What is happening on Keswick Island?: Spotlight on Queensland Island governance arrangements

What is happening on Keswick Island?: Spotlight on Queensland Island governance arrangements

This article focuses on planning and environmental law issues arising from management of Keswick Island (Keswick), located near Mackay off the Queensland coast. At issue is the extent to which head lease obligations have been performed by the head lessee, whether environmental and planning laws and lease conditions have been properly complied with and, where compliance is deficient, whether duly enforced by the Queensland Government, and the impact this has on island residents, including sublessees. Various questions arise about the transfer of the head lease to the current head lessee on Keswick, Oasis Forest Ltd, and their governance of the island, and relationship with sublessees. These questions are relevant to Queensland, and federal environmental and planning laws, administrative decision-making on Queensland Island governance, including how head lessees on Queensland islands are chosen, and the future of Queensland Island tourism and governance.

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in the Environmental and Planning Law Journal and should be cited as Rhett Martin, What is happening on Keswick Island?: Spotlight on Queensland Island governance arrangements, (2024) 40 EPLJ 73. For all subscription inquiries please phone, from Australia: 1300 304 195, from Overseas: +61 2 8587 7980 or online at https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/en-au/contact.html. The official PDF version of this article can also be purchased separately from Thomson Reuters at http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/subscribe-or-purchase.