General News
25 November, 2024
Roof grant just in time
ROOF repairs to the cyclone-damaged Machans Beach Community Hall will now get underway after a $25,000 grant from Cairns Regional Council.
At Wednesday’s meeting, councillors approved the funds to help replace the roof.
Divisional representative Cr Rhonda Coghlan said the hall was owned by the community, which was unique in the Cairns region, and the roof leaked after being damaged in Cyclone Jasper.
The grant comes after a documentary screening at the hall earlier this month and at which Machans Beach Community Association member Brett Hitchins said the council had been extremely hesitant to provide funding, even for repairs to the roof.
“(The hall roof) currently has an SES tarp holding it together that has been there for over eight months,” he said. “That tarp is extremely unlikely to endure the upcoming wet season.”
Former mayor Val Schier was also critical of the council which knocked back an application to fund the movie. “I filled in an extensive funding application which (council) promptly knocked back,” she said.
Ms Schier also claimed the council failed to do “an after-action (cyclone) review that involved members of the community to tell them what had happened and what they had learned from it”.
Resident Thomas Herridge criticised the council’s published report following the flooding, saying the figure of 150 people displaced was an extreme underestimate of the actual number.
“I know for a fact that the actual number of people was more than triple what (the council) are claiming,” he said.
Cairns Regional Council’s recently-appointed local disaster coordinator Rhys Newton, who was at the screening, said hearing from the community would allow the council to do better.
“Taking everything that has put forward by the community, my goal is to determine where we go from here,” he said.
“I undertake to push forward more than council has in the past, and learn more about this community, its strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately how we can move forward.”
Ms Schier said the community decided to create the documentary because it appeared as if people outside had no clue about the impact of the floods.
A council spokesman said the council did conduct an after-action review and there was also an emergency management review involving a public forum which the community was invited to speak to the inspector general of emergency management. The council had also been involved in about 20 community meetings after the cyclone.
He said the figure of 150 displaced people referred specifically to those from other local government areas, such as Wujal Wujal.
“We acknowledge that true displacement may extend beyond initial figures, with many residents facing prolonged stays in alternate living arrangements,” the spokesman said.
The latest figures show 311 properties in Cairns remain uninhabitable due to flooding after Cyclone Jasper.
