The Minister’s call-in period for objections to the proposed Boral Quarry at Reedy Creek closes this Tuesday 3rd March at 5pm. Gecko Environment Council has lodged a detailed submission urging the Minister to call in the project and refuse it.
Click here for a submission template to use.
Gecko’s position is clear: the 2025 application is fundamentally the same as the 2013 proposal that was refused by the Planning and Environment Court in 2017 and upheld on appeal in 2018. While there are minor reductions in scale, the key impacts remain largely unchanged.
The proposal still includes
- Up to 400 heavy truck movements per day
- A 40-year operational life
- Clearing of nearly 10,000 non-juvenile koala habitat trees
- Direct impact on the Burleigh to Springbrook Hinterland Critical Corridor (HCC)
The core environmental and community concerns identified by the Court have not been resolved.
The quarry site lies within the Hinterland Critical Corridor, identified in the Gold Coast City Plan as a vital ecological linkage between coastal areas and the hinterland. This corridor supports threatened species movement, habitat connectivity and long-term biodiversity resilience. The City Plan emphasises protection and rehabilitation of environmentally significant areas. Establishing a 40-year extractive industry within this corridor is inconsistent with the Strategic Framework’s commitments to nature conservation and green space connectivity.
Since the 2017 decision, koalas have been uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered under federal law. The proposed clearing of almost 10,000 habitat trees within a recognised movement corridor would fragment habitat and undermine recovery efforts. State planning benchmarks require no net loss or fragmentation of koala habitat and protection of safe movement corridors. In a region already facing habitat loss, disease, vehicle strike and climate pressures, this additional impact is unacceptable.
The project would also significantly affect local residents and schools. Dust containing silica, blasting and machinery noise, vibration, and up to 400 daily truck movements along Old Coach Road, not designed as a haulage route, would increase congestion, safety risks and wildlife roadkill in an existing collision hotspot. Community health and liveability cannot be separated from environmental health.
Gecko also questions the need for this quarry. The 2017 Court noted that any supply issue for hard rock would not arise until around 2031–2040, and multiple quarries already operate on the Gold Coast. No compelling evidence has been presented to justify developing this environmentally sensitive site.
Rather than industrial extraction, Gecko believes the land should be protected, restored and formally integrated into the Hinterland Critical Corridor as a conservation reserve under City of Gold Coast trusteeship.
For these reasons, conflict with the Planning Scheme, serious biodiversity risks, threats to endangered koalas, impacts on community wellbeing, and minimal change from the previously rejected proposal, Gecko urges the Minister to call in and refuse the project.
Submissions close Tuesday 3rd March at 5pm.
