‘ “The 138m-long frigate with 28 years naval service will be sunk off Terrigal and used as a dive site”. Express Advocate, October 2009.’

Inform when it’s too late to change
Don’t allow fears to be heard
Ignore all other comments
It’s a faraway place- not worth bothering about
It’s not Sydney
It’s not Terrigal
It’s not far off the coast
It’s in Avoca. It’s in Avoca

Does the benefit outweigh the risk?
These two are not mutually shared
One gets a dive site,
The other a wreck
Tell me, how is this fair?

It’s not saving lives.
It’s only for Dives
It ‘s not saving fish
It’s only a risk
Our children will know
They’ll look back and think
How could they have let
The Adelaide sink

10% for
10% against
80%?

If a handful don’t start’
The JUGGERNAUT rolls on
This unfair momentum, built behind doors
Found no resistance, no possible flaws,
“We’re getting this through, without a fight
It’s out in the sea, they have no right”

What a surprise from the Avocan shores,
When the buoy marked the spot where the ship will be moored
It’s not out to sea, its at the back of the beach
Where the waves pass through before reaching their peak
Where the sand spins round and is called back to shore
Where all is cleansed and ready for more.

What did they think? “Its quiet out there.
Our Terrigal decoy has stifled despair”
But I’m sure they expected something afloat
Something unlike their stinking old boat

What starts with a murmur, rips through the town
And in two weeks, resistance is found
It’s lacking in time, in money and power
But building and building with each passing hour

It’s finding it’s feet, it’s linking together
It’s already managed to embarrass the minister
He rolled off his ‘facts’
Announced not performed acts
Spoke from the script
Now quiet he is
“Best not get involved with discussion
March twenty seven’s my mission”

Its force unstoppable …
But this is no meteor flung towards earth
No conquering army seizing the turf
No invasion of aliens coming to ground
No viral infection bringing us down

This comes from our own
From those we elect
This juggernaut’s powered by
Ego, and greed
By solutions to problems that suit as they please

“No backward steps- to listen is folly
We’ve done our research
You cant change our mind
We’ve spent all the money
We’ve chosen our time
Resistance is useless
It’ll soon be sunk
And I’ll be rid of a ship
I could not dump”

What does the Central Coast need?
It’s doing pretty well as it is

A small community, stands up and asks
Why don’t we trust services to do the task?
Amateur investigation bagged by the ‘expert’
It’s business, it’s money. It looks like progress
It’s a creeping disease wrapped up in a dress

The divers don’t ‘need’ another dive site
It’s not a home or a meal or freedom
The fish don’t need another place to grow
Just back off fishing them

So flippant with the future

Why not make an ugly place beautiful?