FERRY DEBACLE – Daintree residents furious as restricted hours impact livelihoods, locals question honesty of Douglas Shire Council
OPERATING HOURS
A portion of Daintree residents remain bewildered suggesting the reason and rationale given for the Daintree Ferry’s ongoing reduced operating hours is nothing more than absolute baloney.
As it stands the Daintree Ferry is only open 6am-6pm to essential services, Daintree tourists based between Forest Creek and Cow Bay, residents north of the Daintree River and emergency service personnel.
Council said these current restrictions “are in line with QPWS’s closure of the Daintree National Park”.
However, Newsport has looked into the accuracy of Council’s statement and has received information that contradicts its current public messaging to Douglas Shire residents about the matter.
This is a big issue because several Daintree residents are shift workers including at least four health care workers who live at Forest Creek, some of whom who are nurses at Mossman Hospital.
A Newsport source said some of these workers can’t get to or from work due to the current ferry hours, while, separately, some ferry staff are currently losing 14 hours per day in wages despite local experts firmly believing the ferry is more than safe to currently operate after dark.
The ferry’s current operational hours continue to impact a number of people and “significantly reduce or eliminate some people’s ability to earn an income,” our source suggested.
In recent days a source said a Douglas Shire Council representative told them the ferry continues to run on reduced hours due to safety concerns determined by the Cairns Harbour Master.
However, when the Cairns Harbour Master was contacted about this matter, they said they knew nothing about the revised timetable restrictions imposed by Douglas Shire Council.
Further, they also reiterated they knew nothing about Douglas Shire Council suggesting the Cairns Harbour Master was or is the final determinant behind the Daintree Ferry currently having a reduced operating schedule.
Late, yesterday, through a public social media post Douglas Shire Council this time said “the Ferry remains on restricted hours to remain in line with QPWS’s closure of Daintree National Park” – strangely, in the same statement there was no public mention about the Cairns Harbour Master being the reason behind the current reduced hours of the ferry like they had first suggested.
“The ferry staff I have spoken to who drive and work on it every day and have been on there for many years agree it should be operating as normal and there are no safety concerns (as a result of Cyclone Jasper and the flood event),” our source told us.
“Douglas Shire Council said they didn’t decide it was going to be restricted hours and to contact Estrada for more information, yet the Daintree Ferry staff say it is the Council who have restricted its operation.”
There’s a growing theory amongst Daintree residents Council doesn’t want people travelling to Cow Bay after the escort vehicles cease at 5.45pm; or the current operating hours continue to be implemented to save Council money in wages.
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