Naree Budjong Djara Draft Management Plan consultation

A draft plan for managing the Naree Budjong Djara national park and conservation areas covering more than 50% of North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) has been published for consultation with submissions closing on 3 July 2020.

The draft plan covers the following areas shown on the map below: 

• Main Beach Conservation Park
• Naree Budjong Djara National Park which includes Kaboora (formerly known as Blue Lake National Park)
• Naree Budjong Djara Conservation Park
• Myora Conservation Park
• Natural coastal areas within the Minjerribah Recreation Area

Key issues

The draft plan provides for joint Indigenous and State Government management saying:

In recognition of strong and continuing cultural connections, the Quandamooka People and Queensland Government have established a perpetual partnership to jointly manage Naree Budjong Djara—to protect and conserve its natural and cultural values, for the benefit of all.

The draft plan identifies the need to manage threats to the area including:

• Inappropriate cultural behaviour by visitors such as swimming in Kaboora (Blue Lake) featured in the cover image for this post
• Domestic dogs not being appropriately restrained
• Four wheel drive and motor bike use on sand dunes

The possibility of capping the number of four wheel drive vehicles allowed to access beaches on North Stradbroke Island has been flagged by Cameron Costello the CEO of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC), according to a Redland City Bulletin story.

Native Title

The draft Plan is to guide management of the lands (shaded green) of the Quandamooka Native Title Determination (hatched white) on the map below. 

Native title is a complex and at times contentious issue.  Resolution of some Native Title claims have taken decades.  On 4 July 2011, the Federal Court made consent determinations for Quandamooka People over their claims at Goompi (Dunwich), Minjerribah, and recognised the continuing native title rights over approximately 54 000 hectares of Quandamooka land and sea Country. These determinations took effect upon on 9 December 2011. At the time, His Honour Judge Dowsett made the assertion: 

I have not come here today to give anything to the Quandamooka People. These orders give them nothing. Rather, I come on behalf of all Australian People to recognise their existing rights and interests, which rights and interests have their roots in times before 1788, only some of which have survived European settlement. Those surviving rights and interests I now acknowledge.

The clarity of these words distinguish the management considerations under the draft plan from that encountered on a “traditional” National Park management plan. 

Joint State and QYAC management

Recognition of the strong and continuing cultural connections to Minjerribah leads to an equal role for Quandamooka People in park operational decision-making and the management planning process. The Indigenous Management Agreement’s (IMA)  joint management governance structure includes an Operational Implementation Working Group and other structural arrangements.

The joint management arrangements are still being bedded down and the new Management Plan will certainly assist that process. That should lead to more certain outcomes for all stakeholders.

Management Issues for Naree Budjong Djara

The draft Plan is a fairly easy to read document and it explains the context of the Plan in a relatively easy to understand manner.  It is less than 60 pages supported by Naree Budjong Djara Draft Resource Information (about 30 pages).  Legislative obligations are listed in the draft Plan as well as management obligations under the following: 

• Moreton Bay Ramsar Site Agreement 1993
• CMS – Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
• CAMBA – China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement
• JAMBA – Japan–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement
• ROKAMBA – Republic of Korea–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement

Suggested additional management obligations include

• EAAFP – East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership
• Redlands Community Plan 2030 Community Plan
• Queensland Plan (see the Queensland Plan Act 2014)
• Gudjundabu Marumba Gubiyiyanya: Tourism for a Glad Tomorrow

The planning for the Toondah Harbour PDA is focused on a massive residential development catering for 3,600 apartments housing 8,000 people with towers up to 10 storeys.  The implications of a development of this scale has not been reconciled with the form of management outlined in the draft Plan. 

The draft Management Plan

The draft Plan embraces a Values-Based Management Framework (VBMF) to enable an adaptive management cycle that incorporates planning, prioritising, doing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting into all areas of our business. This enables the agency to be more flexible and proactive and to improve management effectiveness over time. 

The aspiration is well meaning but the outcomes will require ongoing commitments by all parties to achieve its lofty goal.  The community will need to be alert to what is the normal easing of commitments to implementation, monitoring and review so prevalent in State Government park planning.  Perhaps some oversight by a local community body could be considered to strengthen the partnership arrangements.  

The details of the draft Plan cannot be easily canvassed at this time but some matters which could be considered are discussed below.

Suggested comments for a submission

The draft Plan for Naree Budjong Djara rightly puts an emphasis on the Quandamooka People’s governance and their stewardship of natural and cultural values.  This emphasis identifies and overviews threatening processes and management directions.  Without being exhaustive submissions to the draft Plan might consider the following options:

1. The European heritage values of the Park area has left a legacy which rightly or wrongly influences the current use and values of the Island.  These legacies include the activities post-European settlement, existing towns and villages and the legacies from sand mining,  dredging, separation and loading equipment, and the post-mining revegetation/restoration.  
2. Potable water extraction is mentioned but there are growing and competing views about the impact on the natural values on the island. A recent article by SIMO raised significant questions about the impact and sustainability of water extraction
3. There is recognition of the threat from inappropriate visitor behaviour, but less concern expressed about the behaviour of residents and those with holiday cottages etc on the island.  The reference to visitor behaviour has its place but the threatening behaviour of visitors are probably mirrored in actions by other groups .
4. The question of the four-wheel-drive access and carrying capacity of the beaches is commended but the question of carrying capacity should be extended to other activities. This will likely be a contentious issue, but the evidence is mounting that beaches are damaged through excess, uninformed and careless beach activity 
5. The Island’s population or visitor carrying capacity should be considered as a potential source of even more threatening process. The number of people (resident, holidayers, day-trippers and those with “weekenders”) will potentially impact on the integrity of the island’s social, ecological and natural assets. 
6. Tourism is said to be increasing (375 000 people in 2018) and the Toondah Harbour PDA seems premised on facilitating a massive increase in tourist numbers.  Toondah is the gateway to the island and should be designed to meet the Island’s sustainable tourist capacity so that unmanaged growth is not a driver of the management responses.  QYAC has stated it aspires to take a bigger yield from existing visitors rather than foster a massive increase in the number of visitors.
7. There seems a dichotomy in the management intent of planning on each end of the “waterway” between Dunwich and Toondah Harbour. This dichotomy seems not to have been addressed in the planning for the Toondah Harbour PDA and future tourism on Minjerribah (and in the draft Management Plan) is not resolved.  This should be reconciled as a priority.
8. Capacity for outdoor recreation on beaches is a critical and topical issue but the impact of other activities, like forms of bike-riding, photography (including with drones), bushwalking, nature observation, various forms of camping, trail bike riding, fishing, shell and shellfish collection, and so on.  The early identification of threats should help to identify an appropriate and pre-emptive approaches that help to avoid future conflicts about re-locating, prohibition or other prescriptive management actions.
9. Provision for high yield (international) tourism can be at odds with established /traditional “free and easy” practices.  The market for quality and high yield tourism is more likely to be attuned to the high quality cultural and ecological attributes.  That distinction should inform management decisions.
10. Suggested issues to frame the Management Plan should include:
    • EAAFP – East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership
    • Redlands Community Plan 2030 Community Plan
    • Queensland Plan (see also the Queensland Plan Act 2014)
    • Gudjundabu Marumba Gubiyiyanya: Tourism for a Glad Tomorrow

What to include in your submission

To ensure your submission is effective, all or some of the above comments (1-10) can be used to lead a submission. It is preferable to use the feedback form template, be clear and concise and include the following:

• planning document’s name
• page number, paragraph, key value, level of service and/or the strategic management direction you are commenting on

Written submissions can be lodged:

• by email to: ParkManagementPlans@des.qld.gov.au
• By post to:

Planning Manager
Management and Operations | QPWS and Partnerships
Department of Environment and Science
PO Box 15187
City East Qld 4002

Have Your Say

CLICK HERE to simply make your submission using Redlands2030 pre-drafted email service.

Redlands2030 – 20 June 2020