A Marine Realignment?

The planned $120 million dollar Whitsunday Marine Centre of Excellence has been renamed the Bowen Marine Industry Precinct in the Whitsunday Regional Council meeting last Tuesday, as well as changes being made to the long-awaited development which removed the originally proposed educational facilities.

Councillors were adamant that they were concentrating on “what was most needed in Bowen,” by removing the planned educational facility to instead focus on the maintenance of boats and industry.

The changes were unanimously agreed upon by councillors at the meeting, removing the previous concept’s educational facilities and renaming it.

The announcement comes in the wake of the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s $5 million dollar expansion announcement last year that they would construct a state-of-the-art training centre at their waterfront site.

That project received $2.5 million from the federal government in funding and would double the existing training rooms’ square metreage, quadrupling the number of students the site can hold.

The announced changes, however, were to the chagrin of Bowen locals, who believed they were losing an educational facility to Airlie Beach, which councillors said was not that case.

Each councillor in turn tried to dissuade Bowen locals from that position.

Councillor Brunker said that the idea was always to be an industrial precinct, but the name implied it would be an educational facility, which was never to be the case – it would host an educational facility, not exclusively be one. The main design premise was to maintain and service superyachts, with the educational facilities an add on.

“I can understand, reading the report, how someone could get that opinion,” Brunker said.

“I’m a little bit disappointed that people would take that position that we were giving [the education facility] away.

“It was always, always going to be the superyachts and the white boats in Airlie Beach, and the backyard working, backyards blitz in Bowen, and that’s where the jobs are.”

Mayor Andrew Willcox echoed the sentiment and said that original idea behind the training facility arose during the early planning stages in 2017 during conversations with Australian Marine Institute, who would have potentially funded the project if it had training facilities.

A Bowen resident himself, Mayor Willcox said that the most important features had always been industry, and they were being retained.

“The main driver from day one has been the industry component, no one’s turned their backs on anything,” Mr Willcox said.

“The vision was always going to be a big Syncrolift and then opening up all the trades.

“Let’s get on with the job.”

The original Whitsunday Marine Centre of Excellence master plan with boat and superyacht facility as well as maritime education facility to be built in partnership with the State Government and private investors

The proposed Bowen Marine Industry Precinct’s area is larger than 50ha of adjacent land to the township of Bowen

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