Oyster hunter’s rescue shocker
A MAN stung by a stone fish was told to “put your foot in hot water and ride it out”.
Burdekin man Ross Pirrone was left in agony after standing on a stonefish while hunting for oysters on the shores of Cape Upstart on Saturday evening.
He said after feeling only an initial sting, the pain gradually became worse when the decision was made to call paramedics, who said they did not have a helicopter available to fly him to hospital.
The tides meant he was also unable to be boated back to Molongle Creek, the nearest access to the mainland. He said he was told to “put your foot in hot water and ride it out”.
Mr Pirrone said while his incident was not life-threatening, “if it was a little kid that got stung by an irukandji” the story could be different.
Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) Burdekin crew were also impacted by the lack of access from Molongle Creek on Friday when they were forced to launch on an outgoing tide and from a boat ramp more than 70km by road away from Molongle Creek.
VMR Burdekin initially had to evacuate a man with arm injuries and untangle two boats’ anchor ropes near Cape Upstart but were left out on the water overnight on Friday while the man was flown to Townsville University Hospital.
VMR Burdekin duty officer Vince Papale said if crews had the ability to launch from Molongle Creek there was a potential the man would not have needed to be flown to hospital.
“Had we had the ability to depart Molongle Creek, it would have been a completely different deployment and … we probably would have had the paramedic on board and we wouldn’t have had the crew stuck out there as long,” he said.
“I continue to be amazed by the efforts that VMR volunteers make and the lengths they will go to make jobs happen regardless of the situations they are confronted with.”
The weekend’s incidents have renewed community concern that promised tide mitigation works at the creek had not been done.
The boat ramp at Molongle Creek is considered the most direct access to Cape Upstart’s more than 200 holiday properties and in 2017 was the subject of a $5m commitment from both major parties to create an all-tide access channel.
Molongle Creek Boat Club project officer Joe Linton, who spearheaded much of the campaign to see all-tide access to the facility, said the club was yet to lobby candidates for the coming election.
A BRUCE Highway duplication could be the “death knell” for small towns in the North that rely heavily on passing traffic, a Labor candidate has said.
Mike Brunker said Home Hill, Ayr, Proserpine and more small highwayside towns could be the hardest hit if the LNP’S plan to improve the Bruce Highway received the green light.
Last month, LNP leader
Deb Frecklington announced the plan to duplicate the highway from Curra to Cairns.
The $33bn road upgrade is expected to be funded in an 80:20 split with the federal and state governments — with the federal budget revealing a $20m investment in working out which part of the highway would be upgraded first.
Mr Brunker has called on the LNP to let farmers know who will be losing prime agricultural land and businesses know where they will be forced to move.
“This is going to have to bypass the Burdekin,” Mr Brunker said.
“So you’re going to have every business in the Burdekin (affected).
“You won’t have any small towns if you bypass them.
“You’re going to kill off the (small) towns … you should have a lot more passing lanes, as far as four lanes — it’s fanciful.”
He said an upgrade was proposed almost 15 years ago, and it went down with the locals bricks”.
The former Bowen mayor said the requirements for road reserves would vary depending on if the highway was widened or north and south were separated by a barrier.
Burdekin MP Dale Last said road reserves were already in place along much of the old highway.
“There is ample space for the duplication of the highway along the existing corridor and these comments are nothing but a desperate
“like a ton of attempt by a candidate who has nothing to value add and has had to resort to outlandish claims like this to try and claim some credibility,” Mr Last said.
A Burdekin farmer suggested the four-lane Bruce Highway plan would “be a disaster” for crop irrigation.
Farmers United director and Clare-based farmer Russell Hall said while the North was overdue for infrastructure upgrades, consideration would need to be given to the district’s irrigation infrastructure.
“You would have to see the detailed plan,” he said.
“If they follow the same highway it would be a disaster.”
Mr Hall suggested leaving the Bruce Highway as it is for local travellers and constructing another highway which would follow boundary lines further west, for truck drivers and interstate travellers.
He said it would eliminate the problems of having to move vital irrigation pipelines if land purchases were required.