Bungaree.org

The Central Coast of New South Wales is undergoing a deepening housing crisis, marked by rising rents, increasing homelessness, and worsening inequality. While mainstream explanations emphasise economic pressures, this report reveals a more troubling cause: settler simulation, identity fraud, and conspiracist environmental activism that obstruct Aboriginal-led housing solutions and governance.

At the heart of this crisis are non-Aboriginal actors and groups—particularly the so-called “GuriNgai” and the Coast Environmental Alliance (CEA)—who perform false custodianship of land by mimicking Aboriginal identity and ceremony without legal or genealogical legitimacy. Figures like Jake Cassar lead campaigns under the guise of environmental protection that, in practice, sabotage projects led by recognised Aboriginal organisations like the Darkinjung and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs).

These settler-led groups frequently oppose Aboriginal housing developments by framing them as threats to sacred land or natural ecosystems. However, these claims are grounded in pseudoarchaeology, aestheticised protest, and conspiratorial spirituality rather than Indigenous law or cultural authority. Campaigns like “Save Kincumber Wetlands” and “Save Kariong Sacred Lands” have delayed urgently needed housing projects using spectacle, misinformation, and appeals to settler anxieties about heritage.

Cassar’s influence stems from his charismatic fusion of survivalism, spiritual populism, and anti-government rhetoric. His CEA network aligns with far-right and sovereign citizen movements that reject both Indigenous sovereignty and climate science. This creates a powerful rhetorical ecosystem where settler actors displace real Aboriginal governance while claiming to defend Country.

Crucially, local councils and some media have legitimised these groups by involving them in consultation processes, granting them platforms, and accepting their cultural claims without verification. This institutional capture reproduces what Moreton-Robinson (2015) calls “white possessiveness”: the settler impulse to control land, culture, and narrative while erasing authentic Aboriginal voices.

The consequences are not abstract. Housing developments led by Aboriginal Land Councils—designed to meet community needs and climate goals—have been obstructed, delayed, or abandoned. This not only worsens homelessness but undermines Aboriginal land rights and climate transition efforts, since LALCs are well-positioned to lead clean energy initiatives through culturally grounded planning.

To move forward, the report calls for structural reforms: verifying Aboriginal identity through AIATSIS guidelines, defunding and de-platforming fraudulent actors, and embedding Aboriginal-led consultation in all housing and environmental governance. Housing justice cannot be separated from cultural justice. Only by removing settler simulations from institutional processes and restoring Indigenous authority can NSW resolve its housing crisis and honour its obligations to Aboriginal communities.

Core Message: The Central Coast housing crisis is not simply a result of economic pressure or poor planning. It is a crisis aided by settler simulation, cultural fraud, and institutional complicity. Real solutions require decolonising consultation processes, reaffirming Aboriginal governance, and dismantling the settler spiritual populism that continues to obstruct justice under the illusion of protection.

Obstruction of Housing Justice Across the Central Coast of New South Wales.