Emu Park RMP

Who decides if a town should and/or how it should progress? The residents, politicians, visitors, developers? On Monday night there was a meeting in Emu Park about pushing for a proper boat ramp for the town. There is an unquestioned need for another major boating outlet on the Keppel Coast, the question though is where. Emu Park would appear the obvious spot. There is already existing support infrastructure like shops, fuel, accommodation, it is the closest mainland town to Great Keppel Island, and is located at the southern end of the coast; Emu Park provides a real alternative to Rosslyn Bay (helping decrease the congestion that often happens there). The positive economic impact on the community is again undisputed, more visitors (both by land and sea) means more businesses and jobs created in a town that presently has limited opportunities for high school leavers. However, support for the Emu Park boat ramp has been an ongoing divisive issue. Supposedly more Emu Park residents are against it than for it, enabling politicians the perfect scenario to do nothing about it, other than talk about more expensive, arguably red herring, alternatives like Ritamada and Kinka Beach, possibly just to confuse and prolong the issue even more. Why? Environmentalist’s are supposedly against it because of the damage it may do to the beach, despite an accredited scientist saying that if this boat ramp is not built more erosion will naturally happen of Fisherman’s Beach, even eating into Bell Park. Which also goes against the aesthetics argument that a boat ramp will affect the character of the town; a rocky Fisherman’s Beach and smaller Bell Park would have a greater impact on the town aesthetics. More traffic in a town is something a lot of regional communities would welcome, yet this too strangely is an argument against the boat ramp, but was silent when the Anzac memorial was proposed. We complain that we don’t receive our share of government funding and the decline of employment opportunities in regional Queensland, yet when there is an issue that has real merit, one that can make a significant positive difference to a community’s economy which aspiring politicians should be foaming at the mouth to champion, there is this reluctance to come out and strongly support it. Not just by politicians, current or wannabes, but the public. This is more than just a boat ramp, it is a recreational marine precinct, that not only provides 60 vehicle and trailer parks on the ramp, but a place you can fish from, launch sea kayaks, SUP’s, wind surfers from, catch transfers to the islands and even in later stages a rock pool to swim in. Yes, it will change Emu Park, you will have to look left than right to cross the road, but it won’t become the Gold Coast because of 60 additional parks. However, not building this recreational marine precinct will also change Fisherman’s Beach, Bell Park and thus Emu Park. This is not progress for progress sake, it is about protecting two of Emu Park’s best assets and making it an even more vibrant beachside community that will encourage more young people to raise their families there. Outside the boating community, where are the champions who value vision over possible loss of votes? The logic for the Emu Park recreational marine precinct is there, what it needs to make it happen is vocal support from outside the boating community to champion it, it is a project and town worth fighting for.