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LNP donors who owned and operated an island supermarket discussed its future with a Queensland government MP before the local council dumped plans for a mainland competitor, emails obtained by this masthead show.
The emails, provided under Right to Information laws, shed new light on the interactions between small businesses, developers and the city council in a rapidly growing part of Greater Brisbane.
Redland councillor Shane Rendalls, whose division covers the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, last year sought to organise a meeting with the LNP’s Redland MP Rebecca Young and the Russell Island IGA owner.
Arranged under the subject of the “impact of Weinam Creek on SMBI retail precincts”, the eventual meeting between Rendalls, Young, representatives of ultimate landlord Doval Construction and store operators Jones Retail Group took place on March 18, 2025.
By December, Redland City Council had ditched plans for a $250 million development, anchored by a Coles store, at the site of the ferry terminal servicing the island – choosing instead to only progress plans for the car park.
In 2013, the council had been told Weinam Creek needed a larger shop, as did one of the islands. The plans for the Coles came eight years after the area was confirmed as a priority development area by the state in 2014.
Those plans were put in place in 2022, with Consolidated Properties Group (CPG) picked to deliver the Weinam Creek project, about one kilometre away from the only other major supermarket in the Redland Bay area.
The Woolworths-anchored Redland Bay Village, part-owned by local developers Fox and Bell – with which council chief executive Louise Rusan has a declared family conflict of interest – was put up for sale after council dumped plans for the Coles competitor.
The council and councillor who initiated the December vote, Rendalls, has maintained dumping the supermarket was about fast-tracking the car park, which will now be built by the state without the adjoining shops.
Work had been due to begin later this year for completion in 2028, with CPG chief executive and chair Don O’Rorke raising questions earlier this year about the council’s decision and resulting lack of retail competition.
Jones Retail Group, which operates a suite of IGAs throughout Brisbane’s east – including on Russell Island and IGA Redland Heights – made a $1000 political donation to the LNP’s Redland branch in 2023.
Doval Construction, which owns the site of the Russell Island IGA through a subsidiary, donated $10,000 to the LNP in 2022.
Neither Rendalls, Young, Doval Construction or Jones Retail Group had previously given details about the March 2025 meeting listed in Young’s assistant ministerial diary when asked by this masthead.
But the application under Right to Information laws has uncovered some of the emails involved in setting it up. These show Rendalls writing to Doval Construction director and construction manager Ben Dyson on February 18.
In that email, with the subject line “Impact of Weinam Creek on SMBI retail precincts”, Rendalls tells Dyson to coordinate with his office to organise a meeting between the pair and then SMBI Chamber of Commerce president Dan Golin.
Rendalls then asks his office to include Young in the meeting, with further emails outlining the attendance of Dyson’s fellow director Stephen Beck and a partner of the related Doval Holdings, Bernard Giraud.
In a February 21 email seeking to confirm the meeting’s timing, a council officer describes the nature of the meeting as one to “discuss the future for the Weinam Creek PDA”.
Dyson replied to ask if anyone had any objections to Tyrone Jones, an owner and founder of Jones Retail Group, also attending. Ultimately, Jones did.
Rendalls, Doval Constructions and Jones Retail Group are yet to respond to additional questions from this masthead about any outcomes of the meeting.
Young, in a written response, did not directly address questions but criticised the former government and stood behind her efforts to ensure a “new multi-level car park that will provide significantly more spaces”.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any of the individuals, groups, or representatives of them.
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