Remember when: The QLD and State Governments bickered over sand data over Tweed proposal

THE Ahern Government placed a high price on providing data vital to solving the Tweed River entrance problems.

Gold Coast History: Gold Coast Bulletin 1989, April 26. Front page.

Gold Coast Bulletin, Wednesday April 26, 1989

THE Ahern Government placed a high price on providing data vital to solving the Tweed River entrance problems.

Gold Coast History: Gold Coast Bulletin 1989, April 26. Front page.

It wanted the NSW state government to replace the sand which should have flowed to the Gold Coast’s beach since 1962, an amount estimated to be as much as 12 million cubic metres.

This came from NSW Works Department senior engineer Jeff Powys who was head of a feasibility study into a second Tweed River entrance.

He told the Bulletin he had learned of the demand when he sought wave and sea bed profile data from the Queensland Beach Protection Authority to aid his study.

Gold Coast City Council beach committee chairman Trevor Coomber said he was aware of the sand replacement demand and believed the value was as much as 12 million cubic meters.

He warned that with the cost of such an operation running as high as between $12 million and $15 million the NSW Government could pull out of a Tweed sand bypass scheme.

This scheme, he said, would be seen as a saviour for the Gold Coast.

“If it were up to the Gold Coast City Council we would release the data straight away but the Government says no,” he said.

“But if they (NSW) have to return the sand since 1962 we might as well go back to a bucket and a spade.”

Murwillumbah MP Don Beck said the issue would be dealt with when NSW and Queensland’s premiers met later that year.