A plan to save Botany Bay from the state government building Sydney second terminal, has been put forward by a Randwick councillor.

Labor councillor Danny Said will present a motion to council later this month, to place both sites on the state’s heritage list to stop the cruise terminal developments at Yarra Bay and Molineaux Point.

Ruling out the Navy’s base of Garden Island, the NSW Government outlined in its Cruise Development Plan, that it intends to build a cruise terminal at Yarra Bay which would have the potential to berth two ships, while Molineaux Point would also be able to accommodate two megaships.

Cr Said hopes the heritage listing of both sites will make it more difficult to build the terminals, and says the community will be ruined by the massive development.

“While we’re not against tourism or cruise ships, we don’t believe that the position of these two terminals is right for not only our area, but for Sydney. Garden Island is the natural choice, due to its proximity to the city and sailing into Port Botany will be an eyesore. What cruisers want to see is the beauty of our city when they sail through the heads,” he said.

“What people don’t realise is that in our council area, we don’t have the infrastructure to potentially cater for thousands of extra people coming in and out. There is only one road in, there will be a sea wall that needs to be built in order to protect the beach as well as extra dredging.”

But Patricia Forsyth, the executive director of the Sydney Business Chamber penned a letter to the Southern Courier and said the community needs to be open to the idea of the terminals and to work with the cruise industry.

“With the ink barely dry on the Prime Minister’s letter ruling out Garden Island for cruise ships to co-locate with the Australian Navy it is sad to read that a campaign has already commenced to oppose any development of a cruise terminal anywhere in Botany Bay,” she wrote.

“Cruising is an important sector within the visitor economy and is a driver of jobs and economic diversification and is source of much pleasure for many Australians.
“Surely a better approach from the local community would be to engage with those doing an assessment of terminal sites and engage with the cruise sector to work with each and understand the various scenarios.

“The local community is a key stakeholder in the discussion but rather than outright opposition perhaps a better starting point is engagement with the cruise sector.”