CRRAG Committee members Rebecca Sleath and Kingston Anderson were our representatives at the Inquiry. Below is Rebecca's opening statement on behalf of CRRAG.

On behalf of the Culburra Residents & Ratepayers Action Group Kingston and I would like to say it is a pleasure to be here speaking with you - such a unique situation to actually have members of the community sought out and listened to! Thank you.  I'd also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands upon which we meet today.

 

The mission of our community group is to protect Culburra Beach and Orient Point from inappropriate development. We formed in 2021 to give voice to those who object to the proposed West Culburra Development - a 47Ha subdivision on the outskirts of our village.  This proposed development sits between the sensitive waterway of the Crookhaven River, the internationally-recognised, environmentally important Lake Wollumboolla and on a site currently forested by native bushland unburnt by the 2020 bushfires.  We are committed to appropriate town planning that is sustainable, economically sensible for the community and respects our environment and cultural heritage.

 

As a result of our efforts to protect our living environment and preserve our home’s unique Australian beach village culture for future generations, we have experienced many instances where current planning legislation is failing in its job to protect and balance the needs of people and the environment. 

 

Out-of-date legislation and planning loopholes are being used to push development approvals that are environmentally destructive, particularly in light of climate change and society’s current understanding of the fragility and value of ecological communities.

 

We see developers taking advantage of the housing crisis to achieve their own goals and a government pushing an inappropriate one-size-fits-all housing solution at the State level.  In coastal towns, statistics show a large portion of new builds will ultimately be either holiday homes or short-term rentals.  While it’s appropriate to build medium-density housing on already cleared land that is not environmentally sensitive and is in residential areas close to services and employment, it is completely inappropriate to be knocking down forests for holiday houses.  If the true goal is to alleviate the current permanent residence housing crisis, the government needs to tease apart housing patterns in greater detail.

 

We see an enormous imbalance in the legislation and government processes that greatly favours the power and wealth of developers over the needs and opinions of the community.  We see a planning system that is not looking at the overall bigger picture of all these pockets of developments being forced through up and down the East coast of Australia, literally from the Daintree to Tasmania.

 

Most significantly we see a planning system that lacks the ability to amend, revoke or review past decisions when current evidence shows those decisions, made in a different era sometimes half a century ago, are no longer appropriate in light of current facts; or were made based on self-serving goals of a few rather than for the greater good.

 

The Culburra Beach developments are a prime example of these failings.  These developments have been rejected as inappropriate multiple times in multiple formats … and yet still we face these destructive plans.  Why?  Because despite the plans making no sense on environmental, financial, heritage or cultural grounds we have a planning system that cannot reassess or change direction and a development community well versed in working the system.

 

Not only must we change direction in planning legislation we must do it fast and make it apply to all developments immediately.  We cannot afford a slow change as too much is at stake.  We must not forget the Federal Court of Australia in 2019 found the government has a duty of care to protect young people from the climate crisis - surely this is extremely pertinent in the planning and development arena.

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SLC MPS visited Culburra  Beach & Orient Point after the hearing

to view the West Culburra site and other areas that

will be be impacted in our town.

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