There was a distinct lack of Christmas cheer at Shellharbour City Council’s final meeting of the year, which began with independent councillor Peter Moran being unceremoniously dumped as the council’s representative on the Killalea State Park Trust Board.
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The surprise recommendation to replace Cr Moran with Mayor Marianne Saliba, was moved by Deputy Mayor Paul Rankin who said the move was ‘‘self-explanatory’’.
Last week the NSW government announced the re-appointment of Lyn Cuell, Sam Edwards, Chris Homer and Cr Helen Stewart as community members to the trust that manages Killalea State Park.
Cr Moran’s position on the board as the council’s delegate expires on January 20.
On Tuesday night the council voted 4-3 to give the position to Cr Saliba.
Cr Helen Stewart said she was ‘‘appalled’’ at the move which came with no discussion and ‘‘out of left field’’.
She said the current board was a great team and Cr Saliba was ‘‘not going to fit in’’.
Cr Stewart said Cr Moran had done ‘‘an extremely good job’’ as the council’s delegate and the move was one of blatant disrespect and more about the Mayor’s desire ‘‘to have her finger in every pie’’.
Cr Saliba said she accepted the nomination for a number of reasons.
‘‘We move people around committees regularly and it is good for a committee to have new blood,’’ she said.
‘‘There are synergies as I head the Aboriginal advisory committee and I am the council’s representative on the tourism board and that will help connect the dots to help in decision-making as far as Killalea is concerned.
‘‘There are opportunities to attract people to Killalea and decisions need to be made to do that.’’
A disappointed Cr Moran said the move worried him ‘‘as the Labor Party has long had designs on putting inappropriate development in Killalea State Park’’.
Cr Moran said with the new plan of management for the park not yet finalised, there could be an attempt made by the ALP to influence the process to allow for greater development.
‘‘Shellharbour council has significant interest in the park, as it puts in place controls about how the park can be used,’’ Cr Moran said.
‘‘Killalea has been deferred from the local environmental plan and the new [plan of management ] will inform the new planning controls ... if Marianne wants a greater level of development in the park she is in a position to influence council officers about the zonings for Killalea.’’
Cr Saliba said she had ‘‘no desire’’ to develop Killalea, contrary to what people might think.
‘‘I’ve always maintained an interest in Killalea and maintained contact with the park manager to understand what is going on in Killalea.’’
