Action group finds a way forward for Hydeaway Bay

 Members of the newly formed Hydeaway Landslide Action Group have potentially found a way forward for the disaster-stricken residents of Hydeaway Bay.

 A letter containing 70 signatures was presented to council last week, requesting a submission be made to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

 Spokesperson for the group Dan Glasgow said this would allow Hydeaway Bay to qualify for disaster status as per Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods.

 “We’re sitting on a time bomb. This could happen again,” Mr Glasgow said.

 Mr Glasgow said the group was calling on the Premier to visit Hydeaway Bay.

 “She has visited every other natural disaster area this year so we’re requesting that she visits us to see the circumstances we’re living in firsthand. We have discovered that the then Premier Wayne Goss visited Hydeaway Bay after landslides in 1991,” Mr Glasgow said.

 Former Mayor Glen Patullo, (1988-94) confirmed this, saying he personally flew over the area with Premier Goss and decided further development should be prohibited at the western end of Hydeaway Bay.

 “The shire council spent about $460,000 on a new town plan to that effect. We almost had it completed and then in 1994 I was voted out. As I understand it the following council saw fit to sack the consulting town planner,” Mr Patullo said.

 “It’s my understanding the state government and department of local government approved further development, and that makes them directly responsible for what has happened now,” he said.

 Current Mayor Mike Brunker confirmed council had now made a submission to QRA as requested, but Cr Brunker stressed the process would take time.

 “This is not going to be fixed overnight,” he said.

 Mr Glasgow said he was very happy to hear council had referred the matter to QRA.

 “However, we suspect that if we can’t move this to a state government level the process will stall,” he said.

 Mr Glasgow also said council needed to release geotechnical reports as previously promised.

 “We need that for the first step and in order to decide what further geotechnical investigations may be necessary,” he said.

 Member for Whitsunday Jan Jarratt said she believed QRA was the appropriate body to be assessing the situation at Hydeaway Bay under the disaster declaration.

 “I’m fairly confident that the process is proceeding as it should,” Ms Jarratt said. 

Action group formed at Hydeaway Bay

In the wake of March’s devastating landslides, an action group has now formed at Hydeaway Bay.

 Spokesperson for the group Dan Glascow, said many of the residents felt abandoned by both local and state governments.

 “Everybody who bought here had a right to expect they would be safe.

 “The event was of such gravity they (council) called in a geotechnical engineer and declared it a natural disaster area. They recognised the seriousness and threat to life and property but then they left and now they’re not responding to what we say,” Mr Glascow said.

 Mr Glasgow said residents wanted risk assessments of every property.

 “We need a consultant who’s going to look at what’s safe and what isn’t. If these things can’t be managed in some way then this place is uninhabitable,” he said.

 Mayor Mike Brunker said council could not go onto private property and protect the residents from future slides.

 “We can’t reassure them it won’t happen again. I suggest they get some advice from a geotechnical engineer,” Cr Brunker said.

 Action group members met yesterday with LNP candidate for the seat of Whitsunday Jason Costigan to discuss their options.

 “I have heard the concerns of residents firsthand and while I have no magic wand I will be doing my best to achieve some positive outcomes for them,” Mr Costigan said.

 Mr Glascow said this was just the start.

 “We expect a long haul,” he said.

No payments for landslide victims at Hydeaway Bay

Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen has accused Mayor Mike Brunker of undermining landslide victims at Hydeaway Bay.
Mr Christensen said he wrote to the Attorney General in the wake of the landslide, requesting disaster relief payments be made to victims, but Cr Brunker said no one had suffered hardship and therefore payments would not be made.
"Not only is that a slap in the face from their own mayor, it undermines any chance those residents had of compensation for the situation they now find themselves in," Mr Christensen said.
To read the full story pick up a copy of the Whitsunday Coast Guardian, available now from leading news agencies, service stations, Coles (Cannonvale) and the Chapman Street office in Proserpine.

Hydeaway Bay residents return home

Mayor Mike Brunker, MP Jan Jarratt and Geotechnical expert Graeme Jardine attended an urgent meeting at Dingo Beach last week following which Hydeaway Bay residents have now returned to their homes.
To read more on this and other news stories pick up a copy of the Whitsunday Coast Guardian, available now at leading newsagencies, Coles (Cannonvale) and the Chapman Street office in Proserpine.

Whitsundays drenched by torrential rain

Flooding rains have caused havoc throughout the Whitsundays, blocking the highway near Proserpine on several occasions and shutting shops across the entire region.
Fourteen homes at Hydeaway Bay were evacuated by police on Wednesday night after landslides occurred, with the area being declared a natural disaster zone.
Meanwhile the heavy rain has badly affected the region's roads with council's mayor Mike Brunker saying the Bruce Highway in particular has seen a lot of potholes appear.
"Council workers are out assessing the entire road network and a report will be compiled by week's end so that we can get crews out there working on patching up the roads," Cr Brunker said.
To read more on this and other Whitsundays news stories, pick up a copy of the Whitsunday Coast Guardian, available now (in spite of the rain!) from leading newsagencies, Coles (Cannonvale) and the Chapman Street office in Proserpine.