Peter Gleeson: North Stradbroke Island tent ban is complete and utter nonsense

The North Stradbroke Island tent ban is another example of Queensland state bureaucracy using COVID to impose draconian rules, and should be reversed immediately, writes Peter Gleeson.

The ban on tent sites at North Stradbroke Island is so crazy and stupid that it defies logic and should be reversed immediately.

In fact, if that’s the sort of shortsighted decision-making to be made under plans to give control of the island to a Native Title corporation, all bets should be off the table.

For Queenslanders, get ready for more of this COVID-related madness as bureaucrats and opportunists use it as an excuse to impose draconian rules. The excuse that tent sites have been banned at Easter to protect people from COVID-19 is as ridiculous as it is vacuous. So people in tents are more susceptible to the coronavirus than those in caravans?

Authorities say the decision to ban tent sites on North Stradbroke Island was to protect people from COVID-19.

Just bulldust. There’s a movement in the Queensland state bureaucracy – a cottage industry even – for decisions and policy to be moulded and shaped around the COVID-19 narrative. If it doesn’t fit their agenda, they will introduce COVID-19 safety protocols as the excuse, or even worse, shape public policy and blame it on COVID-19.

They’re the self-appointed fun police with the specific aim of not wasting a pandemic, shall we? Gold Coaster Donna Burrows wrote to 4BC Drive host Scott Emerson last week to outline her concerns.

She said the Burrows family had been going to Amity Point on North Stradbroke Island since 2001, with brothers and sisters and their families enjoying Easter and Christmas together.

“Those young children in 2001 are now all grown up and some of them still join us on the (tent) sites,’’ she said.

“We even bury a time capsule each year with our New Year’s hopes and dreams and it’s a real tradition.

“The families are together. We watch the sunsets together, watch the dolphins together and it is honestly my favourite place in the world.’’

Campsites at Adam’s Beach and at Bradbury’s Beach at Dunwich will not open to the public over Easter but eco tents like these will still be on offer at other campgrounds.

A week ago, Ms Burrows found out that their Easter tent holiday had been banned, with only caravans, box trailers and trailers accepted. As if the virus only gravitates towards tents.

“I can’t begin to tell you how devastated we are’’ she said.

“They say it is to keep the tourists safe and the indigenous and local community safe. Yet there’s no difference between a designated tent site and a designated camper trailer. Maybe they want to put up eco tents.’’

Alternative accommodation for the Burrows family will set them back $2500 for the eight days and that is beyond their means. Many other families have complained, but to no avail.

The local chamber of commerce says the decision by Minjerribah Camping to ban tent sites was “very disappointing’’.

Local businesses – who rely on tourists at Easter - are fuming. At a time when businesses that rely on tourism need all the help it can get, this is a ham-fisted and extraordinary own goal.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who loves Straddy, needs to have a quiet word to those wielding this insane abuse of power and tell them to pull their heads in. And if the government does decide to bequeath the island to the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corp, heaven help the rest of us mere mortals.

If Queensland, as the slogan says is good to go, North Stradbroke Island has just put a big red stop sign on its Easter holidays. It’s complete and utter nonsense.