The fate of even more of Australia’s most iconic jetties are hanging in the balance as various parties battle over who should – and can afford to – foot the bill for soaring repair and maintenance bills.
Just last week, the Grey Nomads website reported on the clouds of uncertainty hovering over the likes of Tumby Bay jetty and Bunbury jetty.
Now, it seems we can add Coffs Harbour Jetty and Kingston Jetty to the list.
On the NSW Mid North Coast, the Coffs Jetty – which was first built in 1892 – is the subject of a fierce funding debate between the City of Coffs Harbour and the NSW government.
The Daily Telegraph reports that a recent state government refusal to help fund repairs has led City of Coffs Harbour Mayor, Paul Amos, to claim the jetty is simply being used as a political pawn.
Coffs Harbour's historic jetty is much loved ... and much used. PIC: Cizza
Late last year, the council sought up to $30 million from the NSW and federal governments to urgently fix the jetty.
However, the Telegraph reports that the relationship between the council and the state has grown increasingly fractious, in part due to a deadlock over the future of the Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshores.
In a letter outlining the refusal to fund the work, reference was made to the state’s plans for the foreshore, suggesting the council might like to consider supporting the concept.
However, a Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure spokesman told the Daily Telegraph that the council was the Crown land manager of the reserve where the jetty is located.
“The jetty structure, separate to the land, was handed permanently to Coffs Harbour City Council,” he said. “The structure stands on Crown land over which the Council is Crown land manager, but it is not a Crown Land asset.”
As the funding arm wrestle escalates, there are fears that the heritage-listed structure could fall into a state of disrepair.
Meanwhile, in South Australia the long-term future of one of South Australia’s most visited jetties is also up in the air … despite a multimillion-dollar state government pledge to help repair the historic structure.
Kingston District Council chief executive, Ian Hart, told Adelaide’s Sunday Mail newspaper that elected members would decide this week how to handle a state government offer of $2.87m to help repair the town’s 148-year-old jetty.
Mr Hart said councillors needed to decide if they would accept the terms of the offer, which require the council to spend at least as much from its own coffers and extend its jetty lease agreement with the government for another 15 years.
“It’s one of those situations where we are the tenant, not the landlord, a lot of the work is structural and small councils like ours, we don’t have a great capacity,” he told the Sunday Mail. “It’s a bit rich to expect a small council to share the cost of the structural repair – it’s a cost-shifting thing from the state government.”
Mr Hart said without repair, the jetty, originally built in 1884, would need to close within four to five years. He said the estimated $6m repair work the government had proposed to half fund might lengthen its lifespan by 10 years.
“That’s not best practice asset management,” he told the Sunday Mail. “There are other options, which means a much higher investment, that mean you’ve got a much longer window of future-proofing the jetty for many, many more years.”
Mr Hart said council data suggested between 43,000 to 85,000 people visited the jetty each year – an average of between 120 and 200 people a day.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis told the Sunday mail he encouraged Kingston Council to accept the State Government’s ‘generous funding offer’.
“The council currently has a long-term lease, expiring in 2051, to maintain and control the jetty,” he told the Sunday Mail. “Under the terms of that lease, it is the council’s responsibility to maintain the jetty appropriately. Clearly this has not been done.
Mr Koutsantonis said that, if the council chooses to hand the jetty back to the State Government, it is council’s responsibility, under the terms it signed up to, to return the jetty in the condition it was in when they took over its maintenance.
“I encourage the Kingston council to put the politics of complaint aside and accept this very generous funding offer so their residents and the broader South Australian community can continue to enjoy this asset into the future,” he said.
There are 75 state-owned jetties in South Australia, 36 of which are leased back to local government on long-term contracts on the condition the councils pay for their maintenance.
Earlier this year, a Local Government Association study found that the economy in South Australia could lose over $103 million every year if jetties along that state’s coastlines ceased to exist.
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If you wait for Labor governments to help rural areas you will be waiting forever.
The only way is to vote out Labor and elect a solid Liberal and National Government.
I’m not saying the current lot but we need the capitalists back in to save our country from ruin. My opinion.
Bring back the minister for everything, Morrison I say. LOL.
The funds outlaid on the maintenance of these piers & jetties would be better spent on other community amenities like childcare centres & health facilities.