Federal MP Bruce Baird recently addressed the Parliment on development in Bundeena.

Below is an excerpt from the speech given August 16th 2006.

"Tonight I want to speak in particular about developments at Bundeena. Bundeena is a unique site in my electorate. It comprises an artists' colony. It is a unique environmental centre, a unique village that has changed very little in the past 50 years. It adjoins a national park and it has a population of 2,000 people. In many ways it is an environmentalist's paradise. It has rock carvings by the Indigenous people who were there and it presents a wonderful vista across Port Hacking. That it adjoins a national park, one of the first national parks declared in Australian history; in fact, it was one of the first in the world, is the reason why we should take great care over the planning requirements that apply in Bundeena.

We have had several examples. The first is the Uniting Church site, which was divided into small housing sites despite the objections of local residents. The second is the question of the old corner store. The site was heritage listed, and one night it mysteriously burned down. There is now a proposal to put up a rather unattractive group of houses and home units there. As one of the local councillors said, 'Instead of saying welcome to one of the unique villages in the Australian community, we have got a building which says Hello Rockdale.' Not that there is anything wrong with Rockdale, but Bundeena is a unique environmental area. We want to see this area preserved and appropriate planning measures applied. I encourage Frank Sartor, as the Minister for Planning in the New South Wales government, to develop a special code that relates to Bundeena, recognising its unique nature."