Tourism hub plan faltering

THE Global Tourism Hub is a bureaucratic feather’s breadth away from being declared a dead duck once and for all.

There was no other way to interpret Tourism Minister Kate Jones’ comments at the Cairns Post’s Future Tourism forum – this was a shaky project before coronavirus and its likelihood of success now seemed utterly scuttled.

“We’re not going to flog that land off in the heart of the city unless we’re going to get something spectacular for the city,” Ms Jones said.

Opposition tourism spokesman David Crisafulli said the project had zero chance.

“It’s more than a duck,” he said.

“It’s already been plucked, cooked and the bones have been scraped into the bin.”

He slammed Ms Jones for conflating the development’s poor prospects with the current Chinese travel ban.

“To use coronavirus, there was a collective groan from the room,” he said.

“That’s a cop-out and has to dead be called out for what it is.

“This thing has been on life support for a long time and anyone you speak to will tell you it was never going to happen. It was always peddling false hope.”

Ms Jones did not venture so far as to declare the project null and void as it is in a process with scheduled dates in place.

Proponents have until April – a date already pushed back – to sign contracts, with construction due to begin in the

Visit specsavers.com.au/hearing second half of this year.

It was one of Labor’s chief commitments for the region ahead of the 2017 state election and touted as a billion-dollar project that would transform the Cairns waterfront.

Star Entertainment Group and Hard Rock International were short-listed as bidders for the project, although the latter was understood to have bowed out early in the process.

Cairns MP Michael Healy said being in government was about being realistic, which did not always include delivering positive news.

“The intention was to get something spectacular for the city and get a big corporation to pay for it,” he said.

“If that doesn’t work out, we will go back to square one and start again.

“I’m not prepared to jeopardise that beautiful block of dirt for something that isn’t spectacular and doesn’t add to our tourism attraction and quality of life.”

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