Council moving forward with holiday parks
Published on 17 September 2026
Kiama Municipal Council considered a report at Tuesday night’s September Ordinary Meeting regarding its holiday parks portfolio.
There are five holiday parks under Council management - Kendalls Beach plus four others which are on Crown Land in Seven Mile Beach, Werri Beach, Surf Beach and the Kiama Harbour Cabins.
The report dealt with the four on Crown Land.
Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald said Council has managed these parks as a tier-one Crown Lands manager on behalf of the NSW Government for the past 40 years.
“They are a very valuable and much-loved community asset along with being a home for many people and a place where many visitors leave our area with fond, lifelong memories,” he said.
In April and May of this year, Council received three unsolicited proposals to operate, manage and take over the leases of the five holiday parks.
Council has an unsolicited proposals policy which has to apply to all external offers of this nature.
A report was prepared for Council in June and following this, CEO Jane Frawley has worked closely with Crown Lands to identify the best process as far as expressions of interest or tendering.
During this process it became evident that for the four holiday parks on Crown Lands, no pathway to granting a lease was available to Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper due to the sites currently being claimed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and lying within the boundaries of the South Coast People’s registered Native Title claim.
As a result, this means Council needs to cease the EOI/tender process and Ms Frawley has written to the holiday providers who submitted unsolicited proposals to inform them.
Minister Kamper informed Council that its only option is to consider negotiating directly with companies who are already tier-one Crown Lands operators, one of those is Reflections Holidays.
He has requested that “in good faith” discussions continue to be held with Reflections by Council to see if a partnership can come to fruition and Ms Frawley has been tasked with doing all the due diligence associated with this.
“No decision has been made, no agreements have been entered into, we are simply holding discussions to explore the benefits, drawbacks and opportunities that a partnership could present,” Ms Frawley said.
“We will also determine whether it’s in Council’s best interests to continue to operate its own holiday parks.”
Council will report back to Minister Kamper on the progress of the discussions of the CEO, Mayor and Councillor Melissa Matters with representatives of Reflections.
“The visitor economy is vitally important to Council’s operations,” Mayor McDonald added.
“Funds generated go straight into the Crown Lands restricted reserve, which is used to maintain all other parcels of Crown Lands across the LGA.”
Current holiday park contractors have been informed of the latest developments and Ms Frawley is meeting regularly with them.
Council is awaiting the completion of the master plan for Seven Mile Beach.
Permanent site owners were informed earlier this week that there had been a slight delay in the masterplan process and they will be updated again after the process is complete.