CONFIRMATION of a $6.2 million funding package to put 300,000 cubic metres of sand at the southern end of Stockton Beach has been welcomed as a down-payment on the massive task of arresting and ultimately reversing the loss of the Stockton shoreline.
But even as Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, Paul Toole, was taking credit for the program - saying the state government had provided the $1.5 million contribution provided by the City of Newcastle - cracks were appearing as the Newcastle Herald began to ask some basic questions about the way the sand replenishment project would operate.
One way for the Labor-led council and the Coalition state government to work together was to have the Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation - or what many people still think of as the Honeysuckle corporation - hold the licence that is needed for the offshore "sand mining" process to proceed.
But for much of yesterday, the development corporation was insisting that the council would play that role, while Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes, backed by City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath, were insisting that Planning Minister Anthony Roberts had agreed that the licence would go to the state corporation.
A moot point, one might think, except that neither side seems to want to accept the costs they fear will come with that responsibility.
Costs that will certainly not stop with this initial 300,000 cubic metre effort, when the latest estimate of the total amount of sand required is a full eight times this amount, or 2.4 million cubic metres.
With a NSW election due on March 25 next year, and the Coalition well behind in the polls, now is the time for the Labor opposition to step forward and show some leadership in the Stockton saga, given the likelihood that Chris Minns will be premier in just five months' time.
Unfortunately for the Hunter, the longer that state Labor continues to look the other way on Stockton, the more obvious the conclusion that our loyal voting habits mean they are treating us as mugs.
Stockton is not a simple problem, granted.
But it has nothing to do with climate change or rising sea levels.
Like Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast - rescued with a permanent supply of sand from the Tweed - it needs a long-term and expensive fix.
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