JUNGLE DRUM: Time for the Ferry (and DSC) to step up
LAWRENCE MASON COLUMN
The Daintree Ferry is widely touted as the ‘The Gateway to the Daintree’ and there is lots of talk about how this rusty old beast makes tourist happy and ‘Saves the Daintree’ every day. But does it really?
Let’s look at one aspect; pricing over three years:
Just to be fair I pulled our café pricing and subjected it to the same scrutiny over the same three years:
Chips standout with a big increase but you would need to live under a rock not to know that both oil and chips increased dramatically during this time.
I would argue that the pricing on the ferry has gone well outside normal parameters for some reason, and is way too high to sustain tourism. Visit in 2024 with a Caravan and get slugged 56% more in 2024! Decide to rent a car and enjoy the whole area, and pay a whopping 204% more for your multi day pass. Hitch hike for a 100% increase!
Day tour companies cannot have put prices up even 23.4% since 2021. And if the 21+ seat brigade tried to recoup by increasing prices 37.6%, the bailiffs would have been round in no time. This ferry is being run completely outside the tourism spectrum on many levels, and with no thought at all as to impacts on tourism businesses, which are the main employer and even more vital now with the mill woes.
The news that DSC has finally made a decision to get a private contractor to build and operate a new ferry was welcome from the point of view that a decision was becoming crucial. In 2028 the current machine needs to come out of the water in Cairns, which will leave us stranded if we don’t have new ferry by then. But there are many details to work out and the future of pricing is one of those.
I can’t help but think that Council has been covering for their own mismanagement with these horrendous price increases. You have penalize everyone else when you buy a ferry for four times the valuer’s price. But let’s look forward rather than back. The time for big increases is over.
No we can’t do more big increases to cover having a contractor
No we can’t do more big increases to cover a ferry purchase price
No inflation is not 7% any more
The price of diesel is the lowest for some years.
I implore Council to do what must be done with no more price increases outside the normal CPI requirements. Otherwise by 2028 a car will be $78 rtn. A 25 seat bus $190. A ute and van $105.00. (based on past increases). And we will be broke.
*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.
- The opinions and views in this column are those of the author and author only and do not reflect the Newsport editor or staff.
