GREEN LIGHT FOR $72 MILLION ECO-HOTEL AND WELLNESS RETREAT

1.5 Development Components

MORETON Bay Regional

Council has approved the region’s first eco lifestyle hotel and wellness retreat, addressing an urgent need for hotel rooms to meet growing tourism numbers.

The North Lakes Eco-Lifestyle Precinct will include a five-storey, 112-room hotel which will help fill the demand for more accommodation in the region, to support growing tourism numbers as well as the influx of visitors the 2032 Olympic Games will bring to Moreton Bay.

“We know Moreton Bay needs up to eight hotels and 1,035 hotel rooms by 2032, with four hotels needed by 2026, so this is an exciting start just five months after we put out the call for investors,”

Mayor Peter Flannery said Maple Development Group Managing Director Nick Liu said they chose the Moreton Bay site because of the region’s surging tourism industry, lower operational and land costs, and proximity to Brisbane’s domestic and international airports and ports.

“It is exciting to see this project become an inviting and welcoming precinct for locals and visitors as well as getting a balance between the lifestyle and economic growth in the region; and we really appreciate the effective communication support from Moreton Bay Council on our project”, Nick said.

The precinct will also include a naturopathy centre to cater for home, garden and health care, a day spa, outdoor yoga, a farmer’s market, wildlife rehabilitation shelter facility, community food gardens, a drive-through compost and garden waste drop off point support the precinct’s sustainable approach. The development will deliver more than 150 jobs in the region.

BOWEL cancer is rarely discussed and quite often deadly. It affects men and women, young and old, with Australia having one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world. According to Bowel Cancer Australia, one in fifteen Australians will develop the disease in their lifetime.

Whilst approximately 30% of people who develop the disease have hereditary contributions or family history, 70% do not, and the risk of developing bowel cancer rises sharply and progressively from age 50.

Associate Professor Michelle Wykes leads the Molecular Immunology Group at QIMR Berghofer, Herston. Having worked for over twenty years at the Institute, investigating how our immune systems respond to the challenge of disease, she is now seeking donations to help progress her exciting research discovery – the Masterswitch

“We have developed antibodies that turn on a Masterswitch on dendritic cells to detect and discover cancers, which usually hide amongst the good cells,” said Associate Professor Wykes.

“The discovery came as I investigated how the immune system responded to malaria. I wanted to help half a million children who die every year from this dreadful illness. I never thought it would lead to new hope for breast and colorectal cancer treatment. Finding this potential Masterswitch which turns on the body’s dendritic cells, central to the body’s immune response, was incredibly exciting. We thought we could use this switch to turn on the body’s fighter T-cells to recognise and attack cancer cells.”

Associate Professor Wykes says that the pre-clinical laboratory results were simply breathtaking.

“We started with Micro Satellite Stable (MSS) bowel cancers, responsible for about 80 per cent of all bowel cancers. Those who have this type of cancer have very few good treatment options, and outcomes sadly reflect this. It’s the same for people diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. The treatment options are just not good. To our amazement, results obtained in pre-clinical laboratory work showed an 80% success rate in clearing the cancers! And after ten months, it hadn’t grown back. The next step was to see whether results could be repeated in blood samples from metastatic colon cancer patients at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. They showed the same stunning results.”

“This could be a real game changer in how we treat cancer patients in the future. I won’t give up.”

For Research Officer Dr Rebecca Faleiro, it is personal, with her partner having a family history of breast cancer.

“If we don’t have enough funding, the project might stop,” explained Research Assistant Ji Liu. “We are so close. We need to keep going.”

For those interested in donating to this life-saving research, call 1800 993 000 or email supportus@qimrberghofer.edu.au. Donations go directly to QIMR Berghofer, with donations of two dollars or more tax deductable.

“It’s a very tough conversation to have when you have to tell someone their cancer is not curable. People come to me after their diagnosis, they are devastated, and they just can’t believe there isn’t a better treatment. It is quite simply heartbreaking,” said Association Professor Melissa Eastgate, Deputy Director of Medical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Associate Professor Wykes and her team hope that one day soon, no one with bowel cancer will be told they are going to die.