A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Monday April 2, 2001 8th Edition

It has been another busy week in Cairns with various positive announcements being made about the state of the economy in the region. The beautification of the City is set to begin, a new resort for Bramston Beach and a Bob Dylan concert that was described as "truly memorable" are some of the highlights of the week as well as a spate of crocodiles being caught in the city's drains.

Reef clean up costs escalated to $2 million
Clean up costs for the Sudbury Reef site where the Malaysian Vessel, MV Bunga Teratai Sun ran aground last November, have blown out to $2 million. Much of this has been attributed to the fact that clean up projects of this type have never really been carried out in the past making it difficult to determine actual costs. The shipping company, Malaysian International Shipping is continuing to pay for the clean up and they have agreed to cover the costs of monitoring the site for the next 10 years which is expected to be approximately $100,000.

New resort announced for Bramston Beach
Bramston Beach (80 kilometres south of Cairns) will be the home for a new resort come environmental and conference centre. The first stage of the development is the building of 64 freehold accommodation units on the 45 ha property. This stage is valued at $10 million. The project developers are Sinan Ogun and Christopher Michael. This is the first major development south of Cairns in a number of years and it is expected to open up the southern corridor which has often been bypassed in favour of Port Douglas and the Northern Beaches of Cairns.

Call to tidy the town
Landlords of prime inner city real estate properties have been approached to "tidy up" shabby buildings in the CBD. With the various multi-million dollar beautification projects happening around the city it is felt that some of the older inner city buildings will let the overall appearance of Cairns down. The clean up call has been instigated by the Mayor, Kevin Byrne.

Another crocodile caught in city drains
Three crocodiles have been trapped in Cairns drains in the past three weeks. The latest detainee was a 2m individual caught at Chinaman Creek, Portsmith. The largest crocodile to be captured was a 3.5 m reptile which was caught in suburban McCoombe St. The crocodiles are caught in large traps with the animal lured in with a bait and a trap door locks the cage.

Fishing rights under tension in the Torres Strait
Tensions are rising between indigenous Torres Strait Islanders and commercial fisherman over fishing rights in the Straits. There have been a number of conflicts between the two groups with the most significant encounter being several weeks ago when a commercial fishing boat was robbed of its catch at spear point by a group of Torres Strait Islanders. There has been a call for calm with both groups representatives urging their members to abide by the law.

Bob Dylan delivers to 5000 devotees
Cairns turned out in force to witness the academy award winning Bob Dylan concert on the 28th of March. People travelled from hundreds of kilometres to see this icon who has entertained for over four generations. The reviews for the concert were excellent compared to southern reviewers who felt that the concerts were lack lustre. Regional areas such as Cairns seldom attract high profile personalities so when they do visit crowds are normally large and responsive.

Insurance company collapse hits public pool
The Toobruk Pool has been closed as a result of the collapse of HIH Insurance who held the public liability insurance policy for the public pool. This has shown the ramification of the collapse of one of Australia's largest insurance companies and the far reaching implications for many businesses and individuals throughout the Country. It is believed that a last minute deal with another insurance company will see the Toobruk pool operating again early this week.

Cairns economy predicted to recover
In a presentation made by Frans Hamer, outgoing President of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, predictions were made that Cairns resilient economy would come out of a slump towards the end of this year. Mr Hamer stated that all indicators showed that the main industries of tourism, building, fishing and sugar were set to grow and the weaker Australian dollar encouraged more exports out of the Country and more tourists into the Country.

Two fisherman survive boat sinking
Two fisherman were forced to swim for over an hour as they waited for rescuers after their fishing boat sank on Monday the 26th March. The $40,000 vessel started taking water at 1.30am near Channel Reef, eventually sinking completely. The two men were rescued by the Queensland Rescue Helicopter. Both men were cold and shocked after the event but otherwise uninjured.

3000 drivers caught up in Police blitz
A massive two day police operation has seen over 3000 motorists stopped and inspected for motoring and criminal offences across Cairns. A total of 43 people were arrested, 83 tickets were issued and 500 random breath tests were carried out. The offences ranged from driving without a license, some drug offences, outstanding warrants, not wearing seatbelts and using mobile phones whilst driving. Over 20 police were involved in the operation which was a result of a general increase in the number of incidences in the past 12 months, due mainly to motorist complacency.

Rap Jump record washed out
A very wet weekend saw the world record Rap Jumping attempt being postponed for one week. The torrential rain stalled the record attempt, which was set at 300 jumps in one day. A large crowd of locals and tourists had turned up to watch and to participate in the event which was held at the Tradewinds Hotel on the Esplanade.