GOLD SHOULDER
Frustrated city leaders urge Brisdrain pollies to stop giving us the .... NO government departments, no supreme court, overloaded police, no cruise ship terminal, and no possibility of one on the horizon anytime soon. These are among the chief frustrations driving the Gold Coast and its leaders to demand Brisbane powerbrokers treat it with the respect it deserves. Mayor Tom Tate questioned whether pollies take the place seriously. Both Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Tourism Minister Kate Jones declined to respond to the pleas.
GOLD Coast leaders are calling on the Brisbane-based State Government to give the surging city a fairer shake – but the Premier has turned a cold shoulder to their collective plea.
A wide range of Gold Coast power players – Suns chairman Tony Cochrane, respected car dealership bigwig Bec Frizelle and entertainment entrepreneur Billy Cross – joined Mayor Tom Tate and veteran LNP MP John-Paul Langbroek urging a better deal yesterday.
Among key frustrations to emerge when canvassed by the Gold Coast Bulletin are:
The lack of government departments, even satellite offices, on the Gold Coast. No Supreme Court. The Spit Masterplan process taking too long.
Concern about $12 million funding for a Brisbane studio base for film and TV production;
Gold Coast police struggling with crime loads.
Suns chairman Mr Cochrane said Victoria had decentralised departments to regional hubs Shepparton, Ballarat and Geelong to boost employment and he could not understand why it wasn’t happening here.
“To the best of my knowledge we don’t have any government departments here
and yet we are Australia’s sixth largest city. We don’t have a Supreme Court.
“On the cruise ship terminal, I smell a rat. They don’t want to know about our cruise terminal plans, they only want to have theirs to support their shitty town and their shitty weather,” Mr Cochrane fumed.
“I completely agree we are being taken for a ride by Brisbane. But we also have to have a crack at all those LNP members. Why aren’t they doing more to agitate and get problems fixed? You can’t just blame the Government in office. There are 10 LNP members on the Coast.
“There should be a government department headquartered on the Gold Coast. Tourism is logical, I’m not wedded to that one but it is the logical one.”
In a hard-hitting opinion piece today, Cr Tate says the jury is out on whether powerbrokers in Brisbane see the Gold Coast as a “serious voice” and he urges the State Govern“It’s ment to take the place “seriously” on health, police and education services.
Ms Frizelle, also the Gold Coast Titans owner, said she couldn’t understand why the Gold Coast had no government departments.
“It is hard to say we haven’t been looked after when we have Gold Coast University Hospital, the convention centre, light rail and its extensions, and the stadiums.
“There has definitely been a lot of positive stuff but the view we are not being listened to enough I agree with,” she said.
The question is why The Spit Masterplan process had been set down for 18 months through to July next year?
Mr Cochrane said it felt to him like Brisbane was trying to “purposefully engineer us out of a cruise ship terminal”.
The Bulletin yesterday revealed State Government’s Priority Planning Projects had rejected the Breakwater Group’s push for its $4.4 billion cruise terminal plan to be evaluated as part of the Spit Masterplan. Cr Tate has been told his pet oceanside terminal proposal won’t be considered until after the masterplan process.
Ms Frizelle added yesterday: “The Spit Masterplan does seem to be taking too long. It is critical to know the outcome, we need to know what the masterplan is going to look like so we can start attracting appropriate businesses.
been on the agenda for such a long time. This type of delay would not be tolerated in the private enterprise. It should not be tolerated by a government.
“It’s a critical piece of real estate and no one knows what’s happening with it.”
Lawyers have previously argued a Supreme Court in Southport for murder trials and drug busts would speed up justice and cut costs.
Meanwhile, the Bulletin is aware of growing frustration among beat police, with local officers claiming they are drowning under the weight of never-ending jobs.
Stretched thin in the outer suburbs of the Coast, resources are being pushed to their limits by either a lack of numbers and planning.
There are calls for a dedicated drug squad on the Coast, with many cops feeling a lot of break and enters, theft, assaults and other lower-end crime stems from drug abuse.
Police sources agree it isn’t too often they go to a job where there is no history of drug abuse.
The Bulletin summarised the concerns outlined by the Gold Coast leaders and asked both Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Tourism Minister Kate Jones for responses – and their take.
A spokesman for Ms Jones advised going with the Premier’s responses. A spokesman for the Premier replied late yesterday afternoon: “We won’t be able to reply today.”
BULLETIN VIEW, P22