General News
9 September, 2026
River wall fiasco
A POTENTIAL money tug-of-war over who pays to fix the Cassowary Coast’s crumbling marine infrastructure has sparked warnings of a looming “war” between the region’s ratepayers and the state government.
Local business advocacy group Activate Innisfail has taken aim at what it describes as an unfair policy of “shifting the buck” onto regional property owners.
The outcry comes as Cassowary Coast Regional Council moves forward with its long-term Innisfail CBD revitalisation master plan.
While the council’s draft strategies focus on a vibrant, modernised waterfront precinct, the elephant in the room remains the massive, unquantified cost of rebuilding the riverfront’s failing revetment wall.
The existing wall, which has reached the end of its structural design life, was originally constructed by the state government during Innisfail’s era as a booming commercial port.
Under current arrangements, however, the financial burden of managing, maintaining and ultimately rebuilding the asset has fallen squarely on council.
Activate Innisfail president Suzanne Russell did not hold back, warning that regional communities are being pushed to the brink by rising costs.
“The revetment wall was built by the state government back when Innisfail had one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in the region,” Mrs Russell said.
“Now it is council’s job to fix it – and carry the can for management, grants administration, construction, maintenance and eventual rebuilding costs.”
Mrs Russell pointed to both the Innisfail revetment wall and the Perry Harvey Jetty at Mission Beach as glaring examples of state-built infrastructure being effectively “flicked” to local government.
She claims councils are left holding a “poisoned chalice,” forcing them to downgrade asset uses on their books to mitigate liabilities.
The business group argues that infrastructure originally funded by general state taxation is now driving up local property rates, costs that are ultimately passed down to everyday tenants through higher rents.
Mrs Russell labelled the growing burden of asset depreciation on local council books as a “secret mortgage” on ratepayers’ notices.
“The state government is passing the buck to councils, who pass the cost to property owners through rates charges,” she said.
“Ratepayers deserve to know how it is acceptable to charge them for state-built infrastructure and why there was never meaningful consultation about this transfer of responsibility.”
Council’s recently handed down budget allocated over $4 million for immediate CBD upgrades, alongside an ongoing $80m region-wide restoration program heavily reliant on state and federal Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
“They are being screwed by the state government just as much as ratepayers are, except they can’t say it publicly,” Mrs Russell said.
She said councils like Cassowary Coast feared speaking out because “if they bite the hand that feeds them, their chances of getting one of these highly sought-after grants can turn to sand.”
The council has been asked if it will seek government funding to repair the wall and other marine structures.
Read More: Innisfail