IF you had questions over how serious Stockton's erosion crisis had become, look no further than City of Newcastle's advice to primary schools about the chance for sheer sand cliffs to collapse without warning.
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"This has the potential to cause loss of life if people stand too close to the top or bottom of the sand cliffs," he said.
The lethal potential is a far cry from the beach locals remember, adore and are passionate about seeing restored to their suburb.
Hundreds crowded into the Stockton Surf Life Saving Club on Thursday to unequivocally demand immediate action. After decades of unsuccessfully seeking a solution, their simmering frustrations had come to a boil.
Fifth generation resident Lucas Gresham told the Newcastle Herald he had "never seen this community more united".
"Make no mistake, this is a David and Goliath battle for us, we are a small community and we need to stay united," he said.
That community will await ministerial visits promised during parliamentary debate that quickly became heated earlier in the week.
A day after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that her government was "on it, we've been on it for a while" regarding Stockton, her Labor counterpart and former Newcastle MP Jodi McKay was on what remains of the sand in what the Liberal leader dubbed a "stunt".
Ms McKay said she was "shocked" at the state of part of her former seat.
"It is unrecognisable to how I remember Stockton," she said.
"We are beyond grant funding. We need state government intervention on what is an unfolding crisis."
Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock is due in the suburb "in the coming days" as the government and council reckon with how to replace the existing safety hazard with the beach it once was.
Stockton, and Newcastle more broadly, will be watching closely until the answers are found.
