Inquiry into languishing Queensland islands explained

The decline of Queensland’s island treasures, some left to rot after cyclone damage and others languishing under foreign and interstate ownership, will go under the microscope.

A new inquiry will examine Queensland’s former island treasures, many languishing for years after cyclone damage or failed development plans.

Once considered jewels in our tourism crown, these tropical retreats have become a heartbreaking eyesore as civic leaders slam proprietors over “land banking” beloved community assets.

There are also suggestions lease and ownership issues are among the reasons many island resorts have been left to rot, long past their hey day.

Resorts on Brampton, Lindeman, Long and South Molle Islands and Laguna Quays have been unused for years, some for more than a decade as prompts for information remain unanswered.

Lindeman Island It was a popular tourism hotspot and home to a world-renowned resort chain, but for the past 10 years Lindeman Island has sat dilapidated after it was battered in Cyclone Yasi in 2011. Picture: Contributed

Queensland parliament will now look into the historical operational status and existing constraints that impact economic development opportunities for island resorts.

Labor and LNP members on the Transport and Resources Committee will also examine the role of island resorts in attracting new and return visitors to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

As part of the inquiry into the economic and regulatory frameworks for Queensland island resorts, the committee will investigate infrastructure access arrangements and other challenges for lease holders to develop or redevelop islands for tourist, residential and public purposes.

The committee will also look into how the resorts can co-exist within the protected Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Area and how native title and traditional owners are incorporated into operations.

Brampton Island in the 1960s from Those Were The Days by Ron and Elizabeth Morrison

Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm has been outspoken about her disappointment in these Mackay and Whitsunday treasures left to languish.

“It’s very frustrating. I think there needs to be a use it or lose it approach when it comes to unique assets like our islands (and resorts),” Ms Camm told this publication last month.

“You can’t just sit and land bank these assets because these assets in fact are owned by the Queensland taxpayers.

“Now that … there’s limitations on people being able to holiday overseas, it’s the perfect time for the Whitsunday Islands and islands across Queensland to be rejuvenated or further enhanced to attract an Australian market.”

Ms Camm hopes the inquiry will drill into the complex issues of decision-making transparency and bureaucratic accountability to give the public a clearer sense of how approvals are negotiated and which level of government is responsible for what element of the process.

Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm speaks during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“There is no transparency around how it is decided who gets to lease an island,” she said.

“Whether that’s a foreign investor versus an Australian investor, we don’t understand what is the due diligence the government undertakes to do that.

“And then you have the layer of local government, who is the approval body, to approve a DA, in line with state interest checks.

“We see different departments or different levels of government going backwards and forwards.”

Ms Camm said governments often dodged transparency by hiding behind commercial-in-confidence arrangements.

“These are all questions that need to be looked at,” she said.

Ms Camm added she hoped members of the public would submit their experiences to the committee.

“These assets are important to our entire community,” she said.

“They are important tourism assets, but they are also important natural environment assets.

“Anyone that interacts with the water or wants to go and visit an island for a day, they have an interest in how these islands are being managed.

“I’m happy to have people contact my office and we will certainly support them in how best to do that.”

Kurwongbah MP and Chair of the Transport and Resources Committee Shane King said the government was committed to responsible development.

“This is important work for the committee as the government is committed to the responsible development of our island resorts as we know they create jobs and opportunities for Queensland,” he said.

“I encourage people who want to have their say to make a submission to the inquiry.”

The committee will accept written submissions from interested parties until April 7 and will produce a report by August 22.

Public briefings will also be held in the coming months.

Opposition Natural Resources spokesman Pat Weir encouraged all Queenslanders to have their say.

“For some time I have been listening to concerns about the management of islands, right along Queensland’s coast,” he said.

“It has been clear to me an inquiry was needed to assess issues regarding leasing and ownership models, governance and regulation responsibilities, development approvals, public interest and rights.

Derelict buildings, empty pools and overgrown vegetation have now replaced what were some of the region’s top holiday destinations as resorts under the control of foreign and interstate owners have been left to decay.

Other entities have promised world-class developments, only to leave islands in a state of limbo.

Brampton Island in The Whitsundays, Qld.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson has blasted the lessees of Brampton Island who have left the island resort to rot despite having approval to build a seven-star resort in its place.

United Petroleum, owned by United Petroleum co-founders Avi Silver and Eddie Hirsch, bought the island for $5.9m in 2010 and promptly closed the resort with a plan to redevelop it by late 2011.

Mackay Regional Council gave the development application, lodged by Brampton Enterprises Pty Ltd which is an arm of United Petroleum, the green tick in July 2015.

In 2017 Brampton Enterprises applied to extend its development application when it neared the expiration date – it now expires in July 2023.

Mr Williamson said the last correspondence the council had with the company was in 2019.

“It is exceptionally disappointing that they’ve done nothing with the island,” Mr Williamson said.

While some island resorts have been left to languish across Mackay and the Whitsundays, others have come back online in recent years to help position the region as a top tourism destination in the country.