Building Approvals rally continues in Cairns

The strong bounce in national building approvals noted last week (which was not replicated in QLD) appears to have been a feature in Cairns during October. ABS data released this morning show total unadjusted approvals in Cairns and Douglas were 84; Townsville 168 and Cassowary Coast just 4. As always, …read more

Open letter to Cairns from Tony Fung re Aquis

I have just received the following email as an “Open Letter to the Cairns Community” from Tony Fung. The letter talks about his “commitment to one day deliver AQUIS for Cairns” (my emphasis) and notes that the delays caused in the probity investigation for the Reef Casino takeover will result …read more

Clearing up the Aquis media frenzy

Today’s Cairns Post has splashed with a story that Tony Fung is prepared to walk away from the Aquis proposal if his proposed take-over of the Reef Hotel Casino isn’t OK’d by the authorities soon enough. However, behind the brouhaha lies a simple truth; the process isn’t taking any longer than usual. …read more

Aquis “largest building in the world”?..er, no

Feelings are running hot in Cairns regarding the proposed Aquis Resort. The anti-Aquis community group Aquis Aware Coalition of Concerned Citizens has publicly released their submission on the Environmental Impact Statement; and they’re obviously not fans. However, while criticising (with some justification) the EIS for its accuracy and content, the group’s …read more

Cairns rentals and the impact of the mining investment slowdown further South

Mark Beath over at Loose Change has written a very interesting piece on the trends for rental rates in some major QLD centres. While his commentary focuses on the changes in Cairns, and makes mention of the potential Aquis-effect on future rentals, it is also interesting to see the impact …read more

First look at the Aquis EIS

The release of the Aquis Environment Impact Statement (EIS, available here) has given everyone concerned a ton of reading to do! We decided to focus on the Economic section (Chapter 13) and even that runs to 44 pages; even the Executive Summary is 88 pages!Anyway, a first reading of the Economic …read more

Aquis and its impact on Cairns labour market

There is much talk in the media about the potential jobs impact if/when the Aquis integrated-resort goes ahead north of Cairns. The company’s statements talk of 3,750 jobs in the construction phase rising to about 11,000 when fully operational in 2018. To put these numbers in some context let’s just …read more

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