Good ideas go nowhere
CVISITORS ARE THRILLED WHEN THEY SEE KOALAS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT, SNOOZING IN TREES …
AN you guess the top two bucket-list items for tourists visiting Townsville?
Five stars if you picked idyllic Magnetic Island, and the cutest, cuddliest marsupials around – koalas.
Visitors are thrilled when they see koalas in their natural habitat, snoozing in trees; and if they aren’t lucky enough to spot any in the wild, they can take a tour through the Koala Village wildlife park at Bungalow Bay, where they can get a picture taken while holding a koala to wow the friends and rellies back home.
Not so visible is the Magnetic Island Koala Hospital, a rescue and rehab facility.
It’s a registered charity, and while it’s not open to the public, the resident vet tends to sick, injured and orphaned koalas from the region.
It’s a great initiative whichever way you look at it, and when the charity submitted plans in 2018 to create a camping ground with 40 sites, composting toilets, barbecue, three demountable koala pens, a single dwelling and a eucalyptus plantation near the rescue facility, the council thought so too, granting planning approval.
Which is why it’s so baffling as to how one person can appeal that approval, and win. One person. Some of the arguments made were that “there would be a conflict with the established koala viewing on the Forts Walk” and “increased activity would probably result in more illegal fires on the beach and further vehicle damage to the dunes.” Probably?
Meanwhile, in the same council meeting minutes another sole protester stymied the opening of the proposed microbrewery in South Townsville.
Planned to open last November, a rival brewer appealed against the granting of the permit, which was only passed this week after agreeing to restrictions imposed on it by the court action.
Is it any wonder investors are reticent to choose Townsville as a base for their venture?
Just like the sole complainants that shut down music from both City Lane and the Herbert Hotel, how can these minorities of one affect outcomes so convincingly?
Fair enough when something is a terrible idea; after months of complaints with no result, public pressure finally managed to halt the proposed oversized State Government student housing development in Aitkenvale.
Of course, whatever is built in its place might prove to be just as inappropriate, but with ‘community consultation’ a laughable construct, who knows?
Locally, we can only wonder at the erratic power of the council to dictate what is good for us (proposed oversized video console in the city, anyone?) if it backs down on its own approvals when challenged by a complainant with vested interests. What is best for the city?
That should be the criteria that guides our leaders, and yet the development application for the koala facility has been refused, while the microbrewery has had to comply with demands made by the owner of its competition.
With applications approved then denied, or referred to the CEO due to conflict of interest, and the high assessment fees described by a town planner recently, what is the message to investors?
Koalas and beer should be nobrainers.
Perhaps somewhere else, they would be.