Island inquiry into Queensland coastal treasures

Cheap Bali holidays are not the only reason why Queensland’s island treasures are continuing to languish, an inquiry has heard, with some blaming the Qld government’s failure to enforce one key thing as a major problem.

A Bali holiday has become an Aussie rite of passage but aviator Peter Ware says it is one of the chief reasons Queensland’s island treasures continue to languish.

Appearing before a parliamentary inquiry into the management of island resorts from Lady Elliot Island to Palm Cove, Mr Ware said ending “cheap flights to Bali and Thailand” would galvanise development.

“Because that is where the customers have gone,” he said at the Mackay leg of the inquiry.

“(The cost of) building and maintaining (a resort) would be incredible.”

Speaking after his testimony, Mr Ware said the popularity of Bali and Thailand for Aussie tourists devalued the economics of resort tourism to our own islands.

“The competition between Australian island resorts and cruise ships and trips to Thailand and Bali, the economics do not stack up,” he said.

Trish Mahlberg, also in attendance, agreed with Mr Ware’s assessment.

“They can get 10 days (overseas) for what they would pay for two days on Hamilton (Island),” she said.

Mr Ware, who has years of experience flying in and out of Keswick Island and Brampton Island, also said better access to airstrips was crucial, particularly given the rough waters off the Mackay coast.

“It (access) needs to be controlled, because Keswick is a short strip,” he said.

“We used to operate commercial services in there and train people to do it, but they (the current leaseholders) will not let us go in there privately.”

The committee also heard from Mackay Regional Council representative Aletta Nugent, who argued inconsistent lease arrangements had led to “land-banking,” which crushed development.

“The existing lease agreements and inconsistent enforcement of the terms of such agreements have led to developers effectively land-banking the areas designated for island resort development,” she said.

“The state has the authority to ensure compliance with the terms of the leases, yet appears reticent to do so.”

Ms Nugent said Brampton Island was a textbook case of land-banking leading to a prolonged and indefinite period of disrepair.

“In relation to Lindeman and Brampton, we are seeing a lack of action,” she said.

“We are not seeing any meaningful action to change the situation,” she said.

Cairns residents have also complained about a lack of action over a Chinese developer Benny Wu’s Double Island Resort.

To disincentivise land-banking, Ms Nugent said future leases could have “a high lease cost coupled with financial incentives to meet performance requirements related to the development and operation of the resort”.

She also suggested the state government might consider embedding time frames and milestone dates into the leases and even cancelling leases if developers failed to build out the islands.

The committee, made up of cross-party MPs, is on a barnstorming tour of coastal North and Central Queensland as it gathers information for a final report due in December.

The committee stopped in Cairns on August 22, hearing from Tropical Palm Cove, the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators and the Cape York Land Council.

On August 23, it went to Airlie Beach where it heard from Tony Fontes from the Whitsunday Conservation Council, who echoed Mr Ware’s sentiment that big resorts were a difficult economic sell in the Whitsundays.

“They are too expensive to build, to maintain, to power, to provide water and then a cyclone comes along and you are back to square one,” he said.

“No matter what regulations or support is out there for development or refurbishment, to help them (resorts) survive, they will not if markets, climate change, declining health of the reef, logistical difficulties and poor business decisions continue … we will see the islands continue to fail.

“We do not feel the state government has the entire responsibility of ensuring the success of an island.”

Mr Fontes said his group believed the future of the islands lay in environmental tourism, where guests participate in eco-friendly tours, citizen science and rebuilding the Great Barrier Reef.

“You will come back time and time again and feel you did more than just have a holiday,” he said, referencing Lady Elliott Island south of Yeppoon as an exemplar.

“We see that is the future of Great Barrier Reef island resorts.

“You become a part of the environment as a guest.”

Mr Fontes said his organisation opposed “greenfields” development, or new developments springing up across the islands chain.

The committee will hold a hearing on Keswick Island off the coast of Mackay on Thursday and will stop at Yeppoon on Friday.

Further hearings in Brisbane are also on the agenda.