Many benefits in the Daintree

THE fiercely parochial and anti-everything residents of the Daintree don’t want to share their piece of paradise with the rest of the world.

Under the guise of the Douglas Shire Sustainability Group, whose spokesman is former mayor and environmentalist Mike Berwick, they certainly don’t want a bridge nor a second ferry.

They want a limit on tourist numbers and a levy slapped on the visitors to benefit their community and protection of the environment.

The group’s submission to the Douglas Shire Council about the next ferry tender is all about them.

The submission proposes a booking system for visitors in busy times, priority lanes for locals on both sides, the development of the Gateway (western precinct) to include a self-funded interpretative centre and coffee shop and a shuttle bus service to Cape Tribulation on the north side.

The submission says Daintree residents don’t benefit from tourism and visitors would be happy to pay “a modest levy”.

“However, we are proposing half the money be spent on community as they get very little benefit from tourism with few employed in tourism or having a tourism business,” Mr Berwick says. Has he been asleep under a rock? There are many in the Daintree who benefit from tourism, including cafes, restaurants, bars, accommodation houses, tour operators, the Daintree Discovery Centre and so on.

The Daintree rainforest is the oldest in the world and one of the jewels in the tropical north’s tourism attractions.

It can’t be limited to just those who live there. Nick Dalton Deputy editor