FIXING INLET

THE State Government has backed the Cairns Post’s call to clean up Trinity Inlet and allocated $20 million to remove derelict boats along the state’s coastline.

Speaking in Cairns yesterday, Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the government would also consider increasing penalties for owners who abandoned vessels.

“We’ve got to work at the other end, cleaning up the mess, but we’ve also got to look at prevention as well,” he said.

The Cairns Post launched an effort in 2016 to clean up more than 50 rusting, broken vessels creating an eyesore in the region’s idyllic waterways and turning Admiralty Island into an illegal scrap heap.

The government responded with the removal of several boats but dozens remained.

Mr Bailey has now committed $20 million statewide after Cairns MP Michael Healy launched a petition to get the program in the 2018-19 Budget.

“In FNQ, Maritime Safety Queensland recently removed and broke up a 34m steel-hull ship which ran aground on Inset Reef in 2009, and again on Madge Reef near Horn Island,” Mr Bailey said.

“It’s always the owners’ responsibility to manage the removal of their boat at their own cost, but this funding will be of great help.”

Mr Bailey said MSQ had succeeded in recovering costs from owners in the past.

“Recently, the Townsville District Court awarded MSQ almost $800,000, ordering the owner of Defender to pay for the State’s disposal of the vessel,” he said.

“These kinds of outcomes send a clear message to irresponsible owners, that they can’t just dump and run.”

Mr Healy said the issue was a grave concern for locals.