Poll shows majority support for Aquis
Poll shows majority support for Aquis
Wednesday August 20 2014, 2:25pm
A poll has shown a majority of public support for the proposed Aquis super-resort at Yorkey’s Knob, with more than half of respondents supporting the proposal and one-fifth opposed- but not everyone is convinced the survey means a green light for the development to proceed.
Aquis proponents the Fung family commissioned ReachTel to conduct the poll of 1212 Cairns residents, which shows the 67.2 per cent of those surveyed supported the project and 20.7 per cent were opposed.
Out of those two camps, 51 per cent strongly supported the Aquis proposal while 13.6 were strongly opposed.
The survey also showed about a quarter of respondents were worried about environmental, economic and social impacts from the building of the immense resort.
Although the survey would seem to indicate that the public largely wants the development to proceed, Mossman resident Dr Peter Wood said the results of the study could not be trusted.
“The survey was commissioned by Aquis, for Aquis,” Dr Wood told the Newsport.
“They didn’t ask the hard questions about what the risks and possible impacts of Aquis are going to be and they didn’t go into the reasons behind why people opposed Aquis - ultimately it’s not a trustworthy study.
“People that are in favour might be thinking they’ll be able to get a job pouring coffee but they haven’t come to grips with how and why people are opposed to Aquis.”
Other attitudes toward Aquis in the Port Douglas region are mixed, with Douglas Chamber of Commerce head Phoebe Kitto previously telling Newsport that the town needed to maximise its ‘champagne brand’ to best take advantage of Aquis’ development.