PUT COAST IN THE PICTURE
JETSTAR’S plan to start direct flights between the Gold Coast and Seoul from December is exciting news.
It will add one more string to the city’s tourism bow, further developing the Asian market.
But this development also exposes – unintentionally – a serious shortfall in the Gold Coast’s tourism infrastructure.
Planeloads of tourists require a fast and efficient on-ground transport system. They are entitled to expect a seamless ride from the airport to accommodation once they have landed.
The Gold Coast should have had heavy rail running to Coolangatta long before now, but that will remain a dream for a long time yet. The alternative, a light rail system running down the coastline to the airport, was well on track until it stalled at Broadbeach, due to the State and Federal governments doing what they always do – engaging in the usual funding standoff.
Canberra thinks it can win as it offers less than what it should. The State Government is digging its heels in, yet is happy to fully fund its pet Cross River Rail project in Brisbane to the tune of $5.4 billion.
There is a need for transparency in government matters critical to the Gold Coast.
Two of them were under scrutiny at Estimates hearings in Brisbane yesterday – the leftover Commonwealth Games funds, which Tourism and Games Minister Kate Jones has shrugged off as having already been returned to Treasury; and the Global Tourism Hub (a second casino development) on which $2.5 million has apparently already been spent on departmental and ministerial expenses.
Calls have been made for the leftover Games funds to be used on Gold Coast projects. Helping fund a light rail extension would be an obvious one.
After all, the Gold Coast Games were a budget success for Queensland, with a State Audit Office report in March confirming $167 million of the Games’ $1.5 billion budget able to be returned to the State.
A large saving was the $99 million placed in a contingency fund for unforeseen expenditure and never used.
Construction of the athletes village cost $14 million less than expected, and all 18 Games venues were completed within budget. Revenue was $12 million above the anticipated $324 million.
The three levels of government and the Gold Coast community were adamant the city should benefit from a Games legacy, yet a critical piece of transport infrastructure remains unfinished.
The Gold Coast is entitled to a more detailed response than just being told the money went back to Treasury.
To be used for what?
And it is not unreasonable too to be told how the $2.5 million that has gone on expenses in the preliminary stages of the GTH was spent. The project appears – to the public, which remains in the dark – to have gone quiet. So where is the spending directed and why the secrecy still surrounding the 11 potential sites being shown to groups with an interest in developing the hotel and casino hub? If the Government has lost interest or is so financially strapped that Cross River Rail is draining the kitty, it should say so. The Gold Coast deserves to be put in the picture.