All southern routes and options on the table in Crisafulli consultation on light rail

Premier David Crisafulli is promising the southern Gold Coast will get a Burleigh-airport public transport solution it can “embrace, use and cherish” as electric buses emerge as an option. Read what he said.

Premier David Crisafulli is promising the southern Gold Coast will get a Burleigh-airport public transport solution it can “embrace, use and cherish” as electric buses emerge as an option.

His Deputy Jarrod Bleijie, on Wednesday announced the Department of Infrastructure had ordered an independent review into plans to extend light rail from Burleigh to Gold Coast Airport. It came 24 hours after it was revealed Mayor Tom Tate was “open and persuadable” to the prospect that metro-style buses would instead be used instead of trams.

Speaking at Maryborough on Thursday, Mr Crisafulli pledged the views of southern Gold Coast residents would be canvassed in the review.

“One thing is for certain, and I think the people of the southern Gold Coast need to know this, they won’t be treated like doormats the way that they were (previously),” Mr Crisafulli said.

“They’re going to be listened to, they’re going to be respected, as will the council. We stand ready to do that.

“On the back of that we’re going to get the kind of solutions that the community can embrace, can use and cherish.

“The community will be listened to.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli speaking in Maryborough on Thursday.

Details of the review have not yet been made public but Mr Bleijie said it would consider “the route, the location, the mode of transport”.

Writing on social media, Burleigh MP Hermann Vorster said: “Everything will be on the table”.

Other options than the coastal tram route would be west from Burleigh to the Pacific Motorway. Some residents have begun lobbying again for heavy rail from Varsity to the border.

Commenting on Mr Vorster’s social media post, Palm Beach anti-light rail campaigner Karen Rowles wrote: “Have you noticed how many people commenting on your post want the heavy rail. The HR (heavy rail) must also be included in the consultation process.”

Ms Rowles had lobbied and worked with previous LNP MP Michael Hart to try and stop the trams, organising for the MP to sponsor her anti-tram petition to State Parliament.

The preliminary business case for light rail stage four - the extension from Burleigh to the airport - is aimed at reducing traffic gridlock in the south, ruled out heavy rail and found it was “considered a complementary project for a mature transport network, not an alternative option.”

Burleigh Heads Light rail stop. Renders from Queensland Government.

Save Our Southern Gold Coast leader Kath Down has told the Government public consultation was crucial for ensuring the right infrastructure was built in the correct locations.

She said her group would stage a public forum at the end of February. Mr Tate expects to get some planning details by then.

The Gold Coast Bulletin’s front page.

The preliminary business case for light rail stage four to the border showed Burleigh would have 11,000 people arrive each day at the coastal village if a transport interchange was instead created for buses, discounted at the time.

A key insight was that buses would only be a stopgap ­solution, and unlike light rail, be operating at near capacity by 2041.

Opposition leader Steven Miles has strongly criticised the government’s position.

“Tom Tate still wants light rail to go to the Gold Coast Airport, but he knows David Crisafulli and the LNP have never supported it. The LNP’s legacy on the Gold Coast – a city they’ve taken for granted for years – will be turning the iconic Burleigh Heads into a bus depot.”

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Originally published as All southern routes and options on the table in Crisafulli consultation on light rail