Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm calls on residents to sign Shute Harbour boat ramp petition

Some have called it ‘the worst boat ramp in Australia’. Now, an MP is planning to take complaints about Shute Harbour to the top.

The boating and fishing community’s “frustration and disbelief” at the standard of Shute Harbour’s new launching facilities will be laid bare in a petition calling on the state government to “fix” the “failed” project.

Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm today officially launched the online petition, saying the community “deserves better” than the “unsafe” and “impractical” $1.39m boat ramp built by the Transport and Main Roads Department.

Ms Camm claimed the local fishing community was not consulted in the design process, and said Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey needed to visit the region and speak to constituents on the ground.

The petition calls on the state government to “immediately rectify” the issues at the Shute Harbour ramp.

“The impracticality of the boat ramp means it is unsafe, and at times impossible, to launch a boat from,” Ms Camm said.

“The boat ramp must be fixed now.”

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey previously told this publication it was “completely wrong” to suggest community consultation was not undertaken on the project, and that much of what he had seen in terms of community concern related not to the ramp itself but to parking, “which is a council responsibility”.

Mr Bailey defended the Shute Harbour ramp design, saying a new fixed walkway made of glass fibre reinforced polymer would withstand extreme weather including cyclones better than a floating walkway, require less maintenance, and “provide a safer walkway with better grip for boaties using the ramp”.

Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Angus Mitchell said the government was aware some boaties had expressed a preference for a floating walkway over fixed infrastructure, but maintained this was “not an option” in a cyclone-exposed location.

“We are confident local boaties will soon familiarise themselves with the new walkway,” Mr Mitchell said.

“One of the benefits of a fixed walkway is it allows boaties to use the boat ramp and walkway without having to get into the water.

“For those not wishing to use the walkway for any reason, the widened ramp will be a big improvement.”

Fishing community push back

Mackay and Whitsunday councils have strongly criticised the state government’s handling of boating facility upgrades across the regions, claiming some have gone ahead, or been scrapped, without “full and proper” consultation of local users’ needs.

For the second time in recent months, Whitsunday Regional Council has called for Transport and Main Roads to front up to a briefing session to clarify the status of state-led projects including the controversial new $1.39 million Shute Harbour boat ramp.

Mackay Regional Council has taken things even further, moving to get the entire Local Government Association of Queensland on board in lobbying to “ensure full and proper consultation with local government regarding the installation and construction of public boat ramps”.

Mackay and Whitsunday councils share similar concerns about boat ramps like Shute Harbour, pictured, meeting the state’s requirements but not meeting local standards. Picture: Supplied

Whitsunday councillors said it was an issue that needed to be addressed “sooner rather than later”.

Division 1 Cr Jan Clifford said the council was “still getting blamed” for TMR’s Shute Harbour works, which local boaties have roundly rejected as “inadequate”.

Division 5 Cr Gary Simpson said the council’s previous request to TMR to address community concerns more than a month ago had gone unanswered, and the Shute Harbour issue was now “festering”, with community members taking it upon themselves to campaign for changes before the facility’s scheduled opening in September.

Whitsunday Regional Council has called on the state government to address community concerns about the new Shute Harbour facilities set to open in September. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

Mackay council highlighted several points of frustration in dealing with state government controlled projects, such as being saddled with unbudgeted costs for parking and road access at state funded boat ramps, and the different levels of government disagreeing on the order of priorities.

The aim of Mackay’s lobbying, Cr Fran Mann said, would be “to ensure agreement on projects and plans and suitability for local conditions”.

“An issue we hear time and time again is that the boat ramp facilities do not suit the local conditions,” Cr Mann said, citing St Helens as a recent example.

“The state government needs to commit to genuine consultation with local government as co-funders of public boat ramps and in the interest of local residents,” she said.

Mackay’s Deputy Mayor Cr Karen May agreed, telling an August 11 council meeting: “Engaging with our community is absolutely key in all matters as far as local government is concerned.

“If the state government choose not to do that, we as a local government need to put pressure on them to do that.”

The councils’ comments came after a group of about 30 fishermen met with Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm to demand answers as to how and why they ended up with an “inept and unacceptable pontoon that doesn’t float” at the soon to be reopened Shute Harbour Marine Terminal.

Cannonvale’s Bene Lewis said the aim of the meeting was to air questions and concerns for Ms Camm to take to “higher powers”.

“Council rejected the state’s plan, however TMR had the final say and put that thing in,” Mr Lewis said of the boaties’ understanding of the situation.

Airlie Beach’s Adam Anderson said the meeting was a good opportunity to “touch base with someone (Amanda) that cares and is as pissed off as everyone else with what has or has not been done, depending how you see it”.

With regard to further expansion of boating facilities in the Whitsundays, Maritime Safety Queensland general manager Angus Mitchell said the state government was “open to considering” contributing towards a council-led feasibility study for an expansion of facilities at Grubby Bay.

In response to Mackay councillors’ criticisms, Mr Mitchell said it was wrong to suggest the state government did not undertake community consultation, calling this “an important contribution to [its] works program”.

“We work closely with major stakeholders including local members and councils to identify priority recreational boating projects throughout Queensland,” Mr Mitchell said.

He said Mackay Regional Council was responsible for all consultation on the St Helens boat ramp.