I repeat that I am keen for the Cronulla Sutherland Leagues Club to solve its financial problems. However, although I said three weeks ago that I have seen no documents showing that there needs a development as big as the current proposal in order to solve those problems, there is still no explanation for any need for such a size in order to solve those problems.
There is overwhelming opposition in the Cronulla electorate to the current proposal by the Leagues Club / private developer consortium. No public rally or Facebook or other on-line campaigns (which seem to be made up mostly of people who live outside the electorate) can disguise that fact.
My main job as member for Cronulla is to represent my constituents. So in early October my office posted neutrally worded surveys about the development to every household in North Cronulla, North Woolooware and North Caringbah (south of Captain Cook Drive and east of Cawarra Road) who had at least one person with an electoral roll address. I received responses from well over 400 people. Only 20% of respondents supported the current proposal. A further 20% supported only the retail etc component. Almost no one supported only the residential component. The other 60% opposed the current development.
In the period up to my public statement on 31 October, almost all other correspondence to me from elsewhere in the electorate (ie outside the survey area described above) about the development was in opposition to it.
While I oppose the scale of the current, unprecedented proposal, I would not oppose a sensible, much scaled down development. I am happy to engage constructively with the Leagues Club and the developers about a smaller development if they wish to do so. The ultimate decision will be made by the Planning Assessment Commission. This was a media release sent to the Leader by Cronulla MP Mark Speakman
