A Long time Port Douglas resident sent this open letter to Margaret Cochran, Cairns Regional Council Deputy Mayor.

Friday, March 9th

Hello Margaret,
                    I am writing this to keep you up-to-date and informed as to the actions the Port Douglas Waterfront Protection Association have put in place following this very sad and devastating decision by the Cairns Regional Council to so obtrusively and wrongly destroy 49 Coconut palms on our beautiful beach without any sensible or reasonable public consultation.

Margaret the Waterfront Protection Association members are not "tree huggers" or a "radical left-wing Greenie group". We are a consultative and communicative not for Profit Incorporated Association (inc. 2005) made up of everyday mums and dads, business people, local and absentee property owners.

The Association's mission statement is simply seeking the best possible outcomes for our waterfronts to the benefit of the entire community.  As you well know Margaret this beautiful place is like a magnet attracting many who wish to exploit the benefits of this environment for their own selfish ends and or profit with little or no consideration to the legacy that they may leave behind to the detriment of the future of this community.

The legacy of any community "Vouched Safe" to its future generations must only be decided by that community through "Genuine Public Consultation".
 

Margaret to date the Waterfront Protection Association has sought legal advice from our Solicitors and further advice from the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) we anticipate having the benefit of this advice early this coming week. 

We have been in consultation with all of the organisations, associations, businesses and groups of the former Project Advisory Group (PAG) including many more that have just come out of the woodwork indicating the extent of the anger felt by the entire community.

We are seeking to have all 49 Coconut palms, fully grown, replaced and appropriate undergrowth foliage restored.  Margaret I am deferring the conclusion of this letter until I have spoken with you tomorrow, on-site, to be able to sensibly evaluate your thoughts and feelings regarding this matter also any proposed course of action you may take.

Sunday, 11 March 2012.

I can assure both Julia and yourself, that individuals and associations representatives, who met you on site, certainly appreciate and respect your response and concern on behalf of the Cairns Regional Council.

"Where the Bloody Hell was a Response from the Mayor"?

Margaret although you have agreed to the aforementioned wishes of the community and to table them at the next council meeting the Waterfront Protection Association must continue with its legal preparations on behalf the community.

Quite frankly I suggest, to you, that an immediate extraordinary full Council meeting in Mossman be called before the escalating PROBLEMS in Douglas get totally out of hand.

The Council's decimation of the trees on our 4 mile beach is really "the Straw That Broke the Camel's Back".  I say this as I know you are aware of the co-related other Waterfront problems that we are currently experiencing with this Council and its Management Team, causing again, well justified anger and deep concern in the community.

The matters I refer to Margaret can be directly and indirectly attributed to the appallingly irresponsible decisions made by this Councils Management Team.  In May last year I addressed the full Council in a deputation regarding this Councils Management Team at the Mossman Council Chambers.

You may remember that I suggested to the Council that in order to re-establish any "trust" between the Council and the Douglas community it would be necessary to totally replace the senior members of your Management Team and in not doing so it would come back to bite the Cairns Regional Council firmly on the arse. "This is certainly proving to be the case". 

Irrespective of the impending local government elections and whatever the results, even with a completely new Council, this situation will remain the same, as long as the Regional Councils bureaucrats are permitted to maintain the dictatorial, arrogant and recalcitrant attitude firmly adopted by CEO Lyn Russell ,development manager Liz Colyer and others against the majority wishes of the people of Douglas.

This is not de-amalgamation political speak this is just plain common sense.

Quite frankly Margaret one must seriously question why we need a Mayor and Councillors at all, as clearly they no longer have the authority, required by them, over these bureaucrats to democratically and sincerely represent the needs of the people that elected them.

Margaret I sincerely wish you well in the forthcoming elections, but please keep in mind that the Douglas community will not retreat from its resolve in seeing these important issues addressed.

Kind regards
Tony Purves
Port Douglas Waterfront Protection Association Inc
P.O Box 99 Port Douglas, Far North Queensland, Australia 4877.


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