Donna Jones
An Associate Professor on Environment and Ecotourism from a Tokyo university is keen to gauge the public’s reaction to the controversial Cooloola Great Walk Development proposal with an online survey
Professor Sonya Underdahl, from the Edogawa University’s described it as an academic survey, “on the support or withdrawal of support for development of the Cooloola Great Walk in the Great Sandy (National Park)“.
“Many members claim they weren’t consulted. This is an academic research survey that offers community members to speak up, whether for or against,“ Prof Underdahl said.
“Given the alleged lack of community consultation regarding the development of the Great Sandy National Park – Cooloola Great Walk region, here is an academic survey with results to be used to represent your community.“
The survey has been posted for a little over a week and Prof Underdahl has made a few preliminary observations.
“Results so far, not completed, shows the community doesn’t accept commercial development of Great Sandy National Park, no matter who it’s done by, or for whatever reason,“ she said.
“Unfortunately, the results are showing that Queenslanders have lost trust in their government and its ability to manage parks and Parks Agencies.
“Results are showing strong emotional ties to the park with stories of engagements, family memories and mental health use which supports research into health and mental health.
“Results are showing the community doesn’t feel they have been consulted with community feeling locals, TOs, and environmental organisations and experts should be primary with tourism associations being the last to be included.
“This is a voting issue for more than half of respondents, with a clear majority believing the government has a very different vision for the future,“ she said.
Prof Underdahl will be conducting the survey for the next few weeks, and everyone is encouraged to participate whether they are for, against or undecided about the development.
Anyone keen to fill out the survey can find it at forms.gle/6caBqg6Vw9ivQd3V9 and Prof Underdahl said she will be releasing more preliminary results periodically before doing a final in depth analysis of the results once the survey closes.
