A gigantic casino resort proposed for far north Queensland in Australia does not need federal environmental assessment, its backers have argued.
This is despite the fact that it includes two casinos, eight accommodation towers, a golf course, tennis courts 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.
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.
