Long-term solution for St Helens barway needed

JIM PLAYSTED, State Liberal candidate for Lyons
A meeting will be convened to gauge the extent to which there may be local community support for the establishment of a Georges Bay Trust to manage access to St Helens port.

St Helens is regularly beset with the problem of access to its port and this puts the local economy at serious risk.

Safe access to the port is vital for local business investment and job security, concern about reliable and safe port access is a major disincentive for mariners and industry.

At present problems with the bar way are dealt with in a crisis management fashion.

Generally there is constant wrangling between various agencies and governments and long periods of delay occur while nothing much is done.

However, whenever the problem becomes sufficiently acute the State Government is then finally forced to act to provide funding to undertake the required dredging or related works.

The presently completing contract for a $1.5M project to improve access to Georges Bay is welcome news in itself, but was a long time coming and will not provide a long term solution for the port.

The concept of a ‘Georges Bay Trust’ which is managed locally, and has regular income streams from a variety of sources including the State Government could be a superior model to provide for ongoing and regular maintenance which will keep access to the port of St Helens safe and reliable.

Following some preliminary discussions with local stakeholders including representatives from the Break O Day Council and the Barway Committee there is value in having further exploration of this concept.

A meeting involving stakeholders and the local community will be a first step in deciding whether it may be worthwhile further investigating the establishment of a ‘Georges Bay Trust’ as a solution to the problems of port access.

Shadow Minister for Infrastructure Jeremy Rockliff and Liberal Member for Lyons Rene Hidding have been briefed on the concept and are supportive of further discussion of its possibilities.