Sailability Whitsunday is holding a bonanza raffle for the ultimate goal of raising funds to get more disabled and disadvantaged people out on the water.
Thursday, September 15
Sailability Whitsunday holds raffle to raise funds
Wednesday, September 7
Solution sought for Airlie Beach main street
After many months of drawings, discussions and now a debate on the gun-barrel vista versus curved road design - that also centres around drainage, loss of public land and the building of a four-storey hotel - tenders have finally gone out for the upgrade of the Airlie main street.
Project Director Gary Hunt confirmed yesterday that tenders had been called in spite of the latest hiccup, which ‘Save Our Foreshore’, landowner Des Davey, the design team and Whitsunday Regional Council, will be meeting today to discuss.
“There’s quite deliberately a degree of flexibility in the way that the tender documents have gone out allowing for fine-tuning of the design during the construction process,” Mr Hunt said.
“The ideal outcome is to try to come up with a solution that satisfies the majority of people with the understanding that you can’t please everyone all of the time,” he said.
The current argument against a pronounced curve in the road comes from the proposed relocation of Mr Des Davey’s current supermarket block beside the Airlie Creek, pushing it towards the sea and onto what is effectively crown land. Mr Davey accepts there is no future for his block (in its current state) and therefore plans to redevelop, building a four-storey hotel.
“The kink (in the road) means I’ve got to go. Their (the design team’s) concept was to turn the block on its side but that doesn’t lend itself to a retail building – the end result was I would have to build a people-friendly restaurant/hotel,” Mr Davey said.
Save our Foreshore President Suzette Pelt says it is her understanding that “if just one person gets permission to build past the current building line, a precedent would be set”.
“There is a risk we would lose our foreshore. Public land is not negotiable. Once you lose it it’s gone forever” Ms Pelt said.
Several compromises have so far been suggested, one of which is for council to simply buy Mr Davey out, however Mayor Mike Brunker says this is not financially viable with no budget for any form of monetary compensation.
“The easiest thing for council to do would be to buy him (Des Davey) out, but we haven’t got the money. The people of Airlie Beach would be paying for it. People are already complaining about paying too high rates, yet we have other people saying, “buy him out – just borrow more”. It’s not like picking money off a money tree. We just can’t do that. Basically the more we can work in with Des, the less it’ll cost us,” Cr Brunker said.
“By him turning his building on its side he gets a like for like amount of land. To encourage/compensate him for dozing over his building and losing rent for so many years we’re giving him an opportunity to build a hotel on a location that suits him. This allows us to put the bend in the road, which is also to try and fix the flooding,” he said.
“To put this into perspective we’ve had 20 years of inaction and 40 reports done on the main street. Now after just 40 weeks of being in the job we’re calling tenders. Today we’re drawing a line in the sand and saying ‘this is a part of our bright prosperous future’,” Mayor Brunker said.
Mr Hunt said it was important now to work “closely with Save Our Foreshore, the Whitsunday Ratepayers Association, Des Davey and other stakeholders to explore other options that may present themselves.”
“There’s no doubt there is a willingness from all sides to find a solution,” he said.
Receivers move in on Airlie Beach
Whitsunday residents and visitors to the region can expect “business as usual” at Meridien’s Abel Point Marina, in spite of the announcement that receivers McGrathNicol were appointed on Thursday afternoon. The announcement comes less than a fortnight after Meridien’s other Whitsunday development – the Port of Airlie project – was also placed into administration.
At the time Port of Airlie hit the headlines, Meridien’s Managing Director Russell McCart was quoted as saying the group’s other holdings would be unaffected, but Whitsundays’ Mayor Mike Brunker says it was his understanding they were inextricably linked.
“They’re the same company, but in saying that it’s business as usual down there I believe,” Mayor Brunker said.
“The receivers have said they’re going to spend some money down at Port of Airlie to tidy things up but you wouldn’t expect them to spend too much. At the end of the day we’ll have to wait until a new owner is sourced for there to be any chance to move ahead,” he said.
Jamie Harris, a partner of the Brisbane office of McGrathNicol, confirmed the company had met with management and staff at the marinas and looked forward to working with them “to continue the operations of these significant providers of marine services and storage facilities”.
“We understand that tenants and the owners of boats stored and maintained at the marinas have placed significant trust in the businesses. We will provide further information to each of them over the next few days regarding ongoing operations and look forward to working with management and staff to continue to provide excellent facilities and services,” Mr Harris said.
Meridien’s Managing Director Mr Russell McCart said the marina at Abel Point was an excellent asset, had a great future and would continue to trade very well.
“The receivers have re-employed all marina staff and will continue to operate as usual without disruption,” he said.
Whitsunday MP and Tourism Minister Jan Jarratt said she was seeking a meeting with the administrators/receivers but in the interim she didn’t expect residents or visitors to notice a visible change.
“Having an administrator in charge is a serious issue, however they (the receivers) have undertaken to continue to allow businesses connected with each of those projects to operate, both now and into the future. I doubt that people will notice a practical difference,” she said.
As for the future, Ms Jarratt said it was her understanding the receivers would be “looking for an investor to come in and take over those businesses as going concerns”.
“That would be the best outcome for everyone,” she said.
With approximately 500 berths Abel Point Marina is the largest on the North Queensland coast. The Guardian understands it was purchased by Meridien for $73million in 2006.
Photo courtesy Justin Heitman
Hope on the horizon for Proserpine's canegrowers after voting the Sucrogen offer down
A week has now passed since Sucrogen’s $115million bid for the Proserpine Sugar Mill was voted down, but hope may be on the horizon.
By ten past nine the meeting was over. Some 50 stunned farmers listened while board chairman Lou Raiteri announced that the Sucrogen deal had gone down - before rushing from the entertainment centre without answering questions.
Outside the venue, small groups of farmers - some who voted yes and others who voted against the sale - discussed the future of the mill and what they thought would happen next.
Warren Watts and Ambrose Vickers agreed many of the growers had been bullied into voting.
“We’re disgusted with how it has all been handled … there has been so much secrecy,” Mr Watts said.
Andrew Stuart was talking with Ian Greenwood who has been supplying the mill for just under 100 years.
“We’re elated with the way the vote went. At least now it might have opened it up for bidding. Given everyone a fair chance now,” Mr Greenwood said.
Just hours later, the Guardian understands a meeting occurred between Proserpine and Cofco-backed Tully Sugar, who said they respected the growers’ decision in voting the Sucrogen offer down.
COFCO Australia deputy chairman Mr Keith De Lacy said Tully Sugar would immediately engage with the Proserpine Board (now that the Sucrogen offer restrictions had been removed) to ensure the loan facilities to support the mill were put in place as soon as possible.
“We’ve had a meeting with the board – it was a very constructive meeting. They’ve given us access to due diligence and we believe we can work well together in going forward,” Mr De Lacy said on Wednesday afternoon, adding, “We’ve got no intention of precluding any other bids. It’ll be an open process from here on”.
Meanwhile the Proserpine board has been ominously silent since the results of the ballot were announced. Yesterday the board issued a short statement to members announcing it had been able to “stabilise the Mill’s financial situation until at least this Friday 9 September through a combination of initiatives.”
Acting CEO Ian McBean says under the interim arrangements that have been agreed, the Sucrogen loan is now not payable until after Friday.
“In the meantime, the Board is talking to a number of parties with the intention of bringing another option to Members by the end of this week.”
New Airport Manager for the Whitsunday Coast Airport
An early morning flight from Proserpine to Brisbane, and returning that evening, will be one of the top priorities for the airport’s new business development manager Scott Waters when he steps into his new role next week.
Whitsunday Regional Council announced Mr Waters’ appointment early last week, with Mayor Mike Brunker saying he was thrilled to secure one of the state’s most experienced marketing executives for such a vital role in the Whitsundays.
The high Australian dollar, a massive decline in tourists flying into the Whitsundays, and upwards of 50 businesses closing their doors across the region over the past few months prompted council to seek the services of an experienced networking manager to start building relationships that could potentially secure the economic future of the region.
Mr Waters’ role begins on September 19, but he has already started a conversation that could take the Whitsundays to a whole new level in tourism.
"My key priority will be to secure an early morning flight – perhaps two – from Proserpine to the capital city. I just have to help the airlines understand the strength of the market here, show them how many passengers are leaking to Mackay or Townsville for their flights. But our scope is far greater than this. With the help of the community, I plan to work in with the industries that are booming, like the mining industries and economic interest from China, and start conversations there.
"There is such a huge amount of potential on the business events side of things with the Chinese plus the possibility of offering R&R getaways for miners. Our possibilities are endless."
Mr Waters has extensive experience in the aviation, travel and tourism industries and more recently as general manager of destination marketing and development with Townsville Enterprise.
Enthusiastic about his role and particularly inspired by the opportunity to return home, Mr Waters met with the Guardian to talk about his new role.
"I grew up in the Mackay/Whitsunday region, so coming home is a huge attraction for me and my family," he said.
"I know this industry very well and I have a lot of contacts. Its important for the airport to be a part of the community and that will be one of my key focuses," he said.
Gold Lotto ticket sold in Proserpine
Staff at NewsXpress were over the moon when they heard a division one Gold Lotto ticket worth $648, 605.81 drawn on Saturday night was sold in their store.
The lucky winner, a Proserpine man in his 40's has just come forward to claim his prize and explained his win was very much a surprise and his family initially didn't believe that he had won.
"I was on the computer late on Saturday night and thought I may as well check the draw. I always use the same numbers so when I saw them on the screen I immediately recognised them as mine.
"I called out to my family that I'd won Gold Lotto but they didn't believe me!
"We had quite a celebration. In fact, I'm still recovering!"
The lucky local said he had simply purchased the ticket from NewsXpress on his way to the airport to visit family in Brisbane for Father's Day.
When asked what he plans to do with his windfall he said he wasn't yet sure.
"I intend to take my time to think about it," he said.
"But I will definitely keep working."
Lyn Burke of NewsXpress said all the staff were still excited about it all.
"We were jumping up and down on Sunday. This is really great for the town and is sending out a really positive vibe, because you just never know your luck," she said.
We've also been promoting 'while the boss is away, the staff will play'. And though we haven't sold the store on them, we have sold a winning ticket!"
There were seven division one winners nationally in Saturday Gold Lotto draw 3143, with one winner each for Queensland and New South Wales, two from Victoria and three from Western Australia.
Whitsundays Mulithull Rendezvous a resounding success
The Multihull Solutions annual Whitsundays Multihull Rendezvous was declared a resounding success in both the cruising rally and race divisions.
Abel Point Yacht Club Commodore Rupert King said a total of 27 boats took part in the event, with ten racers and 17 in the cruising fleet.
“A big thank you goes to Multihull solutions for supporting this event. It’s been a fantastic week,” Mr King said.
Mr King also made special mention of the volunteers, without whom the rendezvous’ races couldn’t happen.
For local skipper Peter Berry, winning the OMR division of the race series was the icing on the cake after also performing well in Airlie Beach Race Week and the XXXX series, just a few short weeks ago.
“It’s been a good couple of weeks. Beautiful! Perfect weather – we’ve had everything from glassed-out to 20/25 knots,” Mr Berry said.
Mr Berry and his crew proudly accepted the Warren Dickinson memorial trophy at the end of the regatta, named after the skipper of a catamaran called ‘Best Company’, who passed away at this time, five years ago. The trophy is now awarded for the most outstanding performance over the rendezvous week, which Mr King said was a “very well-deserved” result.
“This guy’s boat is going like a rocket,” he said.
Marketing manager for Multihull Solutions Kim McKee said both the racing and rally fleets had enjoyed an amazing week.
“It’s all about multihull enthusiasts getting together and enjoying our magnificent region. It’s also nice for new multihull owners to know they can cruise around in company with the comfort and security of other boats around them, meeting new friends and having a good time,” she said.
Rally participant Peter Murray came all the way from Melbourne for the event and was happy to win the accolade of ‘best party boat’ for his efforts.
“We had ten people on our boat and we enjoyed it so much I think we’ve got to come back next year,” Mr Murray said.
“The camaraderie between all of the owners and competitors each night was absolutely superb. It’s a great way to meet people,” he said.
Even as the presentation party was in full swing, Ms McKee was already looking forward to next year’s rendezvous saying it would be “bigger and better than ever”.
“Multihulls are certainly growing in popularity each year and they’re perfect for the Whitsundays,” she said.
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