REDLAND City’s islands are the not-so-hidden gems of the coast, with beautiful surroundings and affordable living. But how long can a good thing last?
As Redland’s island localities continue to grow in population, locals are raising concerns about too many people, and not enough funding, with calls for regional status recognition as a solution.
Tom, who requested his last name not be used, is a long-time resident of Karragarra Island concerned with serious problems in the South Moreton Bay Island (SMBI) region.
He said that the isolated population is expanding too fast for SMBI’s infrastructure to keep up.
Tom has started a petition calling for more affordable transport options to and from SMBI.
He said that this will tackle the monopoly SeaLink’s barge company has on transport, who are charging a ferry price of $132 return from Redland City to Russell Island.
Tom is also advocating for more parking options for SMBI residents, and the building of a bridge from the mainland to Russell Island.
Currently, with little transport options between islands, Tom is concerned that SMBI’s isolated communities are considered part of the urbanised Greater Brisbane.
Areas in Queensland classified as ‘regional’ benefit from increased government funding and investment. Prior to 2011, this included Redland City Council’s Southern Moreton Bay Islands (SMBI), and Coochiemudlo and North Stradbroke Island.
Since then, Redland City has been incorporated into Greater Brisbane as a non-rural area, which has seen regional-specific funding dry up.
“Although we are in the boundaries of metropolitan Brisbane and the Gold Coast, it makes no sense to be considered metropolitan as we are now, because our circumstances are different”, Tom said.
“Unless a bridge is implemented to all the islands, our classification should be rural or regional at best.”
Greg Hartay-Szabo has been living on Russell Island for 13 years, and is a vocal advocate for Redland’s coastal islands.
Mr Hartay-Szabo was Chairman of the Moreton Bay Combined Islanders Association.
“The water transport strategy hasn’t been reviewed since 2011… Here we are now, 13 years later, and it’s worse than ever”, Mr Hartay-Szabo said.
He is calling for a “uniformed” approach addressing inequities that Redland’s island residents face, compared to their mainland counterparts.
“For some reason, the Redlands [islands] are always getting the short end of the stick”, Mr Hartay-Szabo said.
“A few years ago, Cairns had about the same population as Redland City, yet Cairns got three times more funding from the state government”, with most of Redland’s funding invested into tourism on North Stradbroke Island, he said.
Unless the government starts preventing people from moving to Redland’s coastal islands, cheaper housing will continue to drive them there.
Either limit intake, or give these areas enough infrastructure funding to support the influx, Mr Hartay-Szaba said.
He is also concerned that the population statistics for these islands are no longer accurate, which is exacerbating funding issues. As per the 2021 census, there are around 8000 residents across SMBI’s four islands; figures are likely much higher in 2024.
“The current situation is clearly not working”, Mr Harty-Szaba said.
Redland City Council Mayor Jos Mitchell backed the council’s push for regional recognition earlier this year to state parliament.
“Our islands are not eligible for state government regional funding… However, access to regional funding would allow significant planning and infrastructure upgrades for the island communities”, the mayor said.
Infrastructural inequity is apparent from island-to-island.
“Sewerage has been on the agenda for two decades. Coochiemudlo and Moreton Bay have had reticulated sewerage since 2003, with a far smaller population then (Russell Island), when we are still on septic”, Mr Harty-Szaba said.
He believes that a rural classification of Redland’s coastal islands is a solid solution, as long as “the regions get more funding and adequate consideration of their growth.”
“It is only fair to expect that if the islands grow, then we also get an update and a reform of commensurate infrastructure.”
