Cairns port masterplan: Naval expansion hinges on overdue marine precinct design

The city’s naval and industrial future hangs in the balance as a masterplan collects cobwebs a year after it was due for completion – and the former boss of the Australian Army wants action.

THE city’s naval and industrial future hangs in the balance as a critical masterplan collects cobwebs more than a year after it was due for completion – and the former boss of the Australian Army wants action.

Ports North last published a project update for the Cairns marine precinct masterplan on its website in November 2019, flagging a completion date from February to May 2020.

Almost a year later, Covid-19 was blamed for the failure to complete the document.

“The masterplan would have been finished apart from a thing called Covid,” Ports North chairman Russell Beer said in September last year.

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In March, the date was pushed back to “mid-year” 2021, and in April it was extended to “within six months”.

An October 2021 completion is now looking most likely – almost a year and a half late – but the organisation has refused to provide any reason for the delay.

“There’s nothing to add, there are no (further) delays and it is progressing with consideration of the Cairns Marine Precinct development,” a Ports North spokeswoman said.

In the meantime, the port’s expansion potential remains a mystery.

Retired Lieutenant General John Grey said the region needed clarity.

The declaration of Cairns as the Department of Defence’s first regional maintenance centre and $150m-plus HMAS Cairns expansion plans have increased the urgency.

“The maintenance centre is obviously going to provide our shipping companies with an ability and requirement to repair naval vessels,” Lt Gen (Ret) Grey said.

“They will also be repairing stuff that is highly classified.

“The precinct itself has got to be a secure precinct from that security perspective, and they should be working towards that.

“At the moment, we can’t see any evidence that they are.”

Lt Gen (Ret) Grey said one of the biggest problems would be determining the location of public roads.

Available land is in short supply, and HMAS Cairns cannot simply extend its reach if it means public roads wind through its high-security footprint.

“We’ve also got the trawler base in the middle and the public boat ramp,” Lt Gen (Ret) Grey said.

“In my mind, if you are going to make a proper marine precinct, these two things need to be moved.

“A number of people in the public won’t want the boat ramp move, but you can probably give them a better ramp outside the precinct.”

Lt Gen (Ret) Grey, who once held the Australian Army’s most senior appointment, was under no illusion that creating the masterplan was a difficult job.

“It would have been easier if they could have looked ahead years ago and started to work things out then,” he said.

“Now there are all sorts of things owned by the public that will get in the road of what they’re trying to do.”

Transport Minister Mark Bailey acknowledged there had been delays but said the State Government was working with Defence and operators to ensure they were kept in the loop.

Ports North has bought 2.3ha of land to allow it to build two new wharves in Smith’s Creek and at Commercial Fisherman’s Base Number 2 – due to be used by the navy and Border Force for in-water vessel maintenance.

A separate business case for the precinct’s future development as a repair and maintenance centre is also under way.

“Separate to the work happening now on developing the Cairns Marine Precinct, Ports North is also in the final stages of a Master Planning process,” Mr Bailey said.

“That exercise has a longer term focus, which involves developing a 30 year vision for the ports of Cairns and Mourilyan.

“That’s about looking at how those ports could be expected to grow between now and 2050 and mapping out the land use, infrastructure and operational decisions that will need to be made to support that growth.

“That work was expected to have been completed by now but was delayed last year due to Covid-19.

“It’s now expected to be done towards the end of this year and is not at all holding up HMAS Cairns and the Cairns Marine Precinct planning.”

Shifting some military or other maritime operations to Admiralty Island is a possibility – particularly on the north end where concrete-slab remnants of a World War II US army base remain – but Lt Gen (Ret) Grey thinks it unlikely due to the environmental and financial impact.

Originally published as Cairns port masterplan: Naval expansion hinges on overdue marine precinct design