Friends of Wave Break Island

15/09/2026

Another Bad Idea From Tom Tate - A Golf Course on South Stradbroke Island

The more things change, the more they stay the same. As the newspaper report from 1988 reveals Christopher Skase wanted to build a golf course on South Stradbroke Island. Alderman Alan Rickard, our Save Our Broadwater President said it was not the right place to “tee off” a golfing project. “To have a park area like this next to the coast- one of the most vibrant tourist areas in the South Pacific- is like having an uncut diamond. If we don’t lock that away for future generations , I think we would let everyone down.”

Thirty eight years later and here we go again. It has been reported that our council has brought a guy from Tasmania to design a golf course and a 25 building resort on the site.The council’s prospectus states its goal is to deliver “enabling infrustructure on the island”. When we contemplate that a luxury golf course on a sand island requires up to four million litres of water a day to survive, the heavy turf infrastucture that would need to be dropped on the island and the fact that this land is protected by the Nature Conservation Act we can only conclude that this is yet another hairbrained scheme that our ratepayers dollars are being wasted on.

Only last year the Gold Coast Waterways Authority floated the idea of building a resort on Wavebreak Island. The community said no. Before that an LNP Government want to build multiple towers, a casino and a cruise ship terminal on Wavebreak. The community said no.
Tom Tate was hell bent on building a cruise ship terminal and taking Philip Park. (We believe he spent $12 million of our ratepayers money on that one.) The community said no. The Beattie Government wanted to build a cruise ship teminal in the Seaway. The community said no. The history of The Spit is littered with dreams that developers have offered up for The Spit. The Palaszczuk Government gave the ASF Company a couple of years to come up with a plan to build multiple high rises on the Spit. The community said no. (We believe the government compensated that company more that $12 million of our money to get out of that one.)

The common theme here is that governments of all political persuasions get seduced by developers plans to take our public land. It has been going on for a half a century and it will never stop. Each generation will have to fight to protect it.
Now it is time to tell Tom Tate and your local councillor that like Alan Rickard
said 38 years ago we are not going to let down future generations by selling off South Stradbroke Island.

13/09/2026

🛶 Discover Wave Break Island by kayak! 🌿💦

Daily kayaking tours offer a wonderful way to experience the beauty of Wave Break Island up close — from its clear waters and sandy beaches to its natural vegetation and abundant marine environment.

Explore it. Enjoy it. Respect it. Protect it. 💚

Wave Break Island is a precious environmental and public asset. Let’s make sure it remains a place where people can connect with nature for generations to come.

Kayak to Wave Break Island — leave only footprints, take only memories. 🌊🌿

12/09/2026

🐦 The Aussie Bird Count is back! - Register now!

From 19–25 October, Australians everywhere are invited to spend just 20 minutes counting the birds around them, whether that’s in your backyard, on your balcony, at school or in your local park. No experience needed, just a love for birds and a desire to connect with nature.

Last year, 64,000 people counted more than 5 million birds across Australia. This year, we want to make the Count even bigger, and we’d love you to join us! 🐦

All you need is 20 minutes, a little curiosity and the free Aussie Bird Count app, which guides you through the whole process.

Your sightings help contribute to important citizen science, while giving you a chance to slow down, connect with nature and discover the birds living right around you.

We can’t wait to see you there! Register today: https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/

The Aussie Bird Count 2026 is proudly supported by our friends at Bank Australia

09/09/2026

‼️THERE’S NOTHING “FEASIBLE” ABOUT DEVELOPING WAVE BREAK ISLAND🏝️

The Gold Coast Waterways Authority’s own feasibility study says Wave Break Island was created to protect the Broadwater’s western foreshores and that it continues to play a key role in the waterway’s hydrodynamic and coastal processes

Yet now we are being asked to accept a plan reportedly costing around $17.1 MILLION in tax payers money to introduce cabins, new access infrastructure, dredging, jetties, pontoons and other tourism facilities

They call it an opportunity.
They call it eco-tourism.
They call it the “jewel in the crown.”

We, the rate paying public, call it what it really is: an environmental public asset that doesn’t NEED developing

Wave Break Island already provides recreation, wildlife habitat and a natural escape in the heart of the Broadwater. Even GCWA describes it as a much-loved natural retreat and promotes its beaches, wildlife, swimming, paddling, fishing and snorkelling

So why spend $17 million+ changing what already works?

💚 Protect it. Don’t develop it ✅

Wave Break Island is not the jewel in someone’s development crown

It belongs to the public — and it should stay that way

Leave Wave Break Island alone‼️

07/09/2026

🦅 NATIONAL THREATENED SPECIES DAY — 7TH SEPTEMBER

Today, we remember the incredible species that call Australia home — and the responsibility we all share to protect them

Wave Break Island is part of that story 🌿

This small island and the surrounding Broadwater provide important habitat for threatened species, including the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew, as well as vulnerable shorebirds, turtles, dugongs, dolphins and other marine life

So to the Queensland Government, City of Gold Coast and Gold Coast Waterways Authority, we ask:

How can developing or “activating” Wave Break Island be considered when threatened species depend on it?

Wave Break Island is not a blank canvas. It is not a developers playground

Wave Break Island is a living part of the Broadwater ecosystem

🌿 Protect the habitat
🦅 Protect threatened species
🐢 Protect our marine life
🌊 Protect the Broadwater

National Threatened Species Day is a reminder of what can be lost when we fail to protect the places and species that make Australia so unique

Held each year on 7th September — the anniversary of the death of the last known Tasmanian tiger in 1936 — the day reminds us that extinction is forever

Australia is home to more than 500,000 native plant and animal species, many found nowhere else on Earth

Let’s make sure Wave Break Island remains a place where wildlife can survive and thrive — not a place where habitat is sacrificed for “activation” David Crisafulli MP | Jarrod Bleijie MP | Mayor Tom Tate | Gold Coast Waterways Authority

Queensland Conservation Council | Save Our Broadwater | Save Our Spit

04/09/2026

Tom Tate and Mark Hammel’s latest plans to develop the Gold Coast’s natural green spaces are making headlines again—and raising serious questions about transparency, environmental protection, public trust and their future as politicians!

The Gold Coast’s natural environment should be protected, not developed for political ambition or private interests.

Wave Break Island and South Stradbroke Island are valuable natural assets that deserve lasting protection, not major Mayoral vanity projects that could damage their ecosystems and character forever.

Reports that a secret investigation explored an 18-hole golf course and “surf wellness retreat” on South Stradbroke Island have sparked anger amongst the community and two Councillors.

Councillors Peter Young and Brooke Patterson reportedly questioned why they learned about the proposal through the media rather than through proper council briefings. One councillor described the proposal as “grotesque”, while another raised concerns about the reputational damage caused by secrecy.

The proposal reportedly followed a helicopter inspection of the island by Tom Tate and former Tasmanian chief executive Tim Baker, as well as advice from a Tasmanian golf expert. Yet the golf course was not included in council’s Whole of Island Master Plan, leaving residents entitled to ask who authorised the investigation, how much it cost and whose interests it serves. Mark Hammel even suggests building a resort and conference facilities on South Stradbroke Island! (Click the ‘watch this’ link below)

Under the Nature Conservation Act, a proposal such as the Mayor’s should not be possible. South Stradbroke Island is protected natural land, and its management should prioritise conservation, ecological integrity and responsible public access—not commercial development or political legacy projects.

Wonder what dodgy deals are being done with David Crisafulli MP Premier and State MP for South Stradbroke Island?

The community deserves trusted leadership, transparency, genuine consultation and decisions based on environmental protection. Tom Tate, the councillors and authorities supporting these proposals should abandon them and put the future of the Gold Coast’s environment first.

South Stradbroke Island falls within Division 4 of the City of Gold Coast, represented by Councillor Shelley Curtis

Do you know what your councillor thinks about this proposal? Contact them and find out whether they will stand with the community or continue supporting and enabling Tom Tate’s agenda:

Contact your Councillor:

https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/Council/Mayor-Councillors

Watch this:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Hoprs4CPB/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Read more:

https://parks.qld.gov.au/parks/south-stradbroke-island/about

01/09/2026

🚨 ANOTHER GCCC MAYORAL & CEO SECRET DEVELOPMENT PLAN HAS BEEN EXPOSED — AND THIS ONE HITS RIGHT AT THE HEART OF OUR GOLD COAST ENVIRONMENT! 🚨

For more than two years, Mayor Tom Tate and his inner circle of cronies and beneficiaries have reportedly been working behind closed doors on yet another secret development plan.

The community and elected councillors were kept in the dark, while plans are being made to develop one of the Gold Coast’s most precious and protected natural environments, our neighbour, South Stradbroke Island.

‼️ Sound familiar…David Crisafulli, Jarrod Bleijie, Brent Mickelberg and Gold Coast Waterways Authority? The community says NO to development on Wave Break Island and South Stradbroke Island ‼️

Via GC Bulletin: Secret council master plan for South Stradbroke an ‘ENVIRONMENTAL BOMBSHELL’

Gold Coast City Council has secretly developed a masterplan for South Stradbroke Island featuring an 18-hole golf course and surf wellness retreat, with stakeholders sworn to silence.

An 18-hole golf course and a surf wellness retreat could transform South Stradbroke Island under a controversial plan developed in secret by Gold Coast City Council.

Mayor Tom Tate and outgoing chief executive Tim Baker have visited the site, via helicopter, but councillors have not been briefed.

Confidential meetings have been held with a handful of stakeholders who have signed non-disclosure agreements.

The ‘Whole of Island Master Plan’ covers a large untouched section of the island north of the Seaway wall, and includes a new helipad on the island’s southern side facing the Broadwater.

The wellness retreat could see more than 25 buildings along with a main centre changing the the foreshore, with walking trails proposed along one of Queensland’s favourite protected surfing breaks.

A development industry source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the plans were an “environmental bombshell”.

“It’s plain stupid — an environmental abomination,” they said.

“Don’t ... (they) realise Straddie is a conservation park and part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar wetlands.

“The thought that this will fly with the community is delusional. How did this hairbrained scheme get so far without councillors knowing?”

Mr Tate said it was only a “preliminary discussion” and he was open to nature-based tourism opportunities.
“If nature-based tourism opportunities do move forward on South Stradbroke Island, it will open up the opportunity to get key services over to the island which would benefit the people living there,” he said.

“And of course we would leverage the recycled water project that we have invested tens of millions of dollars in to future proof our city.

“It is very early days and I commit to take the community on the journey if there are further developments.”

South Stradbroke was briefly mentioned as a potential destination when council released its Gold Coast-based Nature Tourism Program in December 2024.
The focus was on council securing the Eaglemont Estate next to the Springbrook National Park as it investigated a cableway project which has since stalled.

Surfers call the southern tip of the island The Other Side because its powerful and hollow open beach break produce world-class barrels surfed by surfing champion Kelly Slater.

The foreshore is free of any development.

Council, in a statement at the time, said “enhancements to Tipplers on South Stradbroke Island and eco-experiences in The Broadwater are also being investigated”.

It is understood a Whole of Island Master Plan was presented to a project advisory group last month but those who attended were required to sign off on not making public comment.

Council has been warned about challenges with the draft plan including commercial accommodation and wellness positioned products earmarked for multiple locations without any research showing demand for those services.

There is also no noise controls for how construcion would be done and the golf course lacks detail around water and power usage.

The initial plan has little detail on the residential component to the course, and there are no marine, berths or boats or idea how to transport people to new tourism facilities.

A council spokesperson said a key element of the program which began in 2024 was investing in flagship projects on public land to showcase world-class nature-based tourism offerings.

“As such the City is undertaking feasibility studies and masterplanning at South Stradbroke Island,” the spokesperson said.

“A range of projects are being considered but no decisions or plans have been finalised and if the City intends to move forward on any options, on South Stradbroke Island or elsewhere, community consultation will be undertaken.

“The City is the trustee of the land and will work closely with the state on any plans.” End.

Voice your opinion and rally support, contact DETSI and Ramsar via email

Queensland Environment
[email protected]

The Convention on Wetlands
[email protected]

27/08/2026

23/08/2026

Queensland Scuba Diving Company

22/08/2026

WHEN MAN CREATED NATURE 🌿🌊

An incredible glimpse back in time at the creation of Wave Break Island in the Gold Coast Broadwater.

What began as a man-made sand island was transformed over time into something far more valuable — a protective wave break, a place where nature took hold, vegetation established, wildlife and marine life found habitat and the island became part of the Broadwater’s unique coastal environment.

Wave Break Island is a reminder that carefully designed environmental projects become living, breathing ecosystems that belong to the community forever.

🚩 Wave Break Island not for profit or development ‼️

Today, this precious public space is part of the Gold Coast’s natural character and a place enjoyed by locals, visitors, boaties, paddlers, fishers and families alike.

We created it. Nature made it home 💚 Protect Wave Break Island ✅