Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Casino plan ramps up - But which design?

With EIS completed and forwarded to the relevant authorities one has to imagine how quick this project is going to be fast tracked.
Six weeks for residents to read and consume all the information is going to take more than the six weeks and then to be able to gain further information is probably the hardest thing for most residents to obtain.
The EIS is probably written with expert "jargon" that most people won't understand and with the 2 sides, Aquis Aware and the Chamber of Commerce it won't be an easy task to get the real answers.
There has been one meeting (Dec 4, 2013) called by Aquis Aware where two prominent professors spoke on possible problems of location and the environment and it is through these people that the locals can have a better understanding of the situation.
Then the Member for Cairns made this statement:
The Member for Cairns Gavin King who wasn't at the meeting due to another commitment stated “he was disgusted and disappointed by comments made at the forum by labor politicians.
Having been in attendance no political party was mentioned and this is where people get their backs up when politicians make these stupid remarks.
IT'S NOT ABOUT POLITICS IT'S ABOUT PEOPLES LIFE STYLES AND CONCERNS OF WHAT COULD EVENTUATE IN THE FUTURE. We all have read and see the design of the proposed Aquis Casine/Resort as below:

but in the Cairns Post on Friday Dec 20, 2013 Mr King said the applications would be subject to a community impact statement as well as probity checks, and former Queensland auditor general Len Scanlan had been appointed probity adviser to oversee the process.
He said the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore was a preferred model so here we go again without any consultation the Member for Cairns makes this statement.
It's not about you Gavin King it's about Yorkeys Knob and the surrounding area and the residents should be able to have a say about the design and does it fit in with the present surroundings, this is Yorkeys Knob NOT Singapore or China or Les Vegas.
This is what The Member for Cairns prefers:

Drawcard: Member for Cairns Gavin King said Singapore"s Marina Bay Sanda resort was the preferred model for a casino development.
 In the Weekend Post Justin Fung made this statement:
Sat Dec 21, 2013Justin told The Week end Post that families would be their target customers for the resort, which will include an international casino, nine luxury hotels with 3750 rooms, 1200 apartments, 135 villas, 13,500sq m of high-end retail shopping, an aquarium, two theatres, a 13ha lagoon, 65ha lake, 18-hole golf course, 25,000-seat sports stadium, 45,000sq m convention and exhibition centre and 1800 staff accommodation units.
Sometime ago Mr Fung described  Aquis as a "mini city" not a resort.
Again there is mention of the "staff units" and that is a concern because they will be able to bring people out on work visas and that is 1800 jobs that Cairns people won't get.
It was mentioned some 2 months ago that the staff units had been taken out because of local concerns but here it is again direct from the CEO.  WHAT IS THE TRUTH
We can only hope that the locals have the time to read, consume the contents and be able to get the answers that is needed to put their minds at ease.

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