{"id":26837,"date":"2014-12-21T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T18:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=26837"},"modified":"2014-12-20T04:26:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T12:26:00","slug":"great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_26840\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26840\" data-style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg\" alt=\"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort\" width=\"350\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort-142x80.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort-166x93.jpg 166w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort-533x300.jpg 533w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-26840\"class=\"text-description\">An artists\u2019 impression of the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort which has received approval of its environmental impact statement this week. (Image: aquiscasino.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A controversial plan to build an $8 billion mega-resort casino in the far north of Queensland, close to Australia\u2019s famous <a title=\"Great Barrier Reef\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Great_Barrier_Reef\" target=\"_blank\">Great Barrier Reef<\/a>, gained momentum this week when its environmental impact statement was approved by the coordinator general.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort would include 7,500 hotel rooms in eight hotel towers, a convention center, two casinos, a golf course and an artificial lake and lagoon. While the approval of the environmental plans is a significant boost for developers Aquis, the project still needs approval from the Cairns Regional Council and many are still bitterly opposed.<\/p>\n<p>The local community of Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, is divided on the issue of a new casino in their midst, and environmental groups are strongly against it, arguing that the project could disturb a delicate floodplain which could heighten the risk of flooding. This in turn could potentially lead to pollution of the reef, they say, a World Heritage site which is particularly susceptible to environmental pressures. Studies suggest that the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, due to climate change and coral bleaching.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cause for Concern<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Andrew Picone, of the <a title=\"Australian Conservation Foundation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.acfonline.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Conservation Foundation<\/a>, also expressed his concerns. \u201cAt a minimum, it should be considered a controlled action to protect the Great Barrier Reef,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a developer here who thinks he should be given all the approvals, but there is due process and the community should have its say.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>\u201cThe environment there is already a floodplain, it is prone to flooding even without the creation of artificial lakes. With climate change and rising sea levels, massive developments like this in storm surge zones put the environment at risk and put lives at risk, too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>However, Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jeff Seeney welcomed the approval and was quick to highlight the economic benefits for the region. \u201cThe Queensland Government continues to work with Aquis to make this exciting proposal a reality and today\u2019s approval of the project\u2019s EIS is another step in that process,\u201d he said. \u201cThis proposed resort has the potential to create more than 20,000 new jobs for the Cairns region and provide a major boost for North Queensland and the state\u2019s tourism and construction industry.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Economic Benefits<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis is a world-class proposition that could draw hundreds of thousands of domestic and international visitors to Far North Queensland, and spread economic benefits right across the Cairns community,\u201d he continue. \u201cThe Coordinator General has thoroughly assessed the environmental, economic and social impacts of the Aquis project, and has decided it can proceed with the conditions set out in his evaluation report.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project is backed by Hong Kong businessman Tony Fung who recently purchased the Reef Foundation Trust. Known as \u201cthe Bad Boy of the Stock Market,\u201d Fung is eager to push through the necessary legislation as quickly as possible and has said that should he not get his way he will simply go elsewhere. Aquis hopes to begin construction as early as next year and have said that, if approved, the first stage of the resort will open in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A controversial plan to build an $8 billion mega-resort casino in the far north of Queensland, close to Australia\u2019s famous Great Barrier Reef, gained momentum this week when its environmental impact statement was approved by the coordinator general. The proposed Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort would include 7,500 hotel rooms in eight hotel towers, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-21T18:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-20T12:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/\",\"name\":\"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-21T18:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-20T12:26:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":366,\"caption\":\"An artists\u2019 impression of the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort which has received approval of its environmental impact statement this week. (Image: aquiscasino.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Live Casinos\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/live-casinos\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval","description":"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval","og_description":"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2014-12-21T18:00:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-20T12:26:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":366,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/","name":"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg","datePublished":"2014-12-21T18:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-20T12:26:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort gains approval of its environmental impact statement but there is still much controversy about the planned project.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aquis-Great-Barrier-Reef-Resort.jpg","width":650,"height":366,"caption":"An artists\u2019 impression of the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort which has received approval of its environmental impact statement this week. (Image: aquiscasino.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-barrier-reef-casino-receives-approval\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Live Casinos","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/live-casinos\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Barrier Reef Mega Casino Receives Environmental Approval"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26837"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}