Plan needed for our western beaches

As South Australia’s Environment Minister and as a passionate lover of our coastline, I worked alongside our community to develop a plan to keep our metropolitan beaches healthy and sustainable. This plan, carefully designed in partnership with scientists, conservationists and community advocates would have seen a sand recycling pipeline developed similar to that which successfully replenishes our beaches between Glenelg and Kingston Park. That pipeline is world leading in the way it works and is barley noticeable as it discreetly operates. Importantly it largely removes trucks off our beaches.

It was a plan that was fully funded, informed by experts, environmentally sound and a long-term solution that has already been proven to work on beaches further south.

Labor scrapped this plan, and ever since then we've been waiting for a review; one that was supposed to be completed last November but which were still waiting for.

The first stage of the new $10 million West Beach Surf Lifesaving Club was completed last month, a project contingent on there actually being a beach to patrol. The community needs answers. It's time for the government to release its review and come forward with a legitimate, viable, long-term solution before our beaches disappear.