Council cannot protect parkland
CAREY Park cannot be protected by the Gold Coast City Council if the State Government chooses to proceed with a global tourism hub on the prime public-owned land at Southport.
Councillors wrote to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in December 2017 indicating council’s withdrawal of support for an integrated resort development on Carey Park, and its support for a campaign on “privately owned land elsewhere in the city”.
Southport residents opposed to the Palaszczuk Government’s global tourism hub being built on the parkland believe the council should be restating its position to the Premier.
But councillors yesterday admitted the council could not stop the GTH, that its powers were limited to advising government of its preferences for sites as Labor was driving the process.
“The State Government set up the 11 sites,” Southport-based councillor Dawn Crichlow said. “It’s the State Government that did all of that. Carey Park is back in there as one of the sites.
“We’ve handed it over to the State Government. The people don’t know the 11 sites. It’s the uncertainty – is it in my backyard? It will make real estate go down. They should tell the people what they’re looking at. Why should we keep it secret?”
The LNP has lodged a Right to Information request to the government asking for the full consultant report on the site options.
LNP leader Deb Frecklington yesterday called on the Premier to be up-front with Coast residents and release the list of 11 secret sites.
“The process needs to be open and transparent and so far we have seen neither from Labor. Secret back-room deals with multinational casino operators while raffling the Gold Coast to the highest bidder is a disgrace,” she said.
Tourism Minister Kate Jones commended the LNP on their bipartisan support for the government’s announcement to go to market for a GTH on the Coast.
“It’s great to finally have the LNP agreeing with the Palaszczuk Government that going to market for a global tourism hub is a step in the right direction for the Gold Coast,” she said.
Ms Jones said the GTH would not automatically mean a casino component but must include more than $1 billion worth of world-class entertainment infrastructure.
“Under the Newman Government, Tim Mander and Deb Frecklington were happy for the LNP to do backdoor deals with ASF to build a casino on Wavebreak Island that would have seen 1500 pokies introduced to the Coast,” she said. “But we’ve learnt from the LNP’s mistakes.
“We’ve drawn a line in the sand. There will be no net increase in pokies on the Coast.”