No guarantee light rail logic will find oxygen under LNP

LNP MP for Burleigh Michael Hart is misleading readers on light rail once again (GC Bulletin, 19/8) to paper over his local record of taking the Gold Coast for granted now that he’s under real pressure from Labor candidate Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew.

Mr Hart knows full well from previous government announcements that the Gold Coast Hwy is the preferred route for the next stage of Gold Coast Light Rail from Burleigh to Coolangatta via the Gold Coast Airport as identified in the multi-modal study.

No other route is viable for light rail to be well patronised and tie in with other modes.

The $5 million business case funding announced a fortnight ago for the next stage to the border will have extensive public consultation as will the detailed design phase to follow, which Mr Hart is fully aware of as Stage 3 from Broadbeach to Burleigh in his electorate did just that.

Mr Hart and the LNP have previously announced they will prevent heavy rail ever connecting to the airport precinct if in power by running the light rail from Burleigh inland along a long ‘dog leg’ route through an industrial area and using up the allocated heavy rail corridor which would be nothing short of a public transport disaster for the southern Gold

Coast.

Clearly the growing airport precinct needs to be directly connected to the southeast Queensland heavy rail system, the light rail and the M1 which is the Palaszczuk Labor Government’s co-ordinated transport plan for the southern Gold Coast to have all modes working together.

Only Labor will protect the heavy rail corridor for a future heavy rail extension.

Mr Hart and his LNP colleagues like Ray Stevens (who said light rail was being “inflicted” on the Gold Coast) have consistently undermined and criticised light rail and cannot be trusted to continue the project in a logical integrated way that benefits residents.

Light rail had no new stages funded by the Newman LNP Government and light rail supporters should not be surprised that the momentum we now have for the light rail would stop, with future stages either scrapped or routed to prevent heavy rail connecting to the airport if a Deb Frecklington LNP Government was elected.

Gold Coast residents deserve better than that.