SA Best to make review of Adelaide’s ‘unhealthy’ coastline a key demand if it holds balance of power

SA BEST will make an independent review of Adelaide’s “unhealthy” coastline a key demand if it holds the balance of power.

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SA BEST will make an independent review of Adelaide’s “unhealthy” coastline a key demand if it holds the balance of power.

The party has seized upon coastal and environmental
geologist Ian Dyson’s concerns about Adelaide’s “sand-starved” beaches, proposing the creation of a coastal management agency.

TIDES OF MARCH: Dr Ian Dyson, SA Best candidate Jassmine Wood and Nick Xenophon. Picture: AAP/MIKE BURTON

The agency would identify problem spots along the coast and have the power to order remedial action.

The $5 million plan is $200,000 cheaper than the Liberal Party’s coast-protection policy, which includes $1 million towards sand-retention measures.

Dr Dyson said only three metropolitan beaches would have sand on them if action wasn’t taken “fairly soon”.

“We’re losing our beaches very steadily to the point where they’re not healthy,” he said yesterday.

Colton candidate Jassmine Wood said the Coast Protection Board was a “toothless tiger” that had done nothing as sand disappeared from West Beach.

“Each time we have a major storm it wreaks havoc on that beach yet we are told we have to accept it because it is a force of nature,” she said.

“As a councillor with Charles Sturt I’ve been fighting for a long-term solution for years but have got nowhere because the Government and the Liberals aren’t interested.”