Court backs stripping billionaire's Double Island lease, final call to minister

A Queensland court has ruled that Hong Kong billionaire Benny Wu breached the terms of his lease on Double Island, a 17-hectare tropical resort off Cairns that has deteriorated into an uninhabitable ruin. The decision now passes to Resources Minister Scott Stewart, whose department brought the action, to determine whether the lease will be formally cancelled. It is the first time Queensland has pursued such action against an island leaseholder.

Wu purchased Double Island in 2012 with promises to develop it into an exclusive resort for wealthy tourists. Instead, photographs reveal a ghost town: pools lined with green sludge, structures crumbling, facilities abandoned. The Department of Natural Resources issued an ultimatum in March 2023, giving Wu three years to restore the island to working order. He did not comply. Acting President of the Land Court, Peta Stilgoe, found that Wu had known from the outset that maintaining overnight accommodation, food and beverage services, and tourist activities was a contractual obligation. "Double Island has none of these things," she stated. Wu's legal team argued that kayak tours operated by third parties satisfied the tourism requirement, but the court rejected this. The island, Stilgoe noted, was unsafe and in disrepair—hardly a destination for paying guests.

Wu's barrister claimed his client remained committed to the lease and had engaged contractors to rehabilitate the property. Obstacles included limited barge access, the pandemic, and cyclone damage. But the department's counsel countered that Wu had been given ample time and resources. "Tourism is not going through the ghost town of a derelict resort," barrister Jonathan Horton told the court. Minister Stewart welcomed the ruling, saying the government would enforce lease conditions across Queensland and take action when they were breached.

The island's decline represents a profound loss for those who built it. In 1978, Campbell Balderson's parents and two other local families purchased the first lease for roughly $60,000 and developed it in the early 1980s using eco-friendly principles inspired by Hawaiian resorts. Balderson recalls a childhood of harvesting oysters and fish, exploring rainforest, and helping construct the resort with minimal environmental disruption. His mother later sold it to Australian businesswoman Janet Holmes a Court in the late 1980s. The resort changed hands several times before Wu acquired it. Balderson called the court action "a fight worth having," though he mourned the loss of his family's legacy. Tony Richards, a Palm Cove businessman with long ties to the island, recalled that a US luxury magazine once ranked Double Island among the world's top ten great escapes. Celebrities including Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, and Jennifer Aniston had visited during its heyday.

Double Island is not alone in its neglect. Brampton Island Resort off Mackay, purchased by United Petroleum in 2010 for $5.9 million, has similarly deteriorated. Lindeman Island in the Whitsundays, once Australia's first Club Med, has sat in ruins since Cyclone Yasi struck in 2011, though a Singaporean company has since bought it and pledged restoration. Great Keppel Island, a 1980s party destination, has been derelict for fifteen years; the Queensland government recently announced a $30 million master plan for its recovery. Resorts on South Molle and Hook Island have also closed. The pattern prompted a parliamentary inquiry into the economic and regulatory frameworks governing Queensland's island resorts, which recommended eighteen reforms, including the cancellation of leases held by developers who allow islands to fall into ruin. Stewart's decision on Double Island will signal how seriously the government intends to enforce those recommendations.