Western Cape Chamber of Commerce president Jai Christie has written to Premier David Crisafulli saying the region’s freight farce will continue until the Peninsula Developmental Road upgrade is completed to give residents and businesses a freight alternative for a few extra months each year. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
An eye-watering $31,000 quote to transport a new garbage truck to Weipa has driven the region’s chamber of commerce to pen a letter to Premier David Crisafulli begging for a solution to what it says is a farcical and crippling freight situation.
In the 20 March letter, which has been seen by Cape York Weekly, Western Cape Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) president Jai Christie implores the State Government to urgently intervene to find a workable way around freighting goods to Weipa during the wet season, and highlights the criticality of the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) seal being expedited.
“While Weipa is often perceived as a high-income mining town, the reality is that a significant portion of the population is not on mining wages and cannot afford to bear these excessive freight costs,” the letter reads.
“Small businesses, schools, health services, and local industries depend on affordable, reliable freight services, and the current situation is hurting the community’s economic viability.”
The correspondence also takes aim at the government’s duty of care to ensure Sea Swift, of which it owns a 100 per cent share, is managed by the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) in the best interests of the state’s northernmost residents.
“Sea Swift is owned by [QIC], which is ultimately controlled by the Queensland Government,” Mr Christie says in the letter.
“This means the government has a direct responsibility to ensure that Sea Swift operates fairly and in the best interests of the communities it serves.
“Given the ongoing failures in affordability, reliability, and transparency, it is clear that Sea Swift, under Queensland Government control via QIC, is not operating in the best interests of the communities it serves; [i]f the government cannot ensure that Sea Swift provides a fair and effective service, then it must seriously consider divesting its ownership to allow the private sector to introduce greater competition, efficiency and accountability.”
The letter was also sent to Treasurer David Janetzki, Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg, Member for Cook David Kempton and QIC boss Kylie Rampa.
Mr Christie told Cape York Weekly the chamber believed the letter “needed to shock” the Premier and his government, especially on the back of a recent $31,000 quote to sea freight a 22.5-tonne waste management truck to Weipa.
It is estimated the dry season cost to drive the vehicle to Weipa, including fuel and labour, would be about $1,500-2,000.
“The quotes mentioned in the letter are examples of the everyday costs we need to deal with,” he said.
“There are no justifications on any of the freight quotes; there has been representatives come up from the company (Sea Swift) to meet with the chamber of commerce, and the takeaway from that was that the prices need to be that high because of running costs and overheads.
“There are no guarantees on freight that is deemed non-essential.”
Mr Christie’s concern was mirrored by Weipa Town Authority Chair Jaime Gane, who said Cape York and Torres Strait communities were fed up with the longstanding status quo when it came to remote freight.
“I think [the letter] probably reflects the fact that people are fed up with situation,” she said.
“This is not the first time that concerns have been raised, but nothing has improved.
“The people of the Cape and Torres Strait aren’t just going to sit down and accept that this is just the way it is – this is not a ‘nice to have’ service, this is an essential service for our region, and when it fails, the people on the ground are the ones that suffer.”
Mr Christie said the WCCC wanted to work with the government to come up with an answer to the problem, including a completion of the PDR and vital bridge infrastructure to make road freight a viable option for more months each year.
“I am calling on the Premier and his ministers to come to the Western Cape Futures Symposium to get first-hand experiences of the logistical and financial issues we are facing, as well as options moving forward,” he said.
“We don’t want to just give him problems to deal with – we want to work with the government to have real and lasting solutions.”
The scathing Western Cape Chamber of Commerce letter to Premier David Crisafulli says his government has a “direct responsibility to ensure that Sea Swift operates fairly and in the best interests of the communities it serves” as the sole owner of the sea freight company. Photo: Instagram (Sea Swift).
