Great Ocean Road Coast Committee is a Committee of Management formed by the State Government to be responsible for protecting, enhancing, and developing coastal Crown land from Point Impossible to Cumberland River.
All funds raised through the organisation’s commercial endeavours are reinvested back into the coast.
This amounts to around $14 million annually in revenue. The majority of the organisation’s funding comes from its directly managed Crown land caravan parks. The remaining funds are derived from a range of sources including leases such as the Cumberland River Caravan Park, licence and permit fees, and fee-for-service delivery.
GORCC:
- is the single largest accommodation provider on the Great Ocean Road with over 500,000 visitor nights at the Anglesea, Lorne and Torquay caravan parks;
- employs numerous staff and contractors for the tourism and environmental sectors;
- supports and partners with more than 15 volunteer groups and provides coastal grants to local community groups;
- educates the next generation of coastal protectors through award-winning environmental education programs;
- manages critical coastal and visitor infrastructure from the Fishermans Beach precinct in Torquay, through to Lorne Pier;
- has partnered with volunteers, school groups, agencies and partner organisations to plant more than 18,000 indigenous plants and treat 430 hectares for pest plants and animals since 2016;
- has recently partnered with Surf Coast Shire to secure funding for an all-abilities changing facility in Anglesea and trialled an accessible beach matting and wheelchair initiative in Lorne;
- provides significant investment to protect conservation areas and ecosystems;
- provides substantial social value and economic benefit to coastal communities.
More can be found at https://www.gorcc.com.au/.
Current coastal governance arrangements will change with the formation of the Great Ocean Road Authority. It is proposed that stand alone legislation will be introduced so that a single authority will manage the full length of the Great Ocean Road and environs. This area will include the land currently managed by GORCC.