Bernie O'Neil, A Better Eurobodalla (ABE) - 9 September 2025

Bernie O'Neil, Co- Convenor, A Better Eurobodalla presented to Council at the Public Access Session on 9 September 2025.

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address Council. I am presenting as Co-convenor of A Better Eurobodalla (ABE), a community forum dedicated to having open and inclusive government in our region. ABE expects that before governments, at any level, make decisions that will impact their communities, they will undertake broad and meaningful consultation, listen to and share expert advice, and proceed using a transparent decision-making process.

Today ABE is applying these principles to Council’s handling of the closure of Congo Road North and reported excavations works on Lot 197 to the north of the closed road.

Closure of Congo Road North

The strength of community feeling about this issue can be gauged by the large number of residents who have:

• attended community protests and public meetings;
• made representations to Council and politicians;
• issued media releases; and
• sought advice from relevant government agencies.

For example, there were 175 signatures on a letter to Council in January 2022, soon after the road was closed by the landowner, urging Council to restore and formalise public access to Congo from the north and consult with the community on the final design of the road. In November 2022, a year after the road closure, a well-attended community workshop (which included the Mayor and the then General Manager) overwhelmingly voted in support of re-opening Congo Road North along the existing access track.

Six months after this workshop, Council acquired the Crown Road reserve within Lot 197. Council then used an untested process to try to swap the mined Crown Road reserve with the existing access track to Congo from the north thereby converting it to a public road. However, in February 2024, the owner of Lot 197 challenged this process in the Supreme Court and later that year the court delivered a judgement preventing Council from using it.

Since then, the community has been trying, unsuccessfully, to engage with Council to find a workable solution. The Congo Community Association (CCA) have written to Council formally requesting access to the Crown Road reserve following blockages to Congo Road South and the failure of processes supposedly put in place to provide access to the north through Lot 197 during emergencies. There have also been multiple presentations to Council over the last few months by the CCA and others impacted by the closure of Congo Road North requesting answers to reasonable and relevant questions and asking to be consulted on the options for re-opening the road before they are finalised and presented to Council.

In ABE’s view, Council’s ongoing lack of engagement indicates a lack of transparency and a failure by Council to consult in good faith with the community. However, it is encouraging to learn that, as of last week, the acting General Manager has been dealing directly with this issue and that current advice from council staff is that negotiations are underway with the land owner on a possible land swap to allow a northern road access to Congo village.

Should a land swap not proceed, it is pertinent to recall that the 1999 resolution of Council to compulsorily acquire 3 parcels of land under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 in relation to Congo Rd North was acted upon for two parcels but not the land traversing Lot 197. Council recently unanimously voted to acquire private land at Potato Point for road widening using this mechanism. Justice Rothman in his decision on Congo Road also stated that, in order to create a public road consistent with their survey plan, Council would need to pay compensation for any land acquired and, if the land owner does not agree, then Council could compulsorily acquire the land with the approval of the Minister as set out in the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991. Why is this not being considered as a practical option in the first place?

Ongoing excavation works on Lot 197

In September 2022 the community noted that excavation works appeared to have been commenced on Lot 197 north of the closed road.  Documents obtained from Council under a GIPA application earlier that year indicated that the consent for sand extraction activities on Lot 197 was restricted to the southern part of the Lot. Consequently, these excavation works on the northern section of the site were reported to Council on several occasions over a period of 9 days before Council finally responded, indicating that they would inspect the site.

In early October 2022 Council advised that they were investigating the matter. There was no further communication from Council, and the excavation works continued for another month.

In early November, after contacting Council to learn the outcomes of their investigation, the community was told that Council was waiting for legal advice and that no further information could be provided.

As a result, the community sought their own legal advice, which was subsequently provided to Council. That advice indicated that the 1979 consent for the sand quarry covered the portion of Lot 197 south of the closed road and that the landowner was not lawfully entitled to undertake excavation works across other parts of the site. It also noted that the conservation zoning on the northern part of Lot 197 prohibits extractive industries. The advice concluded by outlining the powers available to Council to investigate and take action in response to these potential breaches. Council has not yet responded to this advice.

In August this year, members of the community became concerned that the excavation works to the north of the closed road may have been expanded. The CCA has written to Council alerting them to these potential works, providing the earlier legal advice and asking them to investigate as a matter of urgency.

We understand that the General Manager has since attended the site and has advised the CCA that there are no extractive activities occurring north of the closed road. However, the issue of whether the Extractive Industry development approval applies north of the closed road remains unresolved.

Unfortunately, overall Council’s handling of this matter shows a disregard for due process and the community, as well as an extraordinary lack of transparency, even allowing for the legal processes which may have delayed a resolution.

Conclusion

ABE is aware that Congo Road North has been described by some in Council as a ‘legacy issue’, implying that because it has a long history it is somehow not relevant to the current Council. This is not true. Council’s ongoing failure to fully implement its 1999 decision to purchase portions of private land from several owners and formalise Congo Road North as a public road continues to have major consequences for the residents of Congo, its visitors and the broader community. It directly relates to Council’s legislated responsibilities regarding public roads, public liability and emergency management. Similarly, Council’s failure to clarify the scope of the existing Extractive Industry development approval raises serious questions about its compliance and enforcement processes let alone its accountability to the community.

Congo Rd North has been a long story and the community has presented, written to and met with Council and staff over many years. As a result, ongoing community engagement might be deemed by some to be vexatious. My experience of working in the NSW Ombudsman’s office showed me that government instrumentalities identifying an individual or group as ‘vexatious’ was, at times, an ill-advised attempt to dismiss important and valid concerns with governance and decision making.  ABE looks forward to a speedy resolution to this unresolved issue.

Bernie O’Neil
Co- Convenor
A Better Eurobodalla