Premier announces inquiry into McCrae landslide

An inquiry will investigate the cause of a landslide on the Mornington Peninsula last month that crushed a three-storey house and led to 19 other homes being evacuated, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced.
A council worker suffered a broken leg when the cliff in McCrae gave way about 9am on January 14 and collapsed onto a home below.
In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Allan said her government would establish a board of inquiry into the cause of the landslide and whether it could have been avoided.
“We need to get to the bottom of what has happened here because too many people have been let down and too many questions remained unanswered,” the premier said in a statement.
Nineteen homes near Point Nepean Road were evacuated after geotechnical engineers deemed the McCrae cliff unsafe and prone to moving again.
Before last month’s landslide, several nearby residents were already caught in a legal fight with the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council over who would pay to stabilise the cliff after a smaller landslip in November 2022 forced two pensioners from their homes at the bottom of the cliff.
The January 14 landslide resulted in the evacuation of 19 surrounding properties.
The cliff moved again just a week before the major landslide, which destroyed the $2.1 million property in Penny Lane.
More to come