Latest Update - May 2025:

Cairns Regional Council launches development of Water Efficiency Strategy 2026–2035

After three years of persistent advocacy, CAFNEC welcomes Cairns Regional Council’s decision to develop the new Water Efficiency Strategy 2026-2035. The announcement includes the formation of an Advisory Group to guide the process – and CAFNEC is proud to be named as an official stakeholder.

This is a major step forward for sustainable water management in the Cairns region. The strategy will address critical issues such as population growth, climate change, and increasing water demand – and we’ll be there to ensure environmental outcomes remain a top priority.

Read Council’s Media Release here.

About the Issue

Cairns' water security is at risk

It’s difficult to think that Australia’s Wet Tropics may be at risk of a water security crisis, but Cairns Regional Council has told us that we are at ‘real risk of a drinking water shortfall by 2026’. What they mean is that Cairns’ demand for water is projected to surpass our current supply of water. A crisis like this can be solved by lowering our demand for water or by increasing our supply of water.

READ THE CAIRNS WATER COMPARISON ANALYSIS (2022)

Water usage in Cairns is higher than would be expected for our region

Both Cairns and Townsville have significantly higher rates of residential water usage compared to Mackay, South-east Queensland (SEQ), and the Queensland-wide average. Cairns residents use 57% more water than Mackay residents and 70% more than residents of South East Queensland.

Even when we take into consideration the likely influencing factors on our high water usage, such as rainfall data, water service charges, dwelling types and building approvals, our daily water use per person in Cairns is higher than would normally be expected. This indicates there may be significant untapped opportunities for demand management.

Based on the results of the Cairns Water Comparison Analysis (2022) report commissioned by CAFNEC, we can recommend the following policies to help reduce water usage in Cairns:

• Financial incentives to reduce demand;
• Community education to accompany the rollout of Smart Water Metres by Cairns Regional Council; and
• Rainwater tanks for household use.

Despite our high usage, Council has delayed progress on their Demand Management Strategy (2015)...

Cairns Regional Council has a Demand Management Strategy, but has neglected to make a start on 14 of the 19 actions outlined in the strategy since its inception in 2015. Council started a community water education program then promptly cut spending on it, allowing their water education team to fold. More recently, Council stopped including water usage data in State of Environment reports and delayed implementation of the smart water metre initiative in favour of the Esplanade development. Furthermore, CRC’s Demand Management Strategy (2015) outlines a goal for reducing water demand to 377 litres per person per day by 2025/26. This is only a 10% reduction over 10 years. For context, South East Queensland was able to reduce their water usage by 53% in just 3 years during the Millennium Drought.

 

 

Scorecard valid as of September 2022. 

Access Cairns Regional Council's demand management strategy (2015)

The post Water Advocacy appeared first on CAFNEC.

As we arrived at Saltwater Lake we found council vehicles and workers about, including a boat in the water – they were scoping up dead fish by the dozens, and some were huge. They did not know the cause and were sending some carcasses off for autopsies.

 

Unlike four years ago when low oxygen levels were blamed, this time it has occurred on a high king tide where that cannot be the reason. The council are now cleaning up the mess and deflected the matter to the Department of Environment and Science.

If anyone knows what the results are and would like to do more contact Brian Venables at

The post Mass Fish Die-off appeared first on CAFNEC.

Come and join us for Green Drinks in August! 

Come and join us for a special Green Drinks in August where one of CAFNEC’s volunteers will be showing you the documentary ‘Water is Life’.

We’ll be running the usual Green Drinks agenda (free yummy food, drinks by donation, tunes and interesting folk) but towards the end of the night join us out on the grass for an outdoor cinema screening experience. Bring along your rugs, pillows and friends, and come learn about the Aboriginal communities fighting against fracking plans in the NT.

What is Green Drinks?
Cairns Green Drinks is an informal, monthly social event for people who care about conservation, sustainability and all things environment. The aim of Cairns Green Drinks is to encourage networking, creativity and thought on environmental issues and projects. Green Drinks are agenda-free, non-politically aligned and everyone is welcome.

Nibbles provided. Drinks by donation.

Friday 31st August
5.30 pm – 7.30 pm
At CAFNEC 27-29 Green Slopes St, North Cairns. 

We hope to see you there 🙂

Check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2066926910026399/

The post Green Drinks August + Water is Life screening! appeared first on CAFNEC.

Dredging in Cairns is back on the table 

Only 24 hrs left to have your say! Make a submission using the form below. Submissions Close 5 pm Friday 25th August.

It’s no secret that the Great Barrier Reef is one of the great wonders of our natural world, worthy of our very best endeavours to protect it. It is also no secret that our reef is under enormous pressure following two consecutive years of bleaching.

The cumulative impact of new capital dredging projects proposed along the Queensland coast threatens our already vulnerable reef. So much so the Queensland Government have banned it in most places – including Cairns.

But there’s an exception.

Right now, there is a proposal on the table to expand Cairns Port by dredging 1,000,000 m³ from the Trinity Inlet. 

The Queensland government need to hear from the Cairns community who see this project as a lot of risk for little reward. Together, we can protect what makes Cairns a unique destination.

Will you help protect the Trinity Inlet, the Barron River and the Great Barrier Reef from this large, unnecessary and risky project?

Make a submission using form below.

Read the EIS documents here

Find out more about the submission process here

Use the submission guide provided below or:

• Submit online here using Qld Government online form
• Email: to CairnsSDP@nullcoordinatorgeneral.qld.gov.au
• Post: Project manager – Cairns Shipping Development project
  Coordinated Project Delivery Division
  Office of the Coordinator-General
  PO Box 15517
  City East Qld 4002 Australia
• Fax: +61 7 3220 6502

The post Have your say: Cairns Shipping Development Project EIS appeared first on CAFNEC.

DATE: Tuesday 2 Feb 2016

TIME: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

LOCATION: On the grass between the Fig Tree Playground and Mondo’s

CAFNEC are encouraging the people of Cairns to join in a community picnic this World Wetlands Day to celebrate the magnificent wetlands and mangrove communities we have right here on our doorstep.

Bring a plate (and your stories) to help spread the word that the Nationally Important Wetlands of the Port of Cairns and Trinity Inlet are an asset to our region and are an important part of building a sustainable future for Cairns .

Before the event:

Head to the Jack Barnes Memorial Boardwalk, take a happy snap of yourself and share on social media using:

#WorldWetlandsDay

#WetlandsForOurFuture

#MangrovesMatter

#CAFNEC

#FNQ

The post World Wetlands Day – Mangroves Matter appeared first on CAFNEC.

CAFNEC is proud to to be able to assist in giving the small businesses community a voice on this important issue.

The letter has been printed in a full page ad in the Cairns Post on Friday 23rd October. Download the letter and the list of signatories as a pdf here: Business letter with signatories final

Josh Coates, CAFNEC Director said:

“The fact that over one hundred Cairns and Far North businesses have put their names to this open letter sends a clear message to the major parties that industrial ‘priority port’ listing for Cairns is not broadly supported.

We know that protecting the Reef and our reputation as a nature based tourism destination that respects our environment is crucial to our economic future.

Many of the small and medium sized businesses we have talked to are concerned that a small group of vested interests are attempting to push the Government toward amending the bill at the expense of our environment and tourism industry.

With the Ports Bill set to be voted on in parliament very soon most are pleased to see the Government is so far sticking to it’s guns and ruling out industrial port status for Cairns.

The Ports Bill only restricts large scale channel dredging and will not affect our ability to provide for our important reef tourism fleet into the future.

The Sustainable Ports Development Bill as it stands fulfils our promise to the World Heritage Committee to limit new dredging to only a few bulk commodity ports under the Reef 2050 plan. The push from vested interests to list Cairns and Mourilyan as industrial ports is misguided and puts our reputation as Reef stewards at risk. The last thing we want to see is a back down on our commitments leading to ‘at risk’ listing for the reef when UNESCO review our progress in implementing the Reef 2050 plan next year.

Our port can and will continue to function without the need for new channel dredging, alternatives exist for cruise boats and visitation continues to grow without the need for new dredging.”

Open letter text:

We, the undersigned business owners, managers and workers of Queensland, are deeply concerned about the future health of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. And it’s an
economic driver for our region.
We love our marine environment, and we value the Reef, and the $6 billion dollar tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports. Tourism is a sustainable business that supports the local communities, not a select few.
We oppose the changes to list the Port of Cairns and allow more dredging. Making Cairns an industrial mega port would allow unlimited capital dredging.
Cairns risks becoming an industrial port like Gladstone. No one comes from around the world to see dredging.
Australia and Queensland made a commitment to the World Heritage Committee to limit port expansion and dredging alongside the Great Barrier Reef. We must honour that promise and prevent an ‘at risk’ listing for the GBR.
More dredging will hurt tourism. There are real and viable alternatives to dredging for cruise ships. New dredging is not needed for a viable and functioning port.
If we protect it, the Reef will continue to provide for us. We take our responsibility to protect the Reef seriously and we call on all our political leaders to do the same.
That means:
• Not amending the Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015 to include the port of Cairns or Mourilyan as industrial ‘priority ports’, or making any other amendment which would increase the amount of dredging and inappropriate development from what is already allowed under the Bill.
• Renewing the commitment to not spend up to or over $400 million of taxpayers’ money on new dredging in Cairns under the current EIS process and instead committing to supporting Cairns and FNQ businesses in ways
that do not put the environment at risk.
Please, protect the Great Barrier Reef and our coastal environments; it is in all our interests.

The post Local Businesses open letter on Cairns Dredging and the Ports Bill released appeared first on CAFNEC.

Today a cruise ship dredging smokescreen, tomorrow an industrial mega-port?

Use the easy tool at the bottom of this page to send an email to your local MP’s

Developers are pushing for 4.4 million m3 of dirty dredging in Trinity Inlet, to allow the largest giant cruise ships, cargo tankers, and warships into our harbour / into the heart of Cairns.
The dredge spoil would likely be dumped on the environment reserve and restored wetlands at East Trinity and then, in an annual battle against nature to keep the channel open, they’d dredge and dump around an additional 100,000 m3 into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to maintain the channel. The economics just don’t stack up, the project would cost taxpayers around $440 million, and benefit only a handful of businesses.

Offshore dumping of dredge spoil in the GBR Marine Park 2014 – expanding the Cairns channel would significantly increase the amount of maintenance dredging and dumping required annually. © Josh Coates/CAFNEC/WWF

But it doesn’t stop there!
The same vested interests are now calling for Cairns to be made into a priority industrial port. This would allow unlimited capital dredging for port expansion in the future and risks turning Cairns into an industrial mega-port like Gladstone.

The case for priority port status does not add up, Cairns is not and never should be a large bulk commodity port. Our commitment to UNESCO to prevent new dredging in ports like Cairns was crucial in preventing recent ‘at risk’ listing for the reef. If we break our promise we open the door to at risk listing and would send the wrong message to potential tourism visitors. This would have negative impacts on the economy.

Nobody wants to hold back the economic future of Cairns, but new dredging threatens to do just that and is not necessary for our industries such as tourism, sugar export and defence to continue.

Use the easy tool at the bottom of this page to send an email to your local MP’s

Other things you can do:

1. Click here to sign the Parliamentary petition saying that you want a sustainable future for Cairns, not an industrial mega-port.
2. Share the parliamentary petition with your friends please use this link: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petition?PetNum=2441
3. Own or run a local business? Sign the local business open letter on dredging

The post Stand up for the Reef and stop new Cairns dredging – email your local MP appeared first on CAFNEC.

Open Letter from local businesses regarding Cairns dredging and the Ports Bill.

Healthy reef and marine environment = healthy businesses

Do you own, run or work in a Cairns and Far North local business? Do you care about reef protection and our tourism future?

Please stand up to the misleading and damaging lobby group calling for more dredging and inappropriate industrial ‘priority port’ listing for Cairns port. You can sign up to the open letter on the form below and/or download the letter here: Business open letter FINAL web

Over 100 businesses have already signed the the letter which was printed in a full page ad in the Cairns Post on Friday 23rd October. Download the letter and the list of signatories as a pdf here: Business letter with signatories final

Read more:

• No mega-port for Cairns e-petition – sign now!
• Reef report card confirms need to restrict dredging
• Letter from Federal Environment Minister Hunt backs Queensland Government stance on Cairns Port Dredging.
• Other ways to take action: CAFNEC Ports Bill landing page

Please join other local businesses by signing on to the open letter using the form below.

… Want to discuss this further before signing up? No worries, give us a call on 4032 1586

Sign on to the open letter:

[formidable id=11]

Open Letter Text:

We, the undersigned business owners, managers and workers of Queensland, are deeply concerned about the future health of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. And it’s an economic driver for our region.
We love our marine environment, and we value the Reef, and the $6 billion dollar tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports. Tourism is a sustainable business that supports the local communities, not a select few.
We oppose the changes to list the Port of Cairns and allow more dredging. Making Cairns an industrial mega port would allow unlimited capital dredging. Cairns risks becoming an industrial port like Gladstone. No one comes from around the world to see dredging.
Australia and Queensland made a commitment to the World Heritage Committee to limit port expansion and dredging alongside the Great Barrier Reef. We must honour that promise and prevent an ‘at risk’ listing for the GBR.
More dredging will hurt tourism. There are real and viable alternatives to dredging for cruise ships. New dredging is not needed for a viable and functioning port.
If we protect it, the Reef will continue to provide for us. We take our responsibility to protect the Reef seriously and we call on all our political leaders to do the same.
That means:
• Not amending the Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015 to include the port of Cairns or Mourilyan as industrial ‘priority ports’, or making any other amendment which would increase the amount of dredging and inappropriate development from what is already allowed under the Bill.
• Renewing the commitment to not spend up to or over $400 million of taxpayers money on new dredging in Cairns under the current EIS process and instead committing to supporting Cairns and FNQ businesses in ways that do not put the environment at risk.

Please, protect the Great Barrier Reef and our coastal environments; it is in all our interests.

The post Business open letter on dredging appeared first on CAFNEC.

Reef report card confirms need to restrict dredging.

MEDIA RELEASE 21/09/2015

Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) is today pointing out that the recently released reef report card 2014 is not good news for the reef. With reducing land based sediment loads one of the priorities, CAFNEC is questioning how new dredging in Cairns could be even considered as an option.

CAFNEC Marine Programs Coordinator Josh Coates said:

“To protect our reef scientists agree that improving water quality is highly important. The reef report card 2015 shows we are currently falling short of what is needed in terms of improvement.

“This report card shows that progress toward goals including reducing sediment loads is slowing. Many of our farmers and other land managers are doing their bit and there is increased funding but new dredging would make a mockery of this progress.

“The report is largely silent on dredging, but makes clear that sediment runoff is a problem for the reef. To say that the sediment stirred up during dredging is somehow different and does not impact the reef would be illogical.

“New capital dredging would suspend large sediment loads regardless of where spoil is dumped and channel expansion would lead to increased annual maintenance dredging. Maintenance dredge spoil is currently dumped in the Marine Park.

“To achieve the water quality improvement targets we need not only funding to reduce land based impacts, but also to ensure that suspension of pollutants from dredging and dumping do not undermine the progress made in the past, and the future. Projects like the Cairns Port dredging proposal cannot be allowed to undermine good work being done by farmers and land managers.

”We must maintain our commitment to reef protection and UNESCO and stop new dredging in Cairns by passing the Ports Bill unamended if we are to avoid future ‘at risk’ listing.”

Media contact: Josh Coates, Director, (07) 4032 1586,  director [at] cafnec.org.au

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Letter from Hunt backs Queensland Government stance on Cairns Port Dredging.

MEDIA RELEASE 17/09/2015

A letter from Federal Environment Minister Hunt to Queensland Ministers Miles and Lynham published on social media confirms the need to pass the Sustainable Ports Development Bill (2015) without amendments that would allow future new dredging in Cairns.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153187811466169&set=a.10150124028416169.279460.678201168&type=1&fref=nf

CAFNEC Director Josh Coates said:

“The letter from Minister Hunt reconfirms the need to stick to our promises to UNESCO that recently averted ‘at risk’ listing for the Great Barrier Reef. The Ports Bill restricts new dredging to the industrial ports of Abbot Point, Gladstone, Hay point/ Mackay and Townsville, in line with the Reef 2050 Plan and our World Heritage Committee commitments.

To derail the Bill with amendments for future new Cairns dredging would put our tourism reputation at risk here in Cairns and could open us up to international criticism that would impact on tourism not just here but across Queensland.

We just can’t afford the environmental cost of new dredging and the associated increase in maintenance dredging and offshore dumping.The economic case doesn’t stack up either with a massive cost to the taxpayer projected that would provide little benefit and lots of risk.

There are other ways to support our local economy that does not put jobs at risk. The port can and will continue to function and expand without new dredging. Maintenance dredging will continue under the provisions in the Bill. CAFNEC supports maintenance dredging and advocates for improvements in how this is done and not new unnecessary dredging.

A well funded local pro-dredging campaign is trying to tell people we need dirty dredging for jobs, but in reality the benefits would go to a select few and the risks would be huge.

The Queensland LNP should follow Minister Hunt’s lead and stick to the process started when they were in Government by refusing to support any changes to the Ports Bill that would lead to more dredging and inappropriate development.”

Media contact: Josh Coates, Director, (07) 4032 1586, director [at] cafnec.org.au

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