Boating Sutherland Shire

🔴 WITHHOLDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE WATERWAYS REZONING PROPOSAL LOOKS LIKE A STRAIGHT BREACH OF THE CODE OF MEETING PRACTICE.‼️

The rules aren’t complicated.

🚩If Councillors request information from staff about a matter coming to a meeting, that information MUST also be made available to the public — unless it’s genuinely confidential.

And this Waterways Rezoning Proposal?
It wasn’t classified as confidential at either the March 2026 Planning Committee or the upcoming Council meeting.

🔴So, when at the March Planning Committee, a Councillor claimed he needed more time to get answers — and the proposal was deferred because of it — THOSE ANSWERS MUST NOW BE MADE PUBLIC!

They’re not.

Which leaves a very simple, unavoidable question:

🤔Where is the information?
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👉This proposal has been BURIED from the very beginning.

🔴Since 2022, it’s been:

👉discussed behind closed doors

👉treated as confidential

👉completely withheld from the community

🔴No updates. No visibility. No consultation.

🚩Then there’s the NSW Planning letter dated 24 October 2025 — the one that didn’t support the Councillors’ proposal.

🚩That letter was WITHHELD from the public for 18 weeks.

🚩Eighteen weeks where the community was kept in the dark about a proposal that directly affects our waterways.

👉Now fast forward to March 2026.

🔴The proposal FINALLY appears on a Planning Committee agenda — and is immediately pushed back.

Why?

🤔Because one Councillor says he hasn’t had time to ask questions.

Let’s be clear:

🚩Councillors have had access to this material since October 2025.
❌The community has had access to nothing.
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🔴AND NOW, THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION USED TO JUSTIFY THE DELAY HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC -DESPITE THE CODE OF MEETING PRACTICE REQUIRING IT!
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🔴TWO OPTIONS ON THE TABLE— AND THE ONE THAT ISN'T!

🚩That October 2025 Department of Planning letter gave Council two pathways if they wanted to proceed:

Option 1: Rezone all affected waterways — but only with $500,000 in specialist environmental studies

Option 2: Scale it back and rely on a risk-based desktop assessment

👉Council is recommending Option 2.

🤔But there’s a glaring problem:

👉There is NO supporting information explaining why this option has been chosen.
NO evidence. NO detailed analysis. NO transparency.

👉And completely missing from the conversation?

🔴Option 3: Don’t proceed at all. Protect the waterways.

😡That option hasn’t even been acknowledged — let alone considered publicly.

This isn’t a new concern.

🔴Councillors have attempted to push this rezoning since 2022:

👉without environmental studies

👉without clear safeguards

👉without engaging the community

😡It took the Department of Planning to step in and call it out.
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✅Meanwhile, just next door…

✅Georges River Council is doing what proper planning looks like.

✅They’ve put forward a Biodiversity and Foreshore Planning Proposal that’s:

✅based on a contemporary biodiversity study

✅shaped by genuine community consultation

✅designed to protect, not exploit, their foreshores

🟢Their proposal includes:

✅new biodiversity mapping and objectives

✅updated Foreshore Scenic Protection areas

✅stronger Design Excellence based on visual impact to the foreshore areas

🟢increased foreshore landscape requirements

✅a new Green Corridor approach

✅detailed Local Foreshore Character protections

✅enhanced biodiversity safeguards

🟢🟢It’s thorough. Transparent. Evidence-based.
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❓And here?

We have NONE of this!

❌NO biodiversity or environmental studies
❌NO Foreshore Scenic Protection areas
❌NO local foreshore Character Statements and protections
❌no transparency
❌no community voice

❌Instead, there’s a push to increase development along our natural foreshores — with NO checks, NO balances, and NO clear justification.

❌All while key information is withheld, and basic transparency rules have been ignored.
So, below are links to:
👉 the Office of Local Govt new Code of Meeting Practice.
👉Georges River Council's Biodiversity and FORESHORE Planning Proposal
https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-02/2025-model-meeting-code-frequently-asked-questions.pdf

https://yoursay.georgesriver.nsw.gov.au/public-exhibition-biodiversity-and-foreshore-planning-proposal-dcp-amendment

⭐On Monday night, you can TUNE IN and watch the Public Forum (6pm) and Council Meeting (6.30pm) on Webcast. See link below.
Or you could pop up to Council and watch from the gallery. 🍿🍿

https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/your-council/council-and-committee-meetings

to Alexander's Boatshed ⛵☀️

It opened in 1928, before becoming a well-patronised pleasure resort in 1944 that helped put Dolans Bay on the map.

A devastating fire in 1984 destroyed the former boatshed building, bookshop, residence, and ocean‑racing ketch Rum Runner. The boatshed's legacy continued through Dolans Bay Marine on the same site in the late 80's.

Do you remember this building? Drop your stories and photos in the comments!

LATEST UPDATE 14/02: Confirmed sighting, travelling south. Friends at Two Bays Whale Project in Victoria reported sighting off Refuge Cove, Wilson’s Promontory National Park, the south eastern tip of the state of Victoria. Information has been passed on to authorities.
Please share with friends and businesses in southern VIC and TAS.

ENTANGLED WHALE: UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR WED 4th FEB

Unfortunately, there have been no new sightings of the northbound humpback whale entanglement on the NSW South Coast over the past two days. We continue to call on spotters and licensed drone operators to assist in locating this whale, which was last observed travelling close to shore.

Based on the whale’s last known location and typical travel speed, we have estimated the areas it may reach within the next 24 hours. However, in the absence of recent sightings, these projections should be treated as indicative only and may no longer be accurate.

We urge anyone who spots a humpback whale travelling northbound in this region within the coming days to call the ORRCA 24/7 hotline immediately on (02) 9415 3333. The entanglement may not be obvious if sighted from shore.

WEDNESDAY 4th FEB
5am - Shellharbour, NSW
10am - Port Kembla, NSW
2pm -Bellambi, NSW
4pm - Thirroul, NSW

This whale is entangled in green rope which is tightly wrapped around its body, and is not trailing any buoys or line. Due to the nature of the entanglement, it is likely best seen by drone.

TO REPORT SIGHTINGS:
📞 Phone the ORRCA 24/7 Rescue Hotline (02) 9415 3333
🔹 Record estimated GPS, if possible
🔹 Direction of travel
🔹 Estimated distance from shore

A reminder to all drone operators that a minimum distance of 100m must be maintained from whales, both horizontally and vertically. Vessels are also required to keep at least 100m away, with this distance increasing to 300m for jetskis.

🤔PROTECTING OUR SHIRE WATERWAYS
It’s time for a long, hard look at how Council is protecting our Shire’s iconic waterways.

Because right now? The story isn’t great.
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🚩THE STRATEGY THAT NEVER ARRIVED.

The CATCHMENT & WATERWAY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY is supposed to be a big deal. And rightly so.

📍It’s meant to set the long-term direction for how Council manages stormwater assets, creeks, floodplains, catchments and our waterways — across the entire Sutherland Shire.
📍We’re talking the Georges River, Woronora River, Port Hacking, Bate Bay and the southern side of Botany Bay.

❓So where is this crucial strategy?
• Promised for April–May 2022
• Then listed for presentation at the June 2025 Council meeting
• Then quietly pushed to June 2026 in the current Operational Plan

❌That’s not good.
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🚩WATER QUALITY: THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Council does run an annual catchment water quality monitoring program.
But the results? Yikes.
📍Here’s a snapshot — and spoiler alert: nothing has really improved.
2017/18
• North Cronulla Stormwater Outlet: Overall D, Enterococcus (poo) F+
• Bundeena Creek: Overall C, Poo C
• Oyster Creek: Overall D-, no Poo score
• Camelia Gardens Pond: Overall D, Poo D
• Burraneer Stormwater: Overall E+, no Poo score
2024/25
• North Cronulla Stormwater Outlet: Overall D-, Poo F+
• Bundeena Creek: Overall C+, Poo C-
• Oyster Creek: Overall C-, Poo E+
• Camelia Gardens Pond: Overall D-, Poo F-
• Burraneer Stormwater: Overall D+, Poo E-
📍Different years. Same story.

❌Council publishes the poor results — and then does… what, exactly?
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🚩BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY: MISSING IN ACTION
A Biodiversity Study and Strategy tells us what we have, what’s under threat, and what we should protect, including our waterways and foreshores — now and into the future.

📍It’s the backbone of responsible planning.
❓Guess what?
❌Sutherland Shire Council doesn’t have a current one.

❌The last version was from 2020 — so out of date that Council has removed it from their website.

📍The current Operational Plan promises a new one in 2025/26.
That gives them about five months.

🤔Let’s bookmark that.
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🚩STORMWATER: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
📍Stormwater management is not glamorous.
But it’s absolutely critical — especially for keeping sediment out of our creeks, rivers and bays.

📍And here’s the problem:
Sutherland Shire Council has the LOWEST stormwater upgrade budget of all its peers. By a long way.

📍Council’s own Asset Management Strategy spells it out:
• Stormwater funding is short by $5.37 million every single year
• That’s just 63% of what’s required
❌Underfund stormwater, and guess what happens downstream? Literally.

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🚩SO… WHAT'S THE ACTUAL STATE OF OUR WATERWAYS?
📍Beyond the annual water quality report (which just confirms things are bad and staying bad), Council has produced NO recent comprehensive scientific assessment of the health of our waterways: creeks, rivers, creeks and bays.

❌Instead, it’s been the community sounding the alarm:
• Oyster Bay residents pushing for action on Oyster Bay and Oyster Creek — as validated by consultants
• Woronora residents campaigning for years over sediment impacting the river and Forbes Creek
• Gray’s Point residents raising concerns about sediment and declining water clarity in the Hacking River.

📍This isn’t anecdotal noise. It’s a pattern.

🚩OYSTER BAY TELLS THE STORY
The 2025 Oyster Bay Management and Dredging Plan doesn’t mince words.
📍It lays out the cost of dredging silt to stop Oyster Bay turning into a permanent mudflat.
📍It also identifies the cost of minimising silt getting into the creek and Bay:
• $1.9 million in catchment capital works to fix it.
• Plus $150,000 a year recurrent cost.

📍But here’s the kicker — the stormwater budget is already $5.37 million SHORT every year.
❓And what is the cost to limit catchment silt impacting Woronora River, Forbes Creek, Hacking River and the other Bays?
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🔴LET'S BE CLEAR
Right now, we have:
• NO Catchment and Waterways Strategy
• NO contemporary Biodiversity Study and Strategy
• A water quality program that reports poor results with NO remedial action
• A stormwater budget 63% below what’s required
• NO scientific assessment of the overall health of our waterways
• An Environment and Sustainability Strategy dating back to 2012

In other words, we’re flying blind.
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🔴AND YET…
Despite all of this — with NO up-to-date strategies, NO clear data, and NO community discussion — Council has decided to rezone large areas of W1 Natural Waterways to W2 Recreational.

📍That decision rests squarely with the elected Councillors, who are responsible for:
• Delivering these strategies❌
• Funding stormwater properly❌
• Acting on poor water quality❌
• Protecting our waterways for future generations❌

And now they’re rezoning our Waterways.
🔴That worries many members of the community.

Below are links to some relevant documents
• The 2022 Port Hacking Channel Maintenance Dredging Review of Environmental Factors.
https://1drv.ms/b/c/947b306c34fc97cd/IQDkIKHExk8jRK4f1TNi9VWyAaMx7lB0gmtGaFzKhBNJI8o?e=55JNcf

• Council’s 2012 out of date Environment and Sustainability
Strategy (Pre-dates electric vehicles and has a goal to change Councils fleet to E10 or diesel and still lists the long-gone Fridge Buy Back Program)
https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/6142/environment_and_sustainability_strategy.pdf

• Council's Water Quality Report
https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/pollution/water-quality-monitoring

• Council’s Asset Management Strategy. The Stormwater and Waterways Asset Management Plan is in the Appendices.
https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/102826/Asset-Management-Strategy-2025-2035-ADOPTED.pdf

And if you want to compare Sutherland Shire Council’s performance with their peers, here is a snapshot what other Councils deliver.

Inner West Council
https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/34239/Biodiversity%20Strategy.pdf.aspx
Hornsby Council
https://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/files/assets/public/v/1/council/forms-and-publications/publications/strategies-and-plans/documents/biodiversity-conservation-strategy-2021.pdf
Wollongong/Kiama/Shellharbour Councils Volume 1 and 2
https://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/9970/Illawarra-Biodiversity-Strategy-Volume-1.pdf

https://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/9971/Illawarra-Biodiversity-Strategy-Volume-2.pdf

Georges River Council Volumes 1 and 2.
https://www.georgesriver.nsw.gov.au/StGeorge/media/Documents/Environment/Environment-Biodiversity-Study-Volume-1-Stage-4-Deliverable-Total-Earth-Care.pdf

https://www.georgesriver.nsw.gov.au/StGeorge/media/Documents/Environment/Environment-Biodiversity-Study-Volume-2-Total-Earth-Care-June-2021.pdf

Blacktown Council
https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/files/assets/public/v/1/documents/blacktown-biodiversity-strategy-2023-to-2032.pdf

Bayside Council
https://www.bayside.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-12/Environment%20and%20Resilience%20Strategy%202024%20-%202032%20-%20Adopted%20July%202024.PDF

MP and council clash over Bate Bay beach erosion and Port Hacking dredging Cook MP Simon Kennedy and Sutherland Shire Council have clashed again - this time over the erosion of...

❓While Council is busy talking about rezoning our waterways so waterfront property owners can have even easier access to the water with THEIR boats, it really makes you stop and ask: what about the rest of us?

😡Well, it is not such a great deal.

❗Our Council has a policy which PROHIBITS storage of small watercraft on public foreshore areas.

🔴If you leave a kayak or dinghy there, you risk a fine and your boat/kayak will be impounded.

🚩Meanwhile, other Councils have found ways to make it work for their communities.

✔️They have boat racks spaces to rent, about $300 bucks a year. They have waiting lists because they are so popular.

👉Woollahra Council, for instance, provides 210 storage spots across five parks from Double Bay to Rose Bay—and they even let you store two kayaks or SUPs in one dinghy rack.

👉North Sydney’s not far behind either, with 186 storage spaces at seven locations—including Kirribilli, Lavender Bay, and Neutral Bay.

👉Northern Beaches takes it even further, with a massive 810 spots spread across 15 locations, running all the way from Little Manly Beach up to Palm Beach.
They even budget $50,000 every year just to keep those facilities maintained

👉And then there’s Central Coast Council, who take a fair, common-sense approach.
They allow watercraft storage on public land, as long as the boats aren’t abandoned or derelict.
Simple, practical, and supportive.

❌BUT Sutherland Shire Council?
❌They said “NO” back in December 2022.
Then, in December 2023, they asked for a Report.

❌SEVEN MONTHS later, in July 2024, that Report came back and—surprise, surprise—it was another “NO.” Too expensive. Too hard to manage.

📌After that, they requested yet ANOTHER Report, this time to explore different options—like how dinghy and watercraft storage could work on foreshore reserves, how it could improve accessibility. ✔️
❓But here’s the catch: we don’t even know if that Report was EVER delivered.

🚤⛵⚓The bottom line is this: access to our waterways shouldn’t just be for people who live on the waterfront.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦It should be for the whole community.
Other Councils are proving it’s possible, so why can’t ours?

Here is a link to our NO to Dinghies and Other Watercraft Policy👇
https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/23885/Dinghies-and-Other-Watercraft-Management-Policy-

And if you want to see what other Councils are doing👇https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/boating-facilities/dinghy-and-watercraft-storage

https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/Recreation/Boating-facilities/Watercraft-Storage

https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/Recreation/Boating-facilities/Location-of-dinghy-storage-facilities

https://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/downloads/file/359/small-water-craft-storage-strategy

https://cdn.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-11/D16322023-watercraft-storage-on-public-land-policy.PDF