Passions ran high during the protest and Mrs Sudmalis was photographed sobbing when the chainsaws went to work. 

Ten years later, the now Member for Gilmore is taking a very different approach to the environment. The turnaround has been in sharp focus in recent times. 

At the beginning of the week, she held a press conference at which she accused the NSW government of being the stumbling block preventing Motorcycling NSW from pressing ahead with its plans for a motorsports facility at Yerriyong.

In her sights was an orchid listed as vulnerable, which Motorcycling NSW had blamed for its decision to its decision to abandon its plans.

Mrs Sudmalis has called on her state colleagues Shelley Hancock and Gareth Ward to intervene and in doing so has stepped onto risky terrain.

After the planning scandals that almost sent NSW Labor into extinction and landed Eddie Obeid in jail, no one in their right mind should entertain meddling in an independent planning process. To do so would risk the attention of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. So the reluctance of the two state MPs is entirely understandable.

Mrs Sudmalis has found herself in an awkward position with this project, having secured federal funding for something that had not yet been approved. It is a fumble that will doubtless be seized upon by her Labor opponent should Mrs Sudmalis decide to contest the next election.

The tragedy in all this can be traced back to the choice of site. Any uncleared land in the Shoalhaven – even the scrubby sclerophyll forest, as Mrs Sudmalis dismissed it – was always likely to present problems. Early misgivings over the chosen site were ignored when they should have been listened to.

The orchid was not the only environmental constraint. Clearing of habitat for other threatened species was another obstacle.  

Had an alternative, less problematic site been identified years ago, chances are this project would have succeeded.  

It’s a great pity. This complex would be a great asset to the Shoalhaven. There is clearly a lot of public support for it and it’s a safe assumption it would help the local economy.