Chinese investors plan $100 million Tasmanian resort development

A proposed $100 million resort on Tasmania's east coast backed by Chinese investors is proving controversial, with residents concerned about the impact on their surroundings.

Since the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hobart in November 2014, Chinese tourists and investors alike have increasingly taken an interest in the island State.

Tasmania received 35,000 Chinese visitors last year, making up 13% of its international visitors and spending a total of $83 million - a massive increase of 63% on the year before.

In 2016, Australia's biggest dairy firm, Van Diemen's Land Company, was sold to a Chinese businessman for $280 million while, in 2017, Chinese millionaire William Wei purchased the award-winning Villa Howden wedding venue, which looks out onto North West Bay.

However, over recent months, a huge Chinese-backed resort overlooking Freycinet National Park has caused local concern over its lack of detail and its apparent fast-tracking by the Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council and the Tasmanian Government.

The so-called ‘eco-resort’ at Dolphin Sands, a picturesque coastal region north of Swansea, would include a 300 villa and unit precinct, a health retreat, a 120-room hotel and golf courses.

Named Cambria Green, the project has been labelled one of the Tasmania's biggest tourism developments and is backed by Cambria Green Agricultural Tourism Management, headed by Hong Kong-born Melbourne developer Ronald Hu, and Liu Kejing, a Chinese businessman from Shandong.

The proposed 3,185 hectare development area covers the old Cambria estate, centred around a heritage-listed 1821 homestead. The land abuts the Moulting Lagoon, a significant wetland and important black swan breeding site, and stretches across 12 titles, which were purchased by nine different entities from April to August in 2015.

Nine of the purchases, conducted in the name of seven different entities and Liu himself, were lodged on the same day in April.

The project’s Facebook page - it does not have a website - explains that the proposal wants to "bring the surrounding community along our long-term journey, with an aim to attract more Tasmanian and international tourists, to both enjoy the beautiful East Coast of Tasmania and bring added economic value and jobs to the region".

The proposal was announced to the public in late April, four days before the Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council voted to progress an application to create a special development zone that would allow for a large and varied development to be built on the site.

However, a signing ceremony in Beijing that celebrated a partnership between Beijing Lidaohengtong Culture and Art Company and Cambria Green to create three art museums on the property was held three days before its announcement in Tasmania.

April also saw, Liu visit Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman for a meeting recorded in the official gifts register, which notes that Liu gave Premier Hodgman a paper scroll worth $100 which was retained by the Tasmanian Government. 

Images: View over Dolphin Sands to Freycinet National Park (top) and the Cambria estate (below).

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