A MEETING in Nowra yesterday to discuss the Beechwood collapse was a welcome and long-overdue information session for South Coast creditors.

About 40 people, a mix of local homeowners and tradespeople, took the opportunity to learn more about the Beechwood situation as well as voice their own concerns.

Many who stand to lose considerable sums attended the information session hosted by Member for South Coast Shelley Hancock and Shadow Fair Trading minister Catherine Cusack.

The meeting heard individual stories that underlined that the collateral damage from the collapse was much more than financial; the emotional impact was already being dearly felt.

At the meeting Ms Cusack explained the outcome of last Thursday’s creditors’ meeting, which was held in Sydney on World Youth Day.

The inconvenience of holding the South Coast portion of that meeting on one of Sydney’s busiest days was one of the catalysts for yesterday’s Nowra meeting.

“With all the meetings being held in Sydney a lot of people are not able to participate because they’re trying to work and come to terms with the huge debts this has caused,” Ms Cusack said.

Ms Cusack has made it her mission to ensure clarity throughout the investigation and said she was in no doubt Shoalhaven had been devastated by the Beechwood collapse.

During the meeting Ms Cusack said the South Coast claims were among more than $70 million in debt owed.

Prior to the meeting the Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney questioned the rationale behind holding a meting in Nowra for residents affected by the collapse.

Many of those present were not impressed at Ms Burney’s attack on the Opposition’s effort to inform people outside Sydney.

Mrs Hancock said she would have liked Ms Burney to have attended the meeting.

“Catherine Cusack has been doing all the work on this and she’s in the Opposition. She hasn’t been off to the Cannes Film Festival in the middle of this like Linda Burney. “

Ms Cusack summed up what she believed was the government’s lack of clarity and ability to deal with the situation.

She said she had asked the NSW Treasurer if the NSW Catastrophe Fund could be used to help Beechwood victims and was told it was a matter for Linda Burney’s Fair Trading office.

“I asked the Fair Trading office and they said it was a matter for the Treasurer.”