In a dramatic move, the Federal Government has placed a major hurdle in the way of the $1.3-billion Toondah Harbour development in Queensland.
Walker Corporation’s project, which would deliver more than 3000 homes and a new marina precinct, has already struggled with native title and local housing strategy issues.
Today (April 9) Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek announced her proposed decision to reject the development, saying proposals to dredge 58.7ha of wetland had an “unacceptable impact”.
She cited the consequences of dredging on threatened and migratory species, including loggerhead and green turtles, the eastern curlew and the grey-tailed tattler.
Walker Corporation responded, saying that the proposal requires “a complex environmental approval process”.
“We respect the minister’s proposed decision notice and we will now take the time to carefully review and understand the reasons behind it,” a spokesperson for Walker Corporation told the media.
“We will then look to work with our consultant team and joint venture partners to see what opportunities might exist to mitigate or ameliorate the environmental concerns that the department has raised to ensure we provide the best opportunity for this important project to proceed to deliver housing, jobs and new state government infrastructure whilst ensuring world’s best environmental practice.”
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The minister has advised Walker Corporation that the developer has 10 business days to respond to the proposed decision.
The masterplan for the harbourside precinct was submitted in 2015 after considerable public consultation led by Redland City Council and the Queensland government in 2013 and 2014.
More than 26,000 comments were made when the draft environmental impact statement was released to the public.
Attempts to get the project over the line were complicated further after the Queensland Government commandeered the Redland City Council housing strategy in 2022 saying it needed to “urgently undertake the strategy and consider what amendments are needed to the City Plan to facilitate the range of housing needs identified by the strategy”.
Native title claims by the Quandamooka people have also been made, and the Queensland Government had previously admitted that native title “may” exist over some of the unallocated state land within the Toondah Harbour development footprint.
This led to ‘urgent’ native title mediation over the proposals.
The overall project would take up to 20 years to complete, offering a mixed-use residential, commercial, retail and tourism precinct.
Walker Corporation, whose founder Lang Walker passed away earlier this year after nearly 60 years in business, has spearheaded major projects across the country, including a floodplain development on the Gold Coast and a $2-billion CBD revitalisation project in Sydney’s Blacktown.
