$1m plan for Port Fairy East Beach tip site a 'short-term fix'

The public was invited to attend a drop-in session in Port Fairy on Saturday, where the designs of two rock walls for expired tip sites along the seaside town's East Beach were unveiled.

Pending reports and permit approvals, the structures would aim to stop decades of rubbish, faeces, asbestos and medical waste from spilling into the ocean.

But it's only a temporary fix, with more than $30 million needed to fully restore the sites.

Moyne Shire Council acting environment and regulation services manager Paula Tovey said money was a barrier to what they could achieve.

"If we had $30 million that would be a different story, but we need to do something now to stop the rubbish falling into the beach," she said.

"Right now we have $1.5 million from the state government which will be spent on building and reviewing what we do with dredging in the port, as well as further analysis of the contents of the landfill.

"The design life of the walls are 50-80 years. If we had endless amounts of money we would remove all the rubbish."

An estimated 200,000 tonnes of waste material remains in the dunes.

Environment services coordinator Kane Church said the project was "not the end" of works to be done on the sites.

"There will be further investigations into the quality and quantity of materials."

Members of Extinction Rebellion South West Victoria set up outside the drop in session and led a march along the beach.

"I know people who have been out surfing and have seen whole washing machines in the water from the tip," member Steve Veale said.

"They've got plans to spend more than a million to protect only a small section of coast.

"We're losing our beautiful beaches, we have three demands: get the government to admit there's a climate emergency because the first step is admitting there's a problem.

"We need them to act now, engage with the science and invest in protecting our world for the future.

"Our third request is for the formation of a citizens assembly to take the politics out of it. They could advise the government to act for the greater good of the world today."

READ MORE: Further protection for Port Fairy's beach but long-term solution needed

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