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News (Continued from the Main Page)The very latest news may be found on the main page ("Home")
as it becomes available. To avoid having a very long main page, older news from
the main page will be periodically moved here, and will appear in reverse
chronological order (i.e. oldest news is at the bottom). 05-Jun-2006: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have been contacted by Government concerning the next stakeholders' meeting. The meeting will be held on Tuesday 27th June. This meeting will be hosted for representatives of the Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty, divers, fishers, various State Government departments, District Council of Yankalilla and other stakeholders to discuss options put forward by the engineering consultant for the Rapid Bay Jetty. A meeting summary will be available here on the following day. 15-May-2006: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have been contacted by Government concerning the next stakeholders' meeting. Govenment has engaged a consultant to design and cost the latest options for the Rapid Bay Jetty, as discussed during our previous meeting. To make the most of the meeting it will be delayed until late June 2006, when the consultant's design options will be available. 03-May-2006: The Victor Times has printed an article "Jetty work 'soon'". The article is available on-line here. Thanks to The Times for their continuing support. 27-Apr-2006: The Hon. Michael Pengilly (Member for Finniss), has raised the issue of the Rapid Bay Jetty during the first session of the newly elected Parliament. The relevant Hansard excerpt is available here (15KB, scroll to the bottom of page two), or the complete Hansard for that session is available here (103KB). The House of Assembly Hansard is available from the Parliament of South Australia web site. We wish to thank Mr Pengilly for his support. 22-Apr-2006: The Advertiser 'Watch' has printed the following article, available here (78KB). A higher quality version is available here (1041KB). Another meeting with Government is expected mid-May. 18-Mar-2006: Based on our press release dated 7th March, the Advertiser 'Watch' has printed the following article, available here (365KB). A higher quality version is also available here (759KB). 14-Mar-2006: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have met with Government personnel now managing the Rapid Bay Jetty. Various options were discussed, but as other stakeholders were yet to be consulted, a final plan for reopening the jetty was yet to be determined. The Government were to obtain costings on some of the options discussed. 09-Mar-2006: The Victor Times have printed an article based on our press release from the 7th of March. The article may be found on-line here. 07-Mar-06: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have a press release, which may be viewed by clicking here (15KB). 02-Mar-06: The Victor Times has printed a number of articles. Click here for all three articles as a PDF (529KB). You may need to zoom in and pan around to read the articles. Alternately, two out of three of the articles are available here and here. 28-Feb-2006: Excerpt from the Sunday Mail added below (12-Feb-06). History page has been update - many thanks to David Cowan. 17-Feb-2006: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have received a reply from the office of Hon. Patrick Conlon to our 14-Feb letter. The reply may be found here. 15-Feb-2006: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have received a reply from our State's Treasurer Kevin Foley. The reply may be found here, and our original letter may be found here. 14-Feb-2006: The next stakeholders' meeting is yet to be called. The Friends
of Rapid Bay Jetty have hand delivered a letter to Minister Conlon asking when
the meeting will be held. A copy of the letter
is available here. 12-Feb-06: From the Sunday Mail:
20-Jan-2006: The Victor Times has run an article "All candidates support jetty". It may be found on-line here. There is also a scanned version (212KB), which has the candidates' photos. Thanks again to the Victor Times for their support. As of today, the Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have been working together for
one year.... and are fighting as hard as every to ensure the positive future of
Rapid Bay Jetty. 16-Jan-2006: "We've had enough" article in the Advertiser
"Watch" run on the 14th of January. A scanned PDF copy of the article may
be found here. 10-Jan-2006: Happy New Year! As per the update (20th Dec, below), Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have now sent letters to Kevin Foley, Rob Kerin, all Ministers and Shadow Ministers (29 letters total). A copy of the letter may be downloaded
from this link (PDF, 20KB). A copy of the document "Rapid Bay Jetty Closure its TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE impact to the Southern Fleurieu Region" was also
included. The letters were sent last Wednesday (4th Jan) and some cabinet members have already acknowledged receipt of our letter. 20-Dec-2005: A Rapid Bay Jetty stakeholders' meeting was held this morning with Hon. Patrick Conlon (Minister for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure) and Dr James Horne (Chief Executive, Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure). The stakeholders were led by Hon. Dean Brown (Deputy Leader of the Opposition, member for Finniss). Stakeholders represented were SARFAC (South Australian Recreational Fishing Advisory Council), SDF (SCUBA Diver's Federation) and FRBJ (Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty). We were told that the environmental impact study (EIS) has been completed, but took longer than expected due to poor weather. The Government is still looking at various options, and did not have a final plan at this point in time. The cost of various options was said to be in the range of $3.9M to $8M. When asked, the Minister indicated that a copy of the environmental impact study would be made available to stakeholders, if it was determined to be an open document. Minister Conlon said that "doing nothing is not an option". He indicated that even demolishing the jetty would cost, and the Government would be unpopular if they did so. Apparently Dean Brown has been in Patrick Conlon's ear very regularly, pointing out that a meeting was promised, and asking when it would be held. Dean is doing all he can to assist our campaign, and we have expressed our gratitude to him for his efforts. Due to the magnitude of the funds required, approval must be sought from Cabinet. In a debriefing with Dean Brown, Trevor Watts (SARFAC) and Hank Van der Wijngaart (SDF), it was decided that separate letters from stakeholders should be sent to Kevin Foley, Rob Kerin, all Ministers and Shadow Ministers, to make them aware of the benefits of Rapid Bay Jetty. FRBJ will be sending letters ASAP. SARFAC have already circulated their draft letter. The next stakeholders' meeting will be late January, to ensure that a decision can be made before the Government enters the caretaker (pre-election) period. Tomorrow (Wednesday), FRBJ will also be delivering a copy of "The Vanishing Dragon" DVD to Patrick Conlon (who saw a few bits of the documentary) with a thankyou letter (and reminder re EIS). A copy will also be delivered to Dean Brown. In summary - not what we were hoping for, but FRBJ suggest that a meeting is better than no meeting. At least the lines of communication are open (with Transport) and Dean is on our side and doing all he can for us. We'll just have to keep working at it for a little longer.
14-Dec-2005: A documentary about Leafy Sea Dragons, "The Vanishing Dragon" is being aired on Channel 9 this Thursday (15th Dec) at 7.30pm. It was filmed primarily under Rapid Bay Jetty by Abyss Pictures, and has won a number of awards. It's a must see! 13-Dec-2005: The Hon. Dean Brown, Member for Finniss, has been in contact with the Minister for Transport, Patrick Conlon regarding the Rapid Bay Jetty. Mr Brown has indicated to the Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty that there is likely to be a meeting of stakeholders called just before Christmas. Hopefully Father Christmas will be visiting Rapid Bay Jetty this year.... 10-Dec-2005: Last Wednesday, The Advertiser "Watch" printed an article about the Rapid Bay Jetty. It is available here (as a PDF, 255KB). A higher resolution version is available here (PDF, 570KB). The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty wish to thank the Advertiser for their ongoing support of our campaign. As per the Advertiser article, the Department "is considering options and is working on the final designs for the Rapid Bay Jetty after receiving a survey report and an environmental assessment report".
22-Sep-2005: At a meeting of Rapid Bay Jetty stakeholders, the Minister for Transport Patrick Conlon this morning advised the group that the Government is committed to restoration of the jetty in some form, details yet to be worked out. An Environmental Impact Study is to be finalised by the end of this October and stakeholders to be called back again in November to discuss the level of funding and restoration following Government's discussions with potential corporate sponsors and other government departments. More details to be released here soon! 16-Sep-2005: Friends to meet with Hon. Patrick Conlon, minister for transport, energy & infrastructure. (Transport S.A. own the Rapid Bay Jetty). Read the Victor Times article here (PDF). 10-Sep-2005: Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty Press Release re engineer's reports available here (PDF). (Also released last month via The Victor Times, but only in their printed paper). 18-Aug-2005: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty are continuing the fight to save Rapid Bay Jetty. It is the declared intention of our group to have the Jetty repaired / rebuilt to the pre 1995-decked area. This will provide full access for the local community and tourists, including fishers and divers alike. The complete FRBJ Group Statement is available here. 17-Aug-2005: The Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty have asked to meet Transport Minister Pat Conlon in September. 14-Aug-2005: Thanks to the Hon. Sandra Kanck, the Friends of Rapid Bay Jetty now have the engineer's reports on the jetty. We are extremely grateful to Sandra for her help to access the reports. The reports have are available in the Reports section. 04-Aug-2005: The Yankalilla Council has closed the Rapid Bay camping
ground! 11-July-2005: Sandra Kanck, leader of the Democrats has raised the issue of
the Rapid Bay Jetty in parliament! Click
here for a scan of the Victor Times article (sorry, the scan quality is not that
good). The results from the Victor
Times poll indicate that 94.2% think the jetty should be repaired and reopened. Also, good
news for fishos! Minister
says 'no ban on jetty fishing'. RBJ sits outside of the proposed marine park
Rapid Head "no take" zone, so the jetty will provide access to some
great catches from nearby Rapid Head "spill over". 04-May-2005:The Friends of RBJ have been meeting regularly, and working tirelessly to save the Rapid Bay Jetty. Glenice (our spokesperson) and Tim O'Loughlin (former CEO of Transport S.A.) were interviewed today on ABC AM radio 891. 13-Mar-2005: We need your help to save Rapid Bay Jetty. Please go to the 'Help Us!' section to see what you can do to help! 03-Mar-2005: Thank you to all who showed their support by attending the public meeting and by signing the petition. A press release / report on the meeting is available here and in the press releases section. 28-Feb-2005: New images added to Gallery.
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