Katter’s fury over jetty
MP calls for rock wall to shield ‘ludicrous’ project
KENNEDY MP Bob Katter has vowed to be a “raging fury” in pursuit of a fix after reports the new $11.5m Yarrabah jetty would be unusable for 130 days of the year.
The state government project is almost complete with a 165m pier jutting out from Gribble Point northeast of the Yarrabah township.
Department of Transport and Main Roads figures state the jetty will be accessible 87 per cent of the time for a 1mdraft vessel – a claim that has been roundly rejected by ferry operator Dindarr’s director, Peter McAllister.
Mr Katter has now called the 130-day inaccessibility estimate overly conservative given it only took into account tidal issues with no consideration for factors like south-westerly winds.
“Never, ever, ever do you build a pier or a jetty,” he said.
“They belong to primitive times before we got bulldozers and pneumatic drills. “It’s just ludicrous.” Mr Katter pointed to a recent jetty redevelopment on Mornington Island which he said would require millions of dollars more in public money to properly fix, preferably with an expensive rock wall.
“If you use a jetty, even if there’s only a foot of sea running, it will smash your boat against the jetty,” he said.
“Also, the jetty takes a pounding. The sea will eat up concrete and wood, but rocks last forever.”
Mr Katter said Yarrabah would need a rock wall or marina as well – and he had a plan to tie it in to an industrial overhaul of the area.
He wanted the saddle cut out of the existing road into Yarrabah and to reroute the road so it did not climb over a dangerous mountain range.
The material blasted out of the saddle could then be used to build a rock wall breakwater, either at King Point or at the township.
Long-term, he said a deepwater port must be built at King Point, linked to a bridge across the inlet to Cairns and through to a new tunnel through the Kuranda Range to connect the likes of Mareeba and the Chillagoe mineral province to the world.
“There needs to be a rock wall, and I’m going to be a raging fury if it’s not protected,” Mr Katter said.
“Any fool could have told you that you just don’t build a jetty.”