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Wednesday 8 January 2025
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Work begins on the Somerville to Baxter Trail MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Anthony Marsh and Hastings MP Paul Mercurio have turned the first sod to celebrate construction starting on the Somerville to Baxter Trail. This much-anticipated new shared path is a vital missing link in the grand vision for the Peninsula Trails project, a 170km network of connected trails traversing the Mornington Peninsula. Once the Somerville-Baxter section is complete, walkers and cyclists will be able to travel off road from central Melbourne all the way to Balnarring. “The Somerville-Baxter Trail was council’s first priority in terms of filling in the missing links of the Peninsula Trails project, and we are extremely grateful to both the Australian and Victorian governments for providing funding,” said Marsh.
DEREK Rotter, Cr Kate Roper, Will Connard, mayor Cr Anthony Marsh, Hastings MP Paul Mercurio, Davey Smith, and Kevin Chuck celebrate the start of the Somerville to Baxter Trail construction. Picture: Supplied
“The Victorian government contributed $3m and the Australian government committed $2m. Council contributed the remaining $2.8m to allow this important project to go ahead. “Our community has been calling for this shared path for many years. It will dramatically improve access, connectivity and amenity for our Western Port communities, connecting up existing paths and giving our residents the chance to ditch the car and travel safely by foot or by bike to school, the shops or work. “It will also further cement the peninsula’s reputation as a cycling and walking destination, attracting off-peak visitors lured by the opportunity to walk or cycle off road from central Melbourne – via the Bay Trail and Peninsula Link Trail – all the way to Balnarring. “This project will create economic, health and wellbeing benefits for countless Victorians for many years to come, and that’s something worth celebrating. I look forward to trying out the new path once it’s complete.” Construction of the new shared path is anticipated to be complete by late 2025. For more on the Somerville-Baxter Trail, visit: mornpen.vic. gov.au/pentrailupdate
Hastings hydrogen project in doubt Cameron McCullough cameron@mpnews.com.au PLANS to export hydrogen from Western Port to Japan are in doubt, after the lead company in the venture, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, issued conflicting reports about its viability and their intention to proceed. The project was seen as an essential part of the hydrogen energy supply chain (HESC) that would see the manufacturing of hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley, before being liquefied at Hastings and shipped to Japan to provide what proponents call “green energy” in that country. The brown coal-to-hydrogen
project’s commercial partners, led by Kawasaki, have been backed by the federal and state governments, who each provided $50m towards the pilot project, with another $2.35b reportedly offered by the Japanese government towards the commercial project, should it proceed. The project has been controversial from the start, with former Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne effectively bypassing Mornington Peninsula Shire’s planning authority by fast-tracking approval in 2019. The Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor at the time, Cr Bryan Payne, said news of the government’s takeover of planning powers for the hydrogen project “sadly reflects on the
state of planning in Victoria and raises issues of where public health and safety responsibility fits with government at both the federal and state level” (Hydrogen plant to get all clear, The News 6/11/18). Environmentally, opponents argue the HESC project is just another inappropriate development in ecologically delicate Western Port, with an estimated 3.8 megatonnes of carbon dioxide and other noxious gases produced each year from the production process. The HESC project partners have said they will use carbon capture and storage technology to pump those gasses deep underground in the Gippsland Basin; a process opponents say has never succeeded anywhere globally despite
billions being spent in developing the technology. It’s argued that while the project would enable Japan to cut it’s CO2 emissions, it would lift Victoria’s emissions, raising doubts whether the state will meet its emissions target reductions of 75-80 per cent by 2035; net zero by 2045 (MPs under pressure over hydrogen, The News 14/11/23). But delays and setbacks in the project have seen it falter. Pressure in Australia against the project has remained high, and the safety of the project was questioned after a fire aboard the purpose-built hydrogen tanker, Suiso Frontier, while moored in Western Port in 2022 (Fire aboard hydrogen ship, The News 5/4/22).
Japanese media reported in mid-November that Kawasaki had “significantly revised its plans” to “establish an international supply chain to procure hydrogen from Australia” as it had become difficult to procure hydrogen in Australia within the deadline. The report by Japanese news outlet Nikkei stated “the company has changed hydrogen procurement to domestic” and it was “downsizing its hydrogen carriers and is steering towards a more ‘realistic solution’”. The apparent policy change by the global energy giant was a cause for celebration by environmental groups that had lobbied against the project for years. Continued Page 4
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