Labor puts taxpayer cash into Indigenous tourism strategy on North Stradbroke Island

Labor ploughed taxpayer cash into a tourism strategy despite having little idea how it was being spent.

North Stradbroke Island. Picture: Tourism and Events Queensland

Labor ploughed taxpayer cash into an Indigenous tourism strategy on North Stradbroke Island despite having little idea how it was being spent and project milestones repeatedly being missed, a long-awaited investigation has revealed.

The $20m Minjerribah Futures strategy – announced by former Deputy Premier Jackie Trad in 2015 to plug the $55m hole left by the end of sand mining – has ended up costing taxpayers $39.4m.

Auditor-General Rachel Vagg’s analysis found the former government’s Minjerribah Futures program was plagued with problems including a lack of understanding about how taxpayer cash was being spent and missed construction deadlines.

In 2016 the government allocated $20m in funding for 23 island improvement projects – about one third of their total cost – which were due for completion by the end of 2021.

The use of taxpayer funding was the subject of a major investigation by The Sunday-Mail in August 2020.

The controversial whale skeleton on the hill at Point Lookout has been delayed indefinitely due to community protests.

A Quandamooka Arts and Culture Centre at Dunwich, labelled the “jewel in the crown” of Minjerribah Futures, is due to open from late winter.

North Stradbroke Island was part of a Labor tourism plan. Picture: Rachael Houldcroft

The island’s body corporate Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) received $8.7m from the Minjerribah Futures strategy to deliver nine of the 23 projects.

Ms Vagg found the state government did not assess whether QYAC had the capability to deliver projects.

While the delivery of the 23 projects required “significant third-party funding”, no agency took responsibility for finding it.

“Ultimately, the additional third-party funding was not obtained, requiring the Queensland Government to progressively increase its funding for the projects,” Ms Vagg’s report noted.

There is little information about the status of funding compared with the progress of projects.

Ms Vagg revealed funding agreements between the state and QYAC did not define how much of the cash could be used to meet “administrative costs”.

It meant government departments “continued to provide funding to QYAC without satisfying themselves that milestones under the funding agreements were achieved”.

North Stradbroke Island. Picture: Rachael Houldcroft

The Auditor-General found the Labor government tasked QYAC with delivering complex projects “that were not fully funded” and beyond their ability.

“QYAC rarely met the financial or progress reporting requirements set out in the funding agreements,” Ms Vagg said.

“Where QYAC did submit financial acquittals, it did not provide sufficient detail and evidence to demonstrate how it used the funding to achieve the project objective.”

Some cash allocated to projects was instead used to support island businesses during Covid-19 lockdown periods.

Responding to the report, QYAC acting chief executive officer Kate Healy acknowledged the organisation was “inadequately resourced” to deliver the number of projects.

However, she declared taxpayers “received excellent value for money” from their investment through the $100m in economic benefits and 25 jobs created on the island.

“Minjerribah Futures projects than have been delivered with the support of the Queensland Government have delivered real and lasting benefits for the Quandamooka People, but also the broader Minjerribah community and the public,” Ms Healy said.

Originally published as Labor puts taxpayer cash into Indigenous tourism strategy on North Stradbroke Island