Fire at Fish D'Vine

One of the Whitsunday’s premiere dining venues has been extensively damaged by fire, which ripped through the two-storey building early on Monday morning.

 The kitchen at the newly opened Fish D’Vine on the corner of Shute Harbour Road and the Esplanade in Airlie Beach was engulfed in fames when firies arrived at the scene just after 1am.

 Business owner Kevin Collins said he was first on the scene after the security company had called to notify the alarm had been activated.

 “I thought maybe someone was trying to break in but when I got here the kitchen was well and truly on fire,” Mr Collins said.

 “I had the fire hose in one hand and my mobile in the other calling Triple-0. I was scared.

 “The police got here then the firies…but there’s basically nothing left of the kitchen and the entire place is smoke damaged,” Mr Collins said.

 Police and forensic investigators were at the scene on Monday to determine the cause of the two fires, the second one sparking later that morning, the firies said, in a dryer under the building’s stairwell.

 While Fish D’Vine has been a popular venue in the Whitsundays for some seven years, recently moving from the Esplanade into their prominent corner position some 18 months ago, Mr Collins said it would only be a matter of time before they were up and running once again.

 “Well we managed to save the rum!” he said, “So when we re-open, bigger and better, we’ll celebrate with smoked mackerel and rum,” he joked.

Complaints voiced at Villa Botanica

Controversy is deepening at ‘Australia’s most romantic venue’ (Australian Traveller Magazine), with roughly 30 people publicly protesting the activities of boutique Whitsunday wedding business Villa Botanica last weekend.

 In a letter to the editor in last week’s Guardian, Villa Botanica’s manager Janet Hogan said opposition to the current development application (DA) for 80 person weddings, in the rural, residential-zoned suburb of Woodwark, was orchestrated by a “small” group, “based on emotion and fiction rather than fact”, however a significant number of lot owners, their families and supporters have disagreed.

 The Hogan’s immediate neighbour Dagmar Thomsen (who has objected to the DA) said, “This is not about submissions for or against. It’s about one family (the Hogans) against 40 families”.

 “Council needs to realise what they could be opening up (if the DA is approved). Anyone who has a beautiful house or garden could do this. We’ll have no residential land left,” she said.

 Chairman of the recently formed Botanica Lot Owners Group Warren Hancock said Saturday’s gathering was merely a prelude to a potentially larger protest, which would be timed to coincide with a wedding.

 “At this stage we’re looking to organise a peaceful protest around the time of a wedding. We’re not trying to create any disruption; we just don’t want to be overlooked. It’s important that people know what’s happening.”

 “One of the main tasks we set ourselves was in response to the Hogan’s propaganda about having no complaints. The lot owners wanted to make sure council knew more than half of us were objecting to this and wanted to be heard,” Mr Hancock said.

Ms Hogan said the gathering was a publicity stunt and if the protesters were sincere “they would have stood at the gate for three or four hours to count the traffic”.

“I could have people waving placards in the street saying ‘save our business’ but I don’t believe that’s the right way to approach this. This has to be decided by facts not pressure. Hopefully council will have the common sense to see this for what it is.”

“All we are doing is changing our business model from fewer guests, more weddings to more guests, fewer weddings. I’ve listened to anyone with a valid concern and addressed it. We want to operate as a responsible business,” she said.

Villa Botanica will appear on Channel 7’s Better Homes and Gardens on Friday May 20 at 7.30pm.

The Great Cane Robbery

The sugar industry, that has kept the town of Proserpine alive and prosperous for well over a century is on the brink of a $140 million debt, around $10million of which rests in the Proserpine area.

 Due to what local farmers are calling a "sweetheart deal" between the Proserpine Sugar Mill and Queensland Sugar Limited (QSL) over shortfalls in sugar from 2010, approximately two-thirds of this debt could be passed to the growers – a debt they say is not theirs to pay.

 General Manager of the Australian Cane Farmers Association (ACFA) Stephen Ryan said, “The issue is that some people are going to go bankrupt over this”.

 Manager of Canegrowers Proserpine Mike Porter said, “I wouldn’t like paying $10 million either. “Yes the growers are starting to complain and quite rightly so. They need to have answers about what went wrong”.

 “What this comes down to is who owns that debt. The mill is prepared to accept some but not all of it.

 “Who is to blame? Is it the growers because they couldn’t deliver? Or is it the mill because they overstated or didn’t reduce the estimate down? Who is responsible for a weather event?”

 Mr Porter said his organization had been dealing with the mill for around eight weeks to try to resolve the issue of ownership of that debt.

 “We have yet to receive legal confirmation that that the growers are responsible for that debt.

 Local cane farmer Bob Bennett maintains the debt should belong to the mills and QSL.

 “This debt has come about through non-delivery and poor forward estimates by the mills coupled with an aggressive forward selling regime by QSL. We as growers had no access to the Raw Sugar Supply Agreement (RSSA).

 “We’ve basically got a non-disclosed contract overriding our supply contracts that could cost us the shirts off our backs if the mills have their way.”

 Fellow farmer Trevor Biggs asked, “At what point does the responsibility shift to the mill? If you can go back to your supplier at any time to recover your losses you can’t go broke. This is unconscionable conduct at its worst.

“We believe the capital reserves on balance sheets at the mill should be utilized for this bill. There’s too many marginal growers that can’t sustain this sort of a hit,” Mr Biggs said.

 CEO of the Proserpine Co-operative Sugar Milling Association John Power held firm that this was an industry debt and the industry as a whole should be prepared to pay.

 “They (the farmers) get two-thirds of the revenue and they get two-thirds of the risk,”

 “This has been a constant for many years. Unless people want to change the split of revenue sharing why would anyone in the milling industry take on more risk?

 “The risk has always been there, but it took the terrible rainfall of 2010 to bring it out.

 Mr Power said QSL have committed to discussions, starting next month, which will look at how the pools operate both now and in the future.

Relay for Life

More than 350 people converged on the Whitsunday Sports Park last weekend to raise money for Cancer Council Queensland in a symbolic ‘Relay for Life’. A total of 20 teams walked for almost 18 hours, commencing at 3pm on Saturday afternoon and finishing shortly before 9am the next day.

 Master of Ceremonies John Powell described Saturday’s candle lighting ceremony (in remembrance of loved ones lost) as a “very moving event”.

 “There would have been at least two hundred candles around the track. It really brought the meaning of the moment home to everyone,” Mr Powell said.

 Cancer survivor and Relay for Life PR person Corrie Gardner said this was the first year she had actually participated in the event.

 “Walking all night might sound painful, but when you share it with friends it’s actually a really nice experience.

 “I just could not believe the atmosphere. It was all about friendship and warmth and supporting each other – which you don’t see enough of these days,” she said.

 Ms Gardner said through a combination of individual and team efforts almost $20,000 was raised for Cancer Council Queensland under the banner of the Relay for Life event.

 Regional fund raising co-ordinator for Cancer Council Queensland Rebecca Pascoe said this was amazing.

 “To have that many people involved in a regional area is always inspiring – there were so many young people there, and that’s one of the things we need to keep the message going,” Ms Pascoe said.

Tribute to Whitsunday Nurses

Nurses in the Whitsunday region were congratulated on Thursday, which marked International Nurses Day for the work they do within the local community.

 The Proserpine Hospital hosted an afternoon tea and presented special awards to local nurses to acknowledge the positive influence they have not only patients’ lives but also on the lives of their families and friends.

 Acting director of nursing and facility manager Donna Martin said all nurses should be proud of themselves and International Nurses Day is a time to reflect and pay tribute to them.

 “They go above and beyond the call of duty. It is important they know they are respected and acknowledged for what they do,” Ms Martin said.

 Proserpine Hospital clinical nurse Tina Badenhorst was awarded the Mackay Health Service District Nurses’ Nurse award last week as well as the Peta Watson memorial trophy for the positive work she brings to the hospital staff’s team. 

Battle for Villa Botanica

70-Year-old Dagmar Thomsen believes her chance for a peaceful retirement could be shattered if Council approves a controversial development application at Villa Botanica.

 Ms Thomsen owns a block of land outside the Botanica residential estate, which directly abuts the boutique-wedding venue ‘Villa Botanica’. Owners of Villa Botanica and developers of the gated estate Ralph and Janet Hogan currently hold a permit to operate small 15 person weddings, which they have now applied to expand.

 Ms Thomsen and other landowners within the Botanica precinct say the Hogans have been running larger weddings for some time, despite the fact their current permit does not entitle them to do so. Ms Thomsen and the Body Corporate of Botanica estate say they are now prepared to go to the planning court if the application is approved.

 “Before I even signed the papers I told them (the Hogans) my situation. I’ve worked hard in the tourism industry for 27 years. I wanted to make sure I had distance from my neighbours. They said it was a small family business and they had no aspirations to get any bigger,” Ms Thomsen said.

 “Now I have to put up with the noise and traffic. I try to avoid coming down here anymore. I got physically sick. I’m stressed out. This is just the worst thing.”

 Meanwhile the Hogans say it was never their intention to upset anyone; merely that their business model has evolved.

 “We would do anything to get on with our neighbours. We love this property,” Mr Hogan said.

 “The best solution in all of this is for people to come here and see the venue. I don’t see that we’ve compromised anyone’s peace and quiet. Time will prove that. At the end of the day it will all come down to whether we are genuinely causing a problem or not,” Ms Hogan said.

 Chairman of the Botanica Body Corporate Greg Lange says he feels very sorry for Dagmar.

 “The poor lady must be devastated,” he said.

 “How many councillors would like to be in Dagmar’s shoes? This is not what the town plan had set aside for this area. Gated residential estates are about homes and residences, not commerce.”

 Mayor Mike Brunker said Council was planning to make its decision at the end of this month during an ordinary council meeting.

 “It will be assessed under the town planning scheme and the objectors submissions will all be taken into account like in any other development application we assess,” he said.

 Cr Brunker said Council had decided not to waste time and money on prosecuting the Hogans (for their current practices), now that their application was lodged because of prior precedents.

 “In previous cases where we’ve tried to issue an injunction the judge ruled that the application had to be heard first,” Cr Brunker said.

 “In the meantime I would prefer them (the Hogans) to stick to the original licence of 15 person weddings,” he 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.