Des Houghton: Where did all the North Stradbroke Island rescue package millions go?

There’s been little to show for the $39.4m taxpayer-funded economic rescue package delivered to North Stradbroke Island, writes Des Houghton, and now there are calls for a fresh inquiry into where the money was spent.

MP Amanda Stoker says there is a mystery around the significant cash flows generated for QYAC by the North Stradbroke Minjerribah camping sites. Photo Supplied

The Queensland Audit Office has come under fire for not digging deep enough to find out how tens of millions in taxpayer funding was spent on North Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah.

Member for Oodgeroo Amanda Stoker said the Audit Office failed to use its statutory powers to follow the money trail. She called for a fresh inquiry.

Stoker, a former federal prosecutor, said the Audit Office had “copped out”, even though it did criticise the previous government for “undocumented spending”.

State Auditor-General Rachel Vagg told Parliament a $20m economic rescue package announced by deputy Premier Jackie Trad in 2015 had ballooned to $39.4m by 2024.

The money was earmarked for 23 different projects to revitalise the ailing island economy after the cessation of sand mining.

Vagg reported that the largest chunk of money – $33.2m – was given to QYAC, the Quandamooka corporation that is the body corporate with “custodial” responsibilities over the use of native title land on the island.

“The Queensland Audit office report is scathing of the previous government. It points to a scandalous waste of money for the Queensland taxpayer,” Stoker said.

“As far as I can see, and from feedback I get from people of all walks of life on the island, little of value has been delivered.

“Millions and millions and millions of dollars that were spent; nobody knows where it went.”

The Audit Office should have done better, she said.

The Member for Oodgeroo The Hon Amanda Stoker MP. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

“QYAC is not a government owned-body and does not have the same transparency requirements we have for government bodies,” Stoker said.

“It is unconscionable that the previous government poured money into projects to be managed by QYAC without accountability.”

Rachel Vagg criticised the lack of oversight by several government departments in her report.

“They continued to provide funding to QYAC without satisfying themselves that milestones under the funding agreement were achieved,” Vagg said.

Said Stoker: “Labor gave them money and did not watch where it went.

“The economic transition away from sand mining was orchestrated and managed by (then deputy premier) Jackie Trad.

“A huge question remains unanswered. That is, where did all the money go that was given to QYAC?

“A competent government would have followed up on that – and a competent Audit Office would have inquired about that.

“I think there is a need for a further audit to find out what happened to every taxpayer dollar that was provided to QYAC.”

Aerial view of the Enterprise Sand Mine on North Stradbroke Island in 2010. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Stoker said there was a mystery around the significant cash flows generated for QYAC by the North Stradbroke Minjerribah camping sites. She said the Indigenous islanders wanted to know where the money went.

Minjerribah Camping offers beachfront camping sites at Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout and at Main Beach, Flinders Beach and Cylinder Beach. There are another 200 campsites on the foreshore of Flinders Beach and 300 campsites on the southern end of Main Beach accessible only by 4WDs. Travellers can bring their own tents or use those provided. Cabins and glamping tents on platforms are also available.

QUAMPI building at North Stradbroke Island. Picture: Des Houghton

Vagg admitted the Audit Office had the power to dig deeper but chose not to.

“As QYAC is not a public sector entity, we did not assess how it used the funding provided to it,” she said in her report to Parliament.

“We concluded that we did not need to use this power in conducting our assessment of the funding agreements because we considered it unlikely that using these powers would provide access to additional information that would be unavailable from the public sector entities we engaged with.”

She also said that “exercising these powers was not required to achieve our objective of assessing how the public sector entities managed their funding agreements with QYAC”.

How very strange.

Stoker said the audit raised more questions than it answered. I agree.

Stoker wants a second, “rigorous, transparent audit” to find out precisely how the money given to QYAC were used.

She wants the new audit to examine revenues from Crown lands used for commercial purposes by QYAC. Families on the island told me they believed the Audit Office “ran dead” and wrote the report in Brisbane without bothering to visit the island to hear their concerns.

A group of Indigenous elders and white leaders on the island will ask Premier David Crisafulli to refer complaints to the state police and ASIC, the financial regulator.