Your help is urgently needed in the campaign to save the Gold Coast’s koalas. It is only public pressure on both State and Local Government that will force action.

Council has continued to spend ratepayer funds on investigations into this proposal, despite strong community opposition to this proposal as well as all previous cruise ship proposals since 2003. The resultant reports are heavily redacted especially information regarding financial and physical risks, information the community is entitled to know about! The proposal was sent to the Co-ordinator General who declined to consider it until the Spit Master Plan process is complete in late 2019.

Gecko is again hosting Clean Up Australia Day on the Gold Coast, together with the City of Gold Coast. Registrations are open on Clean Up Australia web site. Or join one of our successful teams.

Gecko Recycle Scheme for hard to recycle items is coming to fruition. These items are Household Batteries, CDs & DVDs, Printer Cartridges, and Mobile Phones, which currently end up in the council tip. This program is designed to place a Hard to Recycle container in every shopping centre so such items can be safely disposed of and a volunteer will empty the container on a regular basis.

Light Rail Stage 3b is intended to travel through Palm Beach and on to the Gold Coast Airport, though the route is not yet decided. There is no doubt that the light rail is a popular form of public transport and is preferred to increasing congestion of the roads.

Will 2019 be the year Australia takes on its responsibilities in effective action on climate change? Our Federal Government continues to fail to put into practice any meaningful policy on tackling climate change, apparently held hostage to the small group of right wing climate change deniers within the LNP

The campaign to stop the infill of the Lake has continued unabated over past months, but nothing has swayed either the Council or the Gold Coast Turf Club. The Lake is now partially filled and the GC Turf Club apparently intends to fill it all, except for whatever small amount is needed for flood mitigation.

The objectives of this campaign is to amend the Planning Act 2016 so that the interests of the community are paramount over those of the development industry.

In early December another of the weekend workshops to design the Spit Master Plan was held at SeaWorld, with representatives from the community, business and community groups present. This time the focus was on pulling together outcomes of public consultation on the 72 Options.

The Gecko Environment Council Campaign Team continues to meet fortnightly and as in past years has achieved much in 2017-2018. Unlike many other environment groups formed to advocate for one particular issue, Gecko, as the peak regional environment group, does its best to respond to a wide range of issues relating to conservation of species, sustainability or transparency and accountability in government