Submission to Director General, Dr Leo Keliher, Department of Premiers and Cabinet.

On Friday 29th April a delegation from the Save Our Spit Alliance went to Brisbane to discuss their concerns about cruise ship proposal and the loss of public open space in the Broadwater and Spit.

The delegates from SOS were Steve Gration, Main Beach Progress Association and Surfers Against Ships; Lois Levy, Gecko, Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council and Wildlife Preservation Society; John Johnson, Sunfish recreational fishers; Shona Pinkerton, Devocean Dive Company;Lyn Wright, Friends of Federation Walk; Methven Sparkes, Nerang Community Association.

On the Government side was Dr Keliher, John Blumke, State Development, and Graham Marshal, Premiers and Cabinet. Each delegate spoke of their concerns and presented Dr Keliher with a letter submission which appear below.

Delegation Outcomes.

• The Government appeared interested in all arguments especially those from the dive industry and Sunfish.
• They advised that the Government had not made any decisions yet and that this needed to be based on sound environmental science.
• Dr Keliher said that there had been a lot of "kite flying", referring to the two proposals to date.
• There would be no backdoor deals and should the initial investigations warrant it the process could go to a full environmental impact assessment.
• The public would be fully consulted.
• Requests for a copy of the Preliminary Assessment document which deals with engineering issues, environment and risk, and the Computer modelling simulation study were referred to the Freedom of Information process.
• A follow up phone call to John Blumke of State Development indicated that these papers and the SOS submissions will not go to Government for a month or so.