City’s hands tied in Couran crisis
Off-grid ‘utopia’ is not connected to council services
The current disaster unfolding at Couran Cove is distressing. There is no other way to put it and my thoughts are with the residents, some of whom I know are elderly.
There has been quite a bit of commentary about what the city should do to help restore water and electricity to the people on the island.
Let me be clear – the city cannot just wave a magic wand here.
It’s not a deliberate choice we have made. It is because these are not, and never have been, services we supply to the island.
There are no city infrastructure connections for water and sewerage, and to put such services in place would cost ratepayers tens of millions of dollars.
Supply of infrastructure into island communities without a physical connection to the mainland is notoriously costly and difficult and we have seen how costs of infrastructure on islands like Great Keppel and even the nearby Southern Moreton Bay Islands have been a terrible burden on the development of those communities.
Of course, electricity is not a service the city provides to any ratepayer.
Couran Cove was created many years ago to be off-grid – a developer’s utopia, if you like. The resort is a wholly self-sufficient mixed-use development where the body corporate is responsible for all
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I am ry sorry to see people suffering but I cannot offer false hope.
community property and council has no authority, or means, to implement or maintain services or associated infrastructure.
The water and sewerage infrastructure at the resort is privately owned and is not connected to our own infrastructure. There are no water and sewerage charges on rate notices as these are servicebased charges, and these services are not supplied to Couran Cove by the city.
We have no authority to interfere with or maintain the infrastructure on site.
The state government has asked us to logistically assist with the physical delivery of water to the island, but this has been as a delivery service rather than as a utility provider.
When it comes to waste collection, the chief executive has assured me that waste collection services to the resort will be maintained, with all bins delivered to the designated point continuing to be emptied. And while I know this information will be of little comfort, this is the reality of the current situation.
It is a legacy of the developer’s utopia I refer to above going horribly wrong. I am very sorry to see people suffering but I cannot offer false hope.
There are complex body corporate issues here and I call on the state government to utilise whatever powers it has to ensure those basic utilities cannot be turned off for the locals. I call on the Attorney-general to collapse all five body corporates into one, appoint an administrator to follow the money trail and use all legal remedies at her disposal.
As to current legal proceedings in the Queensland court system, I say “justice delayed is justice denied” – finalise these matters so there is a legal conclusion that gives certainty to the residents, particularly the elderly and at risk.
I hope this goes some way in explaining the position the city finds itself in regarding this most unsatisfactory situation.
In the meantime, as I have pleaded before – while things are being adjudicated, don’t turn off these peoples’ essential services.