Labor back-flip over Sandon Point

by Janice Hamilton

Opponents of the controversial Sandon Point housing development had reason 
to cautiously rejoice after their ALP State Member caved in to community 
demands. MLA David Campbell announced that after some soul searching, 
(which couldn't possibly have had anything to do with an upcoming state 
election), he would approach the NSW Minister for Planning and ask for a 
Commission of Inquiry.

In a recent speech to the NSW Parliament Mr Campbell said, "This has been 
an extremely controversial matter for at least a decade in the area that I 
represent ... the community is largely opposed to the development of the 
site, and the matter continues to be a running sore".

Mr Campbell also finally recognised what the locals had been telling him 
for the last 12 years: "There are significant and outstanding issues 
regarding flooding on the site as well as a range of environmental issues. 
There are also outstanding heritage aspects, both Aboriginal and European 
and local traffic matters".

Mr Campbell went on: "I no longer believe — I have announced this publicly 
in my electorate — that Wollongong City Council can consider objectively 
further development applications for the site and I have called for the 
establishment of a commission of inquiry to examine the balance of 
applications".

Yet it wasn't so long ago that Mr Campbell stated that people should stop 
whinging and accept the inevitable: that the development would go ahead 
whether the locals liked it or not (See Guardian July 3).

For a number of years the NSW Government has insisted that Sandon Point's 
6000-year indigenous history did not warrant protection from the massive 
Stocklands development.

Development proposals, some already approved and others still under 
consideration by Wollongong Council include building some 700 dwellings on 
the land.

Angry locals have demanded that the land be restored to the community as a 
natural reserve.

Responding to Mr Campbell's about-turn, Australian Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon 
said, "This back down is a panic response to the local pressure for 
conservation which only adds to the picture of Labor failing in 
Wollongong".

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has also agreed to demands for a 
fresh review of the archaeological significance of the area, after 
previously giving consent for the developer Stocklands to destroy millions 
of Aboriginal artefacts.

Mr Campbell's actions also came as the Sandon Point site was registered on 
the National Trust 2002 Endangered Places List.

Situated at the juncture of three waterways Sandon Point is an area of 60 
hectares of magnificent coastal land mostly covered with forest, grassland, 
and wetland habitat.

It provides habitat for a number of threatened species of plants and rare 
birds and animals, and as the only remaining green corridor between the 
Illawarra escarpment and the sea in the northern Illawarra, Sandon Point 
could act to encourage the re-introduction of local species now lost to the 
area.

The decision to place Sandon Point on the Endangered list was also 
influenced by an independent study conducted by Dr Peter Hiscock from the 
Australian National University. In his findings he stated that "the area 
was an enormous archaeological site containing several million artefacts".

Community outrage over the Sandon Point development, like with many other 
developments such as Callan Park in Sydney, is not evaporating.

In fact, the resentment is growing stronger and the public's will to stay 
and fight injustice is getting more apparent very day. Just watch NSW MPs 
doing back flips all over the place as the State election approaches!

If only the community could be guaranteed that Labor was serious about 
their change of heart on Sandon Park and not just interested in winning 
government.