Nearly every beach in Oz has some sand-dune as a barrier but not at Wamberal near Newcastle. Houses are built nearly at the dune-top and surf normally reaches the base of the dune-cliff in king tides.  The cliff is held by beach grass and is weakened by heavy stairways down to 'their' beach.  Each year the sea-level rises 3-4mm and the slope of 1:8 means the equilibrium point moves inside the dune about 30mm/year. Storms have removed much of the grass and it hasn't had time to re-establish on the near-vertical, bare sand. The weight of 12m. high sand then is loaded on the wet 'quicksand' base. Recent loads of rocks also are on wet sand and subsidence is seen.

The beach isn't a footpath, it's the edge of the Pacific Ocean. King Canute noted that the surf won't go away.
But surf-housing will.

Quote:

Wamberal near Newcastle.

Wamberal is almost as far from Newcastle as it is from Sydney.

It is 1:21 to Newcastle and 1:28 to Sydney. However it is on the Central Coast a walk to Terrigal.

An interesting part of the dispute here is that parts of the area were never approved by the local council.

The Council refused building in the area claiming that there was severe risk of subsidance and sea damage. The builders took the case to the state government who approved building overriding the risk assesments. Now the Local government are reluctant to take responsibility.

Big part of the problem is that the local residents cannot get approval to even do their own protection work - this is just wrong.

Horrible situation all along the coast and something badly needs to be done.

A walk to Terrigal? Who is he?
Wamberal is South -33.4133277, East 151.4393239.
State: New South Wales.
President : Trump.
Erosion : severe.
'All levels of government are set to meet to discuss urgent solutions for erosion at Wamberal Beach after NSW Premier Chris Minns ruled out the sale of any State Government owned land to make way for a seawall. Federal Member for Robertson Dr Gordon Reid said the State Government had rejected a seawall due to the significant cost, concerns for the beach and the risk of worsening erosion.'

One useful idea is stacking 1.5 billion tons of Newcastle coal along the beach to counter Greenhouse Gas emissions. The colour green has been suggested, with concrete koalas and vegan  cafes.