Then he spreads information about an imminent agreement to allegedly place 120,000 cubic metres of rock into the sea, about 30,000 truckloads worth, adding to the carbon footprint and effect on the marine environment.
In the same breath, he asks for a reality check on what coastal assets should be protected and who should be preparing for a managed exit.
What does he think the joint councils Coastal Strategy, the Technical Action Group (TAG), some of the best coastal science and engineering minds in the country along with community and mana whenua representatives have been doing these past eight years?
Re Mr Kirton's commentary re his claim that the "$15 million cost of seawall and groyne protection" is about to be signed off.
I only wish that part was true. There's still a lot of work to do.
Slow progress before and after Covid lockdowns put the strategy at least two years behind its original deadlines and core elements including signals and triggers, the specifics of protection and who will pay and how are still on the table.
The most controversial last resort topic, 'managed retreat'; where and when that might be needed and how it could be achieved, is still being researched and likely to be the most expensive option.
Various modelling and options are being closely scrutinised to determine staged action points over the next 5-10, 20 and 50 years. Public consultation, agreements with mana whenua and actual plans and costs are still a few workshops away.
There's a need to know what the appetite for risk is within the various communities balanced against the costs and value protection might provide.
That includes the value of lagoons, wetlands, the cycle track, reserves, beach access and other public infrastructure and assets.
The Coastal Strategy is a forward-looking, practical way to prepare for sea-level rise with solutions ranging from sea walls to groynes, building up and maintaining the crest and how to share costs equitably.
This is a process councils are legally required to go through and Hawke's Bay is ahead of the game.
Mr Kirton is a long-term voice opposing hard coastal protection, and an election year is making Napier his preference but Napier already has its own advocates on the Coastal Hazards group.
The great achievement so far has been the joint council collaborative effort which is a far cry from the days when Hastings and Napier seemed at war with each other over coastal consenting.
Mr Kirton claims "loud and singularly-focused coastal voices have hijacked the conversation, political patronage and now ratepayer dollars".
Surely, he couldn't be referring to 13 years of lobbying by volunteer community group Walking on Water (WOW Inc) to Save the Cape Coast?
WOW remains confident HBRC, in its willingness to champion this complex and difficult project, can still create nation-leading all-of-coast solutions that will benefit everyone who values the coast as a regional asset.
Recent practical hands-on protection has been achieved by the determined efforts of Hastings District Council, establishing limestone rock revetment walls at Clifton and Cape View Corner which both prevented major damage in the tidal surges of the past week.
Further plans are afoot, for the protection of at-risk houses at Cape View corner to be funded by property owners with some level of public good to protect the infrastructure and access road.
This has been a major breakthrough for our growing and increasingly popular coastal community and is independent of the Coastal Strategy work.
The main obstacle to further progress, apart from rogue councillors railing against such efforts, is the irony of central government insisting on protection plans that face a wall of bureaucracy, and entrenched profit centre-based local authority attitudes to consenting conditions and costs.
HBRC and those involved in the Coastal Hazards Strategy need to get on with the job so Hawke's Bay can literally remain at the leading edge in a way that other coastal councils can leverage.
The real folly would be to delay this all-of-coast action plan any longer.
• Keith Newman, from Haumoana, is chair of Walking on Water (WOW Inc)
