REGRETS, SHE HAS A FEW ...

STATE Tourism Minister Kate Jones – at times dubbed the “Minister for the Gold Coast” given her penchant for spending time here – is a fan and advocate for the city. That is not in question given her track record going into bat for the Gold Coast on issues great and small in recent years.

To mention a few, she once demanded (successfully) the top brass of developer Grocon hightail it to Brisbane to deliver a “please explain” when subcontractor woes spilled over with construction of the Athletes Village for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, nowadays known as the Smith Collective.

In the lead-up to the Games she was instrumental in pushing for more relaxed licensing for bar venues, although in the end that wasn’t necessary given the dire turnout. But at least she tried and her Government ended up doing its bit on red tape.

She has worked closely and well with major players in the city including its mayor, tourism bosses and event bigwigs on everything from navigating forwards on a dive site, attracting new events and beneficial conferences such as the global Sport Accord, Eurovision and Logies as well as post-Games legacy tournaments and reputational afterglow.

But even she admits dropping a clanger in parliament yesterday. As detailed in today’s paper, she was trying to defend her Premier when she justified a lack of airconditioning units in Gold Coast schools by saying the city “gets sea breezes”.

As Opposition Shadow David Crisafulli pointed out with relish, she should try telling that to parents of kids who are sweltering through their day in demountables in Biggera Waters and Coombabah.

Parents were last night rightly firing up online in reaction to her remarks – which a red-faced Ms Jones quickly apologised for.