In one short-sighted step, the NSW Government has changed direction on coastal erosion planning and indicated private property owners in high-risk areas could appeal if their application to build sea walls is rejected by local councils.

Property owners along the Illawarra coast - particularly those at Callala - will have to prove their sea wall won't transfer erosion from one part of the beach to another. That will be incredibly hard to do.

The natural movement of sand is critical to the maintenance of beaches and foreshore areas. Structures such as sea walls can redirect the flow of sand or stop it entirely, causing the loss of sand from beaches and shorelines and foreshore vegetation to recede.

All the scientific evidence suggests that the 19 erosion hotspots identified by the Government will become more widespread as increased storm surges from climate change claim more beaches.

Coastal erosion is only going to get worse. When storms whipped up the NSW coast in May this year, high seas not only eroded beaches, they also laid bare the reality of living with the impact of climate change.

Allowing people to build their own defences only increases the problems of coastal erosion. The Rees government is now ignoring two decades of a policy of planned retreat that allowed residents to live on the beachfront when it was safe and move their houses when it was not.

The planned retreat policy was developed in the 1980s after the far north coast was hit by a series of extreme storms, causing major beach erosion.

In its recently released draft sea level rise policy statement, the Government indicated it would set a sea level rise planning benchmark that "is not intended to preclude development of land projected to be affected by sea level rise". This is, quite simply, ludicrous.