Sunset Cultural Ceremony in Burnum Burnum Sanctuary at Woronora on January 25, 2024. Picture by Monde Photo

The proposed rezoning of foreshore land in Sutherland Shire has received further condemnation.

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Southern Shores Reconciliation (formerly Sutherland Shire Reconciliation) and the 2026 Sutherland Shire Environmental Citizen of the Year have weighed in on the issue.

The council is due to decide when it meets on Tuesday April 28 meeting on whether to submit an amended Planning Proposal to the NSW Planning Department for Gateway determination after the first version was knocked back.

The proposal seeks to rezone waterways currently zoned as W1 Natural Waterways to W2 Recreational Waterways, where they are immediately adjacent to residential property. Some sensitive environmental areas would be excluded.

The change would allow boat mooring pens, marinas, charter and tourism boating facilities, and kiosks in properties now zoned W1.

The structures would still need to be approved by council, which would be advised by state government departments Transport for NSW (Maritime) and Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries).

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Chair of Southern Shores Reconciliation, Sonja Scherer, said the proposal would lead to effects far beyond individual properties.

"When land is placed into private control, it changes the edge of the waterway, the landscape, biodiversity, habitat protection - the waterways itself, and over time the entire system is affected," she said.

"Rezoning ultimately shifts the balance from custodianship to ownership," she said.

"From a First Nations custodian perspective, waterways are part of a shared system - not something to be owned or divided," she said.

"When they are reshaped through private control, it becomes a form of encroachment on what has always been collectively held.

"It limits access, breaks connection, and replaces responsibility with individual control.

"What is lost is not just physical space, but the relationships that keep Country healthy - and once those are disrupted, the impact extends far beyond the water's edge."

Colin Storey, 2026 Sutherland Shire Environmental Citizen of the year, said, "We must adopt ways of living more in harmony with the environment and that means having a clear purpose to safeguard the integrity of our waterways, maintaining the Zone W1 level and developing an effective waterways strategy."

"Rezoning the waterways enhances the rights of a small number of waterfront owners," Scherer said.

"But the cost - environmental, cultural and long-term - is carried by the whole community."

"We are effectively giving away something that belongs to all of us," she said.

"And once it is gone, it is not returned - and the community is left to carry the consequences of that loss."