ABC, Monday: the City of Greater Geelong asked Victoria to rezone 2341–2349 Bellarine Highway, Point Lonsdale, for special use, tourism. If that passes, a supermarket does not belong there. It is not a signed veto. It is a request. Coles, in a statement: the project is in a pre-application phase. No formal planning permit has been lodged.

Late Friday. “No Coles at Swan Bay” signs on fences, in Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff. The Stop Coles committee, Trish Berry: since April last year, she says, the chain has been looking at the lot. Since September, the community has been at work. “This is not an appropriate site for a supermarket.” Ramsar wetlands. Migratory birds, from Siberia, in her telling. The look of the town entrance. Village traders. Ocean Grove, Drysdale, an IGA. That is her list. It is not an impact study published in the piece.

Mayor Stretch Kontelj: a step to deliver the structure plan. Low-scale tourism. The community to have a formal say. Planning minister Sonya Kilkenny. The Borough of Queenscliffe is with Geelong against the store. Mayor Donnie Grigau: not every local is against it. “There are people who would like it.” The zoning, he says, was wrong. Pro-business, but the parcel was meant for tourism.

Bellarine Times, 23 March: the two councils wanted a planning review, from July, paid together. The store, in the paper, about A$20 million. Coles Group bought the land, Times writes, in March 2025. The parcel is commercially zoned, so a supermarket is allowed on paper. The councils say that is not the strategic intent. Kontelj, then: the preference remains that the Victorian government reject the proposal.

A state spokesperson, to ABC: any proposal on its merits. No yes or no. Grigau: if the amendment runs past the November election, he hopes the next planning minister, whoever that is, follows it through. Berry wants approval sooner. A meeting on 22 October: what tourism, whether an environmental education centre. The photograph: Point Lonsdale beach, 2008. Not the highway lot. Not Friday’s signs.

Image: Stephen Bain, Point Lonsdale front beach, 29 September 2008, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the Bellarine Highway lot.

Sources consulted: Geelong council steps in to block Coles supermarket opening in Point Lonsdale — ABC News; Councils examine planning controls as Coles debate continues — Bellarine Times.