Ray Hadley has finally been given a straight answer on how to clean up Lake Conjola and bring tourists back to the area.

Dozens of locals from Lake Conjola, on the NSW South Coast, have contacted Ray to tell him their town is dying after the lake has turned into a disgusting “greyish pond”, unfit for even dogs to swim in.

But they say their Greens mayor is holding it to ransom, and Ray has discovered the council is delaying reopening the lake to the ocean because it would disrupt the birds nesting in the area.

NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey wasn’t across the issue, embarrassing herself in a train-wreck interview with Ray.

Now, Deputy Mayor of the Shoalhaven Council Patricia White has finally provided a solution.

She tells Ray the state of the lake is “beyond belief”, with the situation locals find themselves in “absolutely devastating”.

“I honestly think that they are putting these community residents down there in pure hell so they’ll sell up and go out and [the lake] will go back to wetlands.

“What we need to do immediately is to accept the proposal that was back in 1999 that got the lake open for 12 years, and that proposal has a maintenance regime in it. So to do the ongoing maintenance, the lake will stay open.

“But did the council do that, did the state government do that? No. Nobody wanted to put up the dollars to be able to do the maintenance regime.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

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