Beachhead battle over golf ban

The Australian April 21 2006
Rick Wallace
Victorian political reporter

Golf legend Peter Thomson -has accused the Victorian Government of waging a war on golf through its new hardline coastal health planning strategy, which he says will damage the sport's future. The five-time British Open a winner said Planning Minister Rob Hulls' vow to block new seaside courses was driven by a personal antipathy towards the game of golf

"I am astonished by the anti-golf attitude of this Government." he said. "We have  heard him (Hulls) mutter 'not another bloody golf course.'

Mr Hulls recently released tough new planning rules restricting coastal housing to  within current town boundaries after vowing to block up to 20 proposed residential golf courses that were "really housing estates." He has refused to allow a plan by the Links Group to build a course with about 500 homes at Tarwin Cove near Inverloch, southeast of Melbourne.

Thompson, who has designed many golf courses in Australia and around the world said Mr Hulls' hardline policy would scuttle many coastal courses' plans to upgrade. "Each little golf club along the coast would like to upgrade their facilities, but it needs  some way of financing it, such as housing," the 75-year-old said yesterday.

Thomson told The Australian the housing associated with golf courses was not the  obtrusive Gold Coast-style urban sprawl as claimed by the Government.

Mr Hulls' proposal is intended to protect coastal communities from an expected flood  of seachange retirees leaving the city for the beach. But Thomson's business partner, Ross Perrett, said the minister's claim that there were 20 coastal golf resorts planned was a "politically driven beat-up" and the insinuation they were really only housing estates was "insulting".

"This paranoia about golf on the coast is nonsense. It's very upsetting for us and the whole industry," Mr Perrett said. "I welcome any efforts to counter urban sprawl, but golf courses are not the problem. The environmental benefits of golf courses are  enormous."

He said his firm's redevelopment of the National Golf Club at Cape Schanck involved creating a 60ha golf course and 160ha of native grasslands on what was previously "denuded" farmland.

Victoria's coastal golf courses, including those on Melbourne's sandbelt and the nearby  Mornington Peninsula — have established an international reputation and the Government has based a tourism strategy around them.

Mr Perrett said it was bizarre that the Government was trying to attract overseas visitors while it was throttling the development of world-class golf resorts.

He said Mr Hulls had vowed to "put the knife through" most of the proposed coastal courses in the state.

Kelly Simrajh, a councillor on the Bass Coast where the Tarwin Cove project was proposed, said residents were "dead set against" golf resorts. "The coast should be enjoyed by everybody and these private multi-million-dollar golf courses are restricted to the people who can afford them," Mr Simrajh said.

Mr Hulls did not respond to The Australian's request for comment yesterday.

Emphasis mine (Sammy)