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Resort director John Nunan addressed concerns made by the general public and Murray Shire councillors that by hiring out the resort’s houseboats for a cheap price overnight to avoid taking the boats out of the river, they were avoiding the conditions of approval.

Murray Shire initially approved an application by the resort last November for two houseboats to operate on the Murray River, however, it was not supported by all councillors.

The application was eventually passed at the November meeting, four to three, but was again raised as a matter of concern at a council meeting in January.

Mr Nunan said there were accusations from the general public that the business had cut down trees, experienced safety issues, were non-compliant to Australian safety standards and involved in council corruption, which he wanted to address because he ‘‘felt things had got out of hand’’.

Moama on Murray is the only commercial company approved by Murray Shire Council to operate without a mooring licence, but it is on the condition that the houseboats be removed from the river when unused and stored on land owned by the resort, in Edward St.

Cr Brian Sharp said he thought the business practice was making a mockery of council’s initial decision.

He said the spirit of the approval was to remove the boats from the water after use.

Cr Tom Weyrich agreed Mr Nunan was avoiding the conditions of the Development Application.

However, Mr Nunan said giving up the opportunity for customers to pay for the boats to be used was not good business practice.

‘‘I’m in business and in terms of a marketing opportunity for us, we are far better off to do that (hire out the boats) than to invest time in getting the boat out of the water,’’ he said.

Cr Di Macfarlane questioned why Mr Nunan had not asked council to keep the boats in the river at all times initially.

Mr Nunan said he had not thought of it at the time.

As a three-month old business, Mr Nunan said it was unusual to meet such a large amount of opposition and for the issue to get as far as it had.

‘‘My concern is that there has been damage done to my reputation or my son’s reputation,’’ he said.

Mayor Graeme Shiells said council was happy to have Mr Nunan address council considering he was concerned he had been misrepresented.

‘‘(The issues) haven’t been completely resolved, but we’ve been satisfied that he’s still complying with the conditions of his consent,’’ he said.

Mr Nunan said he would be making a development application for a permanent mooring to council next month.