Our Purpose

Friends of Coffin Bay is a united group of local residents who are deeply concerned about the potential impact of ongoing, uncontrolled and unsupported growth in our town, both in our resident population and visitation by tourists.

To be clear, we are not anti-growth, anti-change or anti-tourism. Our concern is focused on the impact of injudicious expansion on our environment, our finite natural resources, our community and our safety. In our view, growth should be balanced between the protection (and ideally the improvement) of the environment, the views of Coffin Bay residents and the economy. To that end, we need to recognise that growth is about more than Gross Domestic Product.

We believe that most adults that live in Coffin Bay choose to dwell here precisely because of the proximity to nature, the gentle pace of life, the sense of peace and security, and the pristine nature of our environment - particularly our waterways. We believe that most visitors to Coffin Bay value our town for the very same reasons. And yet the proponents of the Master Plan and aligned forces would suggest that we are naive or insular for wishing to preserve that.

But uncontrolled and unsupported growth in Coffin Bay over the past decade alone has demonstrated significant negative impact on critical natural resources and infrastructure. If you are a local resident, you will have experienced the road congestion, excess waste issues and social disturbances caused by the dramatic influx of visitors over the past few Summers. You might be concerned about over-fishing. You may have even noticed a drop in household water pressure, and been alarmed by the loss of Power and Telecommunications services on total fire ban days. You may have wondered how 4,000 to 5,000 frightened residents and visitors might safely evacuate using our one-road-out-of town in the event of a bushfire. You may have also noticed the quality of water in the Bay itself has degraded significantly due to run off from the town. Undoubtedly, you've noticed other areas of concern as well.

Meanwhile, climate change is becoming a clear and present danger all around the World. The risks that extreme weather events will only worsen the situation for our environment, native wildlife, natural resources, economy and safety - are obvious.

Now the District Council Of Lower Eyre Peninsula's new Draft Master Plan for Coffin Bay proposes to increase Tourism and Resident Population even further over the next decade and beyond, to levels that will not only undermine the peaceful and safe nature of our community, but threaten our fragile ecology and the ability of our natural resources to cope.

Our intention is not to block all progress, but to demand that legitimate research be conducted into the limits of our environment to cope with the proposed burden of residential growth and tourism, before population and tourism targets are set via an approved Master Plan or any other strategic document.

Beyond that, our hope is to encourage more Friends to join us in any future endeavours designed to bring our community together with a focus on mindful tourism, climate change awareness, preservation of our flora and fauna, and of course, our way of life.

Coffin Bay is precious to us for all the obvious reasons. But our environment, marine ecosystem, natural resources and insfrastructure are far more fragile or limited than some would like us to believe. If you care for the future of Coffin Bay, join our mailing list, and don't hesitate to contact us with any areas of concern that you think should be aired or discussed by our community.
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