Member for Swansea Yasmin Catley said the foundations have been laid to extend the sand dredging of Lake Macquarie indefinitely.
Labor politicians from all three levels of government celebrated on Friday the arrival of the permanent dredge for Swansea Channel to undergo water trials before it begins pumping sand onto Nine Mile beach.
The dredge, named Tuirkulliko, meaning "to drag along" or "to draw" in the Awakabal language, will remove about 83,000 cubic metres of sand from Swansea Channel.
This will create a 60-metre-wide channel of about three metres to improve navigation near Marks Point, Pelican and Swansea.
The federal government provided $10 million towards the 10-year dredging operation, and the state government contributed $6 million to operate and maintain the equipment.
In June the NSW government was given 10-year approval to dredge Swansea Channel, but Ms Catley said the groundwork had been completed to extend operations into the future.
"We've got the approval process for 10 years," Ms Catley said. "Well before that expires, whoever's in charge then will have to start to put the next iteration of that in place.
"But this will morph into more, I'm sure. This is the start of something great."
A permanent solution for the Swansea Channel was one of the first issues Ms Catley advocated for when she was elected in 2015.
"It was always my view that we needed to have a long-term strategy, and that meant, because it took so long for the program to start, going through all of those environmental aspects, through council, through maritime, through Crown Lands," she said.
"There are so many departments that you have to go through to get approval to have a dredging program started. It was obvious to me that we needed to consolidate all of that to start a dredging program much sooner."
However, not everyone is satisfied with the plan.
Community group Bring Back Blacksmiths campaigned to have the Swansea Channel sand pumped to the southern end of Blacksmiths Beach, which has become severely eroded.
The sand will be deposited just south of the Belmont Golf Course.
Transport for NSW Maritime executive director Nicole Watts said pumping the sand further south was considered, but it was deemed too expensive.
"The reality is it comes down to cost and efficiency," Ms Watts said.
"Ultimately, we're going to be dredging the sand via a pump solution 1.2 kilometres, but we did identify that Nine Mile beach is the best solution for that.
"It's far more cost-effective, and it did require nourishment. We're also taking the opportunity to nourish Elizabeth Island as well and help with habitat restoration there as well.
"So, we did consider a number of options, but the further you go, the more cost involved. So, we wanted to make sure it was economically sustainable."
Spokesman for the Bring Back Blacksmiths, Phil Donoghoe, said it was disappointing that the dredge pipe will not be extended.
"We are the only group that has not benefited from this $10 million project, as Lake Macquarie City Council included a $1 million upgrade of Blacksmiths boat ramp instead of taking the sand transfer pipeline all the way to Blacksmiths Beach," Mr Donoghoe said.
"It is surprising that Yasmin has gone from supporting our plan to it's all too hard."
Federal Member for Shortland Pat Conroy said he would continue to advocate for funding to have the sand dredge pipeline extended.
