Commercial boat operators who have just days left before they are evicted from an inner-city marina are holding out hope that an 11th-hour meeting with the state government will throw them a lifeline.
Key points:
- A meeting will be held next week to determine how to help commercial river operators
- Operators have until March 4 to leave Kangaroo Point’s Dockside Marina
- A petition has been started urging governments to help business owners
Businesses based at Kangaroo Point’s Dockside Marina such as Prawnster, Brisbane Jet Skis, GoBoat, and Yot Club have until March 4 to find new locations to operate from or risk having to close.
Many operators have claimed the Queensland Department of Resources and Brisbane City Council directed them to moor at the marina as a temporary measure, but now the state government has told them to leave.
A petition from residents of the neighbouring Dockside Apartments spurred on the eviction notice.
Mayor Adrian Schrinner said Resources Minister Scott Stuart had agreed to “talk about the next step”.
A spokesman for the minister said the meeting would take place “next week”.
Cr Schrinner has previously said he supported the businesses staying in city reaches of the river.
“I’m keen to work with the state government to get more mooring facilities across the river and certainly those commercial tourism operators are our first priority,” he said.
Meanwhile, the owner of one of the affected businesses has been encouraged by the more than 1,000 people who have signed a Change.org petition calling for some resolution to the issue.
Wayne Miller owns Aquarius Charters and said Brisbane River hospitality businesses had been sorely neglected.
Most owners want a new commercial marina to be built, or for the existing lease at Dockside Marina to be changed to allow businesses to operate at the location.
Prawnster owner Martin Brennan runs a seafood restaurant from a trawler and said customers had already started cancelling bookings because they were unsure whether the business was operating.
He and a solicitor have sent letters to the ministers for resources and tourism and to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“Ceasing to trade is just not an option. We’ve got people who are cancelling bookings. It’s damaging our business even before we’ve gone,” Mr Brennan said.
“They need to solve a problem that is entirely of the government’s making.”
Mr Brennan all but ruled out putting in a bid for compensation from the state government.
“I just don’t want to find myself in that position,” he said.
