Andrew Sullivan and the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition Inc. 2002-2004
The Coogee Coastal Action Coalition fought to protect Cockburn’s precious coastline from development.
A sticker created by the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition, donated by Andrew Sullivan
In 1987 the WA State Government wanted to remove the industrial buildings immediately north of Coogee Beach, decontaminate toxic waste onsite, and return the foreshore to public access. This involved changing the area’s zoning from Special Industry (abattoirs, fellmongers, tanneries and fish processing works) to Residential Development.
The original aim to restore the coast began to unravel when a development proposal to create a private marina called
Port Catherine was presented to Cabinet instead. This proposal came from Joe Rotondella (Anchorage Industries Pty Ltd) who had purchased 97,000 square metres of land on Cockburn Road in 1983.
Coogee Beach before development, photo by Andrew Sullivan
Mr Rotondella's land included 600 metres of waterfront with industrial buildings, built over the original sand dunes, that pumped effluent directly into the ocean. The land was protected by sea walls built along the water’s edge.
The Omeo shipwreck was visible above the water line directly in front of Rotondella’s land. He hoped to remove the historically significant shipwreck. However, the Federal agency that controls shipwrecks around Australia said it had to remain.
Rotondella tried to incorporate the wreck into his marina design before deciding it wasn't feasible. The marina proposal that was to replace a degraded section of coast was suddenly shifted north over the remnant limestone headlands and a kilometre of unspoilt beach.
Kevin Allen and the
Coogee Progress Association first opposed the development in 1999, arguing the planned seafront development would destroy what was left of the small, protected beaches in this area.
The old guard in the group was later hijacked by another group of people.
Rotondella didn't want to sell his land. He wanted the State to let him control the whole development. The State was not convinced he was capable of that and insisted he seek out an experienced and well financed land developer. In April 2002 agreements were signed for Rotondella to sell his land to the Singapore-controlled developer, Australand Holdings Ltd. They wanted the ocean to be in-filled to create private canal housing lots. The Liberal Government, led by Premier Richard Court, allowed the prime coastal land to be ‘sold for a song’ ($17 million for 47 hectares), to Australand, and gave away 28 hectares of seabed for free.
In 2002, Andrew Sullivan was asked by some of the local community to help form the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition Inc. (CCAC). At the time, Sullivan was an architect, a former Fremantle Councillor and an experienced coastal activist who had helped convene the Leighton Action Coalition in 1999.
CCAC strived to make the general community aware of the proposed development, now called Port Coogee, and make clear it did not meet the requirements of the State's own coastal policy at the time. The new State Coastal Planning Policy SPP2.6, which Sullivan had helped write, was gazetted in June 2003 as a framework designed to sustainably manage WA’s coast for the long-term benefit of the community.
In a public forum in October 2002, Rotondella said, “In this world there are people who build things and people who destroy things… 90-95% of people want this marina”.
Andrew Sullivan at the beach pre-Coogee Marina, 2003
CCAC responded that they were not anti-Marina or anti-development. They argued the proposed canal estate was not a true marina, was in the wrong place, and a proper 500 pen marina would be better located at the old power station to replace the cooling ponds. They produced alternate plans that proposed a new regional beach backed by a vibrant town centre and suburb.
'Move the Marina to the Power Station' postcard produced by the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition, donated by Andrew Sullivan
Reverse side of 'Move the Marina to the Power Station' postcard produced by the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition, donated by Andrew Sullivan
Locals enjoyed the shelter provided by the natural limestone outcrops at north Coogee before they were demolished. The cave pictured above, between Coogee Beach and Anchorage Butchers, was well-loved by many generations including Alf Jackson (far left) and his family, photo courtesy of Nanette Jackson and Cockburn Local History collection
Rotondella, who created Port Catherine Developments Pty Ltd to facilitate the development, was called to answer questions at an
Inquiry into the Port Coogee Development in November 2003:
We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I have forgone millions of dollars of revenue from businesses… It was all cleaned up. Along came the activists who created the problems.
~ Joe Rotondella
CCAC organised a mass protest on the beach, the
Save Coogee Rally, which attracted over 3,500 people (wearing yellow) on 15 February 2004. They were gate-crashed by another small group called
Port Coogee NOW, (wearing blue), who were funded by Australand Holdings, and included Joe Rotondella.
Despite CCAC publicly questioning the marina idea (which had been developed in the 1980s and wasn’t best practice in coastal planning), the WA Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan made it clear that the
Port Coogee development would be approved when she visited Cockburn Council in July 2004.
Over 50
Coogee Coastal Action Coalition members then protested outside an ALP dinner at the Hyatt Hotel in Perth in August 2004 and again outside Parliament House in September, when Sullivan took a motion for disallowance to the WA Legislative Council aiming to halt environmental and planning approvals.
The City of Cockburn Council was asked by the developer to agree to take over management of the Marina, two years after it would be completed. Although the CCAC and other ratepayers questioned this motion, it was accepted by the Council on 23 Dec 2004.
The Council, with the support of Mayor Stephen Lee gave Australand approval to develop the Port Coogee Marina in the seabed of Cockburn Sound. According to Sullivan:
Stephen Lee tried every trick in the book to hamper CCAC members asking questions in Council and council meetings soon became more about a protest than a dialogue; people were yelling at the Mayor and Councillors because they weren’t being listened to.
~ Andrew Sullivan
The CCAC’s last chance was to challenge the rezoning decision at the WA Supreme Court which they did in December 2004 with the help of the Environmental Defenders Office. They argued that you can’t build private land over the ocean, and that there were common law rights affecting every Australians’ right of access to the beach and sea.
Andrew Sullivan and Coogee Coastal Action Coalition protest, Parliament House, Gazette, 28 September 2004
Coogee Coastal Action Coalition protest at Parliament House, 28 September 2004, courtesy Andrew Sullivan
'Don't destroy our underwater treasures' postcard, created by the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition, donated by Andrew Sullivan
Most of their grounds for appeal were rejected, but the most critical claim that the seabed couldn't be privatised was ruled to be premature as the government hadn't officially signed off on this. Australand claimed court costs which forced the CCAC to disband.
As soon as the appeal was lost, Alannah MacTiernan signed over the seabed to be filled and privatised for housing and the development was given the green light.
Despite losing their campaign, CCAC were able to get some things changed; the public marina boat pens were expanded from 75 pens to 150 pens and the developers added a small public beach inside the marina.
Towards the latter part of the campaign, CCAC invited Aboriginal Elders to the beach to talk about their connection to the beach. However, although there were concerns that the sand dunes would have been traditional burial grounds, there was no formal heritage site claims on the beach.
It was later found that the developer had engaged disgraced former premier Brian Burke, an associate of Mr Lee, to advise on financial and political aspects of the mayor's 2005 re-election campaign. Stephen Lee resigned as Mayor in 2008, after he was censured by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), who found Mr Lee had failed to disclose up to $40,000 in election donations from development company Australand.
Port Coogee Marina's development went ahead as a multi-stage project. The marina's first phase was completed in 2012, providing 158 boat berths. The City of Cockburn expanded the number of pens in 2022. After almost two decades, the Port Coogee development was mostly completed by 2024. It provided 1,100 apartments, 11ha of public open space, a public marina designed for 300 pens, and Marina Village, with 12,000 square metres of commercial and retail floorspace.
Locals enjoying the northern part of Coogee Beach prior to development, sand dune visible in the background, photo by Andrew Sullivan
An excerpt from a panorama of Port Coogee under construction created by Gnangarra using original photographs, Wikimedia
You can view a Gnagarra's full
panorama of Port Coogee under constuction on
Wikimedia.
Andrew Sullivan in 2025, photo by Jo Darbyshire
Reflecting back on his work with the Coogee Coastal Action Coalition, Andrew Sullivan has no regrets:
It was two years of my life, full time. I felt like I had to lead the protest because it was the right thing to do... Each protest, even if it fails, informs and empowers the next… I knew that it’s never about just one issue. Every campaign in the coastal planning area was leading to the next campaign… the WA Coastal Planning Policy was going to have to be used for future developments… You can’t win every battle… my job was to win the war of good coastal planning… nothing gave me more joy, having spent two years on Coogee, to see the Mangles Bay Marina at Point Peron get axed.
~ Andrew Sullivan
Core CCAC members included: Old Coogee residents Bob and Bill Poole (brothers who were part of the Coogee Progress Association), Zoe ‘Zo’ Inman, Jakica Zaknic, Robyn (secretary) and Dan Scherr, Elsa Cheah, Patrick Baker, Bob Retallack, Paul Roberts, Branko Burmas. Other members included: Annie Ottness, Bev Hamilton, Ann Sutton-Babel, Devon Cunningham, Brian Cairns, Ange and John Roberts, and lots more.
References
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