Not sure about the whale skeleton but we are looking to regather next June to make the whale should we all be safely able.

Though there is a bigger problem that we are going to have to contend with regarding beach erosion.

I can see there are some very well meaning folk running around planting rather inappropriate trees along the waterfront, but what is needed desperately is a plan to stabilise the massive erosion happening around certain points of our sandy foreshore.

Having lived close to Dutchies Beach for nearly 30 years, the last nine months has seen the most severe erosion in all of that time, in my opinion.

Parts of the foreshore at the western end of Dutchies have seen more than four metres of embankment disappear with old growth trees falling into the sea and more will go very soon if we don't get a handle on it.

This is doubtless a sign of the times with rising sea levels and more relentless winds as a result of climate change.

A dangerous drop of nearly two metres now exists where a set of beach access steps once was and its red warning tape is everywhere but with no sign of any solution.

As a community that is very proud of our natural environment we are going to need to work together with Port Stephens Council to mitigate these exponential erosion issues.

We need to develop a management plan for our estuary and it's not going to be enough to simply sandbag the most vulnerable parts of our beaches.

We have all seen the millions of dollars spent by Mid Coast Council on the desperate attempt to stabilise Jimmy's Beach and that could easily happen on our side of the bay.

So it's time we looked towards some better solutions, planting appropriate vegetation is probably a good first step and some rock revetments (although not always popular) might be necessary as we stand to lose some of our fabulous parks and other infrastructure that we all value.

The problem is not going away any time soon so it's time to act.

Referring to the news article 'Vote change halts Hinton DA' (Examiner, August 5), I am relieved that five Port Stephens councillors had the good sense and judgement to vote against a DA on flood prone land.

Yet at the same time I am dismayed at the lack of leadership at the council.

As reported at the council meeting on July 27, the mayor in defending his vote in favour of the DA said: "There is always risk in anything you do. You can mitigate those risks, you can eliminate those risks if you want to" (sic).

STEM students would know that there is a subject entitled "Risk Management".

In fact council planners are risk managers for the assessment of the DA on flood prone land.

Unfortunately, the mayor had chosen to ignore the planners' recommendations against that high risk development on flood prone land.

The failure to provide sound leadership is most troubling. In my opinion, his cavalier attitude is a risk to community wellbeing.

The stupidity of panic buying is going to be a super-spreading event for sure.

People's logic defies common sense.

There's a deadly disease spreading through the community.

Hey I think I'll go stock up on toilet paper and stand in a confined space with thousands of others whose bum care is the most important thing in life. Idiots.