David vs Goliath Battle in Gladstone Marina

 Written by Gay McDonald, Yacht Dancing Dolphin

Marina residents claim new contracts will force many to move to another location, even those who are working locally. Residents also claim concerns about unsafe marina berths, coal spills, senior staff indifference to complaints, and other issues have forced them into taking action.

 Some separate complaints from residents of the Gladstone Marina soon became joint issues when the marina manager ignored all requests to resolve them. Residents tired of being ignored and sought to raise their issues with senior management, including CEO Leo Zussino and Corporate Relations Manager, Peter O'Sullivan.

At meetings with three of the residents, Peter O'Sullivan promised to look into the issues and report progress, but these residents claim that Mr. O'Sullivan failed to keep his promise to report back, even though he was contacted several times.

One resident reports receiving 'threatening letters', while another reports missing mail that resulted only in the marina office suggesting it would no longer handle any incoming mail for residents. Other complaints about marina management, coal spills in the marina waters, the unsafe state of some of the berths, etc. seem to have either been dismissed or ignored.

Residents claim that one berth is so unsafe that members of the general public should be warned about the danger of walking on it. 'The concrete is cracked and the timber surrounds are rotten,' a spokesperson said. 'The rubber bump strips are falling off, and the berth is basically held together by bolts through rotten wood. Considering that the general public, including children, are able to access the marina, I would expect that this berth would be taped off to prevent anyone getting injured.'

It appears that, rather than deal with any complaints, the senior management would prefer to find some excuse to remove those who dare to complain: new contracts are being distributed that give CQPA (the owner of the marina) the right to ask boat owners to provide access/engine keys to marina staff, and to insure their vessel before being permitted to rent a berth. Residents claim that last year's oil spill showed many boat owners just what boat insurance is really worth, when they discovered that they were not covered for damages caused by the spill.

Residents also claim that their past experience with insurance for boats leads them to believe that it simply isn't worth paying for, as so much of the policy documents are about what isn't covered, leaving very little that is covered. Claims for 'personal possessions', such as certain items of safety equipment (required by law) are not covered, and it is impossible to have 'contents' insurance on the contents of a floating home.

A spokesperson for the affected residents made the following statement:

'We have been forced to seek help from Government Ministers, and are worried we'll have to seek legal advice, just to solve a few issues that could easily have been resolved with a little 'give and take' between ourselves and the CQPA.

We all want to stay in Gladstone because it's such a friendly place, and the local people have really helped to make us feel like we are a part of the community, even if we are only here for a few months over summer. Some residents are working locally, and can't get a mooring or a berth elsewhere even if they wanted to' unless they moved to Bundaberg or Rosslyn Bay, and that's a hell of a commute to work!

Even boat owners seeking casual berthing bring a lot of extra money to a town or city. Boats coming in from overseas always have to stock up on food, fuel and other items, plus there are always breakdowns or repairs or maintenance, and most of that money is spent locally because of the services here.

It is our expectation that our rent will go towards keeping the marina a safe place to berth a boat, or for members of the general public to go for a Sunday walk. The way it is now, we feel like we've paid for the new children's playground but we are told to 'just go somewhere else' if we dare complain about rotting timbers falling off berths in the marina. Sure, the public are entitled to benefit from CQPA, but why is there a marina here in the first place if they don't want to spend some money on maintaining it to a reasonably safe standard. If it was a rental house, can you imagine the fuss the local council would make?

David And Goliath Battle May Have Reasonable Outcome

 Three spokespersons for the Marina Residents Group met with CQPA Public Relations Manager Peter O'Sullivan in the office of Member for Gladstone Liz Cunningham on Thursday night. The spokespersons report that 'at last we seem to be getting somewhere' it may sound like 'overnight success' but it has taken us months to reach this point, with some of these issues having started in September of last year.'

Mr. O'Sullivan agreed to form a Marina Residents Committee within the next half-year, giving residents a more open line of communications with senior level CQPA management. Pets will not be banned from the marina, and live-aboard sailors will not be forced to supply keys to their homes to the marina office. Some clauses in the new contract are still in debate, with the current Residents Group seeking legal advice before addressing these issues again with Mr. O'Sullivan.

In addition, the unsafe berth has been replaced, and promises have been made to achieve a higher standard of maintenance, in line with Workplace Health and Safety Legislation. CQPA are also promising to look into placing security gates on the marina, identifying other issues related to services and facilities, addressing their current complaints procedure and looking into reducing coal spills into the waterways. By establishing a committee that meets monthly to discuss complaints and issues with CQPA, residents believe that CQPA has taken a positive step towards recognizing the human rights of its clients.

Insurance issues, an appropriate refund policy, and public access to the marina during the night are still in debate but, with the strong support of Liz Cunningham, the current spokespersons believe the door is open to a quick resolution.

In addition, issues raised with the local City Council also resulted in positive outcomes: all concerns were taken seriously, and local councilors were only to happy to help residents of the marina feel a part of the process of government.

Those who met with Liz Cunningham are happy to also report, 'We were treated like valued citizens of the city of Gladstone. This is not something that live-aboard sailors are used to and we commend Liz Cunningham's handling of our concerns, but especially thank her, and the Gladstone City Council, for making us feel welcome in Gladstone at last.'

Note from the webmaster:

When the armies of Israel saw Goliath they thought to themselves, "He is so big we will never be able to kill him".

When David saw Goliath he thought to himself, "He is so big I'll never be able to miss him".