Shallow responses to deepening issue
FISHING tourists Colin Carter and Peter Epworth are bewildered as to why the Queensland Government will not step in and dredge the One Mile Creek public boat ramp at Cardwell.
Cardwell’s caravan parks are packed with tourists escaping the cold weather in the southern states.
Most of them are there to fish the Hinchinbrook Channel and the reef. The silted boat ramp access from One Mile Creek makes it tricky, especially at near or low tide.
At low tide even small boats can’t get in or out. Yesterday, Mr Carter and Mr Epworth damaged the propeller on their boat when coming back in to the ramp.
Mr Carter and Mr Epworth have been coming to Cardwell for two to three months of the year for the past 20 years. They say there are plenty of others like them and that they all spend a lot of money in Cardwell and in the greater region.
“We don’t just stay in Cardwell. We drive to other places while we are here,” Mr Carter said.
Yesterday, they boated 16km up the Hinchinbrook Channel in search of fish. The only thing they caught was sunburn and then when coming into the boat ramp along One Mile Creek they hit bottom and damaged the “prop”.
They can’t understand that when Cardwell has a raw product like the Hinchinbrook Channel and adjacent islands that attract fishos from all over Australia, it only has a third- rate boat ramp.
The Cardwell Coast Guard can’t get out or in when the tide is low. Anyone in trouble out at sea or in the channel is on their own until the tide comes in and the coast guard can navigate the creek.
“You’d think the boat ramp here would be first rate, but it is a safety factor as well,” Mr Epworth said.
Member for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto has been campaigning for the State Government to take responsibility for dredging the boat ramp.
He said the Labor government had abandoned Cardwell and was putting lives at risk by refusing to dredge One Mile Creek.
Mr Dametto tabled a petition in Parliament in March with 1355 signatures calling on the state to dredge One Mile Creek. The petition was binned by State Development Minister Cameron Dick, who said dredging was not the responsibility of the State Government.
He told the Townsville Bulletin in a statement yesterday that under the Coastal Protection and Management Act, the Cassowary Coast Regional Council was responsible for maintaining canals and access channels.
“( But) Under the 1994 Deed that was signed by council, this obligation was assumed by the developer for the canal in the Port Hinchinbrook ment,” Mr Dick said.
Mr Dick said he understood the “complex legal disputes” surrounding the Port Hinchinbrook development.
He said he had asked the Director General of State Development to work with the Department of Transport and Main Roads to see if council needed help in regard to dredging of One Mile Creek.
Mr Dametto said this was news to him and that he could not understand why the Mr Dick was suddenly turning develop- the spotlight on the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
He said Mr Dick had previously stated in April that the developer or in this case the liquidator was responsible for the maintenance of the canal, access channel, marina and sewage treatment plant at Port Hinchinbrook.
Glenn Raleigh, the Division 3 councillor on the Cassowary Coast Regional Council, said last night the dredging of One Mile Creek had nothing to do with the council. He said responsibility for dredging of the creek was signed over to the developer in 1994.
Meanwhile, tourist fishers like Mr Carter and Mr Epworth, are watching on, wondering who will blink first in the stand- off over the dredging of the Cardwell boat ramp.