Local MP Fights For Island Resorts

Abandoned and dilapidated island resorts here in the Whitsundays could soon come under more stringent land management criteria if results from this week’s parliamentary enquiry find that better practices would ensure correct monitoring of these precious local resources.

Whitsunday Conservation Council put in a submission with the state government some months ago and Member for Whitsunday Amanda Camm MP spoke passionately about the issue at the enquiry which was held in Cannonvale this week.

Island Resorts in “Sad Disarray”

Two significant island resorts in the Whitsundays have been closed for over a decade and with private lease holds on the premises, these dilapidated remains are largely left unmonitored.

The three-star Club Med resort on Lindeman Island has been closed since 2012 when it was purchased by Chinese firm White Horse Holding for $12 million.

Similarly, Brampton Island which is in the Whitsunday Island group but located in the Mackay region, has been closed since 2010 when United Petroleum, who are registered in Victoria, bought the resort.

There were plans for a $600 million redevelopment but so far nothing has come to fruition.

More locally, the resort on South Molle Island was bought by a Chinese company in 2016 and was largely destroyed by Cyclone Debbie a few months later.

It has been officially closed and slowly falling into disrepair since 2019.

Long Island’s Club Croc has also been closed for several years but was purchased by a Sydney-based company in 2021.

There are plans for major redevelopment to create an upscale resort, but nothing has commenced yet.

Whitsunday Conservation Society put a submission in for an enquiry into the management of all resort islands and spokesperson for the group, Tony Fontes, said that there needs to be a better system in place.

The group would like to see a stop to any new leases on national park land, no more expansion of existing resorts onto national park land and a bond system created where resort owners must deposit an amount that will be used to maintain the island in the event that they are no longer willing to invest.

Member for Whitsunday Amanda Camm MP said that resort development needs to be looked at in a sustainable manner and that many of the islands are in “sad disarray”.

“I see a real opportunity, post Covid, to see our islands return to their full potential in the way that they are managed sustainably into the future,” she said.

“If the current disrepair were happening on the mainland, no-one would allow that.”

Ms Camm went on to cite the case of Brampton Island where a seven-star resort was going through planning approvals with Council and their current management criteria was rolled-over for a further six years without any new impact study or community consultation.

“This island still has no investment and there is significant debris which is impacting the environment,” she said.

The parliamentary enquiry of the resort islands continued onto Hamilton Island the following day and then Keswick Island at the end of the week.

It is hoped that the findings will create new regulations which will better supervise the management of our islands.

Member for Whitsunday Amanda Camm MP speaking at the parliamentary enquiry in Cannonvale earlier this week

A dilapidated South Molle Island after Cyclone Debbie

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