South Australian local governments are calling for more state government funding, to maintain and repair crumbling jetties. Several councils argue they don't have the money to safeguard the future of the jetties, which they say are vital for regional economies.
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00:00 Climbing around barricades and onto a jetty that has been closed for two summers.
00:06 These Tumby Bay residents are demanding action to restore a dilapidated community icon.
00:11 It's starting to hurt. It's hurting the town financially.
00:14 It's hurting the social fabric, the well-being of the town.
00:17 But the aging jetty needs millions of dollars of structural work to be made safe again,
00:22 a cost that the local council can't afford.
00:24 And it's far from the only location facing big costs to maintain crumbling jetties.
00:29 In Port Jermaine, the town's historic wooden jetty has been partially closed for three years
00:34 due to compromised structural integrity,
00:36 with fears it will be closed entirely if urgent repair works aren't funded.
00:40 The challenge is it's beyond us as a council to be able to put that sort of investment into these things.
00:46 Any work that's done on a marine is very expensive.
00:50 It's specialised resources and people and skills, etc. It's all high cost.
00:55 There are 75 state-owned jetties in South Australia, 35 of them are leased to local governments,
01:00 leaving those councils responsible to pay for any maintenance works.
01:04 One of the key challenges facing regional councils with a lower population is a limited rate-payer base,
01:10 generating less revenue to fix these costly structures.
01:13 It's prompting calls for the SA government to stump up more of the maintenance costs.
01:18 In much the same way that if you rent a house, you might change the lightbulbs
01:23 or do some minor repairs, the actual owner of the property should be paying for the structural repairs
01:30 and overall maintenance for those pieces of infrastructure.
01:33 While councils argue it's not enough, the state government says it has already put money on the table.
01:38 The funding before we came to office was zero.
01:42 We've increased that to $20 million and have asked councils to match that.
01:47 Leaving regional councils to foot an expensive bill or risk losing jetties forever.
01:52 [Title: The Government of Australia]