Hundreds of new Chinese electric vehicles stored in the car park of a popular Australian theme park must be moved by order of the local council.
Chinese manufacturer Build Your Dreams has used Jamberoo Action Park on the NSW South Coast as a ‘pre-delivery’ site to store more than 1,600 imported EVs while the water park was closed for winter.
Google Earth satellite images showed the overflow parking area filled with many rows of EVs shipped over from China.
Complaints from residents about the ‘car graveyard’ eyesore prompted Kiama Council to intervene and issue a compliance order for the breach of car park use conditions.
Jamberoo and BYD lodged a development application to use part of the existing car park for purposes ‘not associated with the recreation facility’.
‘Vehicles will be stored for a limited period of time until they are couriered off the site or driven from the site,’ the application stated.
It added that just 1,800 of its 3,100 allocated car spaces were sufficient for normal park activities, which is open from late September until April.
The proposal was rejected by the council this week, citing rural zoning rules and traffic concerns.
A Google Earth image captured in August captured hundreds of EVs imported from China being stored at Jamberoo Action Park without approved
Pictured is a Google Earth image of the water park before it began being used as a ‘pre-delivery’ site for EVs
‘The proposed development has not adequately demonstrated that the proposal will not have adverse environmental impacts, particularly with regard to conflicts between existing additional permitted uses on the site and the surrounding natural and built environment,’ the council refusal notice stated.
BYD EVs were spotted being removed from the water park on Tuesday.
Jamberoo Action Park management said it will comply with the council order, but not before taking a swipe at the decision in a lengthy statement sent to Daily Mail on Wednesday.
‘If you can’t store cars in a carpark without impact to anyone, then something in the planning system clearly isn’t working,’ the statement read.
‘We should be looking for opportunities for businesses to invest and diversify, not taking them away unnecessarily.’
Jamberoo added that it it received legal advice confirming that the activity was permissible before lodging the application and claimed it had not seen any complaints formally lodged during the process.
‘We also specifically requested the opportunity to respond to any concerns if they arose, but none were provided to us,’ management added.
Jamberoo added that the Chinese car manufacturer will be forced to scale back operations.
More than 1600 EVs will be removed from Jamberoo after a DA was rejected by Kiama Council
‘At a time when government policy is actively encouraging the adoption of EVs, society must be able to accommodate that shift in a practical way,’ management continued.
‘In addition to the impact on the car carrier business, there is a direct economic impact for all businesses involved and the local community.
‘We’ll continue to engage respectfully and transparently, but we stand by our belief that this was a practical, low-impact use of existing infrastructure that should never have been knocked back.’
Daily Mail contacted BYD for comment.
The proposal sparked heated online debate.
‘The carpark is for day parking visitors to the main water park business. It is not a dumping ground or long-term warehouse,’ one fumed.
Jamberoo (pictured) has slammed the council’s decision in a lengthy statement
Others pointed out that the DA should have been submitted before they started storing cars at Jamberoo and called for the council to issue parking fines for each day the EVs were stored there.
‘Council should give them two weeks to be removed or run an auction and sell them off, then fine the owners of Jamberoo,’ another added.
But many Aussies had no problem with the proposal and branded concerned locals as ‘Karens’.
‘What exactly are the complaints about? If the space is not being used then why not utilise it in the meantime?’ one wrote.
Another added: ‘Why are local residents complaining about parked cars? Especially when they bought a house right near a water park that attracts 1000s of screaming children for half the year.’
EVs accounted for more than 12 per cent of new cars purchased in the first half of 2025, expanding Australia’s fleet to more than 410,000 vehicles.
More than three-quarters of EVs purchased in Australia this year were made in China.
