East Gippsland business frustration with bushfire recovery delays

With the timber industry winding down, East Gippsland is growing increasingly frustrated with stalled tourism infrastructure rebuilds. See the details.

East Gippsland’s economy will again be denied “hundreds of thousands” of tourist dollars in coming weeks due to coastal infrastructure still not rebuilt following the 2019-20 Black Summer fires.

The region, already beginning to feel the pinch from the timber industry’s demise, is still without a bridge to one of its biggest camping grounds near Point Hicks, and Cape Conran accommodation cabins have been built, but can’t be put on site due to still-to-be-completed ecological and cultural heritage management assessments.

Business leaders and community groups are growing increasingly frustrated with the delays in rebuilding infrastructure at Cape Conran in East Gippsland. Picture: Supplied

Orbost District Community Recovery and Transition Committee wrote to Parks Victoria this month about delays that were “frustrating to the point of distressing”.

“The overriding sentiment is we’re missing out,” committee chairman Peter Quin said.

“Delays are costly and promises made four years ago are just not affordable now.

“Nobody knows where the money is now going to come from.

“We feel like we’ve been dudded.”

The damaged Thurra River bridge in East Gippsland. Picture: Rylee Pardew

All planning approvals for the new Thurra River bridge have been completed and a contract for construction is expected to be awarded next month.

It is expected to be rebuilt in 2025.

Work to rebuild a popular Cape Conran boardwalk will start before Christmas.

A Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action spokesman said: “Planning and works are well underway to deliver improved infrastructure across Gippsland and we thank local communities for their patience.”

Orbost Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary Gary Squires said the frustration with delays was two-fold.

“One is that nothing has happened and the second is we keep getting promises that things will happen and don’t,” he said.

“The feeling in the community is very much one of we don’t trust anything the government says.

“If we’ve got to change our economy from one based on timber to one based on a number of other things including tourism, you’ve got to have assets.

“But those assets just aren’t there.”

A shared path between Marlo and Conran and sewerage and potable water for Cape Conran were also promised in 2020.

Gippsland East MP Tim Bull at the Cape Conran eastern boardwalk that is still not rebuilt following the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

Gippsland East MP Tim Bull said the unfulfilled promises were “disgraceful”.

“Lack of access to the Thurra River campground and cabins at Cape Conran not being finished are literally costing our economy hundreds of thousands of dollars in income,” he said.

“The fact that Daniel Andrews promised to walk with us every step of our recovery and not return once speaks for itself that those words were tokenistic.

“If these projects were in the former Premier’s seat of Mulgrave they would have been rebuilt in four months.”