By Mairi Petersen
SHELLHARBOUR — Since 1983, the right-wing ALP-controlled Shellharbour Council has been determined to build a marina at Shellharbour Beach, about 20 km south of Wollongong. Despite the conflict of such a scheme with stated ALP coastal policy, Bob Carr, now premier, has stated his support since 1986, when he was minister for the environment.
The preferred developer, appointed in December 1992, is Walker Corporation, which gave $100,000 each to the ALP and the Coalition for the 1995 state elections. There is a secret financial agreement between council and the developer, which both bodies refuse to release. What is known is that any money advanced by the developer will be repaid together with interest above bank levels. The developer will not actually invest any money, but will receive 50% of the profits. All finance for the scheme will come from sale of council's land.
The latest scheme, for a 350-berth yacht harbour, announced in December 1993, involves destruction of a 12 ha salt marsh designated Wetland 376 and construction of an entrance 120 metres wide through the beach, with massive breakwaters and groynes absorbing up to another 200 metres.
Shellharbour Council owns 229 hectares of coastal land, of which 119 hectares were acquired free for either recreation purposes or environment protection. Virtually all this land is to be sold in 3200 tiny lots, with 213 cul-de-sacs, and with open space limited to drains and two ridges.
A significant feature of council's behaviour has been its total lack of public consultation. All relevant council meetings have been held in secret. No ALP councillors supporting the project have attended any of the public meetings called by our local conservation group, SPACE (Shellharbour People's Association for Conservation of the Environment).
Until last year only one independent councillor, John Cowan, opposed the marina. He was re-elected in September together with three ALP anti-marina candidates, to face seven pro-marina ALP councillors and two neutral independents.
In August 1995 the minister for urban affairs and planning, Craig Knowles, appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the environmental aspects of building the boat harbour and constructing a compensatory wetland.
The terms of reference omitted the economics of the proposal, particularly the land subdivision. Also omitted was the economically and environmentally crazy proposal to sell off the existing public golf course on flat land near the sea, and to build a new course on hilly land that drains into the Minnamurra River wetlands, near the Dunmore rubbish dump.
The inquiry extended from November 21, 1995, to January 25, 1996. Council spent over a million dollars to hire the best experts in order to confront our experts. Our experts included Peter Wright from the Australian Conservation Foundation; Professor Jason Middleton and Paul Adam from the University of NSW, experts on ocean currents and wetlands respectively; economist Warwick MacMillan; expert on local development, professional engineer and water quality expert Rudy Van Drie; underwater diving expert Robert McKee; and legal expert and Greens activist Karla Sperling. They were fortunate if they were reimbursed some of their expenses.
We also had the support of the Aboriginal Tribal Elders Corporation, which has lodged a claim for native title to the shores and waters around Bass Point and Shellharbour Beach. It is particularly interested in preserving Shellharbour's unique offshore coral and sponge reefs, threatened with destruction by pollution and sand movement from the beach.
The Environment Protection Authority and the Department of Land and Water Conservation were highly critical of the defects in control of pollution in the developer's environmental impact statement. The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning's submission was mildly critical of environmental deficiencies, but argued, without producing any evidence, that these were outweighed by the economic benefits, particularly generation of employment.
The sole justification for this non-sequitur is a reliance on statistics of demand in other areas, which had large areas of still water not found at Shellharbour. They mechanically extrapolated the demand for boat harbour, hotel facilities etc from a comparison of the population of the Illawarra region with the other regions, and from responses to a questionnaire of boat owners who were not required to actually make any commitment.
Real life intruded when councillor Cowan produced evidence that nobody wanted to build a hotel and motel anywhere near the boat harbour site. Walker Corporation then hurriedly said that it was considering building these facilities.
Only one Shellharbour resident, a land developer, gave evidence supporting the marina. By contrast, we had 21 locals giving detailed evidence on a variety of economic, technical and environmental issues, including three municipal councillors.
Considering the political pressures, the commissioners' report at the end of May 1996 produced no surprises. They admitted that 25% of the beach would be removed to construct the boat harbour entrance. The report said that the beach would erode over a period of a few decades but could be restored. It did not mention who would do this and, more importantly, who would pay.
The report ignored the technical evidence by Paul Adam and by wetlands expert Dan Deighton that, whilst the existing Wetland 376 was degraded, it could be restored to health without a great deal of expenditure. It regurgitated with approval the contention of the developer that the proposed artificial, mostly freshwater wetland, more than a kilometre away, would be adequate compensation for destruction of the existing, mostly salt marsh, wetland.
The only positive feature of the report is a requirement that the compensatory wetland should be constructed before the existing Wetland 376 is removed.
The report accepted the developer's voodoo economics, without mentioning anywhere that the cost would be at least $34.3 million. Admitting that construction of the boat harbour would create only 22 jobs a year for 10 years, it estimated from 277 to 420 jobs when the marina was finally completed — provided Walker Corporation built a hotel and a motel. On these grounds, the commissioners recommended approval.
SPACE is asking local residents to write to the minister for planning, urging him to reject the commissioners' recommendations. The Shellcove Marina represents the sort of cargo cult that produced WA Inc, the collapses of the Tricontinental and South Australian State Savings banks and the millions wasted on the Eastern Creek Raceway. Will Premier Carr approve an environmentally disastrous and economically stupid proposition to cater for the foibles of the rich? Or will he support his own coastal policy, which helped him to win the 1995 election?
[Mairi Petersen is president of SPACE.]