The closure of Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Centre on a Friday in 2019 was as dramatic as it was sudden. More than 100 waterskiiers halfway through an international competition were told to leave within hours as the centre was locked down.
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It was a curious and abrupt end for a facility that had hosted schoolchildren and sports groups - at its peak more than 20,000 a year - for the previous 70 years. The reason for the sudden closure, the community was told, was a fear that the nearby Eraring power station coal ash dam posed a safety risk.
While the ash dam and the Myuna Bay centre had co-existed without concern for about 40 years, an engineering report commissioned by Eraring's owner Origin Energy had uncovered a heightened risk of the dam collapsing in the one-in-5000-year event of a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.
It seemed a strange scenario then, and it doesn't make any more sense four years later.
There were rumours at the time that the motivation for closure may have had more to do with the government's desire to commercialise sport and rec centres or Eraring's plans to expand its ash dam.
ABC Newcastle reported that the Office of Sport had gone against its own agencies' advice in closing the facility. Documents obtained under freedom of information indicated the Dams Safety Committee did not agree that sudden evacuation was necessary.
"I caution the Office of Sport in conflating Dams Safety risk with an obvious commercial decision to relocate the [Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Centre], particularly when presented to the community and users of the facility," an email from the head of the committee said.
"From the limited information we have been provided to date, we do not feel immediate evacuation is warranted, although it is not our decision to make."
Another email showed a similarly conflicting view from the NSW Public Works chief emergency engineer, who said the engineering report that revealed the risk was "an investigation that is looking for trouble" and "based on second-best information".
"In my view, this whole story of safety concerns for Myuna Bay Sport and Rec Centre needs to be viewed through the lens of a plan to increase the dam capacity," he wrote.
The community has not been given a satisfactory explanation for the closure of the facility, and there has been no real progress on a promised replacement at Morisset, yet the government is relentlessly pushing ahead with plans to decommission the Myuna Bay site.
The state government has submitted a development application to demolish the buildings at Myuna Bay, which Lake Macquarie City Council, under planning legislation, cannot refuse without ministerial permission.
Since the government's plans to demolish the buildings were revealed, the council has implored the Minister for Sport, Mr Kamper, to pause proceedings so that we can properly assess the potential of the site, and the buildings on it, for future public use.
Lake councillors inspected the site last week and, almost to a person, were surprised at the relatively robust condition of the facilities on site - the same facilities the government seems in a rush to remove.
A council resolution passed on Monday night seeks approval from the Minister for Council to refuse the demolition works. We have also asked him to release the deed of agreement between the Office of Sport and Origin Energy and invited him to inspect the site so he can see first-hand its value to the community and potential for future use.
No one wants to dismiss genuine safety concerns, but there are factors that may mitigate risks posed by the ash dam. Since the closure of Myuna Bay, Eraring has completed dam wall stabilisation work, and with the imminent closure of Eraring - and Origin's commitment to finding ways to recycle fly ash - it can be assumed the size of the dam will be significantly reduced over the long term.
The current Minister for Sport did not make the decision to close Myuna Bay, but as the person now in power, he has the ability to properly review all factors and determine if the right decision was made.
