Stradbroke Island tensions: Labor’s handling blasted by LNP
The State Labor Government’s handling of North Stradbroke Island has been blasted as racial tensions threaten to boil over.
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Member for Oodgeroo Mark Robinson has slammed Labor’s handling of North Stradbroke Island as a disaster.
The LNP stalwart slammed a lack of financial transparency of projects on Stradbroke Island, and said the community remained divided.
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Mr Robinson said residents and business owners were living in fear, highlighting five years of political failures.
“Labor’s economic transition has been a complete disaster and nothing will change until the government changes,” he said.
“Labor’s (former treasurer Jackie) Trad-broke Island ETS (economic transition strategy) plan has clearly failed (before COVID), with millions spent and nothing built, begging the question where has it gone?”
It follows revelations hostilities are escalating on the iconic island, with frustrations around economic management, unexplained land clearing and racial tensions simmering.
A Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC)-employed ranger Patrick Coolwell made comments online claiming Stradbroke had been living with “racial towns for years” and said Point Lookout was “still trying to keep the blacks out of their home”.
He posted photos on social media on Friday with a newly installed sign about Indigenous land.
“So proud to see this at Point Lookout”, Mr Coolwell posted.
Residents say tensions have grown on the island since native title was granted in 2011, giving Quandamooka people the right to occupy and use resources on some land.
Business owners now say living on the island is a nightmare, with one owner who asked not to be named, claiming it is an “unfixable problem”.
The owner said there was a lot of criticism of QYAC and the community was deeply divided, with fears little will be done to resolve the issue before the upcoming election.
“We often get intimidated and as a consequence we pull our heads down and go with the flow and it’s either that or there’s a drama – it’s a threatening atmosphere,” the owner said.
“It’s a deeply divided community and there’s squabbling on numerous levels… as soon as anyone raises their head they get it chopped off and out comes the race card.
“If you’ve got an opinion over here you’re better off keeping it to yourself because it’s not a very comfortable place to live any more.”
Originally published as Stradbroke Island tensions: Labor’s handling blasted by LNP