THE Parliament of NSW website crashed recently, leaving many locals unable to sign an e-petition against the rezoning of beachside land at 1 Sanderling Avenue, Hawks Nest.

From approximately 31 December 2021 to 10 January 2022, the Government website had a fault, with the e-petition losing all signatures recorded in that time period.

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Kathy Poldmaa, administrator of Facebook group Hawks Nest Development spoke to News Of The Area regarding the petition.

“I apologise to those who tried to sign, but if you could take the time to sign again and inform friends so we can get these signatures up.

“At present we are at 3,494,” Ms Poldmaa said.

The petition follows legal advice received by the community after the ABC Four Corners program ‘Obeid Inc’ in November, which brought to light questions about the rezoning of the beachside land at Hawks Nest.

Petitioner Stuart Coppock told News Of The Area that the community deserves a clear direction by the Minister.

“The NSW Parliament has given the Planning and Environmental Legislation a clear discretionary right to the Minister to direct a Local Government Council to zone land in a particular way.

“The e-petition to the NSW Parliament has one purpose – if the requisite number of people (20,000) sign it will make the Minister explain to the Parliament why he will not give a direction to return the Sanderling site to its previous zoning, or to say the direction that will be given,” Mr Coppock said.

The petition is currently at seventeen percent of the required level to be debated in Parliament.

“The petition is the most direct means the public has to make the Minister and the Government accountable on this issue,” Mr Coppock said.

Mr Coppock also says that the petition is the only means to have the NSW Planning Bureaucracy intervene in the issue.

“As we reach higher numbers of signatures, the NSW planning bureaucracy can intervene in the issue and advise the Minister following a possible debate in the Parliament, rather than passing the responsibility back to the Council, as they are currently doing,” Mr Coppock said.

If 20,000 signatures are obtained, the petition is required to be debated in Parliament.

Any resident of NSW can sign the petition before the closing date on 18 of February.

The petition can be signed by following the QR code, or the link below:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/pages/epetition-details.aspx?q=Q5yp6XawwylkL7pHY788aA%3D%3D&fbclid=IwAR32y52KCaOw-72iyDt0pt69iISuv4f-7WFhjQ238XTEZ6Ci5m6raQYkuYM

By Tara CAMPBELL