Law and policy reform to protect the Yarra River (Birrarung) has been a long process but we might just be at the pointy end of the season. The Yarra Birrarung Act is, as readers may recall, a landmark piece...
Yarra River updates, media releases and publications
Time to transform the Yarra
The Yarra River – Birrarung – is the lifeblood of Victoria. Flowing 242 kilometres from the Yarra Ranges all the way through greater Melbourne and into Port Phillip Bay – Birrarung is a vital source of nourishment for so many Victorians. Large sections of the...
Rivers and roads in the new climate age: North East Link Project
An extensive public inquiry process into Victoria’s most expensive infrastructure project wound up last week. An Inquiry and Advisory Committee (IAC) appointed to hear and make recommendations on the ‘reference design’ for the North East Link Project (NELP) completed...
Response to the State of the Yarra report
We congratulate the Commissioner of Environmental Sustainability and Senior Science Writer Dr Rebecca Koss for a comprehensive and authoritative report on the state of the Yarra and its parklands. The State of the Yarra and its Parklands report represents important...
Bold, ambitious visions for the Yarra
A new report paints a picture of how the Yarra River can be – and in some cases is being – restored and revitalised. In Tony Birch’s 2015 novel Ghost River, two teenage boys befriend a group of homeless men who live on the river of the book’s title. It is the Yarra...
New ways for law to protect nature: Victoria’s Yarra Act part of a gradual shift
The new Yarra River Bill marries an innovative ‘legal rights for nature’ approach with conventional land use planning. Following two-and-a-half years of work by EJA and the Yarra Riverkeeper Association – and lots of community consultation – the landmark Yarra River...
Landmark Yarra legislation is profound and innovative
This week the Victorian Government introduced the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Bill 2017 into the state parliament. This bill represents, as the Minister said in his Second Reading Speech, a ‘landmark’ in Victoria's history. It also represents...
Community involvement a key to Yarra’s health
I grew up in the suburbs not far from Scotchman’s Creek, a minor tributary of the Yarra (Birrarung), and a patch of remnant bush called Valley Reserve. I used to run around there playing war games with my friends and siblings. It was a small oasis of nature in the...
Yarra River Protection Act submission guide
This is your chance to have a say in the laws governing the Yarra River. Submissions on the Yarra River Protection Act are now being taken. Submissions close on 5 August 2016. Introduction The Yarra Protection Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) has recently released...
Yarra Act: Charting a course through the process
Environmental Justice Australia and the Yarra Riverkeepers Association have rapidly charted a strong course, setting the direction for the proposed Yarra River Protecetion Act. Late in 2015 government established a Ministerial Advisory Committee to develop detailed...
Community groups building their vision for Yarra Act
Saturday 20 February saw the first meeting of the Yarra Act Community Committee, attended by Bruce Lindsay from Environmental Justice Australia, Yarra Riverkeeper Andrew Kelly, and representatives from local community groups. The group is working towards creating a...
World Wetlands Day: 2 February
Today is World Wetlands Day. It is one outcome of an extraordinary agreement signed in Iran in 1971 at a city on the Caspian Sea – the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, also known as the Ramsar Convention, after that city. Despite being the lifeblood...
Yarra River: Community have their say
The Yarra Community Forum brought together representatives from across the Yarra catchment to discuss the issues facing the river and put forward ideas for a vision for the Yarra. Held jointly by Environmental Justice and the Yarra Riverkeepers Association, the event...