The Guardian – A gigantic resort proposed for far north Queensland does not need federal environmental assessment, its backers have argued, even though it includes two casinos, eight accommodation towers, a golf course and a 33-hectare lake filled via a 2.2km pipeline from the Great Barrier Reef.
The $8bn Aquis project, slated for Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, is described as “Australia’s only genuine, world-class, integrated resort”.
The resort, which would cover 340 hectares, is backed by the Hong Kong investor Tony Fung, who last year bought the Reef Casino Trust, which operates the Cairns casino.
An initial advice statement from July last year describes the casino as the “man-made wonder of the world” that north Queensland is missing. The development would include accommodation for up to 12,000 guests, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and the artificial lake.
The resort would be built on the Barron river floodplains, which drains into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, on land used mostly as sugar cane plantations. The proposal has divided the small community of Yorkeys Knob.
In a submission to the federal Department of the Environment last week, Aquis maintained it did not require a commonwealth environmental assessment process, as any impacts on the surrounding environment – including the reef – were not significant enough to warrant it.
Should the proposal be considered for a “controlled action” under environmental legislation, a report appended to the submission is good enough.
“A draft EIS [environmental impact statement] has been completed but not submitted to the co-ordinator-general, pending finalisation of a related issuing of a casino licence that is critical to the project viability,” the company said.
Aquis said if the development did not go ahead an opportunity would be lost to preserve and interpret Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural values, and to preserve and restore natural habitats.
