The coast is one of our greatest assets in New South Wales and is home to nearly 85% of the state’s population. The NSW Government has established a framework to manage the coastal environment in a sustainable way for the wellbeing of the people of New South Wales. 

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and the Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure (DPHI) oversee and facilitate implementation of the coastal management framework by local councils.

The key policy instruments under this framework are:

• the Coastal Management Act 2016 (the Act), under which local councils in the coastal zone prepare coastal management programs to set the long-term strategy for the coordinated management of land within the coastal zone, and
• the coastal management chapter of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 (the SEPP), which aims to promote an integrated and coordinated approach to land use planning in the coastal zone in a manner consistent with the objects of the Coastal Management Act 2016.

This audit will assess whether DCCEEW, DPHI and select local councils are effectively implementing the coastal management framework to manage the NSW coastal environment. 

The selected local councils for this audit are City of Coffs Harbour Council, Northern Beaches Council and Shoalhaven City Council.

The audit will answer the following questions:

• Are DCCEEW and DPHI effectively overseeing and facilitating councils’ implementation of the coastal management framework?
• Have councils effectively developed plans and priorities for coastal management?

The audit will not assess:

• The merits of NSW Government policy objectives, decisions relating to coastal management program certification, coastal management actions identified or implemented by councils and/ or NSW Government agencies, and land use planning and development decisions under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
• Whether certified coastal management programs meet the requirements of the Coastal Management Act 2016 or coastal management manual.
• Implementation of policy objectives under strategies or initiatives outside of the coastal management framework (e.g., Marine Estate Management Strategy, State Disaster Mitigation Plan).