The dredging of Swansea Channel has been delayed until February because of endangered shore birds nesting on a sand island in the channel.
Transport for NSW revealed the important public information in a December update on its website that was posted under the link "September 2022 - Project Update".
Asked about this contradiction, the department could not give a public explanation.
The document said a new navigation option was being investigated for the channel, which could "be self-sustaining and require fewer dredging interventions in the future". This new option involves a left turn out of the channel before the "Drop Over", which is the end point of the channel before it opens into the lake. This "potential option" involves using the so-called "Airforce Channel" as the "main navigation channel into the lake given it is naturally deepening".
The Airforce Channel runs into the lake from the shore of Lake Macquarie Airport.
The news emerged as Swansea MP Yasmin Catley slammed the government for reneging on a commitment to place sand on Blacksmiths Beach after it is dredged from the channel. Ms Catley had backed a community push for sand dredged from the channel to be used to renourish the beach to deal with coastal erosion.
In May, the office of NSW Transport Minister David Elliott told Ms Catley's office in an email that the "Marine Infrastructure Delivery Office team has advised that we will place sand on Blacksmiths Beach as part of this dredging campaign".
However, Ms Catley's office received another email from the minister's office last Thursday that stated: "Small dredging campaigns typically place sand on the sand islands or at the old Belmont Sands stockpile site".
Transport for NSW's Maritime division will take this course "with the immediate dredging in the new year".
"Note that the sand at the stockpile site can be trucked to the southern end of Blacksmiths Beach in line with the wishes of the Bring Blacksmiths Back community group, however we have not yet committed to that or planned for it - I expect we will in 2023. Larger dredging campaigns have to pump the sand to Blacksmiths Beach, as there is no suitable location within the channel locality to place the spoil.
"It remains an objective of the long-term strategy for the management of Swansea Channel for the sand removed from the channel to be placed on Blacksmiths Beach."
Transport for NSW confirmed these details in a statement and added that "placement of sand on this beach is informed by the detailed work done in conjunction with the local council as part of the council's coastal management program".
Ms Catley said this was the "latest example" of the NSW government "failing to deliver a suitable dredging program for Swansea Channel".
"Earlier this year, the government stated that dredging would be completed prior to Christmas. It has since been delayed until 2023."
The document on the department's website states: "We had planned to complete a dredging campaign prior to Christmas to assist navigation during the boating season. We were unable to start dredging at this time due to the presence of endangered shore birds including the little terns which are currently nesting on sand island until February."
The channel will be dredged "following the end of the nesting season of endangered shore birds around February 2023".
The update also stated that a "10-year review of environmental factors [REF]" was being done for channel dredging. The department intends to "display the REF and seek community feedback" early next year.
This reaffirms comments from Ms Catley in September that a "10-year dredging program has been agreed for Swansea Channel".
However, she said the latest developments were "really disappointing for the community, who are losing confidence in anything that Maritime say".
"We get told one thing and nothing happens. All we want to do is be able to navigate the channel in a safe way."
Federal Labor, through Shortland MP Pat Conroy, committed to pay for a permanent dredge for Swansea Channel during the election campaign. The Albanese government is expected to fulfil this commitment.
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