NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay and Member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp joined worry ridden residents at Stockton today, demanding the Berejiklian Government to treat the erosion of the beach as an "unfolding catastrophe" and appoint a State Recovery Coordinator.
Ms McKay and Mr Crakanthorp are calling for the Premier to appoint a State Recovery Coordinator to manage a whole government response to the erosion, and to bring forward the coastal management plan, currently scheduled for December 2021, to commence before the end of this year.
Ms McKay says the State Government refusing to take action not only risks losing parts of the beach, but the community itself.
"It's incredibly disrespectful to a community that's had its child care center closed, caravan park under threat and of course the surf club, which is at the heart of the community here which is simply not able to do what it should be doing," Ms McKay said.
Comparisons have been made to the response of the State Government when similar erosion issues faced the Sydney suburb of Collaroy.
"If this was Collaroy, if this was Manly, if this was Bondi this would require state Government intervention and it would be a top priority," Ms McKay said.
"We know that there are millions of dollars that have been spent on Collaroy and can I say that there wasn't community infrastructure there, it was multi million dollar homes, this is community infrastructure that we're talking about."
Ms McKay and Mr Crakanthorp have stressed the need for the Government to liaise with Newcastle Council and discuss the legislative frame works surrounding whether solutions such as off shore sand extraction are possible.
"There is a lack of clarity as to whether that will require legislative change or a Ministerial direction, I think if we had this State Recovery coordinator in place we'd get a lot clearer picture of what is possible," Ms McKay said.
"I heard the Minister say today that there can be sand that gets put into here from a commercial quarry but that is just not good enough ,we're talking about more than 50,000 truck loads of sand needed. We're at point where there needs to be long term solution and there is so much grey as to what the final solution is."
The Premier previously stated in parliament that the State Government has been "onto (the issue) for a while" and cited the "billions in infrastructure projects" in the Hunter such as the light rail.
NSW Labor Leader Jodie McKay and Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp
