Bill Cleeland is concerned about how a local government strategy could impact farming

Farmers on Victoria’s Phillip Island are worried for their future in the wake of a local government strategy to boost tourism development.

Farmers on Victoria’s Phillip Island could be weaning cattle and milking cows next door to sprawling tourism developments, should a local government tourism strategy be implemented.

And many multiple generation farmers are worried for the future of farming in the region, according to one industry leader.

The Bass Coast Shire’s Unlocking Rural Tourism Strategy will facilitate sustainable tourism development in what it deems appropriately located rural areas.

A Bass Coast Shire spokesperson said the strategy was adopted by the council in 2023 but was yet to be implemented. It will undertake a land use study investigating “the reasons for what has been considered limited tourism investment” in rural areas across the shire.

Some of the key points of the strategy include:

– Acknowledging existing farming and rural activity zones are not adequate to support tourism uses;

– Large-scale developments could be best delivered in special use zones, such as the existing Phillip Island motor racing track; and

– Undertaking a rural tourism-focusing planning scheme amendment, including a new rural land use strategy reviewing quality of agricultural land shire-wide.

Surf Beach cattle producer and Victorian Farmers Federation Bass Coast president Bill Cleeland is a fourth generation producer on the island, and says the strategy could have a “huge impact” on agriculture in the region.

“We’ve already come across problems, for example using gas guns to scare off birds, with a permit, and neighbours complaining about the noise when someone’s shooting,” Mr Cleeland said.

“If you’ve got the population growing then you come up with all these problems, like noise, smells, even weaning calves can be difficult. It’ll have all sorts of implications.”

Bill Cleeland. Philip Island, has concerns for the future of farming in the region in the wake of a local government planning strategy. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Cleeland said being able to farm on the island was rapidly getting “harder and harder”.

“The impact of tourism and the greater development of farmland, it just makes it a lot harder to remain viable.”

According to the Port Phillip and Western Port regional catchment strategy, about 44 per cent of the 1.28 million ha Western Port and Port Phillip region is used for agriculture.

Mr Cleeland said commercial farmers on the island remain viable “and want to keep going”, but don’t want massive tourism developments popping up next door.

Mr Cleeland said the VFF has advocated for a statewide assessment of agricultural land with the aim to “lock that up” and protect it from development.

“Drouin and Warragul areas, that’s beautiful farmland, with beautiful soil and they’re concreting the thing and putting houses on it. That’s the land we’re going to need for agriculture and it’s all being turned to housing.”

Originally published as Bill Cleeland is concerned about how a local government strategy could impact farming