The loss of green spaces and the concerns over esplanades and other urban conservation issue are probably stronger in the beach communities in Clifton, Palm Cove and what will be the former Douglas Shire than any other areas. I am a strong supporter of urban greening, and a defender of the environment for over 30 years. I am a keen landscaper and one time amateur nurseryman. I’m busy moving sprinklers and raking mulch for breaks between writing this site.
Lets start however, with dogs. The new Companion Animal Acts have enunciated the importance of pets in the general well being of many in the community and often jokingly refer to myself as the minister for dogs.
Communities need to set aside off-leash areas where you can let the pooch go for a bit of a bound. Yes, issues arise where badly behaved dogs can ruin your lunch. But if we can establish clearly defined off leash areas, as I have done at the end of 4 Mile Beach, it is a step in recognition of the importance of the need for a healthy exercise link between us humans and our loyal canine companions.
One of the more promising animal welfare futures comes from the subdivision deal that saw Paws and Claws kindly gifted a new site by Steve Thomas, bodes well for both the pampered and lost dogs and cats of Douglas, but the CRC will need to get behind the project with enthusiasm and talks around transferring Douglas’s pound obligation to Paws and Claws should be pursued. The good local record in staying the execution of lost dogs needs to be continued and improved under the CRC.
Communities living along the 100k of inhabited division 10 coastline need to be co-joined in the management of the Esplanades, and offered opportunity to get involved in coastal care, especially when its coastal care right in front of your domicile. But cowboy clearing must be stopped and those poisoning trees, who are normally impossible to track down, should be shamed as Woollahra Council does, simply by raising shaming banners in the branches of the dead trees for a year or so. A poisoned tree with an explanatory banner says it all.
Division 10 has a lot of housing that is not protected from storm surge by healthy dunes and as a consequence, we need great care in the removal of vegetation to simply improve your individual views. You don’t get 3m, storm driven surf impacting Sydney Harbor Waterfronts and as the extreme weather issues build, so too should our caution build in caring for our natural coastal defenses.
These issue are not just about Port Douglas and Palm Cove. The issues at Clifton Beach are fairly serious and we need to defend the properties from inundation, acknowledging what was maybe bad planning in the past. At Cooya, Newell, Wonga, Wangetti, Oak Beach and Cow Bay, there have been a range of issues on the Esplanades effecting each community. It’s at these locations where we need locals engaged in agreements as to how we all deal with these communal beach front zones, to keep weeds out, to keep recreational zones happy and to keep the vegetation healthy. And money needs to be spent maintaining them and the new CRC has to acknowledge the strain on resources that the huge new portfolio of parks and gardens in Division 10 implies.
I managed to up the budgets for parks and gardens care in Douglas in my term in office, but it is still an under-funded area.
The revitalization of the entrance to Port Douglas saw its budget cut and re-cut again until the whole exercise was reduced to a smaller offering than what was advertised. Similarly, the replacement of the poisoned oil palms was quietly denude of budget after the press eased off and today, you can see the missing palms in a once regular planting and the promised replacements will be something I will take up if elected into the CRC.
There are many parks needing improvement, with a huge increase in value that has seen most beachfront valuations triple of the past 5 years, its is beholden on the council to increase the care and budget dedicated to these Esplanades to match the hike in rates extracted from this area.

Concerns over tree clearing in and around Clifton are matched by similar concerns in the current Douglas Shire. Iconic trees should be identified and preserved, instead of the lip service or ‘green wash’ given on this subject. There needs to be incentives built into the town plan to promote the careful sitting of development to preserve important tress, to balance the nature of Australian law that gives right to buildings to replace trees. Where laws higher than those drawn up at a local level dominate the trees existence, a bonus as a component of the existing 30% floor space bonus in the Douglas planning scheme could be used to promote tree preservation. This same bonus concept should be considered for embodiment in the next edition of the Cairns IPA plan.
The clear felling at the Frost development at Kewarra is a concern. The clearing around riparian zones at Argenta’s Delaney Creek warranted more environmental sensitivity, according to the Combined Beached Community Association. Tree losses at Coconut Grove, (or the locally renamed Concrete Grove) and at the Hedley site next door to Treetops all cause major headline concerns in Douglas, over vegetation loss. Any councilor for Division 10 will be busy, as was I here in Port Douglas alone, defending and negotiating for the protection of urban green spaces whereever possible. Call outs to vegetation issue are amongst the busiest of duties for any Division 10 councilor and I have a track record of doing what I can to hang onto vegetation, albeit not always winning every greener outcome, but the expansion of duties for the new Division 10 councillor implies a 7 day a week commitment to vegetation issue call outs, for which I have been in training for 3 years.
On a final note and before there is further injury, the Rex Lookout hang gliding embankment must be extended so there is more grass over where there is a lower embankment of rocks. This sport need safe facilities just like those for ball sports, so in effect, the take off run should be extended, and as the hang glider club is offering to help pay, the project I have helped highlight should not be delayed.

CONTACT ROD DAVIS: vote@roddavis.org

MOBILE: 0418 235561 or HOME: 0740 994434

MAIL: PO BOX 714, Port Douglas, 4877.