NSW Labor is under pressure to come up with a plan before the State Election in March to fix the erosion disaster at Stockton.
Labor Leader Chris Minns met with residents at Stockton yesterday afternoon to discuss their concerns – before he did that he spoke to the media and wouldn’t commit to funding or a plan until he heard what residents had to say.
He said there are too many issues to be dealt with to come up with a plan in a hurry.
“The main thing I’m going to do is listen to their concerns,” said the Labor Leader.
“I understand that this is a big issue that has been ongoing in Newcastle for a long time, it’s been a major point of concern for local residents and Tim [Crakanthorp] has spoken about it many times.
“We need to develop our policy as we head into the State Election and we’re determined to do that and part of my meeting them is about listening to their concerns and making sure we’ve got a plan that looks at those pressing issues.”
When asked if the Labor Party had any funding or a plan to spruik ahead of the election, Chris Minns said no.
“But obviously we’ve got five months to go until the next NSW election and we want to understand what the local community is saying.
“I’ve obviously read the reports about the co-funding agreement between the Commonwealth Government and Newcastle Council. I’ve obviously looked at the mining application to give the opportunity for deep sea extraction for sand for the beach so there are many issues to be dealt with.
“We’re not going to put the cart before the horse,” he said.
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp has been fighting for the residents as the erosion issue has grown and said he wants to see all three levels of government working together.
“What we really need is all three levels of government working together which is happening at this point of time and we also know that mining license has been sitting there waiting for someone to apply, either local government or the State government, I don’t care who it is it just needs to be done,
“We want to see in the next five months is some progression on that and we’ve been talking to the Deputy Premier’s office about having another meeting as soon as possible.”