FEDS MUST BE CLEAR ON COAST PRIORITIES

IT’S been a significant 24 hours for Gold Coast voters leading into the federal election. Just where do we stand with the current government? In a stunning decision Karen Andrews, a frontbench minister and the Member for McPherson, admitted she had pushed for the government to withhold funding for Stage 4 of the light rail while it was to go through Palm Beach.

This most critical piece of infrastructure – linking the rest of the Coast’s light rail network to the Gold Coast Airport – would be subjected to major delays if the federal funding was put on hold while more consultation about an alternative route was conducted.

Then the federal and state governments engaged in a stoush over the status of funding for the Coomera Connector project in the city’s north.

Both the rail extension and the connector are deemed critical pillars of the city’s transport network ahead of the Olympic Games coming to southeast Queensland in 2032.

Not to mention both have the potential to provide a major boost to jobs and the economy on the Coast.

To cut to the chase – we need these projects to happen and happen fast.

And any potential roadblocks on funding – in this case particularly around the light rail – raises the question: is the Gold Coast being taken for granted again as a safe Coalition area?

There is certainly some concern from the city’s powerbrokers that the federal government knows it has the Coast seats in the bag and doesn’t have to go the extra mile for your vote.

This week, Mayor Tom Tate and the business community expressed concerns that neither major party leader had stepped foot in the Gold Coast during the campaign.

The city’s three federal LNP MPs, Stuart Robert, Angie Bell and Ms Andrews insisted in a joint statement that the Coalition was “the Gold Coast’s best friend”.

So which is it?

If this federal government truly is the Coast’s best friend then surely stalling on the light rail is not the play here.

You simply can’t have it both ways and the voters of the Gold Coast deserve to know if this government is truly committed to the issues that matter most to our city or are they too busy trying to shore up seats elsewhere – seats that are more vulnerable in what looms as such a tight election.

The Gold Coast deserves its fair share at a federal level and if we are ignored then the incumbent members will start to feel the heat.