• Broken promises

July 29th 2001: Queensland Environment Minister Dean Wells announces that several roads and beaches on Fraser Island will be closed to vehicles.

These areas which were "closed permanently" from September 3rd included Platypus bay Road, South Waddy Beach and the beaches from Platypus Bay Road to Wathumba Spit and Sandy Cape Lighthouse to Rooney Point. He also announced that the beach from Dilli Village to Hook Point would be closed next year once the old mining road was upgraded. This announcement and subsequent closures rang alarm bells for many people. Mr Wells said the closures were implemented on the recommendation of the Great Sandy Region Management Plan (GSRMP) which was adopted in 1994.

At grass roots level, numerous individuals were concerned that the closures were done prior to current public consultation. They were keen to point out that the plan itself dictated it should be "reviewed and modified as necessary no later that five years from the date of gazettal". This means the plan was due for review in 1999! In response to an inquiry regarding the lack of a forthcoming review, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie replied that [the then] Environment Minister Rod Welford had informed him that the management plan would be reviewed during the year 2000 and that interested people and community groups would be invited to participate in that review.

The "interested people and community groups" are still waiting for their invitation.

• Who are Friends of Fraser?

The ongoing enactment of the seemingly outdated Great Sandy Region Management Plan and lack of current public consultation has incensed a wide cross-section of the local, regional and national community that they have banded together to form Friends of Fraser Incorporated.

Friends of Fraser (FOF) president Bobbie Monks said the organisation was primarily formed by a group of people who did not want to see the island   "shut up". "FOF wants this island and the Great Sandy Region open and accessible to everyone. Our motto is "Open for All - Open for Ever". She said FOF was not only for the community but for the "greater community" which extended to both a national and international level.

FOF assistant secretary David Farley said members of the organisation were affiliated for one cause. "FOF... is a huge collective of our society and community to say one thing: lets have the best management plan we can for Fraser Island". If closures were going to occur, "let's show the world" there were "reasons, resources and scientific proof" to support the closures. He said, at the moment, FOF didn't believe there were.

FOF aimed to lobby the government to ensure that it adopted sensible, appropriate and well - informed management strategies which would see Fraser Island remain available and accessible to present and future generations.

• Delegation meets Wells

On August 23rd 2001 a delegation from Friends of Fraser (FOF) met with Queensland Environment Minister Dean Wells.

The group included Bobbie Monks, Clyde Coombs, Shirley Crawford, Keith Ross and George Done. A spokesman for the group said they raised a number of issues with Mr Wells which they felt warranted his consideration. High on their list of priorities was a review of the Great Sandy Region Management Plan which Mr Wells assured them would be undertaken this year. As such, there has been no public announcement regarding the intended review.

They also raised the lack of scientific evidence to support the September 3rd closures on the island. The spokesman said Mr Wells explained that the areas were not being closed for ecological reasons but rather for "macro" reasons.

The delegation said Mr Wells had, however, recognized their concerns regarding the need for Platypus bay Road to be maintained as a fire break. They said he had committed to discuss the issue with the island's senior fire officer and would address it based on the outcome of that discussion.

FOF was waiting to see if the meeting had made any significant impact. However, they would not become complacent and had suggested at a subsequent FOF meeting that members offer their labour and services free-of-charge to help find feasible solutions to management problems. They were currently working on a proposal to address the needs for human waste disposal (toilets) at Indian Head.