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| Yasmin Catley |
Lake Macquarie and the Hunter have been overlooked in the state government’s face-to-face consultations regarding its coastal management plan, Swansea MP Yasmin Catley said.
The government have been holding consultations along the NSW coast, holding three in Sydney and two on the south coast. It’s also held one in Ballina, Port Macquarie and Erina – but none in the Lake Macquarie and Hunter regions.
“The government are not serious about coastal reform if they aren’t including areas like Lake Macquarie,” Ms Catley said.
She also said the government are far too “Sydney-centric” and refuse to take the regions seriously.
“They [the government] need to wake up to themselves and understand that regions like ours in the Hunter need to be consulted with and need to be part of the conversation,” she said.
“The government just doesn’t take anywhere out of Sydney seriously.”
The Newcastle Herald reported on Friday that a member of the NSW Coastal Alliance was told the government believed it was too difficult to get to the Hunter.
“To me, it shows a complete disregard for the thousands of people here who will be affected by the [policy],” she to the Herald.
However, Ms Catley said the decision to snub the Hunter could be down to the lack of Coalition-held seats in the region.
“I think that there could be some political motivation about this. If you look at the locations, they’re all either in National [Party] seats or in … the [Liberal-held] seat of Terrigal,” she said.
Coastal electorates in the Hunter – Swansea, Newcastle, Charlestown and Port Stephens – are all Labor-held seats.
The seat of Lake Macquarie, held by Independent MP Greg Piper, is the only waterside seat in the region not held by the Opposition.
