Pittwater Life February 2023 Issue

CONTROVERSIAL: Aerial view of the Lizard Rock allotment at Belrose.
“No meaningful discussion
was provided in the Decision
or the Department’s briefing
report as to how the significant
issues raised by the Council
can be overcome,” the staff
recommendation said.
“Due to the paucity of analysis
or explanation, there is
limited opportunity for Council
or the community to understand
why or how this decision
has been made.”
Pittwater Ward Councillor
and NSW Liberals candidate for
Pittwater at the State Election
in March, Rory Amon, said the
Proposal for Lizard Rock was
wholly inappropriate and if
successful, would turn pristine
bushland into a fire trap.
“As a volunteer firefighter,
having directly witnessed the
horror of the 2019-20 fires,
attempting to save houses that
burned to a cinder in relatively
protected areas, the Lizard
Rock proposal is a disaster
waiting to happen,” he said.
“When fires next visit upon
the Northern Beaches, with
one road in and one road out, a
Lizard Rock development will
be a catastrophe of Black Friday
proportions.
“Planning proposals are
longstanding mechanisms,
irrespective of the Government
of the day. But in local
communities, they are a cancer
on our planning system,” he
continued.
“State and Local Governments,
in consultation with
residents, spend years strategically
planning and arriving
at consensus about how their
communities should look.
“This involves the primacy of
environmental considerations,
expectation management and
achieving broad-based community
buy-in.
“Planning proposals, with
the stroke of a pen, undo all
those virtues of our planning
system.”
Meanwhile, the NSW Aboriginal
Land Council (NSWALC) is
urging all NSW MPs to leave a
legacy and support the Aboriginal
Cultural Heritage (Culture
is Identity) Bill 2022.
The Private Members’ Bill
aims to recognise, protect, conserve
and preserve Aboriginal
cultural heritage.
An Upper House Inquiry
found that new, modernised
and standalone legislation for
the recognition, protection,
conservation and preservation
of Aboriginal cultural heritage
in NSW was “both necessary
and long overdue.”
The report found the current
system was failing to protect
Aboriginal cultural heritage.
To support the Bill, an Aboriginal
Cultural Heritage march
was held in the Sydney CBD last
November, organised by Metropolitan
and Darkinjung Local
Aboriginal Land Councils.
March organisers called for
urgent reform.
NSWALC Councillor Abie
Wright spoke on the importance
of preserving Aboriginal
heritage across NSW, and the
importance of ensuring this
was a focus for the Land Rights
network leading up to the State
election.
“Every day we wait for laws,
is another day our culture and
heritage is being ruined,” he
said.
– Nigel Wall
News
The Local Voice Since 1991
FEBRUARY 2023 9