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WHO IS CLUMP POINT BEING DEVELOPED FOR?

Don’t rock our town!
 Community calls for rocks to be transported by barge
Put the community first
Transport the rocks by barge!!
 

 
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WRITE TO THE MINISTER ASKING FOR THE ROCKS TO BE TRANSPORTED BY BARGE 
Hon Mark Bailey
Minister for Transport and Main Roads 
transportandmainroads@ministerial.qld.gov.au ​​


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It outlines in the TMR tender document; 
​there will be considerable disruption to local residents and businesses,

 threatening the livelihoods of  the locally owned and operated boutique marine businesses,
denying access to recreational boaters and
increasing the risk to the endangered cassowary

 for the duration of the works.
Construction is expected to take at least 9 months which could extend to 12 up to 18 months.
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WRITE TO THE MINISTER ASKING FOR THE ROCKS TO BE TRANSPORTED BY BARGE 
Hon Mark Bailey
Minister for Transport and Main Roads 
transportandmainroads@ministerial.qld.gov.au​


The size and volume of rocks needed to build a rock wall that will support a road for fuel tankers and extend out into deep water will be significant.  Some will be one rock per truck and there will be one truck every 25 minutes travelling to and from Mission Beach through out townships. It’s not known where the rocks will be transported from at this stage but it has been suggested by a contractor familiar with the type of work, there is nowhere locally they could be sourced.

The objectives  are impossible to achieve. In part of the document it suggests the transport must avoid roads that have known cassowary crossings. Cassowaries cross all roads at Mission Beach. The significant impact  posed to our community, businesses and the environment carting the rocks by road can be avoided by barge transport. This would  minimise the disruption at the boat ramp, avoid the impact on our local community and businesses and on the cassowary. There is no reason why sea transport should not be used.  The cost to the community far outweighs the cost difference between road or sea transport.   The  community’s welfare  must come first.


How the Clump Point development evolved

For 30 years Boat Bay  has been under pressure from developers wanting to build a marina. Community objection and legislation protected  the high environmental  and cultural values of the  bay and headland from large scale development. 
 
Post Cyclone Yasi the marina supporters and vested interests used  the natural disaster to increase their pressure on governments  for a marina facility in Boat Bay.

Going back just a little, during Anna Bligh’s government, when the detailed Regional Coastal Management Plans were replaced with the  Qld Coastal Plan  ‘Areas of State Significance’ with the trigger of ‘No Adverse Impact’ that had protected Boat Bay from inappropriate development were removed. The then minister for Environment Kate Jones assured the conservation sector, who had extensive consultation with the government during the development of the Plan, that the new Plan would not reduce environmental protection.  As you may remember the draft plan was released with a Marine Development Area  (MDA) placed over the Boat Bay reserve.  This was removed when the Plan was released but a document was produced with a methodology to determine where MDA’s could be established along the whole coast which was to be tested  to determine if, and where, MDA’s could be placed within the Cassowary Coast.  We may never know, but we have little doubt the methodology would have allowed an MDA in Boat Bay.
 

 
 
Disaster Capitalism

In 2011, Cyclone Yasi intervened and while political focus was on Mission Beach, vested interests, using Bob Katter’s balance of power,  forced the first big foot in the door to Boat Bay development extracting a $5.5m grant from Wayne Swan for a marine facility scoping study. From that point there was no stopping the direction any upgrade of the jetty or boat ramp at Clump Point would go.
The Newman government then pledged another $11.5m in an election promise and once elected  enacted a ‘no holds barred’ onslaught on environmental legislation  including the introduction of the Coordinator General’s right to declare certain developments ‘Major Projects’   Once declared, a Major Projects could bypass public  consultation and avoid Environmental Impact Studies  to ‘fast track’ approvals. At that time  both the Queensland Government and the Federal government  governed by Newman and Abbott, waged  a war on robust assessment processes which they called ‘Cutting Green Tape”
​The upgrade of the Jetty and the recreational boat ramp became a Major Project.
 
What no one except the tourism industry was aware of during the  extensive consultation conservation groups  were having with the  Queensland  Government on the Coastal Plan, was in 2010, the tourism industry had  developed a wish list of 18 priority projects for the  tropical north called the Tourism Opportunity Plan (the TOP).  On the list was -  • Clump Point Safe Boat Haven. 
 

 
Assessment process  - predetermined outcome

Nothing will change the fact that for this large scale development to  proceed it required  legislation changes to remove environmental protection over Boat Bay. But this and declaring the development a Major Project still wasn’t enough to get it over the line.
It took collusion between  government departments and coercion and  manipulation of the truth during a dodgy reference group process which was said  satisfied the ’scoping study’ requirements of the $5.5m initial grant and public consultation.  The Reference Group  were not alerted to opportunities for public  to make comment during the process such as  on the referral under EPBC Act which was full of omissions and inaccuracies. The Palaszczuk government has taken full advantage of  the Newman government’s legislation changes to reduce environmental protection.
 
What started out as an upgrade to recreational boating  facilities has resulted in a large scale port/marina development at the end of  Clump Point. The approved  development will consist of a 140 metre rock wall extended out into the open lee shore of a cyclone exposed coast.  The half finished Perry Harvey Jetty has been abandoned with a council directive it is not to be used by any marine operators.
 
​Existing Local Marine Tourism Operators ignored

​Not one of the marine tourism operators were consulted during the process.
TMR has provided a list of alternative ramp access locations in the Cassowary Coast, none of which are suitable  for the marine operators that currently rely on the Clump Point Boat Ramp to conduct their businesses.

In the  TMR  tender invitation to construction contractors,
all the businesses using the  Clump Point Boat ramp except for one ,who prefers to moor at Dunk Island, are referred to as “a small number of commercial operators...”  


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Boat access- commercial
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Boat access- recreational


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