Mackay Boat Ramp Campaign

04/09/2026

Don't forget your pictures of congestion and queues at the harbour guys.

02/09/2026

With some good boating weather coming up over the next few days, it would be useful to get a clearer picture of how the Mackay Harbour boat ramp handles the demand.

If you're using the ramp, or happen to be down that way, please take a few photos or short videos if it gets busy — particularly queues, parking overflow and how far traffic backs up.

If you can, also note roughly:
• the time
• how long you waited to launch or retrieve
• where the queue reached
• whether the formal and overflow parking areas were full

Please don't stop in unsafe places, obstruct traffic or interfere with ramp operations just to get a photo.

You can post them in the comments or send them to the page by message.

The more we can document what actually happens on good-weather days, the stronger the evidence becomes for getting Mackay the additional protected, genuine all-tide open-water launching capacity it needs.

I’ll be out fishing myself and am deliberately launching around midnight and planning to return around midday to try to avoid the congestion — which in itself says something about how people are having to plan around the problem.

22/08/2026

Interesting to see Olympic officials coming to Mackay to assess whether Harrup Park may ultimately host Olympic cricket.

More than $43 million in State and Federal public funding has already been committed to the Great Barrier Reef Arena development across its stages, while its eventual Olympic role is still being assessed.

I support Mackay pursuing every opportunity associated with the 2032 Games. But it does highlight an interesting contrast.

Mackay’s recreational boating infrastructure already has documented demand, an existing BMT demand study identifying a capacity shortfall, one of Queensland’s largest regional boating fleets, and well-publicised congestion at its principal protected all-tide facility.

We aren’t asking government to immediately commit tens of millions of dollars to construction.

We’re asking for a site-neutral feasibility study to determine the best deliverable pathway for the additional protected, genuine all-tide launching capacity Mackay demonstrably needs.

If government can invest in planning for opportunities that might arrive in 2032, surely it is reasonable to properly plan for an infrastructure problem that already exists today.

🏏A delegation of Olympic officials will quietly make the trip north to Mackay, for the Australia v Bangladesh Test, to assess whether Harrup Park’s Great Barrier Reef Arena should be a venue if, as expected, cricket is part of the 2032 Olympics. FULL STORY 👉 https://bit.ly/4gGsj42

21/08/2026

Mackay Boat Ramp Campaign – Update

It has been a little quiet on this page lately, but there has been plenty happening behind the scenes.

Following the congestion we again saw at Mackay Harbour in July, the focus has remained very deliberately on achieving one thing — a proper State-led, site-neutral feasibility study into substantial additional protected, genuine all-tide open-water boat launching capacity for Mackay.

There have now been some important developments.

Mackay Regional Council has confirmed that while it will not lead the planning process, it will participate if the State Government leads an update of the Mackay recreational boating needs work or specific planning for additional boat ramp infrastructure.

Importantly, the Boating Industry Association (BIA) supports the campaign and has also taken the issue further.

BIA representative Neil Patchett moved a recommendation at the Queensland Recreational Boating Council asking the Chair to write to the Queensland Government in support of a site-neutral feasibility study, with options, to identify a deliverable pathway for substantial additional protected, genuine all-tide, open-water recreational launching capacity for Mackay — supported by adequate trailer parking, safe road access and capacity for future growth.

BIA has advised that several Council members supported the recommendation and that the Chair was preparing separate correspondence to Government.

That is significant.

The State has recognised the pressure on Mackay’s existing facilities, Council is willing to participate, the Boating Industry Association supports the campaign, and no currently announced Mackay project addresses the long-term capacity requirement for this important region of Queensland.

For years the discussion around Mackay has tended to revolve around individual ramps, temporary measures or which organisation is responsible for what.

The campaign is trying to move past that.

First establish what Mackay actually needs.
Then examine the viable locations and options.
Then determine what can realistically be delivered.

Mackay’s boating community has waited a very long time for infrastructure that matches the size of the local boating fleet and the way people actually use it.

We are continuing to progress that case with the Queensland Government.

Please keep sending us evidence

We also need boaters to continue documenting what is actually happening at Mackay Harbour.

If you encounter congestion, long queues, extended waiting times, difficulty finding trailer parking, traffic backing up through the facility, or other problems caused by the lack of capacity, please take photos where it is safe to do so and send them to the page.

We would also encourage people to post their own experiences here — particularly:

how long you waited to launch or retrieve;
how far the queue extended;
difficulty finding legitimate boat-trailer parking;
whether congestion affected your decision to go boating, return at a particular time, or use the harbour at all;
any other practical problems directly related to the capacity of the facility.

Please include the date and approximate time where possible. That makes the information considerably more useful.

What we are not interested in is turning the page into a debate about whether somebody can reverse a trailer properly, individual driving ability, or isolated examples of ordinary cars using boat-trailer parking.

Those things may be frustrating, but they are not the issue this campaign is trying to establish.

The issue is whether Mackay has sufficient launching, retrieval and trailer-parking capacity to meet the level of recreational boating demand that already exists.

The more accurately we can document that, the stronger the evidence becomes.

There is still a long way to go, but there is now a clearer pathway than we had only a few months ago.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported the campaign, signed the petition, shared their experiences and helped keep the issue on the agenda.

06/08/2026

As you can imagine, we spend quite a bit of time researching boat ramps and boating facilities built elsewhere in Queensland and overseas—how they came about, what their communities needed, the planning involved and how different issues were addressed.

One Queensland project that caught our attention is the Clump Point boating infrastructure upgrade at Mission Beach.

Completed in 2020, it delivered much more than an extra boat-ramp lane. The project included upgraded and new breakwaters, improved parking and turning areas, an access jetty, berthing pontoons, floating walkways, pen berths and swing moorings.

The total State investment was $23.3 million.

The four coastal communities generally making up the Mission Beach area had a combined population of about 3,700 in the 2021 Census. The facility also supports visiting boaties, commercial operators and reef-based tourism across the wider region.

TMR says the project was designed to support recreational and commercial boating, help re-establish reef-based tourism and contribute to local economic development and regional growth.

Its location within the Great Barrier Reef area also required formal environmental approval and detailed management plans covering water quality, erosion and sediment, vegetation, construction traffic, spills and severe weather.

No two locations are identical, but examples like Clump Point show that better boating access, tourism, economic development and responsible environmental management can all be considered as part of the same project.

It’s worth looking at what thoughtful planning has delivered for other Queensland communities.

https://youtu.be/6gENBGrFCbo?si=k8gxHPiOVfLZG14l

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/clump-point-mission-beach-boating-infrastructure-project
Mackay Regional Council
Cassowary Coast Regional Council
Maritime Safety Queensland
Transport and Main Roads Queensland
Brent Mickelberg MP
Nigel Dalton MP

Lucky me, to be asked to provide some drone footage of the new faci...

01/08/2026

A question of infrastructure priorities

We support investment that creates new trade and opportunities for Central Queensland. However, this project presents a striking comparison with Mackay’s long-neglected recreational boating infrastructure.

According to NQBP’s November 2025 Community Reference Group minutes, the new container depot was designed with an annual handling capacity of up to 70,000 standard-container units (TEU). NQBP currently forecasts container trade building to approximately 7,000 TEU annually “in the coming years.”

No regular container service, timetable for reaching that volume or committed freight volumes have been publicly identified. The investment is therefore intended, at least partly, to attract and stimulate future trade.

The broader port also retains considerable capacity. NQBP says the Port of Mackay can accommodate 550–600 ships annually, compared with approximately 200 ships currently handled, and more than six million tonnes of cargo annually, while even its record year handled about 3.6 million tonnes. NQBP itself states that it has sufficient port capacity to meet future demand.

There is nothing inherently wrong with investing ahead of demand. Good infrastructure planning often requires exactly that.
But compare this with recreational boating.

The State’s boating-demand modelling recorded approximately 14,885 vessels in Mackay. It assumed that around 10% of the fleet would be active on a good boating day, with approximately 38.8% of those vessels seeking to use Mackay Harbour—around 580 boats.

The State’s later 2022 study separately found that Mulherin Drive accounted for 39% of recorded movements across Mackay’s boating facilities. It described the harbour as overflowing, found that users could not readily redistribute to other facilities and made complementary capacity a Priority 1 recommendation.

Yet Mackay’s only protected, all-tide facility still has just 98 formal car-and-trailer spaces, supplemented by approximately 70 spaces on temporarily leased land. On peak days, trailers have been parked hundreds of metres away and boaters have reported retrieval delays of up to 2½ hours.

There is also an economic cost that government has never properly measured. Based on expenditure reported through the BIA’s 2024 NATIONAL survey, average trip-related expenses equated to approximately $354 per outing, assuming one boating trip per month.

Every 100 trips abandoned, displaced or discouraged represents approximately $35,400 in potential boating expenditure affected.

Every 1,000 affected trips represents approximately $354,000.

That is not a claim that every dollar would otherwise remain in Mackay, or that we presently know exactly how many trips are being lost. That is precisely the problem: no agency has properly quantified the participation and regional spending being suppressed by congestion.

Mackay’s offshore boating patterns, larger vessels and often much LONGER travelling GREATER distances also provide good reason to examine whether the national expenditure benchmark understates local trip costs.

Government is willing to invest ahead of prospective commercial demand while substantial port capacity remains available.

Meanwhile, Mackay’s recreational boating demand is existing, measurable and already exceeding practical capacity—yet we still cannot secure an updated feasibility and options study for additional protected, all-tide access.

If forward planning is justified to attract future container trade, why is it not justified to address a documented recreational boating shortage that is affecting participation, safety and regional spending right now?

This is not an argument against the container depot. It is an argument for recreational boating infrastructure to receive the same serious, forward-looking consideration.

Mickelberg MP
Dalton MP
Safety Queensland
Queensland Bulk Ports Corp
Regional Council

🚛 Hard work. Hardstand. Huge progress.

Concreting on the Port of Mackay Container Depot is now complete.

It took 4,675m3 of concrete, which is about 698 truckloads, to get this hardstand down!

This is another major step towards opening a brand new container depot, built to support Central Queensland businesses.

Ward Civil & Environmental Engineering

31/07/2026

This is a great event for Mackay, and we will certainly be going.

The strong winds may keep many fishing boats at home. If the weather were as good as it was a few weeks ago, the combination of event traffic and normal boating demand could see the harbour precinct overwhelmed again.

It highlights the opportunity for Mackay to plan for the future with an integrated marine recreation facility that provides additional protected, all-tide boating capacity and allows existing harbour facilities to better accommodate community events such as this.

Done properly, it would benefit the whole community—not just boaters.


# Nigel Dalton MP

27/07/2026

**MIRANI BOATERS — HAVE YOUR SAY**

Member for Mirani Glen Kelly MP is seeking feedback about priorities for the electorate’s 17 coastal and river boat ramps.

We appreciate Glen taking the initiative to listen directly to local boaters about how they use these facilities, the problems they experience and where future investment is most needed. Seeking that firsthand feedback is an important step towards properly understanding the needs of his constituents.

If you live in the Mirani electorate or regularly use its boat ramps, please complete the survey and share it with other local boaters:

https://glenkellymp.com.au/boat-ramp-survey/

Please answer the questions honestly and identify the Mirani ramp that is your highest priority.

If you also use Mackay Harbour, please use the final **“Any additional comments or suggestions?”** section to explain:

• how often you use Mackay Harbour and why;
• whether you rely on its protected, genuine all-tide access;
• whether your local ramps are unsuitable for your boat, destination or preferred tides;
• any congestion, parking or retrieval delays you experience at the Harbour; and
• whether congestion causes you to change your plans, avoid busy periods, travel elsewhere or go boating less often.

The Mirani electorate has many boat ramps, and those facilities deserve appropriate investment. However, they do not all provide the same level of access or protection as Mackay Harbour.

Hay Point is the closest protected alternative, but it is not considered suitable for launching and retrieving at low tide.

We know boaters from Ilbilbie, Sarina, Koumala and other parts of the Mirani electorate who launch their larger boats at Mackay Harbour because their local facilities do not provide the same protected, genuine all-tide access.

If that includes you, please make sure you say so. This is an opportunity to ensure the survey captures your actual boating needs—not simply which ramp is closest to home.

Please complete the survey and share it with as many Mirani-area boaters as possible.
Glen Kelly MP

15/07/2026