Greg Trembath launches campaign to shut Mackay Harbour sand quarry

A Mackay grandfather has launched a campaign to force what he says is a ‘ridiculous’ quarry near a popular beach to shut down operations. But it’s not as straightforward as locking a gate.

A Mackay grandfather says he is fighting to shut down a sand mine off a Mackay beach to protect the environment for his two-year-old granddaughter’s future.

Greg Trembath said it was ridiculous a permit was issued for a quarry at Mackay Harbour adjacent to the popular North Wall beach.

“As one elderly Slade Point gentleman said to me, he thought the area was protected,” Mr Trembath said.

He has launched his Line in the Sand campaign to bring the area stretching from Slade Point Nature Reserve’s southern boundary down to Gudyara Rd and Edmund Casey Dr under conservation status.

That land falls under Mackay Strategic Port Land territory.

While North Queensland Bulk Ports manages a large section of the port, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is responsible for issuing permits to extract and sell sand as the land and resource is state government-owned.

A DAF spokesman said it had issued four permits to remove sand in the area.

“Sand can only be removed in accordance with permit terms and conditions, and compliance with other legislation,” the DAF spokesman said.

“Over the past five years, combined average removals have been approximately 20,000 cubic metres per year.

“The permit applications are commercial in-confidence.”

A Department of Environment and Science spokesman said Mackay Bulk Sands and Mobile Crushing Co held environmental authorities for quarry operations in the Mackay Harbour area.

Equipment used in the sand quarry off Edmund Casey Dr. Picture: Rae Wilson

“(The) DES has not received any community reports raising concerns about quarry operations in relation to these EAs,” the spokesman said.

He said any consideration for adding land with ecosystems into protected areas came under the Queensland Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030.

He said expanding any acquisition required considering the land’s conservation value, property size, land price evaluations, management requirements, connectivity, having a willing vendor and the available budget.

The spokesman said such requirements made peri-urban lots such as the Gudyara Rd and Slade Point environs a low priority with the area more suited to local government-level management.

Greg Trembath says he was not always an environmentalist but his hand is forced. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Trembath said the area was incredibly important to coastal ecosystems, referencing the Mackay Regional Council’s Slade Point Local Coastal Plan which identified Slade Point Reserve’s dunes and paper bark wetlands as “crucial” to the environment.

And NQBP’s 2009 Land Use Plan stated fauna surveys recorded 26 species of “special conservation status” on port lands including the short-beaked echidna, water mouse, grey-headed flying fox, flatback turtle and various bird species.