Now the NSW government has exacerbated that betrayal by handing over millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to prop up this rotten structure. Having already promised $41 million, the government this week has offered another $32 million, a total over $70 million.

Greyhounds are gentle dogs who want nothing more than to snuggle and spend time with their people and be included in their families. Instead, the racing industry treats them like machines. Many are "discarded" as puppies in the name of "selective breeding". Others are shot, bludgeoned to death or simply abandoned to fend for themselves when they’re deemed too old, injured, slow or exhausted to continue racing profitably.  

All over the world, people no longer wants to support an industry that subjects these gentle, sociable animals to a life of servitude and misery. The greyhound racing industry – like many of the dogs used in this cruel "sport" – is dying.

As one of a number of community representatives on the former Natural Resources and Floodplain Management Committee, selected on the basis of my professional experience and expertise, I can provide an insider’s perspective on the reluctance of the majority of councillors to make decisions based on evidence. 

A key issue that both environmental committees made recommendations on to council was addressing sea level rise. This issue has proved to be so contentious, and many councillors so reluctant to take advice from these committees and their professional staff, I believe they have chosen to disband the committees.  In other words, to shoot the messenger.

According to the majority of Shoalhaven City councillors, the sea level is not going to rise nearly as much in the Shoalhaven as anywhere else on the NSW coast. Sea level rise (SLR) projections for the Shoalhaven are: 100mm for 2030; 230mm for 2050; 350mm for 2100. The 350mm projected rise for 2100 is approximately one third that anticipated in all other NSW South Coast council areas. Eurobodalla council is planning for a 980 mm SLR; while Wollongong City, Shellharbour and Kiama councils are preparing for a 900mm rise. 

Councillors reached this decision by rejecting recommendations from staff, the Natural Resource and Floodplain Management Committee, independent consultants as well as the outcomes of the Our Coast Our Lifestyle survey. This survey showed an overwhelming majority of respondents did not support council approving developments in areas at risk because of concerns about the long term financial risk. 

Since then, SCC has changed its planning requirements in relation to building in coastal hazard zones, so it can allow development that would not be permitted in any other coastal council in NSW.  These developments would have a greatly increased exposure to coastal hazards including inundation by the sea and cliff collapse.

As SCC did not base its SLR projections and coastal hazard planning on “widely accepted competent scientific opinion”, (the generally accepted condition for indemnity from liability under the Local Government Act) it is quite possible council will have to accept full liability for future litigation. 

The same group of councillors who voted against adopting the recommended sea level rise projections and policy framework in December 2016 voted to disband their environmental committees.