More than eighty people attended the forum held at the Aireys Inlet Community Hall on Saturday 17 January. We were very grateful for the detailed presentations from Mayor Libby Stapleton and the General Manager of Placemaking and Environment, Surf Coast Shire, Chris Pike, coming just one week after the disastrous floods further west along the coast and as the Otway fire continued to burn. Both spoke admiringly of the generosity of community responses.
AIDA committee member Rod Brooks began the meeting with an outline of the 2025 Community Survey results, highlighting the continuity with surveys going back to 1983 in terms of the value placed by both AIDA members and non-members on the preservation of the ‘rural village’ atmosphere of Aireys Inlet and its surrounds, the beauty and biodiversity of the environment, and the benefits of slower, nature-based tourism.
Libby Stapleton and Chris Pike then provided updates and answered questions on:
- the Council Plan 2025–2029 for the shire
- Surf Coast Shire advocacy priorities for 2026 in the context of the State elections
- the Affordable Housing Project in Aireys Inlet
- the Fairhaven landslip remedial works and the complexities of rectification across 2026
- current and possible future controls on tourist buses in the Split Point Lighthouse Precinct.
Finally, the Surf Coast Shire Resilient Communities Officer, Nick Guyett, spoke about bushfire preparedness and response, in particular highlighting the messages outlined in ‘The First 72 Hours’ brochure and program, and Rod Brooks outlined the work of a local community group in Aireys Inlet working on practical ways to improve bushfire knowledge and safety.
Peter McPhee