澳洲人民船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民用公園海灘

利瓦仔

澳洲人民用船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民到公園海灘

中國房地產企業去年向澳洲昆士蘭州政府簽下凱瑟克島（Keswick Island）租約，用於觀光旅遊用途，期限長達99年。不過，島上居民控訴，他們的生活此後處處受限，被禁止透過海陸空任何途徑登島、進入海灘或公園等公共土地，甚至有居民被要求3天內打包走人，怒罵「這座島已變成中共的財產」。

綜合外媒報導，位於東南部的凱瑟克島（Keswick Island）風景優美、自然資源豐富，是著名的旅遊勝地，當地民眾也以觀光維生，但自從中國房地產企業「China Bloom」去年4月擁有該島剩餘未被劃入大堡礁海洋國家公園（Great Barrier Reef Marine Park）的20％土地使用權後，一切都變調。

島民威莉絲（Julie Willis）控訴，自己與男友李（Robert Lee）被趕出居住長達6年的租屋處，且在期限前3天才收到搬遷通知，即便他們要購買現在居住的房子，也會受到刁難，必須支付巨額「維修費」，讓他們怒控「他們不希望澳洲人留在島上，只想要把這座島嶼用於中國觀光市場」、「感覺好像凱瑟克島變成了中國共產黨的財產」。

至於已有房產的島民，也被下令「房子不准出租」，也禁止透過海陸空任何途徑登島、進入海灘或公園等公共土地，控從去年9月起就沒有觀光客，甚至環境也遭到嚴重破壞，島上海灘原本是知名海龜築巢地點，如今卻受建設工程的重型機械影響。

對於島民的指控，昆士蘭政府卻宣稱，中企租下島嶼後致力改善島上道路、碼頭和其他基礎設施，表示目前沒有收到任何申訴或調解申請。不過地方的行動組織「凱瑟克島進步協會（Keswick Island Progress Associatio, KIPA）」卻不認同，日前已經致信給「China Bloom」公司、政府和地方聯邦議員要求多方協調。

澳洲人民用船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民到公園海灘

Beach protest planned for Whitsundays island purchased by Chinese developer

A Chinese developer who purchased a pristine Aussie island tried to kick locals off a public beach. This is how they plan to take it back.

The war over a pristine piece of Australia’s paradise is intensifying this week as locals and their supporters plan to occupy a beach in the Whitsundays that a Chinese developer wants them banished from.

News.com.au wrote about Keswick Island, 30km from Mackay, earlier this week after it emerged wealthy developer China Bloom had closed beaches, parts of the national park and the airstrip and had banned short term accommodation and rentals.

The tiny island in the Coral Sea at the bottom of the Whitsundays is being controlled by the developer after it signed a 96-year lease for 117 hectares with plans to develop a tourist resort to accommodate 3000 people.

The small community that calls the 530 hectares of Keswick Island home has been banned from accessing large parts of public land, including the national park (which accounts for 400 hectares). The track to beautiful Basil Bay is blocked with rocks and “permit only” signs.

“I’m gobsmacked that it’s happening in Australia,” local Julie Willis told news.com.au after she was given three days to evacuate a rental property she had lived in for five years.

Northern Beaches local Deb Lawson is capitalising on the media attention. She has planned a “peaceful protest” at Basil Bay, where the Queensland Government told news.com.au locals are not allowed to go “past the high tide line”.
Her protest, planned for Australia Day, will include “a flotilla of boats”.

“I thought, being a boating community (Mackay), what better way to do that than get a flotilla of boats, let’s get out to Keswick Island.”

“China Bloom don’t have ownership below the high tide mark,” she told 7 News. “So, technically, they can’t stop us getting on to the beach.”

The member for Whitsundays, Amanda Camm, told reporters this week: “This is not Communist China, this is Australia. This is Queensland and this is the Whitsundays.”

News.com.au approached Mackay Regional Council about the issue earlier this week. They refused to comment, instead handballing the issue to the Palaszczuk Government on the grounds that “the long-term lease is between them and China Bloom”.

A Queensland Government spokesman told news.com.au the developer is being urged to do the right thing.

“(We are) working with China Bloom to ensure all relevant activities are in accordance with the terms of the lease, particularly as China Bloom works to upgrade the island’s roads, boat ramps, jetties and marine infrastructure,” a Department of Resources spokesman said.

On the matter of public access being denied to Basil Bay, the government offered only this:

“In areas of Keswick Island where a lease is held adjacent to the beach, the public can access the beach up to where the tide goes up to (the high tide mark).”

Ms Willis says Airbnb operators were forced to cancel bookings, including those with international tourists who were a week away from arriving, after China Bloom decreed an end to short term accommodation.

“Suddenly we were letting international visitors know, ‘Sorry, you can’t come here.’”

Ms Willis says a husband and wife team who ran a block maintenance business were given seven days to wrap things up and a local who had flown his plane from Mackay to Keswick Island more than 1000 times was given 12 hours to get it off the island’s runway.

The airstrip closure means travel by boat is now the only way on and off the island. But even the jetty, provided by the previous head lease holder, was removed and never replaced.

Instead, locals must navigate a “much more dangerous” approach to a newly constructed, much smaller ramp.

It all amounts to an end to an incredible burden on what was once a “vibrant community”, she said.

“On the surface, it really looks like they don’t want the sublessees there. They have no responsibility to look after sublessees. It’s like they want it as a private island for Chinese tourists.

“It’s a struggle. We’ve tried to come to the table with China Bloom. We’ve been given assurances by the State Government that our concerns have been taken on board but we feel like we’re not being listened to.”

She said part of the national park has been closed off, including an area that was known as a turtle nesting habitat.
It comes after one of the island’s shorelines was excavated during turtle nesting season in 2019.

The State Government took months to investigate and, despite photographs of environmental damage to the known turtle nesting habitat, found no evidence of wrongdoing.

News.com.au approached China Bloom’s Australian agent for comment but they did not respond.

澳洲人民用船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民到公園海灘

利瓦仔

澳洲人民用船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民到公園海灘

Bencan

嘩！中國人真可怕，共產黨更可惡，用錢簽下凱瑟克島（Keswick Island）租約，用於觀光旅遊用途，期限長達99年，竟然當係自己的財產。

澳洲旅客用錢租下酒店房間，是否可以任澳洲人自由進出房間？使用衛生間大小便、冲涼？房中進餐、睡覺？

哦！原來澳洲昆士蘭州政府錢就識收，而付費者無控制權？

澳洲人不是應該向澳洲昆士蘭州政府投訴損失利益，追究責任咩？反而讓付費者成為受害者、迫害者？

乜邏輯標準呀？乜嘢世界？

利瓦仔

Locals who have called picturesque Keswick Island home for years claim a Chinese developer who owns the island’s main lease has resorted to increasingly petty tactics in a war over the Whitsundays paradise.

News.com.au spoke to Keswick Island land owners last week after it emerged wealthy developer, Hong-Kong-based China Bloom, had closed beaches, shut off parts of the national park, removed access to the airstrip and banned short term accommodation and rentals.

The tiny island in the Coral Sea, 30km from Mackay, is being controlled by the developer after it signed a lease until 2096-year for 117 hectares with plans to develop a tourist resort to accommodate 3000 people.

The small community that calls the 530 hectares of Keswick Island home has been banned from accessing large parts of public land, including the national park (which accounts for 400 hectares). The track to beautiful Basil Bay is blocked with rocks and “permit only” signs.

It got worse over the weekend, locals say. A woman who lives on the island told news.com.au on Monday she is convinced the developer removed a pine tree that locals had been using as a community Christmas tree for 12 years – a tree they decorated with ornaments each year.

“Just a thing I did every year,” the woman said. “Nurtured it along from 1-2m high over the past 12 years. At Christmas I decorated it for all to enjoy on the corner – a place where locals, friends, passing boaties, and visitors from around the world would gather to watch the sunset over the mainland Mackay and Hay Point.”

She said a resident who lives down the hill saw the island truck pass her place on Friday “with just one tree in it and thought it was a bit strange”.

“Island management know we all get so much enjoyment from that gathering place.”

Pictures show the tree decorated in 2019 and the stump where it once stood.

On Facebook, the woman wrote that the tree was removed as “retaliation” and “pathetic retribution to the locals on Keswick”.

It comes after Northern Beaches local Deb Lawson organised a “peaceful protest” at Basil Bay for Australia Day. Her protest will include a “flotilla of boats” at the beach where the Queensland Government told news.com.au locals are not allowed to go “past the high tide line”.

“I thought, being a boating community (Mackay), what better way to do that than get a flotilla of boats, let’s get out to Keswick Island,” she told 7 News.

“China Bloom don’t have ownership below the high tide mark. So, technically, they can’t stop us getting on to the beach.”
The member for Whitsundays, Amanda Camm, told reporters this week: “This is not Communist China, this is Australia. This is Queensland and this is the Whitsundays.”

澳洲人民用船隊抗議共匪企業買斷澳洲小島禁居民到公園海灘