Keswick Island residents in the Whitsundays hopeful new lease holder will invest in infrastructure

Keswick Island is about 30 kilometres off the coast of Mackay in North Queensland.  (Supplied: Mackay Tourism)

A controversial China-based developer is selling its lease of a tropical island off the Queensland coast.

Keswick Island’s head lease has been owned by Oasis Forest Ltd (formerly China Bloom Hong Kong Ltd) since 2019.

Tensions between the island’s residents and the lease holder erupted the following year when “keep out” signs on the island’s shores warned off visitors.

That year boaties flocked to the island in protest as questions were raised about the foreign management of Australian islands.

An application to transfer its lease to a new owner has been lodged with the Queensland Department of Resources, and a financial management assessment for a new lessee is underway.

Residents say the island desperately needs hundreds of millions of dollars invested into it after years of neglect.

Looking for a fresh start

The island’s residents see a new owner as a fresh start.

“Having an Australian on board would just be amazing. I just don’t think a foreign body would work in this scenario,” Keswick Island Progress Association president Adrian Hayne said.

“This all comes down to the government holding lease owners to account. If they would have done that from the start, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Mr Hayne said he moved to the island three years ago for its crystal-clear blue waters and slow pace of life.

At the time, he believed it had the potential to be one of the country’s premium tourism destinations.

But after years of stagnant progress, he was adamant the state government needed to “step up and make up for lost time and lost dreams”.

Mr Hayne said getting to and from the island was its biggest challenge, with only two ferries connecting the island to the mainland via Mackay each week.

He said it cost $600 to fly with a private charter from Mackay to Keswick Island, and a barge with food and other supplies visited the island just once a month.

An all-tide jetty, marina and a small strip of shops have all been previous conditions of ownership for the island’s four head lease holders, but none of them have been developed.

The state government committed $1 million last year to improving visitor access at Keswick Island.

Move to change lease

In April the Department of Resources told a parliamentary committee an application to transfer the lease had been lodged earlier that month.

Acting deputy director general business and corporate partnerships Tanya Bartlett said the application was being considered.

She said it included a financial management and capability assessment.

Appearing before the Clean Economy, Jobs, Resources and Transport Committee last week, Ms Bartlett provided an update on actions arising from an earlier inquiry into the neglect of Queensland’s tropical islands.

She said the Keswick Island lessee had a number of development approvals in place with other agencies.

Ms Bartlett said the company was seeking environmental approvals to build a public jetty.

“In terms of their lease, while they are still not compliant at this stage they are working towards becoming compliant, they have development approvals being considered by local government for the planning of the jetty,” she said.

“The department is engaging directly with the lessee on a very regular basis.

“Also we have the lessee in contact with the sub lessees for plans for the future of the island.

“The department has had some enquiries now that the transfer of that lease is actually being discussed with the sub lessees.”

Growing issue

Keswick Island’s head lease is managed by the Queensland government, with island residents then sub leasing land from the head lease owner.

“We pay rates as you would to council. For those rates you [are meant to] get services,” Mr Hayne said.

“Really the only service we get is rubbish gets collected once a week … there is a septic system but it failed dismally years ago.”

Mr Hayne has called on the state government to hold head lease owners to account for their promised development conditions.

“It’s now been nearly five years, and nothing has happened … we want to have an island with way more residents on it,” he said.

It isn’t an issue isolated to Keswick Island either.

The Queensland government will take Hong Kong billionaire Benny Wu to court today to try to strip him of the lease of Double Island, which is in a state of disrepair.

In a statement, the government said it was “committed to the responsible development of our tourism islands for the jobs and business opportunities this creates in regional Queensland”.

Oasis Forest Ltd has been contacted for comment.