A failed North Queensland residential and tourist development has been a point of contention for the community of Cardwell for more than 30 years. Natural disaster, dubious environmental approvals, and false starts have left the town’s main port silted and unusable for much of the day. While some say there is cause for hope, critics remain steadfast in their opposition.
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00:00An early morning start for an idyllic day on the water.
00:06Just hours later, the same port, muddy, silted and unusable.
00:12It's really been ongoing since Yassie.
00:14Businesses here really depend highly on visitor numbers and basically our main attraction
00:20here is our fishing and boating and we're losing that.
00:23It was an early 90s vision of eccentric developer Keith Williams.
00:27The project was dogged with environmental opposition, financial troubles and natural
00:32disaster.
00:34Its centrepiece, the port, was dredged at the cost of the developer.
00:38We've got the most magnificent waterways out there.
00:40We've got the Hinchinbrook Channel just sightseeing out there.
00:42We've got the reef.
00:44We just need access to it.
00:46It's not just businesses impacted.
00:47It's a major safety issue.
00:50Someone rings up the wrong tide, they could be waiting for us for five hours before we
00:55can even put the boat in the water.
00:57Which is what happened in the rescue of two capsized kayakers.
01:01Some good Samaritans stepped in.
01:03With $1.5 million of federal money on the table, but not yet delivered, there are glimmers
01:09of hope.
01:10The Premier has also pledged that if elected, the state will acquire land and dredge, but
01:15only in the first instance.
01:18An independent report commissioned by the council has found that a long-term solution
01:22to provide all-tide access would cost at least $20 million, and include an up-front
01:28$10 million capital cost.
01:31If it's something that needs to be dredged maybe once every 10 years, that might be economically
01:35viable.
01:36However, if it's something that needs to be dredged once every two years, entirely different
01:40set of economics.
01:41The local member hopes the state's help will make the port attractive to a new buyer.
01:46This whole property was set up incorrectly in the first place, and we need to sort that
01:51out.
01:53We need to finally realise that.
01:54But environmentalists say the development was doomed from the start, and any effort
01:59to turn it back to its former glory would be wasted.
02:02This project's been an unmitigated disaster from day one.
02:05Because of the location of where it is, because of the high siltation rates that occur here,
02:10there's no way that a project like this can be successful.
02:15With fresh concerns, the storage of acid sulphate spoils could be leaching back into the environment,
02:20and the knock on costs of any project going forward.
02:23This is a community of aged people.
02:25They don't want a boat ramp, they want a fricking bus service.