will be made.

SV contacts for regions (March 2014)

Division Barwon

South West

Gippsland Grampians Hume Loddon-

Mallee

Engagement

Statewide Engagement Team

Manager : Andrew Straker (03) 8626 8813

Strategic

Coordinators

Amy O’Brien

0418 149068

Luke Wilkinson

0427 850

478

Trish Kevin

0409 060109

Martina

Rienzner

0408 110

431

Kristy Roche

0419 311 765

Education Team

Manager : Jane Liefman (03) 8626 8861

Claire Ruedin

(03)

86268747

Simon Hum

(03) 8626

8793

Candyce

Presland

(03)

86268774

Simon Hum

(03)

86268793

Candyce

Presland

(03)

86268774

Integrated Waste Management

Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy

Manager : David Cocks (03) 86268765

Barwon

Andrew

Buzacott

(03)

86566701

South West

Marcus Fogarty

(03)

86268788

Gippsland

Val McGregor

(03)

86268742

Highlands

Nick Bailey

(03)

86268824

Grampians

Ben Stephenson

(03)

86268807

Desert Fringe

Ben Stephenson

(03)

86268807

Goulburn

Valley

Nicola Thom

(03)

86268726

North Eastern

David Cocks

(03)

86268765

Calder

David Cocks

(03)

86268765

Central Murray

Nick Bailey

(03)

86268824

Mildura

Kelly Wickham

(03)

86268820

Resource Efficiency

Business Productivity Team

Manager: Katrina Woolfe (03) 86268823

Yolanda Sztarr

(03)

86268843

Nick

Katsanevakis

(03)

86268755

Andrew Haus

(03)

86268874

Helen Scott

(03)

86268855

Kel Dummett

(03)

86268729

Acronyms

ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics

ALP Australian Labor Party

CBD Central Business District

CMA Catchment Management Authority

DSDBI Department of State Development, Business and Innovation

DEECD Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

DTPLI Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure

DEPI Department of Environment and Primary Industries

EEIG Energy Efficiency Information Grant

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

HACC Home and community care

IWM Integrated waste management

kV Kilovolts (equivalent to 1000 volts)

LGA Local government area

LP Liberal Party of Australia

LPO Litter Prevention Officer

MAC Ministerial Advisory Committee on Waste and Resource Recovery Governance

Reform, 2013

NP National Party of Australia

RDA Regional Development Australia

RDV Regional Development Victoria

ResourceSmart

AuSSI Vic

ResourceSmart Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative Victoria

RMF Regional Management Forum

RWMG Regional Waste Management Group

SME Small to medium sized enterprise

SV Sustainability Victoria

SV2015 SV’s Strategic Plan 2012–15

TAFE Technical and Further Education

VECCI Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Regional Strategic Coordinators and Regional Waste Management Groups

Strategic Regional

Coordinators

Luke Wilkinson

DEPI office, Traralgon

T 1300 363 744

M 0427 850 478

Martina Reinzner

DEPI office, Seymour

T 5735 4330

M 0408 110 431

Kristy Roche

DEPI office,

Epsom

T 5430 4544

M 0419 311 765

Trish Kevin

DEPI office,

Ballarat

T 5336 6856

M 0409 060 109

Amy O’Brien

DEPI office,

Colac

T 5233 5549

M 0418 149 068

Kim Johnson

Ray Liversidge

SV office Melbourne

T 1300 363 744

Region Gippsland Hume Loddon Mallee Grampians Barwon South West Metropolitan

Population 260,766 309,986 278,395 224,636 373,191

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 1 1

Regional features

Features Details

Subregion *Gippsland RWMG Bass Coast Shire Council

Baw Baw Shire Council

East Gippsland Shire Council

Latrobe City Council

South Gippsland Shire Council

Wellington Shire Council

Regional centres

Wonthaggi, Leongatha, Warragul, Morwell, Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Sale

Geographical features

Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Lakes and Ninety Mile Beach, Wilsons

Promontory, Great Dividing Range

Transport

Princess Highway and rail corridor through the Latrobe Valley to the NSW

border. Bass and South Gippsland Highways.

These routes provide access to national and international freight hubs at

the Port of Melbourne and Melbourne Airport.

Major roads and travel

times

From To Route Distance

(km)

Travel

time

(hours)

Melbourne Traralgon Princess

Highway

163 1:50

Melbourne Mallacoota Princess

Highway

513 5:55

Melbourne Bairnsdale Princess

Highway

281 3:12

Wonthaggi Traralgon 111 1:24

Key infrastructure

• Latrobe Valley’s electricity generation and network

• Longford gas plant

• Federation University campus in central Gippsland

• Macalister Irrigation District

• Wonthaggi Desalination Plant

*NB. The ministerial Advisory Committee has recommended amalgamation of RWMG’s. As recommendations are enacted by government, revision to this document will be made.

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 12

Key facts

Natural Assets

• The Latrobe Valley provides over 80% of Victoria’s electricity, with large reserves of brown coal

and over 90% of Victoria’s natural gas.

• Nearly half of Australia’s oil comes from the Bass Strait fields.

• The 4.6 million Ha of Gippsland’s land mass is made up of 73% forest and 27% other uses,

predominately rural and urban use.

• The region is home to one of Australia’s strongest dairy industries due to rich soil and dependable

rainfall.

• The region supplies 60% of Melbourne’s water. The Wonthaggi Desalination Plant was completed

in December 2012 and the region includes the Macalister Irrigation District, which provides water

security for farmers in irrigated diary and horticulture sectors.

• Public Native Forestry harvestable in the region occupies 9% of the region’s land mass, and

makes up to 45% of wood production. Plantation Forestry occupies 2% of the region and delivers

54%of regions wood production. Wellington LGA has 52% of the region’s plantations, Latrobe

LGA has 26% and Baw Baw South Gippsland and East Gippsland have fewer than 10% each.

Industry

• Associated dairy food processing has a significant presence with clusters associated with West

and South Gippsland.

• The Eastern half of the region is home to several Australian food brands (e.g. Patties Foods and

Vegco) and Victoria’s largest fishing port is at Lakes Entrance, where offshore and inshore fishing

vessels are protected by a safe harbour.

• There is extensive energy generation and distribution infrastructure in the region’s central

corridor, primarily supplying electricity and gas to Melbourne and beyond. There are gas and

electricity links from the region to Tasmania and NSW.

• A large proportion of Gippsland is not supplied with domestic reticulated natural gas, and the

electricity distribution network has minimal additional capacity available for both lower voltage and

high voltage industry.

• A new ExxonMobil Gas Conditioning Plan began construction in December 2013. The facility is

expected to be operational in 2016 at Longford which will be the biggest on the eastern sea

board.

Demography

Population: 269,790 (approx.)

• Gippsland has one of the highest dispersed populations with over 100,000 residents (40% of the

regional population) located in towns of less than 1000 people.

• Gippsland males have the lowest life expectancy when compared with any other region in

Victoria; 53% of the population are overweight or obese and 49% are smokers.

Population growth is projected to increase to 306,600 by 2026. Between 2010 and 2022, the

population of Bass Coast is expected to grow by 32.5% and the population of Baw Baw by 29.5%.

Plan Melbourne’s strategy to 2050 identified Wonthaggi and Drouin/Warragul as new population and

employment towns for growth as a strategy for managing growth in Melbourne’s peri-urban regions.

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 1 3

Political context

The previous federal and current state government had a cooperative arrangement in place to support

the transition of the Latrobe Valley economy to a low carbon future. The status of this is yet to be

determined.

Level Representative

Federal

Darren Chester NP Member for Gippsland

Russell Broadbent LP Member for McMillan

State-Victorian Legislative Assembly

Gary Blackwood LIB (Narracan)

Ken Smith LIB (Bass)

Peter Ryan NP (Gippsland South)

Russell Northe NP (Morwell)

Tim Bull NP (Gippsland East)

State-Victorian Legislative Council Eastern Victoria

Peter Hall NP

Phillip Davis LP

Edward O’Donohue LP

Johan Scheffer ALP

Matt Viney ALP

Regional context

• Gippsland was due to deliver its Regional Growth Plan in late 2013, incorporating the Integrated

Land Use Plan. This plan is underpinned by four guiding principles with key objectives as follows:

o Principle 1: Strengthen economic resilience by growing a more diverse economy which is

supported by new investment, innovation, and value-adding in traditional strengths.

o Principle 2: Promote a healthy environment by valuing Gippsland’s environmental and

heritage assets, and by minimising the region’s exposure to natural hazards and risks.

o Principle 3: Develop sustainable communities through a settlement framework comprising

major urban centres which ensure residents have convenient access to jobs, services,

infrastructure, and community facilities.

o Principle 4: Deliver timely and accessible infrastructure to meet regional needs for

transport, utilities and community facilities.

• The Latrobe Valley Industry and Employment Roadmap is an RDV plan due to be completed in

2014 supported by RDA to transition the three Latrobe Valley councils (Baw Baw, Latrobe City

and Wellington) to a low carbon economy. The Roadmap was supported by a $20 million Latrobe

Valley Infrastructure Fund to help grow jobs in other sectors and diversify the economy.

• The CarbonNet Project investigates the potential for carbon capture and storage in the Gippsland

region as part of several possible solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and address

climate change.

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 14

• The new Coastal Settlements of the Future program will focus initially on Lakes Entrance and Port

Welshpool; helping these communities mitigate risk, protect vital infrastructure, and adapt to

climate change.

• RDV funded ClimateWorks Australia to develop the Low Carbon Growth Plan for Gippsland in

2011. The plan identifies activities to save businesses and households $100 million per year

across the region through improved energy efficiency, increased land productivity and cleaner

distributed energy.

• Fuelled for Growth: Investing in Victoria’s biofuels and bioenergy industries (2012) stated that

Gippsland has potential biomass resources mostly related to forestry and livestock. This has

stimulated international interest in future investment and development.

Regional priorities

The Gippsland Regional Strategic Plan in 2010 identified ten key focus areas:

• Gippsland Low Carbon Economy Transition Plan:

• Post-secondary education

• Gippsland’s gateways: build the region’s exports

• Centre for Sustainable Industries: develop a local presence with Monash (now Federation)

University to carry out research and development on technology and practices that support

sustainable resource use of brown coal and water to strengthen the resilience of the regional

economy

• Gippsland Lakes Sustainable Development Framework

• Health and wellbeing outcomes

• Gippsland Integrated Land Use Plan: direction and priorities to address population growth across

the region including changes to land use and infrastructure development

• Gippsland’s water

• Broadband connectivity

• Tourism infrastructure.

Gippsland is now taking a new approach with four strategy groups established to support the 2010

Gippsland Regional Plan, with members from RMF, RDA, the Committee for Gippsland and the

Gippsland Local Government Network. The groups focus on the following themes that incorporate the

ten priorities:

• economic development

• health and wellbeing

• environment and natural resources management

• low carbon transition.

These strategic groups are collating priority projects and proposals to approach government and

industry for support, as multi-themed projects can attract greater regional support. It resulted in

Gippsland’s peak advocacy group, One Gippsland, identifying four priorities for the region in June

2013 that it took to Canberra for Federal support. This included;

• The full duplication of the Princes Highway between Traralgon and Sale;

• Funding to complete phase one of the Macalister Irrigation District (MID) modernisation program,

• The Latrobe Regional Hospital stage 2a redevelopment;

• East Sale as the preferred destination for Defence project 5428;

• Construction of the East West Link and North East Link road projects

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 1 5

Economic profile

Gippsland has a working population of close to 100,000 which is concentrated around the Latrobe

Valley and Southern Gippsland areas. The unemployment rate was 5% (Sept 2012), compared with

5.2% across Victoria. Gippsland’s regional economy generates an estimated $26.9 billion (gross

revenue generated by businesses/organisations). Total employment in the Gippsland region is 89,386

jobs.

Industry profile

LGA Characteristics Jobs

Gross revenue

(estimated)

Pop Municipal

centre

Industries Number % of

region

$

billion

% of

region

Bass

Coast

29,614 Wonthaggi

(Pop 6,528)

Tourism

Agriculture

11,303 12.65% $3,522 13.07%

Baw Baw 42,864 Warragul

(Pop 11,491)

Agriculture

Manufacturing

14,127 15.80% $3,546 13.16%

East

Gippsland

42,196 Bairnsdale

(Pop 11,271)

Tourism

Forestry

Agriculture

14,147 15.83% $3,389 12.58%

Latrobe 73,564 Morwell

(Pop 13,942)

Future energy

Sector

Service and

manufacturing

25,620 28.66% $8,670 32.18%

South

Gippsland

27,208 Leongatha

(Pop 4,505)

Tourism

Agriculture

9,997 11.18% $2,747 10.19%

Wellington 41,440 Sale

(Pop 13,337)

Oil and gas

extraction

Timber

Agriculture

Tourism

14,192 15.88% $5,051 18.74%

Total 256,886 89,386 100% $26,945 100%

The top five employment sectors

1. Health and community services (11,926)

2. Retail trade (10,902)

3. Construction (8,136)

4. Education (8,035)

5. Manufacturing (7,823)

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 16

The top five industry sectors

1. Manufacturing

2. Construction

3. Mining

4. Property services

5. Utility services

Key Points

• Food related activity in the Gippsland region generates more than $2 billion in exports, more than

14,000 jobs and is responsible for more than $1.3 billion in expenditure on goods and services

within the region. The Gippsland Food Plan was to be delivered in 2013 to direct the future

development/positioning of the Gippsland food system as a state and national food bowl.

• The 2013/14 State budget allocated $14million to the Macalister Irrigation Districts modernisation

project. This is home to significant diary and horticulture assets

• The 2013/14 state budget allocated $110million over 4 years to further investigate the

development and expansion of the Hastings Port as a major container port.

• The central western part of Gippsland is strongly linked to the mining and utilities industries.

• The largest proportion of land mass in Victoria granted to coal seam gas exploration is located in

Gippsland. The State Government currently has a moratorium on extraction.

• East Gippsland has attracted investment around agriculture, timber production, horticulture,

manufacturing, tourism, retail and service, commercial fishing and other marine industries. The

region is home to several Australian food brands and Victoria’s largest fishing port at Lakes

Entrance.

• Gippsland has a thriving dairy industry with more than 2,500 licensed dairy farms. The main

production areas are in the west and south of the region, including 11 processing plants and two

research institutes at Maffra and Ellinbank. Dairy dominates Gippsland exports with $762 million.

The Gippsland dairy industry is bigger than NSW, South Australia and Tasmania combined.

There is a number of dairy processing plants with in increasing focus on export markets, operate

in the Gippsland. These include Murray Goulburn Co-operative, Burra Foods, United Dairy Power,

Parmalat and National Foods. VIPLUS has recently invested in reopening diary processing at

Toora.

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 1 7

Funded sustainability project examples

Recent SV projects

• Energy efficiency for schools- 18 schools successful in the Region

• SRSB Energy and Materials- 4 Capital Grant recipients in Round 1 and

2

• Landfill Liners – Latrobe, East Gippsland, South Gippsland, Bass

Coast, Wellington

• Roadside Litter Grants-South Gippsland and Bass Coast

• Regional organics (Mallacoota)

• Public Place Recycling (South Gippsland, Baw Baw, Bass Coast)

Current SV projects

• Gippsland RWMG projects including Organics Strategy, and Data

Collection

• ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic (Gippsland Consortia)

Third party sustainability

projects

• Energy efficiency assessments at 190 dairy farms in Gippsland (EEIG)

• Upgrading of street lighting for Bass Coast, South Gippsland, East

Gippsland, Wellington and Baw Baw Councils

• Pilot targeting HACC clients in retrofit, education and ongoing support

for energy efficiency (South East Councils Climate Change Alliance).

• Exploring sustainable agriculture approaches, including use of recycled

organics to improve productivity (West Gippsland CMA)

• Two LPOs funded across Bass Coast/South Gippsland and

Wellington/East Gippsland until

• 2012–13

• Delivering state-wide energy efficiency information to Victorian SMEs

(VECCI funded by EEIG)

• Developing a Renewable Energy Demonstration Trailer and providing

real life demonstration of energy efficiency and renewables at regional

events (GippsTAFE)

Regional Profiles – Gippsland | 18

SWOT analysis

Strengths

• Proximity and access to Melbourne

• Established transport infrastructure (road

and rail, energy)

• Diverse economic drivers

• Number of regional networks and bodies

already exist (waste, economic, tourism,

agriculture, local government)

• Abundance of natural resource assets

• Employment and training opportunities

• Significant organic waste processing

infrastructure

• Energy generation and distribution

infrastructure

Opportunities

• Reducing costs and increasing inward

investment through the Low Carbon Growth

Plan for Gippsland

• Identifying additional regional projects and

starting discussions between stakeholders for

the Gippsland Regional Growth Plan (GRP)

• Looking for support and funding from other

levels of government for GRP projects, for

example, developing the Gippsland logistics

precinct and upgrading priority tourism roads

• Strong interest from government and industry

in using cost effective moisture removal

technologies from brown coal and exporting

this internationally

• Potentially large local markets for recovered

and processed organic waste in land use

• Significant external commercial interest in

food processing and biomass

• Improving the function, capacity and amenity

of the region’s commercial centres

Weaknesses

• Uncertainty as to what the focus of state and

federal governments relating to Latrobe

Valley transition to low carbon economy will

be.

• Significant areas socio-economic

disadvantage limits participation in the local

economy.

• Perception that the region only reliance is on

fossil fuel sector limits acknowledging the

diversity of the regional economy

Threats

• Ageing population and net migration of young

people

• Large geography and dispersed population

• Impacts of climate change and associated

policies on key industries (farming, forestry

and mining). Buildings and infrastructure may

be at risk from flooding and storm surges

along the coast and from bushfires inland

• Energy sector facing significant challenges

due to global shift to a low carbon economy

• Transition to low carbon economy stagnates

due to policy uncertainty

1 9 | Regional Profiles – Further reading

Further reading

This section provides a list of organisations providing regional development information in Victoria.

All web addresses are correct as at June 2013.

ClimateWorks Australia

ClimateWorks Australia publishes a number of plans related to lowering emissions, including the low

carbon growth plans for Geelong and Gippsland.

www.climateworksaustralia.org/publications.html

Council websites

Most councils publish economic reports and statistics on their websites. A full list of councils with

websites is available on the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure website.

http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/localgovernment/find-your-local-council

Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI)

DSDBI has published an Industry Atlas of Victoria (2011).

www.dsdbi.vic.gov.au/research-reports/industry-atlas-of-victoria

Regional Development Victoria (RDV)

RDV provides regional development summaries on the five regions and publishes regional and

subregional growth plans and strategic plans.

www.rdv.vic.gov.au/victorian-regions.

Fuelled for Growth: The 2012 Ernst and Young report on bioenergy (Fuelled for Growth: Investing in

Victoria’s biofuels and bioenergy industries) is available for download at

www.rdv.vic.gov.au/business-and-industry-programs/biofuels-and-bioenergy.

Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI)

DTPLI publishes regional and subregional growth plans and strategic plans for Victorian regions.

http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/projects-and-programs/regionalgrowthplans/

Profile.id

Profile.id uses the 2011 Census to provide comprehensive, online, socio-demographic profiles

of local government areas.

www.home.id.com.au/id-community/local-govt-products/profileid.

RWMG websites

The RWMGs publish business plans and annual reports on their websites. For a full list of RWMGs

and their websites, see contact details listed on the SV website: www.sustainability.vic.gov.au.