Queensland court clears way to strip resort developer of island leases

On a small island in the Coral Sea, the tension between private ownership and public obligation has come to a head. A Queensland Land Court has ruled that Brampton Enterprises forfeited its right to hold leases over Brampton Island after fifteen years of abandonment — finding that the mere promise of development cannot substitute for the duty to actually steward a place. The decision, still subject to appeal and ministerial approval, asks an enduring question: when does the right to hold land require the responsibility to tend it?