Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr has sent an open letter to the former contractors of the Daintree River ferry requesting that the redacted matter in the Daintree River Ferry Probity Report be released and they provide full disclosure of recent negotiations.

In his letter to Chris and Charmain Norris, he writes: “I am writing to express my sincere disappointment about the extensive legal efforts undertaken by Council to give our community complete transparency regarding the recent Daintree Ferry contract negotiations to no avail.

“On behalf of ratepayers, I would like to respectfully request permission to publish all the details which have been redacted from the Daintree River Ferry Probity Report.” 

The Norris’ address is redacted in the Mayor’s letter.

On October 13, Newsport reported that the now released probity audit, undertaken by Local Buy Probity and costing $45,000, examining the three-year process for the Daintree River Ferry Service contract, offers a number of recommendations but is overshadowed by redactions in the latter part of the report.

There are numerous redactions in the area titled: Attachment A - Project Timeline Daintree River Ferry Contract Renewal - Activity Timeline.

And another area titled: Attachment C - Summary of key contractual terms 2005-6 Daintree River Ferry Contract Summary of key contract terms from the 2005-2006 contract that were relevant to the negotiations through-out 2020/21, there are five bullet points which have all been redacted.