North Stradbroke Island (NSI) has no “economy” of its own. Most of its residents don’t work at all, mostly by choice. Its houses are mostly owned and used by people who live and work on the mainland and come to the island for holidays and relaxation.

On NSI, goods and services are sourced from the mainland – the major supermarkets deliver there. Children go to school on the mainland and sick people go to hospital on the mainland. Even most of the workers in the island’s sand mines have to be “imported” from the mainland. The NSI “economy” is entirely integrated with the economy of South East Queensland, which lies only 45 minutes away.

Despite this reality being clearly presented in ABS data and obvious to anyone who visits the island, there are persistent claims that NSI is “dependent” on sand mining.