George pushes shared rescue plan for Killalea
By SARAH ALLELY
THE lease of Killalea State Park land to private developers could be stopped by a multi-government shared commitment, says federal MP Jennie George.
The Throsby Labor member has expressed her opposition to the planned tourism resort at the park near The Farm beach.
On April 30, NSW Lands Minister Tony Kelly signed an agreement to lease three parcels of park land for 52 years to Killalea Coastal Investments, a joint venture between Mariner Financial and Babcock & Brown.
It allows 202 residential lodges, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants and a conference centre.
Ms George wrote to the South Coast Labour Council after it requested she declare her position on the plans.
So far, ALP Shellharbour Mayor David Hamilton and Kiama Mayor Sandra McCarthy have thrown their weight behind the community campaign to stop the project.
Shellharbour MP Lylea McMahon has not responded to the peak union body's request, but has previously told the Mercury it was not appropriate to comment on an issue outside her electorate. The park is on the border of Shellharbour and Kiama.
Ms George said she would "passionately plea" for support to keep private interests out of the park if Labor wins the federal election.
"I think in time to come Australians will regret the loss of many of our pristine coastal strips," she said.
Ms George said Killalea would soon be surrounded by the Shell Cove development, so to keep an undeveloped park in the midst of that was important.
She stressed her stand did not reflect federal Labor policy. However, she had taken federal Labor MP Simon Crean on a tour of Killalea when he was in the Illawarra this month.
"We do have an opportunity to retain Killalea in public ownership," she said. "It could be a shared commitment between the three levels of government and the community."
Ms George said the trust claimed it did not have the resources to maintain the park.
"But there are imaginative ways, short of leasing it out for people to make commercial gain," she said.
She said the $13 million return to the State Government over 52-years seemed a low economic return.
Illawarra Mercury - 30 July 2007
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