The Federal Government is being asked to pay $2 million towards security measures at Sydney’s most notorious suicide spot.

The Woollahra Council has been trying to install fencing and cameras at The Gap, a picturesque cliff in Sydney’s east, but has run out of money.

Now it is asking the Federal Government for $2 million to finish the program.

The Gap is where model Caroline Byrne was famously killed by her lover Gordon Wood 13 years ago.

It is also where Channel 10 newsreader Charmaine Dragun took her own life in 2007.

Don Ritchie has lived opposite the landmark for more than 50 years and has saved at least 160 people.

“There have been quite a few others who haven’t come back,” he said.

“They have gone over when I’ve been talking to them or grabbing hold of them even, and that has happened quite a few times.

“It is a known suicide spot. Everybody recognises the name so it’s only understandable that a lot of people from all over the place, different suburbs and what have you, are going to come to the Gap.

“[The council came] here, they re-did the fence a few years ago, but it is nowhere near high enough. People just climb over, so from where we live we can see it all happening.”

The Federal Government announced $250,000 towards safety improvements, including installing CCTV cameras, and this month another $91,000 towards a safety fence.

But Woollahra Council Mayor Andrew Petrie says The Gap project is still short of funds.

“It’s a national problem. The Government has always approached self-harm and depression in a very admirable way, but when it came to the funding, we haven’t received any,” he said.

“Woollahra Council can’t afford $2.1 million, whereas the Government has been handing out money all over the place and so we would have thought this was qualified and would have been a no-brainer for them to give money to.”

The Gap master plan includes a 1.3-metre high curved fence, security lighting, cameras and temper-proof phones with direct lines to the police and counselling services.

Funding request defended

But more than $1 million in the application request to the Federal Government is for new road works for Military Road and landscaping.

Mr Petrie defended the application, saying “it is part of the bus terminus”.

“Most of the work is going on the fencing, the lighting, the seating, the landscaping and the amount of money that has been spent by this government,” he said.

“It wouldn’t even be a bit rich for a road, because if it was a black spot road, it would have been fixed years ago.

“That is also the landscaping, that also brings up the pathway from the path into The Gap itself. The whole thing is about making it sombre and a happier place. That is what it is about.”

The Council says the Military Road works includes a request for a new pedestrian crossing, kerb and guttering and that there is no specific application for road re-sheeting under the plan.

The Federal MP for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, says the project is crucial to save lives.

“We believe about 50 people a year on average, die, commit suicide, at The Gap. It is tragically a suicide hot spot,” he said.

But Mr Turnbull defended his lack of action on the issue while the Liberal government was in power.

“This initiative came from the Council following work with the mental health organisations and it would have been good if this had been done 20 years ago,” he said.

“But I think the truth is that we are becoming more and more aware of mental health problems.

“With great respect, the question is what do we do now? We can’t go back into the past. There is a plan on the table now and it should be supported.”

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese was unavailable to speak with The World Today.