Tourist Park Approved – Despite Expert Advice and 6,000+ Voices

Devastating news: Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie has approved the Comiskey Group’s large-scale Tourist Park on the edge of the Pumicestone Passage, despite:

• Over 6,000 petition signatures objecting to it and the Music festival and outdoor exhibition venue proposal
• Hundreds of community submissions
• SARA’s expert recommendation to refuse the proposal due to:
  - No overriding public need
  - No locational requirement for it to be within the Northern Inter-Urban Break
  - Conflict with the (NIUB)
  - Unacceptable risks to Ramsar-listed wetlands and protected areas.

This decision ignores expert advice and community concern, undermines Queensland’s planning integrity, and places an internationally significant wetland at risk.

What else has happened?

• During the Minister’s decision-making period, the Planning Regulation 2017 was amended to remove key assessment matters, making it easier for him to override SARA’s recommended refusal. These permanent changes to the law weaken protections for the NIUB and greenbelt areas and set a dangerous precedent for future developments.
• Donation rules for developers have also been changed, raising serious concerns about how decisions affecting sensitive areas will be made.

What’s Next? The Mega Music Festival and Outdoor Exhibition Centre  

The Minister will soon decide this second call in — a development that would bring up to 35,000 people per day during events into the NIUB adjacent to Pumicestone Passage and wetlands, with no public transport infrastructure and and hundreds of trucks etc to ship in and out all of the required venue infrastructure.

With the Tourist Park now approved, the risk of this development being approved is even greater.

What You Can Do – Act Now

Even though public consultation is closed, community pressure is still critical. Please:

✅ Share this update widely – your email, your social media. 
The more people sign this petition and speak up, the harder it is for decision-makers to ignore.

✅ Email the Deputy Premier (Planning Minister) and cc local MPs
Jarrod Bleijie MP – statedevelopment@ministerial.qld.gov.au, kawana@parliament.qld.gov.au

Subject: Reject the Music Festival Proposal – Protect Pumicestone Passage
Key points to include:

• Express great disappointment at the Tourist Park approval despite expert advice and significant community opposition.
• State that the Music Festival proposal is totally incompatible with NIUB protections and Ramsar wetlands.
• Urge the Minister to refuse the Music Festival site.

✅ Email your local State MP – they need to hear from you.

Kendall Morton – caloundra@parliament.qld.gov.au
Ariana Doolan  – pumicestone@parliament.qld.gov.au
Andrew Powell – glass.house@parliament.qld.gov.au

Ask them to:

• Stand up for their community and oppose the Music Festival proposal.
• Advocate for no more weakening of protections for the NIUB and Pumicestone Passage.

The Tourist Park approval is NOT ecotourism.  It's greenwashing. It’s a large, urban style Big4 Tourist Park. 

Add a mega Music Festival and Outdoor Exhibition Centre site next to it.  What next? 

The Pumicestone Passage is already under pressure — and Queensland’s greenbelt must not be sacrificed for commercial gain.

South East Queensland’s greenbelt is not for sale! Protect Pumicestone Passage!

Your voice still matters. Please act today.