When old decisions cast long shadows
Every so often a story surfaces that reminds us how decisions made not so far from home can shape the lives of ordinary people for generations. The Spark Shoalhaven reporting that on the work of long-time local investigators on the ill-fated Shaolin Temple deal at Comberton Grange is one such story. It is sprawling, unnerving and at times unbelievable, yet it is built entirely on documented history.
At the heart of this saga lie two names familiar to people in our region. Kiama Councillor and former MP Matt Brown, and Shoalhaven City Council CEO and former MP Andrew Constance. Their actions sit at opposite ends of the timeline. One helped open the door that led to the sale, the other tried to slam it shut before the damage was locked in.
How it all began
Buried in the Spark chronology is the moment the Comberton land deal took its sharpest turn. Then Shoalhaven Mayor Greg Watson proudly declared he had an opportunity thanks to a conversation with Kiama MP Matt Brown, whose Chinese contacts were looking for land.
From that one exchange came a race to sell off 1200 hectares of public land for five million dollars, wrapped up in a nine-year mortgage arrangement that allowed the buyers to delay payment until 2015.
A quarry that had been identified by state and federal surveys as strategically important for road building was then swept into the deal after an obscure council resolution reversed earlier protections.
When the warnings started
This is where the story takes an important turn. The deal did not unfold in silence. It was challenged by someone with a long record of standing up to entrenched power: John Hatton AO.
A former Shoalhaven Shire Council President and independent MP for the South Coast, Hatton initiated the Woods Royal Commission and served on ICAC’s oversight committee. He recognised risk when he saw it, and he saw plenty in this deal.
Hatton produced a detailed series of videos outlining the dangers of the Comberton arrangements and the unanswered questions around the quarry sale. Former Mayor Greg Watson attempted to silence him through a defamation action, but Hatton defended the matter and won costs. His persistence helped bring years of buried documents, failed oversight and questionable decisions into the daylight.
Placed alongside Matt Brown’s early introduction of the buyers and Andrew Constance’s later attempts to intervene, Hatton’s role stands as a reminder that people did try to stop this. They were ignored.
The parliamentary alarm bell
Back in 2006, Andrew Constance, then a young state MP, took the extraordinary step of moving a formal motion in NSW Parliament. He called out Mayor Watson for a lack of community consultation, secrecy around the contract signing and the broader risks to Shoalhaven residents. He urged the Ministers for Planning and Local Government to intervene and counsel the Mayor. He wanted the sale scrutinised and the public protected.
His efforts made no difference at the time. The land was sold for a fraction of its value and the contract terms were never revisited.
The cost of getting it wrong
This is where the story becomes staggering. The quarry under Comberton Grange, once in public hands, was valued by local experts at close to a billion dollars in road building material. It could have rebuilt the entire Shoalhaven road network almost twice over. Instead, Council became dependent on lower-quality material from Tomerong, where 300,000 tonnes of potentially toxic waste, including asbestos, was dumped and mixed with road base.
The result is visible every time a tyre blows, every time a rate notice increases and every time someone asks why our infrastructure feels held together by hope.
Why this matters now
What makes this saga so pointed today is the full circle it has taken. Constance is now CEO of the same council whose financial position is shaped by a deal he once tried to challenge. Brown now sits on Kiama Council during a period when communities are demanding greater transparency and stronger safeguards around public land.
This is not about assigning personal blame. It is about understanding how decisions are made, who influences them and what happens when scrutiny falls away. The Comberton story is not only a Shoalhaven concern. It is a warning for every regional community where deals can move faster than public oversight.
Sunlight is catching up. It always does.
Read the full story here
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