Yes sadly you are right there are no VPO's as such in either LGA Townsville or Thuringowa, and I'm not saying VPO's are the answer to all of the major problems we have managing vegetation in our Urban forest, but hell it would be nice to even have an imaginary stick to wave up here once in a while.
On the rare occasion that a tree of real significance is identified as being worth protection heaven help it if its in the way of someones duplex or sixpack unit development it'll suddenly go into leaf drop never to return with the same perfectly symmetrical borer holes I'm sure you've seen in Brissy
It's a slow process driving change up here, attitudes are very intrenched, neither private nor public tree owners have yet grasped the assets they are managing but little by little we'll get there.
SF