An important objective of the NSW Coastline Hazard Policy is to achieve balanced, merit based planning and development decisions in the coastal area. To assist in meeting this objective a systematic approach to decision making was developed and is described in the Coastline Management Manual published by the NSW Government. An important, yet relatively uncertain factor in decision making is the response of oceanic and coastal processes to changes in climate. This paper discusses an approach to dealing with this and other uncertainties and outlines the approach to Coastal Management adopted in NSW.