CRUISE BOAT ULTIMATUM

MAYOR Tom Tate has given the State Government an ultimatum over council’s plan to build a cruise ship terminal: Include it in The Spit master plan or it’s off the agenda.

Cr Tate said there were two viable economic options for a terminal, at Philip Park and Doug Jennings Park at the end of The Spit.

“If it’s not on the master plan then I would say the project should be shelved until there’s a change of government,” he said.

THE proposed cruise ship terminal is at a tipping point with Mayor Tom Tate asking the State Government to support exploring an oceanside option, Doug Jennings Park or both.

Cr Tate emerged from a full council meeting yesterday with a shock announcement that a majority of councillors backed his plan to write to the Premier asking that the CST be included in The Spit master plan.

Councillors Peter Young, Glenn Tozer and Daphne McDonald did not back the mayor but the debate between councillors remains secret because it was held in a closed session.

Labor, after a community cabinet meeting on the Coast in May 2017, vowed it would back its election promise and provide no land or funding for a terminal on The Spit, prompting community groups to call on council to stop funding research.

Outside the meeting, Cr

Tate told the Bulletin there were two viable economic options at Philip Park and Doug Jennings Park.

He said the mood of council was for the State to commit to the project, otherwise council would just be spending more ratepayer funds with no clear end in sight.

“If they don’t, well come forward and say we don’t want it so we don’t spend ratepayers’ funds,” he said.

“It’s time to go ‘are we on or not’. If we’re on, we keep going.

If it’s on it has to be in a master plan. If it’s not on the master plan then I would say the project should be shelved until there’s a change of government.”

Cr Tate said he would present both cruise ship terminal options to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

He said the Premier could then designate an “option area” for the project.

“Until they finalise it, it doesn’t matter as long as it shows its political will for a cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast, that will be enough for us to continue our process,” he said.

Asked if he wanted both options or one ticked off, the mayor said: “We only need one cruise ship terminal. Both options have tremendous merits – differently.

“The growth of this infrastructure – just about everyone of note is saying this should be part of the economic plan. If that’s the case, the master plan should include it.”

Councillors last year ticked off on $2 million being spent on “cruise ship terminal infrastructure” and the Government in its master plan promotion in January acknowledged it could consider how the terminal could operate in the location proposed.

But a briefing session note said: “The Deputy Premier advised the mayor that while the State is considering the proposed cruise ship terminal, the master planning process cannot assume the terminal is a foregone conclusion.”