Will it happen? Perhaps there are things residents aren't being told

In 2013 the big announcement came that Yorkeys Knob was going to the state of the arts Resort/Casion at a cost of $4.2 billion and that the building would commence in July 2014.
The residents in Yorkeys weren't consulted except for 2 display offices, one in Cairns Central and the other in Yorkeys.

These display centres were manned by staff trained by Aquis and would tell you what they were instructed to tell you. having visited both display centres on 5 occasions and asked questions relating to the casino and location the answers were never the same so it was then that one becomes rather sceptical of what was or could transpire.
The 2 main LNP members Gavin King Member for Cairns and Michael Trout the Member for Barron River have pushed this construction since day one without even consulting any residents or even calling a Community Meeting to discuss the possibility of the construction of a mega project and allow the residents to have their say.
The Queensland Government also decided to "Fast Track" this project and one has to ask "WHY", nothing before has ever been fast tracked and by fast tracking large projects like this can cause bad outcomes.
The Yorkeys Knob Residents Association advised members in attendance that the consultants and Mr Fung would not meet with the locals but would continue to  meet with the committee.
If the Consultants and Mr Fung had have met withe locals then perhaps a lot of fears could have been cleared up but that did not and will not happen ---- shame.
On December 4, 2013 a group called Aquis Aware called a community meeting at which 300+ residents were in attendance to listen to speakers discuss the possibilities of concerns to the enviroment and the benefits of this mega project.

Attending residents at the December 4 meeting

Michael Trout was also in attendance and was invited to speak about the project and he did put his side of the story to the residents with only one interjection from a resident but Michael managed to put his side of the story to the residents, Michael Trout did have this to say following the meeting:

The member for Cairns did not attend due to other commitments but he along with Michael Trout did have this to say:

One thing that has to be said NO POLITICAL PARTY "SLANGING" was even mentioned during the evening so not being there Gavin your comments were of a very poor taste.
It doesn't matter what party you support EVERYONE is entitled to their opinion as freedom of speech.

Then on January 12, 2014 the following headlines appeared in the Weekend Post:

Following this announcement questions were being asked "why the delay?"
The reason was given by the Queensland Government's Intergrated Resort Development which includes the casino licence applicant process may take longer than anticipated and this was announced prior to Christmas.

The Member for Cairns had this to say:

The Member for Cairns should remember that he was a reporter for the Cairns Post and he would have reported the same thing as Nick Dalton did. Damaged the project, What a load of rubbish?
There is an old saying "once a reporter always a reporter".
People are entitled to know what is happening.
The most sensible approach has been made by Brett Moller:

Another point is that this project is in the Barron River Electorate represented by Michael Trout so why is the Member for Cairns leading the group and making all the noises that he wants this to start in July of 2014 even though his government has stated that it could take 12 months for all matters to be decided upon.
The Premier Campbell Newman then weighed in on the discussion in Tuesday's Cairns Post dated 16 January, 2014:

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has refused to be drawn on calls to fast track a casino licence for the $4.2 billion Aquis mega-resort at Yorkeys Knob.

He told The Cairns Post before flying into Cairns last night that he would not speculate on a time frame for the licences.
But Mr Newman said the critical date was March 31 this year when expressions of interest for the ‘‘integrated resort developments’’ closed.
Last month the Government announced it would grant two integrated resort developments with gaming licences in regional Queensland.
The Integrated Resort Developments Registration of Interest document indicates the process will take a year, with an announcement on the successful applicants in early 2015.
The length of the process has forced Aquis developers, the Fung family, to postpone the start of construction until July 2015. Mr Newman said he welcomed the announcement from Aquis ‘‘restating their commitment to the integrated resort development in Cairns’’.
‘‘While it is imperative that due process is adhered to, the project is most certainly a bold vision for the region,’’ he said.
‘‘ It makes no sense to speculate further on a time frame, however, at least until we reach the deadline for expressions of interest on March 31.’’
Yesterday the Fungs said they would not seek to fast track the process.
The family has delayed the planned start of the development by a year following talks with Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney last week and clarification that a licence might not be issued until early 2015. They then put the expensive Environmental Impact Statement work on hold and pushed back the start of construction until July 2015.
The Hong- Kong based billionaire investors have made it clear that without a casino licence the project, which includes an international casino, is not viable.

As insurance they have made a $276 million bid for the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns and its gaming licence.
Aquis chief executive Justin Fung said the company would continue with the licensing application procedures as laid down by the Government.
‘‘Aquis Resort at the Great Barrier Reef wishes to confirm that after discussions with the Queensland Government it intends to lodge appropriate documentation to pursue a new regional casino licence to allow the development of the Aquis resort at Yorkeys Knob as soon as proper probity and processes have been followed,’’ he said.
‘‘Aquis looks forward to working with all levels of government and (the) community to bring Aquis to fruition as soon as possible.’’
Some community and business leaders have expressed alarm at the 12-month delay, fearing the licensing process could jeopardise the project described as the ‘‘ game changer’’ for the region’s economy and tourism industry.
State Cairns MP Gavin King has been critical of The Cairns Post’s coverage of the delay. Barron River MP Michael Trout was still returning to Cairns from an overseas holiday late yesterday and could not be contacted for comment. 

There are many questions still unanswered and until they are then nothing will change.
People are sick and tired of hearing politicians say "I want this to start by July 2014" without even having consultation.
Also keep in mind that when the EIS report does eventually come out for community consultation remember that you only have 6 weeks to read the 500+ pages, absorb and do some of your own investigation which really isn't that much time

Some people are asking why does he want 2 casinos? is it because he will have something to fall back on if doesn't get the Aquis licence because I believe the government won't allow a "sharing" of the Reef casino licence.
So we wait and see.
REMEMBER: Do things properly in the first instance without racing the process because if that happens then big mistakes can be made.

In the meantime read this Latest Millionaire & Billionaire listing....
http://www.forbes.com/hong-kong-billionaires/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:

http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2014-01-14/cya

If the above link doesn't open correctly copy and paste to your browser.

So why the delay?

A letter was forwarded to the Premier on November 11, 2014 then on January 12, 2014 the Aquis Resort was put on hold as the story above outlines.
Was it due to the letter below that caused the delay? we will have to wait and see.

Brynn Mathews

P.O Box 4547,

Cairns, Qld 4870

The Premier of Queensland

Campbell Newman MP

11 November 2013

_{Dear Sir,}

Casino Licence for Proposed AQUIS Casino/Resort at Yorkey’s Knob, Cairns

I am very concerned that the Queensland government and the Cairns Regional Council are not exercising due diligence in assessing Tony Fung’s performance as an investor in previous major projects and as a fit and proper person to hold a casino licence. The current accelerated decision making process under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 does not reassure me that adequate consideration of these issues of personal suitability is taking place.

There are detailed investigations that may be carried out under both the Casino Control

Act 1982 and the Casino Control Regulation 1999 by the Minister (Attorney General) to satisfy the Governor in Council that a casino licensee or any persons associated or connected with the management and operations of a hotel-casino complex or casino are “of good repute, having regard to character, honesty and integrity;” and “of sound and stable financial background”. Schedule 2 of the Casino Control Regulation specifically requires, in point 20, information on “any body corporate, trust, partnership, joint venture or business in which the individual has participated by way of management or operation” that an individual applicant has been involved in.

The court cases and judgements involving Sun Hung Kai Securities Limited (SHKS) an investment company in which Tony Fung was a senior executive and which subsequently became a partner in a major project in Kuala Lumpur are particularly

relevant to this assessment (see Attachment 1 for more details on the background to this case). The full judgement of the Hong Kong High Court on this case is available at: http://legalref.judiciary.gov.hk/lrs/common/search/search_result_detail_frame.jsp?DIS=2

_{8050&QS=%28sun%2Bhung%2Bkai%2Bsecurities%29&TP=JU}

Deputy High Court Judge Anthony To Kwai-fung’s stated in his judgement that “the very casual way (Tony Fung and John Yip, respectively the chairman and chief operations officer of Sun Hung Kai Securities Limited – SHKS) conducted the affairs (of SHKS)…. is wholly inconsistent with top executives of their achievement and is utterly incredible”.

The judge also found the two men “were evasive and hiding the truth from the Court” and their evidence was “hopelessly incredible when tested against the documentary evidence and SHKS's conduct”. The final judgement was that SHKS pay HK$105,534,018.22 to the plaintiff (New World Development Company Limited) plus costs (See Attachment 2 for more details on the judgement in this case).

Given the judge’s assessment of Tony Fung’s behaviour in this case it is imperative that the State of Queensland carry out a thorough examination of his history as a company executive to assess whether he satisfies the requirements of the Casino Control Act 1982 and the Casino Control Regulation 1999 as a suitable person to hold a casino _licence.

As a Cairns resident I also have other concerns about the AQUIS project. In particular I am worried that it will follow the path of damaging site works and abandonment (temporary and permanent respectively) established by the developers of both the Port HInchinbrook and False Cape projects. In both these instances the first developers had generated the maximum environmental damage of the project with their initial site works then either run out of finance and/or not had the necessary approvals to continue the project.

False Cape has been left to nature to either heal or expand the scars on its hillslopes and Port Hinchinbrook has stumbled from one developer to another leaving a trail of broken promises, including an original one of a sewerage scheme to include Cardwell township.

The ratepayers of Cairns and taxpayers of Queensland can’t afford to be picking up the costs likely to be incurred by any failure of another, even more massive development such as this AQUIS proposal. I urge you to very carefully consider:

• the economic viability of this project,

• the likely long-term infrastructure costs to the community,

• Tony Fung’s track record in resort development, and as a fit and proper person to holds a casino licence and, last, but certainly not least,

• the social damage to the Cairns community of even more gambling opportunities

when gambling is already responsible for so much crime, social harm, family breakdowns and poverty.

I look forwards to receiving your response to the issues I have raised in this letter. Yours sincerely

Brynn Mathews

C/c: The Attorney General (Qld) The

The Coordinator General (Qld)

Members for Cairns, Mulgrave, Barron River, Dalrymple, Cook, Nicklin and

Gladstone

Members for Fairfax, Leichhardt and Kennedy

Senators Nick Xenophon, Jan Mc Lucas and Larissa Waters

Mayor of Cairns

_{The Chief Minister, ACT}

_{ATTACHMENT 1 - Background to Court Case HCA003191/1999:}

Tony Fung founded the Hong Kong based investment company Sun Hung Kai Securities Limited (SHKS) in 1990 and was its Executive Chairman until November 2007, when he became a non-Executive Director

The final court judgement from April 2004, after a series of appeals from both parties, arose from disputes about unpaid project development costs arising from a verbal partnership agreement between Tony Fung (SHK Group) and Henry Cheng of New World Development Company Limited (NW). Tony Fung wanted SHK Group to buy into a project to build two hotels of 1,000 rooms and a 200 unit serviced apartment block at the city centre of Kuala Lumpur in which NW held a 50% interest as a joint venture partner.

Deputy High Court Judge Anthony To Kwai-fung’s statement of facts found that NW had entered into a 50-50 joint venture to purchase land and build this Malaysian project. In early 1990, the hotel industry was prosperous and, in April 1990, Tony Fung (SHK Group) expressed an interest to Henry Cheng (NW) in joining with NW in the Malaysian Joint Venture. Eventually, over the telephone, it was agreed that SHK Group would

acquire 50% of NW's interest in the Joint Venture (i.e. 25% of the total project) to be held

by SHKS.

Subsequently SHKS made two payments to NW in 1990, totaling more than HK$12 million, as their share of the land acquisition costs. However, the agreement between Tony Fung and Henry Cheng fell apart when SHKS refused to supply corporate and finance information required by the Malaysian Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) who had to approve the transfer of shares from NW to SHKS.

_{Tony Fung maintained that he had only intended to acquire the shares to sell on to other investors and that he never intended to go into the project as a principal. NW started requesting payments for further project costs from SHKS in October 1991, the first of many demands for payment that SHKS did not respond to, resulting in NW suing SHKS for unpaid project costs.}