Daintree River ferry: Douglas Shire Mayor fighting for removal of redactions into ferry probity report
A Far North mayor is fighting to have secret details about a $4.5m council purchase made public, stating the community deserved to know the “full story”.
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DOUGLAS Shire Mayor Michael Kerr is fighting to have secret details about the council’s purchase of the Daintree River ferry made public.
Cr Kerr has written to the former contract holder in an attempt to get redactions removed from negotiations detailed in a probity report into the cable ferry.
He conceded at an ordinary meeting in November the vessel purchase “was not the perfect result we were looking for” after they acquired it for $4.5m from Sirron Enterprises Pty Ltd, almost four times the independent valuation.
He said he had been left “disappointed” by the lack of transparency surrounding the deal and had personally written to the former contractor.
“Our residents and ratepayers deserve to know the full details surrounding Douglas
Shire Council’s acquisition of the ferry vessel,” the letter said.
“Now that negotiations are finished and the transaction complete, I don’t believe it is right, nor fair to our ratepayers that you could consider hiding behind commercial in-confidence as a reason for not allowing the disclosure of the full facts of the matter.”
Cr Kerr said the community deserved to know the “full story” around why council made the decision to “secure the future of the river crossing”.
A stalemate over the negotiation of a new ferry contract with Sirron, which expired in June, led to the sensational purchase from council.
There had been fears the service would cease for a period of time leading up to the decision, leaving many residents north of the river stranded.
Cr Kerr said he wrote the letter to express his frustrations about the extensive legal efforts
undertaken by the council “to give our community complete transparency regarding the
recent Daintree Ferry contract negotiations to no avail”.
“On behalf of ratepayers, I would like to respectfully request permission to publish all
the details which have been redacted from the Daintree River Ferry Probity Report,” the letter read.
“In the interest of transparency, our community deserves to know the full story around the
tireless efforts made by council to secure the future of the river crossing.”
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Originally published as Daintree River ferry: Douglas Shire Mayor fighting for removal of redactions into ferry probity report
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