MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have voted to condense the current five coastal advisory groups (CAGs) into one committee that will help provide advice on the development of the shire’s Coastal Strategy.
At the 1 September council meeting, councillors endorsed the council officers’ recommendation to consolidate the CAGs into a single committee following a recent review.
The review found the current model has seen declining participation, quorum difficulties, and varying effectiveness across the five groups.
All existing group members will be invited to participate in the Coastal Strategy Advisory Committee, which will provide community advice and local knowledge to help develop the shire’s Coastal Strategy.
Cr Paul Pingiaro, who moved the motion, said the CAGs do some really great work but have seen a 38% decrease in participation and a 24% failure to achieve quorum.
Pingiaro said the “disappointing bit” was that in November 2025, members were surveyed, and results found 42% believed council didn’t value their advice.
“The purpose of the CAGs is to provide advice during the development of strategic coastal planning documents including coastal adaptation plans, coastal marine management plans, and master plans,” said Pingiaro.
“That strategic document that’s coming up, we want our coastal advisory groups’ input in.”
Pingiaro said he believes council needs to support friends groups and CAGs who want to “do boots on the ground stuff”.
“For me, these community advisory groups only work if the advice is actually getting to us in a meaningful way, and that is what this officer’s recommendation is doing for us,” said Pingiaro.
“Providing the structure where it matters, with the purpose, the feedback, and the genuine influence.”
Cr Patrick Binyon said the members’ feedback was clear.
“They highlighted how hard it was to maintain regular attendance and hit quorum; some called for clearer guidance, some called for online meeting options,” said Binyon.
“When attendance drops, the heavy lifting falls on just a few of the dedicated people, and that’s not fair nor sustainable, hence supporting the officers’ recommendation for the Coastal Strategy Advisory Committee.”
Cr David Gill was the only councillor to vote against the motion. He put forward an amendment which was denied as Mayor Stephen Batty said it was an alternative motion.
Gill wanted to retain the current CAGs as well as introducing a Coastal Strategy Advisory Committee made up of two members from each existing group.
“Why did 13 people resign from the previous CAGs, and why haven’t they been successful?” said Gill.
“People don’t see the value in the CAGs… because we couldn’t service them; we didn’t try to find a different way to run those meetings, to get feedback from people in local areas about their local foreshore.”
Gill said people don’t want “to sit on a committee and talk about one thing for three years and then see a management plan that’s not enacted”.
“People want to go down to the beach, look at the problems and come back and say these are the problems our beach has,” said Gill.
“There are things that we should be doing to improve our local beaches in that local area. That’s what people want to do, and that’s what we’ve taken away from them.”
Gill said he predicts the committee “won’t last a year” as people won’t want to talk about big picture issues and not talk about their local beaches.
Cr Kate Roper said it’s sad to see the disintegration of the CAGs.
“We appreciate and thank those who gave their time to the CAGs in the past and the other friends groups, and we really need you, and moving forward I hope they continue to be involved in looking after our beaches and foreshores,” said Roper.
The shire will now adopt a new Terms of Reference, appoint remaining CAG members to the Coastal Advisory Strategy Committee, and appoint a council representative.
First published in the Mornington News – 15 September 2026
