Bureaucratic stalemate stalls community bid to rescue historic Cygnet jetty
Cygnet locals have taken their fight to save a beloved 60-year-old wooden jetty to parliament after government departments halted community takeover plans.
Cygnet locals are being caught up in the bureaucracy between a government marine safety body and the state’s Parks and Wildlife Service, with their grassroots fight to save a 60-year-old wooden jetty making it all the way to a Legislative Council estimates committee.
The old Cygnet wooden jetty was constructed back in 1965, with an assessment deeming the jetty at the end of its use for the public.
A new jetty was constructed further down the coast on Lymington Road in 2021, but locals and experienced mariners like Bob Cleary said the new jetty doesn’t work as well for boat users.
“There’s broad community support to keep it there,” he said.
“The new jetty is pretty hopeless – it’s too high and if you’re older you can’t get up onto it, and they’ve done that for global warming, and it’s so narrow that you couldn’t get a fuel truck out on it to refuel, and it’s quite small.”
Mr Cleary said timber jetties often weren’t favoured by the government as they often deteriorate quickly compared to metal, but a loss of a lot of the timber jetties in southern Tasmania was saddening for communities, who enjoy their heritage and character.
Mr Cleary is part of a group of three who have expressed interest in taking the jetty over.
Greens MLC Cassy O’Connor brought the issues surrounding the Cygnet Jetty up in one of November’s estimate hearings with Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent and MAST CEO Lia Morris.
“Local boat builders and sailing experts were successful and paid Crown Law about $1000 to submit an application,” she said.
“In the last month or so, Statewide Moorings have expressed an interest and have offered to rebuild the jetty.
“The original group would be prepared to work with Statewide Moorings, who are a local Huon Valley business, and MAST obviously has offered to help with some of the materials and the money.
“The sticking point has been Parks, which has come up with three different excuses for why the locals shouldn’t be able to work with MAST or work to themselves to fix that jetty.”
Ms Morris told Ms O’Connor that MAST was willing “to divest the structure, but the sticking point has been it needs a lease or licence over it for a potential new ownership”.
Ms O’Connor stated the reasons provided by Parks to prevent a new lease being granted for the jetty were that the wharf is not up to standard, there wasn’t enough car parks for the facility and the jetty would cause “potential damage to the jetty foreshore”.
Following the meeting, Mr Vincent agreed that the proposed demolition date of December 1 would be postponed until conversation between himself and Parks Minister Nick Duigan could occur.
When contacted by the Mercury for comment, a PWS spokesperson said that any proposal relating to “ongoing use and management of the jetty” is a matter for MAST to consider as the infrastructure owner.
“While the jetty is located on Crown land, PWS has no authority over management of the jetty,” they said.
However, MAST reiterated the CEO’s statement, saying it would be happy to divest the jetty, but that the “issue lies with the difficulty a third party faces in obtaining a lease or licence for the site”.
“MAST is aware of ongoing negotiations between a third party and PWS but must close the jetty to the public by December 1 2025, based on engineering advice,” the spokesperson said.
“However, MAST is willing to postpone the scheduled jetty demolition to allow the third party sufficient time to finalise negotiations with PWS.”
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