North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

HI All,
I have just returned from south and saw the comments from the Mad Mullet (MM) in regards to the Elizabeth River Boat Ramp and the funding from the NT Government to Palmerston Council.
I am disappointed that only one view was given and the MM did not speak to me personally as he knows me, but not a problem.

My name is Robert Macleod, Flying Scot; I am the Deputy Mayor for Palmerston City Council.
I have been involved with this funding and the facts are as follows:

1. Palmerston Council holds an occupational licence over a section of land at the Elizabeth River boat ramp. This land is owned by the NT Government.

2. In 2003 when the previous licence expired, Palmerston Council informed the Government that it would not renew the licence unless basic services such as power, sewerage and water were installed. Both parties negotiated that the licence would be renewed and that over the four-year period Government would fund the installation of essential services and a land use master plan for the area.

3. In 2004 the City of Palmerston received $150,000 from the Northern Territory Government as part payment for the installation of infrastructure at the boat ramp. This money is the first of a series of payments Government promised to make over four years for work at the boat ramp.

The money provided to date would only partly fund the installation of power to the site, without any additional services such as lights, security etc. The money already received is being held in reserves until enough money is available to fund the required work.

4. As directed by the NT Government, Council required a land use master plan for the area. Council contracted Sinclair Knight Merz’s Darwin office to work on the land use master plan for the area.
This involved consulting with many stakeholders including the Palmerston Game Fishing Club, Amateur Fisherman Association of the Northern Territory and various Government departments and agencies.

The draft plan looks at options to develop the ramp area including land based recreational fishing, security, and other services. The plan remains in draft form until Government has allocated the money required to fund the recommendations.
Once this has been done, the full plan will be opened for public exhibition and comment.
Council cannot use ratepayers’ money for land and areas we do not own, nor can we get facilities without money.

I am happy to discuss this with anyone that wants to discuss their concerns or wants information. Council does not hide the fact that we have the money, nor do we secretly spend the money on other items.
The MM is good at jumping to threats and accusations without finding out the proper facts.

As a fisherman, I want to see the ramp open and security, lights, facilities available to us, but at this stage Council does not have the full funds or land do complete this project.

I look forward to hear from the Mad Mullet and hopefully we can get it sorted out for the benefit of all fishermen.

I hope the money that has already been given to the council in 2004 was invested until the ramp goes ahead. At least then you will be able to have extra to spend on the ramps upgrade.

Yes, the money is placed in our account and the interest raised, whilst sitting in the bank, will be added onto the figure when it is used.

sounda like MM s ramp report is a bit like his fishing report.(shurely that wont get me jail time).

When is sounda like MM s ramp report not a bit like his fishing report?

FS will the ramp have tie off points for launching on your own and a floating pontoon. i hope so

Me too.

hard to launch and retrieve in the wind without those helpful extras. hope they do it soon so when they upgrade the berrima east arm ramp they can learn from the mistakes made on the eliz river upgrade.