Friends of Stradbroke Island

Cartoon from Koori Mail 18 June 2014 North Stradbroke, affectionately known as “Straddie” by most South-east Queenslanders, is the world’s second largest sand island. It’s a popular holiday destination on Brisbane’s doorstep, with beautiful surfing beaches and a laid-back feel. Amendments to the 2011 North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability Act, passed by the Queensland parliament last November, are intended to allow, in 2019, mineral sand mining on Stradbroke, by the Belgian owned concern Sibelco, to be extended at the main Enterprise mine, to 2035 from its current limit of 2019. Sibelco stands to benefit by $1.5 billion, according to its own figures. Last year, it announced the closure of the ‘Vance’ silica sand mine on the island which had employed 13 people. It had not been scheduled to close until 2025. Its entire future operations depend upon the Enterprise mine. In a scathing assessment of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman’s government in late July,...

http://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2014/aug/10/ campbell-newman-is-in- quicksand-over-mining-on- stradbroke North Stradbroke, affectionately known as “Straddie” by most South-east Queenslanders, is the world’s second largest sand island. It’s a popular holiday destination on Brisbane’s doorstep, with beautiful surfing beaches and a laid-back feel. Amendments to the 2011 North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability Act, were passed by the Queensland parliament last November. They are intended to allow mineral sand mining by the Belgian owned concern Sibelco to be extended at the main Enterprise mine in 2019 (the current limit) to 2035. Sibelco stands to benefit by $1.5 billion,  according  to its own figures. Last year, it  closed  a small silica sand mine on the island which had employed 13 people. It had not been  scheduled to close  until 2025. Sibelco’s future operations depend upon the Enterprise mine. In a  scathi...