Empowering communities to protect the environment and live sustainably
PAID VACANCY-The Campaign Coordinator, in representing Gecko across a range of community sectors, will undertake to respond to a broad scope of environmental issues with the support of the members of the campaign team. Campaign work is organised under the 4 fields of biodiversity, climate change, liveability, and sustainability in planning. See www.gecko.org.au for more info
Dear Councillors, Councillor vote on ASF Proposal It has been reported in the Gold Coast Bulletin that you are being pressured to vote on whether or not to proceed with the ASF Consortium possible proposal tomorrow. This appears to be happening without you receiving adequate information or time to properly consider the limited information you do have. While we always take what is reported in the GC Bulletin with a pinch of salt, in the absence of any other source of information the stories over the last few days have raised grave concerns.
Cruise terminal tribute to Prince Philip or a promise to save the park named in his honour?
It is time for the Mayor to abandon the Oceanside cruise terminal. The terminal is totally inappropriate on the Philip Park site or anywhere in the Broadwater and Gecko Environment Council’s success, at long last, of getting the PwC Business Case Report, released in full, clearly reveals that. The Mayor and most Councillors should be held to account for failing to release all of this report, especially Appendix E which lists all the risks involved in this proposal. See wwewe.gecko.org.au for more info.
City Planning Amendments Again!
Round 4 of the latest version of the Amendments to the City Plan are out and there is an opportunity to make a submission by Thursday 8th April by email to cityplansubmissions@goldcoast.qld.gov.au or on online gchaveyoursay.com.au/ourcityourplan
Gecko has put together a submission which you can find on our home page of the website www.gecko.org.au
You are welcome to use any of the information from this submission or all of it or you can simply write and say you endorse the Gecko submission. More submissions tell Council the residents are watching what is happening in planning for our city’s future.
The City of Gold Coast Council is once again proposing a cableway from Mudgeeraba to Springbrook National Park and have commissioned a feasibility study which will be presented to Councillors in February. Gecko is extremely concerned that this proposal has been raised again as the Government report in 2000 clearly stated the reasons it should not proceed.
The Spit continues to be very popular with residents and visitors as a place to relax and recreate especially in the challenging year that was 2020. Its value to the Gold Coast community cannot be disputed as the public sought to enjoy our green and blue recreational areas. The commitment of so many in the community since 2003 to protecting The Spit has been justified over and over again and they will continue to watch over it during the implementation of the Master Plan and beyond. There are many positive happenings on The Spit, but still some issues that require on going advocacy and vigilance. The positives are the projects relating to the adopted Master Plan and issues relate to the cruise terminal in Phillip Park and helicopter flights.
The main campaign to save Black Swan Lake at Bundall reached a successful conclusion late in 2020 when Council voted to retain the remaining 20% of the lake for wildlife and community benefit. However the future management of the Lake remains undecided.
This is a proposed 4-6 lane highway with speeds up to 100km/h which will run roughly parallel to the east of the M1 and which is purported to remove 60,000 vehicles from the M1 and reduce congestion on the M1. However the end result will be 14 lanes of traffic from the Gold Coast to the Logan Motorway and no increase in public transport patronage.
At present there is funding of $1.53 billion for Stage 1 only and the project will begin mid-year with the construction of the Coomera River Bridge. Stage 1 is from Nerang to Coomera. Public consultation is likely in the first half of 2021. See gecko.org.au/campaigns/biodiversity for full details.
Environmental campaigners and others active in the community often want to contact a Minister or Shadow Minister about their concerns, so Gecko has put together a list of the Government Ministers and their pair LNP Shadow Minister with all their contacts for you to use. We hope this is useful for you www.gecko.org.au
Over that time Gecko, as a leading regional environmental body, has actively participated in all
consultations relating the EPBC Act, the cornerstone of Australia’s environmental protection as well
as to development proposals that trigger Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES). In
this instance we would like to express our strong objection to this Bill, its manner of hasty passage
through Parliament and the lamentably curtailed debate that has taken place. We believe that this
Bill, which has been prematurely drafted and tabled, should have been informed by the final report
of the statutory independent review of the EPBC Act conducted by Prof Graeme Samuel AO. This has
yet to be presented to the public, together with the government’s considered response. The findings
of the preliminary report clearly stated that, “The EPBC Act is ineffective. It does not enable the
Commonwealth to protect and conserve environmental matters that are important for the nation.”
This view was backed up by the Australian National Audit Office which found that the federal
government’s administration of the EPBC Act was neither effective nor efficient.
No proof has been provided to demonstrate that the Bill will provide increased efficiency or a reduction of the costs of development applications.