Keswick Island developer, China Bloom, hits back at local concerns

The Chinese developer accused of kicking Aussies off a Queensland island beach has hit back as the spat turns increasingly ugly.

A Chinese developer accused of kicking Aussies off a beach in the Whitsundays has hit back, claiming locals are “anti-development” and are “actively working to undermine progress”.

News.com.au last week reported that wealthy developer China Bloom had become locked in a stand-off with land owners on Keswick Island, 30km from Mackay, after purchasing the head lease in 2019.

The Hong-Kong based company had been accused of closing access to beaches, putting fences up to prevent access to national parkland and banning short term accommodation and rentals.

Locals said the final straw took place this week when a community Christmas tree that had been decorated with ornaments for 12 years was cut down following reports about the feud in the media.

The Queensland Government was asked to intervene again this week in a statement from the member for Whitsundays, Amanda Camm, who told reporters: “This is not Communist China, this is Australia. This is Queensland and this is the Whitsundays.”

RELATED: Keswick Island community Christmas tree cut down

Keswick Island. Picture: Belinda McMahon

After repeated attempts for comment, China Bloom finally responded with a statement it says addresses concerns raised by those who have called Keswick Island home for decades.

The company claims all national park areas are open and accessible and they are “implementing changes to the island’s operation to ensure compliance with the regulations set out in the headlease agreement”.

China Bloom claims it is working to “increase visitation and access to the island for both tourists, current and future residents” but the work is being interfered with by a group of residents who it claims “have indicated they are anti-development for many years and are actively working to undermine the progress of any future development of the island”.

The developer says it is working to build houses, a hotel, a new boat ramp and jetty and a boat marina and that “previous island management failed to manage operations to the standard required”.

China Bloom also claims that contrary to media reports, the developer is meeting “with sublessees on a regular basis, including providing monthly updates on the progress of works and other issues”.

It says national parks are “open with unrestricted access” and that a locked gate “featured in media coverage is actually of a private track leading to a construction zone” and that “sub-lessees are able to easily walk around it”.

A welcome sign on Keswick Island. Picture: Belinda McMahon

On the matter of the airstrip, which was shut to a resident who had been using it for more than a decade, China Bloom claims it was “never closed” but that “a resident with a recreational pilot’s license has been prevented from using the airstrip following a safety issue”.

China Bloom also took exception to reports from locals that turtle nesting areas were destroyed during excavation work at a beach.

“Photographs showing turtles were taken 10 years or more ago,” China Bloom said in a statement.

But residents are furious at the response. They said China Bloom’s carefully-worded statement is misleading.

Rayna Asbury is a member of the Keswick Island Progress Association and has owned a house on the island since 2005.

In a statement sent to news.com.au on behalf of the residents on the island, she said China Bloom was not being truthful.

On the issue of access to national parks, Ms Asbury claims “the famous locked gate is the only access from the island to the National Park lookout” and that “access is not unrestricted” as China Bloom suggests.

Beautiful Keswick Island.

She says the island’s private airstrip is “closed to fixed wing planes” and that not one fixed wing plane has landed at Keswick since May. She says the pilot has “no idea of any safety issues” with the plane.

Ms Asbury also says as many as 40 turtle nests were located earlier this year on Connie Bay (part of Keswick Island) in early 2020 and that China Bloom’s claim that none have been found for more than a decade does not stand up to scrutiny.

“Turtles are common around the island and residents frequently see them swimming in the crystal waters of Basil Bay,” she said.

China Bloom claimed the beach where turtles used to nest was “not graded by the current developer”. But Ms Asbury called that a “blatant lie”. She says pictures of machinery and turtle tracks were taken in November 2019 and the head lease was transferred to China Bloom in May that same year.

Northern Beaches local Deb Lawson has organised a “peaceful protest” at Basil Bay for Australia Day.

Her protest will include a “flotilla of boats” at the beach where the Queensland Government told news.com.au locals are not allowed to go “past the high tide line”.

“I thought, being a boating community (Mackay), what better way to do that than get a flotilla of boats, let’s get out to Keswick Island,” she told 7 News.

“China Bloom don’t have ownership below the high tide mark. So, technically, they can’t stop us getting on to the beach.”