COLERAINE locals are raising their voice about the upkeep of the Peter Francis Points Arboretum with a view to having a local committee manage the attraction, with its increasingly deteriorating condition a major concern.

The decision several years ago to transfer its management to Parks Victoria with no allocated budget for it has raised fears the community asset could be lost, with locals and even MPs calling on the State Government to save it by handing the operation back to a ready-made committee.

Peter Francis Points Arboretum committee treasurer, John Kane, used a simple example to highlight just how deficient the administration has been.

“It’s been a really popular family picnic area for a long, long time and one of the key facilities up there is the barbecue,” he said.

“The barbecue has not been operating for two years and Parks Victoria do not have the funds to actually get it fixed up. It’s such a simple thing as the barbecue not operating.”

Mr Kane said he used to work for the government department back in the 1990s that managed such assets by delegating responsibility to local committees and said government decisions made since then had not resulted in better outcomes.

“It worked very well during that period,” he said.

“We had basically an independent committee of management. We were able to get funds from the Shire, and Geoff Handbury and Helen Handbury were great supporters of the arboretum. They gave us money from time to time, we had the Eucalyptus Discovery Centre in Coleraine and things were going beautifully for many, many years and we had great support.

“The management of the arboretum ended up with Parks Victoria and they are clearly not managing it as an arboretum. That’s one of the key points.

“The State Government has gazetted the 40 hectares at the Peter Francis Points Arboretum as an arboretum. That’s the way it should be managed and Parks Victoria … don’t have the expertise and they certainly do not have the resources to manage it as such.”

Mr Kane said the relevant department had been lobbied for a long time now, but the process appeared to have stalled, despite the welcome support of Southern Grampians Shire chief executive Tony Doyle, Lowan MP Emma Kealy, and Wannon MP Dan Tehan.

“They’re taking forever to make the decision, they promised us that we would have a decision back in October,” Mr Kane said.

“We’re desperate to get the decision that we want, which is a committee of management.

“It’s going to wrack and ruin and it’s an embarrassment for our local community – we were so proud of the arboretum for probably the last 50 years and it’s a disgrace at the moment.”

Speaking in Parliament recently, Ms Kealy said the Environment minister needed to make a decision to save the arboretum and return responsibility to a local management committee.

“Locals are rightly concerned about the future of this fantastic community asset and embarrassed by its current and deteriorating condition,” she said.

“There were meetings late year between The Points Association, who do a fabulous job and want to continue to manage this great asset for all Australians, and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning as it was then known.

“An agreement was reached that responsibility would be returned to a local committee of management but nothing further has transpired.

“The minister needs to step up and immediately finalise this transfer of responsibility to stop any further deterioration of this wonderful and unique asset and ensure its future for generations to come.”

The minister now has 30 days to respond to Ms Kealy’s question.

Mr Tehan added his voice to the call and said he recognised the unique status of the arboretum.

“Every country town has a wonderful tourism attraction and Coleraine is no different,” he said.

“The Points Arboretum is just the most magnificent arboretum – over 10,000 native Australian plants on 37 hectares – you won’t find anything like it anywhere else in Australia.

“It needs some investment … because it could place Coleraine on the map as home of the best arboretum in Australia.

“I call on Parks Victoria to work with Southern Grampians Shire Council to bring this modern botanical collection up to standard.”

Mr Kane acknowledged the work that was done by previous committee president, Margaret Rutter, and her daughter, Anna, and said there was nothing novel about the model of management being proposed.

“What they have come up with is a first-rate strategy plan that the new committee simply needs to implement to bring it back to its former glory,” he said.

“The last time I checked there’s about 1300 committees of management in Victoria looking after Crown land, so what we’re after is nothing new.”

If and when the committee could take charge, Mr Kane said they would make the barbeque a priority.

“Once we are a committee of management, that’s probably number one priority at the moment is to actually get that fixed up,” he said.

“Get people up there again.

“We know what we want to do. You just need to get the proper management structure in place and we’ll fire up.”