Port Stephens Council

the [[Local government in Australia

Port Stephens Council (also known simply as Port Stephens) is a local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is just north of Newcastle and is adjacent to the Pacific Highway which runs through Raymond Terrace, the largest town and Council seat. The area is named after Port Stephens, which is the major geographical feature of the area. It extends generally from the Hunter River in the south, to near in the north, and from the Tasman Sea in the east, to just south of in the west. The mayor of Port Stephens Council is Ryan Palmer. Palmer was caught in a major scandal in 2022 following the purchase of an $86,000 Ford Ranger for mayoral and personal use. Port Stephens is about two and a half hours north of Sydney.

Most of the population is concentrated in Raymond Terrace and its satellite suburb of Heatherbrae or around or near the shores of Port Stephens in the suburbs of Anna Bay, Boat Harbour, Corlette, Fingal Bay, Fishermans Bay, Karuah, Lemon Tree Passage, Mallabula, Nelson Bay, One Mile, Oyster Cove, Salamander Bay, Shoal Bay, Soldiers Point, Swan Bay, Tanilba Bay and Taylors Beach. However, another significant portion of the population lives in a large rural/semi rural area to the west of the Pacific Highway in the towns and suburbs of Balickera, Butterwick, Duns Creek, Eagleton, East Seaham, Glen Oak, Hinton, Nelsons Plains, Osterley, Seaham, Wallalong and Woodville and in the predominantly residential estate of Brandy Hill. In the southern part of the area are the rural communities of Bobs Farm, Fern Bay, Fullerton Cove, Salt Ash, Tomago and Williamtown. Tomago supports both rural and industrial communities while Williamtown is the location for a Royal Australian Air Force base that shares its airfield with Newcastle Airport. At the northern end of the area are Karuah and Twelve Mile Creek. Located adjacent to Port Stephens and straddling the Karuah River, Karuah is predominantly residential. It is the location of the largest Aboriginal community in the area. Twelve Mile Creek is almost exclusively rural. Centrally located in the area, between Raymond Terrace and Port Stephens are Campvale, Ferodale and Medowie. Ferodale is dominated by Grahamstown Dam, a man made dam with a capacity of that is a major source of fresh water in the region. The remainder of this area is a mix of rural, semi rural and residential developments. A map of the various towns, suburbs and localities within the Port Stephens Council area is available from the Port Stephens Council website.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended the merger of a number of adjoining councils. In the initial proposal, Port Stephens Council was not included in any amalgamation proposals. However, after Lake Macquarie City Council successfully avoided a proposed merger between it and Newcastle City Council, the Minister for Local Government subsequently proposed that Newcastle City Council instead merge with Port Stephens Council to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 230,000. The proposed merger was met with significant opposition. Thousands of residents attended rallies and signed petitions opposed to the proposal, while 470 attended public inquiry meetings. The state member for Port Stephens, Kate Washington, former state member Craig Baumann and broadcaster Alan Jones all publicly expressed their opposition. Federal Liberal member for Paterson, Bob Baldwin, spoke in parliament, urging the Liberal Baird government to reconsider the proposal, claiming "this proposal seems to defy logic". Port Stephens Council claimed that 93% of residents surveyed were opposed to the merger and included the results of its community survey in its submission to the delegate responsible for evaluating the merger. In response to the government's proposal, Port Stephens Council formally asked the government to evaluate a merger between Port Stephens and Dungog Shire. Although the mayor of Dungog Shire opposed the merger, it was reported that the proposal had community support within both local government areas. The proposal was debated in the New South Wales parliament on 23 March 2016, with the Minister for Local Government confirming that the proposal had been referred to the Office of Local Government. On 14 February 2017, the NSW government announced it would not be proceeding with further regional council mergers, including the Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council merger.

Port Stephens Coaches operates bus services in Port Stephens. It also provides services to Newcastle (terminating at Newcastle Interchange) and between Newcastle and Newcastle Airport. Port Stephens Coaches also runs a daily coach service to Sydney, terminating at Central railway station. Newcastle Airport is located in Williamtown. It has direct flights to Brisbane, Melbourne, Ballina, Canberra, Dubbo, Gold Coast, Sydney and Taree. It is served by Virgin Australia, QantasLink, FlyPelican and Jetstar. Newcastle Interchange is the nearest major railway station to Port Stephens. NSW TrainLink operates services from here to Sydney, Maitland, Telarah, Dungog, Muswellbrook and Scone. The station is served by Central Coast & Newcastle Line and Hunter Line services. Port Stephens Ferry Service provides a ferry link between Nelson Bay and Tea Gardens.

Port Stephens Council covers an area of , stretching approximately from east to west and approximately from north to south, and experiences various climatic conditions throughout the LGA. | Jan high C = 27.3
| Feb high C = 27.1
| Mar high C = 25.9
| Apr high C = 23.7
| May high C = 20.8
| Jun high C = 18.4
| Jul high C = 17.5
| Aug high C = 18.9
| Sep high C = 21.4
| Oct high C = 23.3
| Nov high C = 24.8
| Dec high C = 26.3

| Jan low C = 18.2
| Feb low C = 18.4
| Mar low C = 17.0
| Apr low C = 14.6
| May low C = 11.7
| Jun low C = 9.4
| Jul low C = 8.4
| Aug low C = 9.3
| Sep low C = 11.2
| Oct low C = 13.5
| Nov low C = 15.2
| Dec low C = 17.1

| Jan record high C = 36.5
| Feb record high C = 41.5
| Mar record high C = 36.0
| Apr record high C = 30.5
| May record high C = 26.7
| Jun record high C = 24.0
| Jul record high C = 24.4
| Aug record high C = 27.4
| Sep record high C = 34.2
| Oct record high C = 33.9
| Nov record high C = 40.6
| Dec record high C = 39.3

| Jan record low C = 11.0
| Feb record low C = 14.5
| Mar record low C = 11.5
| Apr record low C = 9.0
| May record low C = 6.1
| Jun record low C = 4.4
| Jul record low C = 2.2
| Aug record low C = 1.1
| Sep record low C = 5.0
| Oct record low C = 8.5
| Nov record low C = 6.7
| Dec record low C = 9.0

| Jan rain mm = 100.8
| Feb rain mm = 111.3
| Mar rain mm = 119.2
| Apr rain mm = 126.7
| May rain mm = 152.2
| Jun rain mm = 153.1
| Jul rain mm = 141.1
| Aug rain mm = 105.5
| Sep rain mm = 88.8
| Oct rain mm = 78.3
| Nov rain mm = 78.8
| Dec rain mm = 95.0

In 2020, Port Stephens Council adopted a climate change policy and joined the Cities Power Partnership. The policy recognised that climate in Australia is continuing to change and ongoing action is needed to ensure a sustainable future. Council’s climate action plan has three main focus areas: Education; Mitigation; and Adaptation. Council committed to responding to the challenges of climate change in the following ways:

Consulting widely with local residents and businesses to raise awareness of climate change risks and strategies for effective climate change management, mitigation, and adaptation. Seeking feedback and ideas from the community on how to better manage, mitigate and build community resilience to climate change risks. Preparing and implementing a sustainability strategy and action plan to clearly communicate its sustainability actions, targets and performance indicators. Reducing contributions to climate change by implementing a range of sustainability projects. Reviewing and maintaining a Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan. Regularly publishing its progress and achievements in managing climate change risks in alignment with the Integrated Planning and Reporting framework. Investigating and sourcing funding opportunities to support Council’s climate change mitigation and adaptation projects. GHG emission reduction achievements to date include installing in several council buildings: solar voltaic systems; LED lighting and; programmable logic controllers to deliver energy efficiencies and reduce costs. In a first for the region, recycled glass 'greencrete' was used in the upgrade of the Tanilba Bay roundabout. later in 2022. However, Council has not adopted a climate emergency declaration and does not have a detailed Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan which encompasses community wide emissions, as committed in its overall 2020 climate change policy. Founded in 2019, Climate Action Port Stephens (CAPS) is a not for profit community group of Port Stephens residents who are concerned about global climate change and ecological crises and want real climate action in the community. CAPS petitioned Council in 2019 and in 2020 to declare a climate emergency. CAPS is one of over 30 community groups, businesses and individuals who have joined EcoNetwork Port Stephens which was founded in 1993 as a not for profit, apolitical and 100% volunteer run organisation acting as a significant voice for nature conservation and the environment.