Mr PETER MORRIS(10.41 p.m.) —The matter I want to raise is about Belmont wetlands in my electorate. I have raised this matter in the House on a number of previous occasions and I will continue to do so. Between Belmont and Redhead in my electorate there was once a unique coastal wetland. That was until BHP gained control of the surface rights of the land in the 1960s.

BBHP—Before BHP—the wetlands, the high sand dune systems backing Nine Mile Beach, the continuous coastal wetland system, collected the run-off from the Dudley, Whitebridge, Charlestown, Gateshead and Tingira Heights ridges and valleys. It filtered down through creeks and ponds into the only coastal wetlands system in our region. The 1892 maps showed that some of the water reached the sea by a creek at the northern end of Nine Mile Beach and some eventually reached Lake Macquarie via Belmont Lagoon and various connecting marshlands.

The Australian Army map of 1941 shows the coastal dune system in the area in all its glory, with dune heights ranging from 15 feet along the back of the beach to a hundred feet further inland. The area was a unique coastal dune wetlands system, the jungle like conditions of which were utilised by the Australian Army to train troops for service in the Pacific during World War II.

BHP has presided over the devastation of this once beautiful strip of coastal wetlands and dunes. First they mined the coal from beneath at Lambton B and John Darling collieries, which are now both closed. In the 1960s the sand dunes were mined for minerals. Up to this day sand has been continued to be removed and sold from what was once a beautiful section of Australia's coastline.

Where the hundred feet sand dunes stood the level is now flat. The fringes of the area are used as a rubbish dump by numerous people. People drive through there and see the rubbish on the edge and think, `This is rubbish land.' They would never go inside behind the rubbish to see what was once inside.

The reaction of BHP has been to mount the feeble excuse that now that the area has been devastated and despoiled, it should be rezoned to enable residential development and some wetlands refurbishment to take place. This would enable BHP to make a limited restoration of some wetlands and to construct some 1,400 homes in a fragile, sensitive, low lying area between the east side of Lake Macquarie and the sea. It would create a huge windfall profit for BHP—in fact, a reward for its supervision of wanton destruction of a precious piece of our coastline.

A local government study has been carried out. Public responses were invited by Lake Macquarie City Council. In my view these public responses and concerns have been treated, in the main, in a cavalier and unprofessional manner by council officers. When one reads through them one cannot help but form the conclusion that the council officers see their role as being dedicated to ensuring that BHP's application gets through.

No attempt has been made to present an alternative utilisation of that coastal wetlands system and the council itself appears to be compliant towards BHP. In fact, some councillors are in awe of, even intimidated by, BHP. Strangest of all strangeness, the beach is owned by BHP. I cannot discover how BHP came to own nine miles of Australia's beach, but they own the beach. Some of the councillors say to me, `Don't make too much noise, because they may not give us the beach back.' The beach is riven by undertows. It is a very dangerous beach on which to swim; it is little utilised. It is a good fishing beach with gutters but a very dangerous area for swimming.

So my response has been to invite BHP to try to fence off the beach. If you want the beach, put a barbed wire fence around it like you did during the war when it was a defence system. But the company has presided over the destruction of one of our most beautiful areas of coastline. Having made coal profits, beach mineral royalties, sandmining royalties and income from the area, it now asks for more. Suddenly, another arm of BHP, BHP Titanium Minerals Pty Ltd, has lodged an exploration notice for heavy minerals over the same area.

I had hoped that BHP would accept a responsible attitude towards this and hand that land, or lease it, back to public ownership so it could be redeveloped over time for future Australians. It has the potential to become a beautiful coastal wetlands system again, a system of national and international standing that could rank as a major tourist attraction and a major recreational and leisure resource for Australians. So I think that BHP should be putting something back into the area it has devastated and that council should be rejecting outright the application for rezoning.