An E-petition to the Queensland Parliament asks the Government to develop a cable ferry link between Russell Island and the Gold Coast.
For far too long the State Government and Redland City Council have neglected the big question of accessing Russell Island from the Gold Coast.
Population growth is now forcing very costly solutions on the mainland to service the islands compared to the minor cost of accessing Russell Island now.
At the moment, vehicular ferries charging very expensive fares from Weinam Creek take about an hour to reach Russell Island. Many islanders are forced to use subsidised Translink passenger ferries and park at Redland Bay instead. With population growth on Russell and Macleay Islands, islander “long term” parking at Redland Bay and at the Islands’ passenger ferry carparks have reached their sustainable limit.
Without an alternative to alleviate the car parking congestion, costly solutions for long-term parking for thousands of islanders will need to be found. Redland City council is proposing a 600 car capacity carpark at Moore’s Farm over an environmental enhancement corridor along Weinam Creek and a 1,500 car capacity multilevel car parking station slap bang on the foreshore of Redland Bay.
These two projects fall very short of the “Naturally Wonderful” part of the Council’s new brand.
Yet a fast inexpensive 600 metres cable ferry route from the Gold Coast City (see plan attached Woongoolba to Rocky Point) was examined in 2010 by GHD in a study for Redland City Council but the plan has not progressed.
The Russell Island Development Association Inc. accepting the fact that a market led proposal for a bridge may be some time off, is pushing for this vehicular cable ferry between Rocky Point and Woongoolba to take parking away from Redland Bay and not add to it.
The estimated cost of infrastructure works for the cable ferry is about $30 million and less than the cost of providing planned additions to parking at Redland Bay.
Any adverse environmental impacts of the cable ferry will be offset by not placing a car park over environmental enhancement corridor plan and the buyback of thousands of freehold drainage problem allotments on Russell Island that thankfully has occurred over the last 20 years.
Here is the link to the Parliamentary petition.
Ian Olsson
President – Russell Island Development Association Inc
Published by Redlands2030 – 5 August 2019
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One Comment
The ferry link between Russell Island and the Gold Coast sounds like a very good idea and it will reduce the parking problems at Weinam Creek. If only the residents can find a way for RCC to make money out of it they can be assured of support.
As a retired marine biologist who carried out PhD research in Moreton Bay I can confirm that the mangrove regions and wetlands of Moreton Bay are the nursery grounds of a range of marine species such as crabs, prawns, rays, turtles and a number of commercial fish species. They are also the feeding grounds of at least 34 species of shore-birds, some of which are endangered. The seagrass areas are the feeding grounds of dugong, also called sea cows because they graze like cows in the seagrass regions of the Bay. Two species of dolphins are also present in Moreton Bay and they rely on a healthy supply of fish to survive and reproduce.
We need scientists with factual information to counteract the arguments of developers who are motivated solely by profit. The wetland regions of Moreton Bay are so important to the survival of migrating shore birds that even Redland City Council has placed signs along the fore-shore at Pt Halloran and Cleveland to warn residents and tourists not to disturb the bird life areas. These signs warn of “on the spot fines” if people with dogs disturb the many species of migrating birds. These wetland regions are so important to shore-birds that they form part of an Lnternational Ramsar Agreement, which states they are to be fully protected unless the disturbance of these ecologically important zones is in the National Interest. Neither the Mayor of Redland City Council nor the Deputy Premier of Queensland State Labor have made any attempt to show how giving a wealthy developer access to dredge 100 acres of this protected wetland for a commercial unit development is in the National Interest.