Port Stephens Council has been in discussions with the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council about the preferred route.

While pleased with recent progress Cr Palmer said the route could always be redrawn if an agreement couldn’t be reached with the land owners. 

“We’ve got to make sure we’ve got the agreement of land owners,” Cr Palmer said.

“If we don’t, we have solutions to that but it may increase the costs, changing routes.”

The bypass has long been discussed as a solution to the Fingal Bay bottle neck in peak holiday times.

It would give access to Fingal Bay without the need to drive through Nelson Bay. Advocates also argue that it’s needed to provide a second way out in the event of a bushfire.

The discussions with the Worimi concern a 400 metre stretch of land adjoining Nelson Bay Road.

Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Andrew Smith said any agreement would need the support of members.

“We’re having conversations with the council about their needs and we have a better relationship with council than we have had in a long time,” he said.

“From our perspective many of the reports are outdated, as the current environment exists, and before we take it to our members we need to have the latest reports.”

Mr Smith said it wasn’t a “yes or a no” just yet.

“We take what they’re saying about the bushfire threat quite seriously,” he said.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the [land council] to make this decision as we’re led to believe there’s support for the road, though I am told not everyone in the community wants it.”

Former Premier Mike Baird promised $3 million in 2015 to assist with the planning and acquisition of land for the route.

Mr Baird’s replacement Gladys Berejiklian met with Cr Palmer last week.

“It was only a short time that I spent with the premier and the Minister for Roads Melinda Pavey,” Cr Palmer said.

“It’s certainly on the state government’s radar.”

Port Stephens builder Paul Smith made sure of it in this roadside encounter.

As far as cost Cr Palmer said he had heard the figure might be $50 million, and up to $100 million.

The state government pledged $67 million to the full duplication of Nelson Bay Road at the last election but the work remains unfunded.

“With a state election coming up in 2019 we need to make sure we have our priorities set. We would need to look at what the priority is, whether its this or Nelson Bay Road, the both of them, or something else again,” he said.

“But obviously Nelson Bay Road is still high on the agenda.”

In the short time Cr Palmer spent with Ms Berejiklian, he said they spoke broadly about Port Stephens issues.

“It wasn’t concentrating on what we might have missed out on but instead looking toward the future,” he said.

For tourism stakeholders, there were some very encouraging discussions.

“Gladys acknowledged that we’ve got the airport, one of the state’s key pieces of infrastructure in terms of tourism,” Cr Palmer said. 

On the issue of Red Zone contamination, Cr Palmer was on Macquarie Street as news came to hand that the state government would restructure its community reference group and elected representative group.

“It’s something we are looking into so that we can pass the right information along to residents,” he said.

Labor MPs responded angrily to the announced changes.