Wounded by Adani, the Left dug in
THE State Government’s decision to terminate the ASF integrated resort development was pushed by the Labor Party’s Left faction, according to political sources.
The project was canned with an election on the horizon and just weeks after the state approved the $3.1 billion first stage of the Adani Carmichael coal mine.
That controversial development was also opposed by the party’s Left faction.
Some political sources believe the Left was unwilling to be rolled a second time and that hurt the Gold Coast project.
Another factor was the serious emergence of One Nation, which had promised to can the integrated resort on The Spit.
The fringe right-wing party has run a campaign against the development in a bid to target disgruntled Labor voters in some of the city’s marginal seats.
Political sources said the ASF development had the support of leading government figures, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Tourism Minister Kate Jones.
The Bulletin has been told there were fears approving the project could cost the government votes in seats with high Greens support, including Deputy Premier Jackie Trad’s electorate of South Brisbane.
Both Mayor Tom Tate and Gold Coast Tourism chief executive Martin Winter declared the Government’s move to be a “political decision” rather than one motivated by transport or development fears.
At least three seats on the Gold Coast are seen as potentially winnable by Labor – the coastal seats of Southport and Bonney, which neighbour The Spit, as well as the Hinterland seat of Gaven.
The LNP, which failed to approve ASF’s previous proposed development at Wavebreak Island before it lost power in early 2015, criticised the decision yesterday.
Cr Tate said both the current and former LNP Newman government bore responsibility for the failure to secure a development for The Spit. Surfers Paradise LNP MP JohnPaul Langbroek admitted mistakes were made.