Toondah Harbour letter sent to every State MP

Dear Members of State Parliament

Toondah Harbour is a matter deserving of Queensland Parliament’s consideration

Plans for construction of 3,600 apartments in Quandamooka Country on wetlands next to Toondah Harbour in Cleveland – where ferries depart for North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) – have outraged the community and exposed deficiencies in Queensland’s laws that have State-wide ramifications.

Parliament recently received a petition signed by more than 6,000 people calling for an independent commission of inquiry into various aspects of the Toondah proposal. This is by far the greatest number of people signing a petition to Parliament about a Redlands issue in the past two decades.

Residents of Cleveland and people who travel between Cleveland and North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) are opposed to construction of apartments up to ten storeys in the waters of Moreton Bay; extending from the current ferry terminal past G.J. Walter Park to the heritage listed Grand View Hotel. Community surveys show that about 85% of people questioned face to face in our local area do not support the dredging and residential development plans being proposed by Walker Group.

The Redlands already has two classic examples of inappropriate development due to inadequate State Government controls in years gone by:

• Subdivision of Russell Island which resulted in one of Queensland’s longest criminal trials; and
• Dredging of Raby Bay wetlands in the 1980s for a sub-standard canal estate which has since required remediation costing millions of dollars at the expense of property owners and Redlands ratepayers.

The proposed destruction, next to Toondah Harbour, of Ramsar wetlands which support endangered migratory shorebirds and marine life such as endangered turtle species is opposed by local and national conservation groups. International attention is increasing.

Traffic from 3,600 apartments in the Bay would impact on wild koalas in the area around Toondah Harbour contributing to the imminent extinction of this iconic species in south east Queensland.

When this project was first announced in 2014, claims were made that the Toondah Harbour ferry terminal would be upgraded at no cost to the local council’s ratepayers. But this project has never been supported by a proper business case using cost benefit analysis.

The proposed creation of a new suburb accommodating several thousand people in the waters of Moreton Bay would inevitably require the State Government to spend millions of dollars providing infrastructure such as road upgrades, increased public transport capacity, new school facilities, more hospital wards and other upgrades to government services.

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It would be far less costly for the State Government to accept its responsibility for managing the Toondah Harbour ferry terminal and devise a program of necessary works to ensure that this small passenger port is fit for purpose to service people travelling to North Stradbroke Island on water taxis and vehicular ferries.

There has been no community consultation about the development plans proposed by Walker Group. A sub-standard public consultation process carried out by Redland City Council and the State Government in 2014 was about development plans which were substantially different and much less impactful.

From time to time attempts are made to suggest that the Toondah proposal is a Federal Government issue because the proposed environmental destruction involves matters of national environmental significance regulated by the Federal Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.

But this most objectionable of projects is clearly the result of poor decision making by Queensland Governments since 2012, under Queensland laws which facilitate poor town planning, inadequate environmental protection and secretive decision making about matters of public importance.

An independent commission of inquiry, headed by a former judge, would enable the Parliament to better understand what has gone wrong with the Toondah project. This should lead to legislative changes which will make Queensland a better place for both the people who live here and our natural environment which is such an important part of this State’s economic future. 

Some areas where changes in laws and regulations may be required include:

• Amending the Economic Development Act 2012 to focus on developing state infrastructure which encourages economic activity instead of being used to facilitate residential development which should be regulated entirely by local councils under the Planning Act 2016;
• Reviewing the Planning Act 2016 to give the community greater say over contentious projects;
• Upgrading standards and requirements for coastal development in areas likely to be impacted by rising sea levels and the difficulty of obtaining property insurance against natural events in years to come (other states in eastern Australia legislated to ban canal estate developments years ago):
• Amending the Right to Information Act to ensure that the community’s right to know about deals involving the sale and use of community assets cannot be frustrated through use of blanket confidentiality clauses in agreements between developers and government;
• Upgrading the protection of national parks and marine parks to clarify that these important places are to be properly managed and kept free of residential development with any revocations of gazetted areas to be permitted only for essential public infrastructure;
• Improving environmental regulation in Queensland through a more independent Environmental Protection Agency (we used to have an EPA many years ago); and
• Reconsidering legislation and regulations for protection of koalas and their habitat (currently the subject of two E-Petitions to State Parliament).

The awfulness of the proposed Toondah Harbour residential development can best be comprehended by a short site visit. Redlands2030 invites you to attend a site inspection so that you can become better acquainted with this project.

Yours sincerely

Steve MacDonald
President – Redlands2030
Phone: 0418 790 203
Email: thereporter@redlands2030.net
Website: https://redlands2030.net/

Redlands2030 – 9 September