Victoria Stone-Meadows

The third edition of the community Think Tank Meetings in Mossman on Saturday has led to two more meetings being planned.

It was revealed there has been confusion in the wider community regarding the plans for the Daintree.

It was made clear at the meeting that the Douglas Shire Sustainability Groups’s 30-year Daintree Plan document and the Douglas Shire Council’s intention to plan for the next 30-years of Daintree management are completely separate plans.

Due to the similar nature of the names, people have confused the DSSG proposal for an adopted Council document.

However, Douglas Shire Council CEO Mark Stoermer said Council are opening to changing the name of their plan, once the pieces begin to come together, to avoid confusion in the future.

It was during the discussion of the future of the Daintree at meeting that some attendees became aggressive towards the speakers.

Think Tank facilitator, Dr Alexandra Bernhardi said she is hopeful attendees of the meetings can abide by the rules of the Think Tank by engaging in civil discussion.

“The fact that a couple of residents were not able to stick to the clearly set out communication rules is reflective of frustration and fear and the urgent need to address this in an appropriate setting,” she said. 

“For Example, a meeting specifically designed and facilitated to be able to resolve these issues.”

The idea was floated at the meeting to have two more meetings in the coming weeks; the fourth general Think Tank meeting and a meeting specifically for the discussion of issues and plans relating to the communities north of the Daintree River.

Speakers at the meeting this weekend included 14-year-old environmentalist Caitlin Nulty who spoke to the room about the challenges of climate change young people are facing.

Council CEO Mark Stoermer informed attendees about the role of local government, the laws that they are governed by, and gave an overview of the Council’s major upcoming plans.

He spoke about the Port Douglas Blueprint that will bring together all the previous plans and ideas from years of community consultations into a singular vision for the town.

He also spoke about the Mossman 2025 vision that will set out how the Council and Community expect Mossman to grow in the next five years.

“Mossman is going to change and in 2025 Mossman will look different from what it does today,” he said.

“This strategy is about planning forward once we get everything together.”

Lastly, he spoke about the Council’s plan to look into and plan for the long-term future of the Daintree Region.

“This plan is about the long term issues in the Daintree; there are big thorny issues, like Climate Change, and this plan will look at issues beyond council control and bring in other levels of government as well,” he said.

“The first stage is to understand all the groups, this is a plan that needs to be comprehensive and the first step is to understand all the parties and how we do that consultation.

“This plan will take 12-18 months; it’s a big project with big issues and will take a bit more time.”

The last speaker of the day was former Douglas Shire Mayor and DSSG member Mike Berwick who spoke of the ecological importance of the Daintree region.

He stressed the need for groups with different opinions to come together to form a singular future vision for the rainforest region.

“There isn’t a coming together at the moment,” he said.

Following the Think Tank, Dr Berhnhardi said she is happy with the way the meetings have progressed and she looks forward to the insights brought forward at the next meetings.

“The Think Tank will continue to offer relevant information for interested residents and a platform for constructive exchange with the aim to build a stronger community,” she said.

Re-watch the Newsport Live Streams of the meeting here: