The Echuca Clay Target Club is facing action from the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority following noise complaints.
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EPA Northwest regional manager Paul Ratajczyk said the club was issued with an improvement notice after the regulator conducted noise testing.
“Officers deployed noise logging equipment on two separate occasions at a nearby residential premises,” Mr Ratajczyk said.
“Data from the logger was analysed by our noise specialists, and it was determined that noise generated by the club was in breach of provisions in the (Environment Protection Act 2017).”
Due to the findings, the club’s operators were required to prepare a plan that outlined how it would reduce unreasonable noise, Mr Ratajczyk said.
Club president Nicholas Dean said the EPA conducted noise testing during the recent four-day state carnival.
“The maximum decibels they could get was 80, which I might add is about the same as domestic washing machines,” Mr Dean said.
Complying with the EPA’s request, the club organised and paid for an acoustic sound engineer to visit the grounds and prepare a report on noise reduction.
Mr Dean said the engineer determined a five-metre concrete tilt wall may reduce the level of noise to be in line with EPA guidelines, although could not guarantee it would.
“We got quotes on that. It’s half a million dollars,” Mr Dean said.
“As a not-for-profit community sports club, who has $500,000?”
Besides the cost, the club grounds are subject to flooding, meaning the catchment management authority would not approve the wall, Mr Dean said.
The club has disputed the EPA’s decision based on its lengthy history and number of days per week its members shoot.
EPA Victoria’s Noise from outdoor shooting ranges guidelines give recommendations on noise levels, measured in decibels, for different types of shooting ranges.
As a long-established range, operating since 1980, the club is allowed a higher level of maximum decibels compared to other ranges.
The guidelines also consider the number of shooting days per week, with total allowable decibels lowered when shooting days are more frequent.
Between practice, the state carnival, VCTA titles and a school program, the club shoots on 48 days over the year, which Mr Dean said the EPA did not consider in its ruling.
“They said ‘Well, you shoot four days over the state carnival’, so we’re taken as four days a week, every week,” Mr Dean said.
“I would have thought common sense tells you that 48 days is under a day a week, with 52 weeks in the year.”
Mr Dean said out of consideration for nearby premises, the club had put self-imposed restrictions on shooting times, and no longer held practice at night.
Despite efforts from the club, the EPA has held firm, and may shut down the range or issue fines up to $40,000 if it does not reduce its noise levels.
The matter will now appear before VCAT, which Mr Dean said could cost the club up to $80,000 in legal fees.
While the club will continue to operate in the meantime, its uncertain future is looming over those who use the facility.
“We’re a community organisation ... the club itself has some of the best shooters in the country, if not the world,” Mr Dean said.
“The Olympic Games squad come and train at Echuca. We’re a registered police training ground. We hold the zone school person shoot and the state school person shoot.”
Mr Dean said the club held shoots on Sundays so as not to compete with other community sports, and its facilities were used for events, engagement parties and yoga.
“That’s before I start talking about the money it injects into the town with tourism,” he said.
“At our monthly shoots, there’s 15 or 20 visitors in town, let alone the 600 competitors of the state carnival that have family and friends here over the four days.”
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said the club’s situation set a concerning precedent for all other gun clubs in the state.
“This is an attack on the club’s very right to exist, and those making all the noise knew there was a gun club there because it’s been there for decades,” Mr Walsh said.
“An attack which will leave the club and the Victorian Clay Target Association with a huge cost to defend their right to function.”
Millions of dollars have been invested in the range over its 40 years of operation, Mr Walsh said.
“It was badly flooded in October 2022, and the club and its members had the heartbreaking job of repairing the damage from that,” he said.
“This is a multi-generational shooting facility. Young shooter Kiara Dean, a world champion ... grew up shooting at this site,” he said.
Mr Walsh said if the club closed, others would follow suit, stifling Victoria’s ability to train world-class shooters.