(1)   What is the Government’s priority for improving and protecting water quality in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port and how does this compare to other environmental issues in these waterways, catchments or the region.

(2)   What priority is this water quality in making Commonwealth investments through the regional component of the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT)?

(3)   What sum has been spent through the NHT extension on water quality improvements in the Bay and Western Port and what is each project’s title and its NHT contribution.

(1)   The Australian Government’s priority for improving and protecting water quality in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port is very high. Both Port Phillip Bay and Western Port contain wetlands of international importance listed under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971): -Western Port and Port Phillip (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula.

(2)   High.

(3)   The relationships between many of our catchment assets and the activities that threaten them are complex. As such, many of the projects funded through the extension of the Natural Heritage Trust are designed to address more than one threatening process and will lead to an improvement in the condition of a number of assets. For example, a project designed to rehabilitate a wetland in the Western Port catchment will also reduce nitrogen loads and sediments entering the Port, and assist in providing habitat and improving biodiversity. Through the extension of the Natural Heritage Trust in 2002, the Australian Government has approved funding in 2002/03 of $1,895,250, in 2003/04 of $1,475,00 and in 2004/05 of $3,270,000 to the Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority. Projects that relate particularly to improvements in water quality in the Bay and Western Port include:

Doing our bit for the Bay - $100,000

Hills to Ocean - $110,000

Western Port Seagrass Restoration - $40,000

Wetland Protection Rutherford Inlet - $55,000

Western Port Wastewater Project - $53,000

Western Port Coastal Action Plan - $20,000

Western Port Erosion Trials - $35,000

Coastal Facilitators - $400,000

Williamstown-Altona sediment reduction $50,000

Waterway Grants - $33,000

Werribee Environmental Rescue - $50,000

Effects of Nutrient Enrichment on Sea Grass Epiphytes in Western Port - $64,000

Sediment Stabilisation in the Western Port Ramsar Area - $35,000

Coaching coastal managers - $40,000

Guides to the marine fauna $87,000

The following projects are being implemented on a multi-regional basis and parts of their activities will occur in the Port Phillip Bay and Western Port:

Analysis of changes in Seagrass Health at a Multi-regional Level $240,000

Ecological Health of Intertidal Rock Platforms $406,430

The following projects are being implemented through the adjacent Corangamite Catchment Management Authority whose boundaries include parts of Port Phillip Bay:

Geelong Regional wetlands program $400,000

Swan Bay and Northern Bellarine Peninsula Integrated Coastal and Catchment management $210,000

Coastcare Regional on-ground works and education program $88,000

Swan Bay integrated catchment management $55,705