Member for Noosa Glen Elmes was again on the Noosa River this week to draw attention to the rotting hulks and took with him a media contingent.
It’s an event that may seem familiar to voters.
Mr Elmes was last on the Noosa River in the lead-up to the last state elections in January 2015, where he promised $2 million in funding should the LNP take government.
The LNP didn’t win government and the hulks remained in Noosa River.
This time, Mr Elmes took media out to the Vika, a derelict houseboat that has been sitting rotting in the Noosa River for more than 18 months.
The vessel has been well-known to the Noosa River for many years. Originally, in 2007, the Vika was moored at Jetty 17 and was a hire boat for a local business, but when the business closed it was sold. The houseboat was then seemingly abandoned.
Mr Elmes said Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) had been trying to track down the owner of the abandoned boat but weren’t able to, so it was now time to remove the unsightly eyesore.
Mr Elmes praised the work of the MSQ and police service for their “exhaustive” efforts in trying to locate the owner, and said they did a great job on a very tight budget but the 18-month process demonstrated why Noosa River’s management needed to be kept local.
“If Noosa Council has control of the river they would have rangers out here monitoring these types of vessels,” he said. “When things begin to look problematic, the rangers can be on the job.”
Mr Elmes said he and Noosa Mayor Tony Wellington were continuing to push for the management of the river to be handed to Noosa Council.
The MSQ is now awaiting quotes for the removal of the vessel with the first quote coming in at about $16,500. The removal of the vessel is expected to take place within a few weeks.
“It is a lengthy process but worth it in the hope the owner will cough up the removal cost rather than the state. Unfortunatley that has not been possible in this instance,” Mr Elmes said.
Despite working with the QPS, the owner, believed to be now living in Victoria has never been contactable. His son has been contacted and sadly has no knowledge of his father’s location and has no contact with him.
According to MSQ’s ‘Derelict Vessel Policy’, once all efforts to contact the owner have been completely exhausted a notice can be placed on the vessel declaring it derelict.
The Vika recieved a derelict notice before Christmas, which has now expired and the MSQ are now free to arrange for the boat’s removal and destruction.The first quote to remove the Vika has come in at $16,500. MSQ are calling for quotes to compare.
“I want to give full marks to Maritime Safety for working through this whole process, and putting their hat out to the government for money to get this thing off our river. Full marks to them.
“This demonstrates that we really do need a better system here. We need as a community to have a better say about the boats that come onto our river, how long they stay, the condition and that the sewage is pumped out regularly.
“Noosa has the cleanest waterway in South East Queensland, the busiest waterway in South East Queensland. We want to make it better and we want to make it safer and it can be a real feather in our government’s cap to work together with myself and council to set this authority up and roll this out in other areas in Queensland,“ Mr Elmes said.
