Ritzy Royal Queensland Golf Club plans huge expansion

One of Queensland’s ritziest golf clubs is planning a major expansion to serve its members, but other plans in the works should also attract non-members by the hundreds, too.

TEE OFF

BIG changes afoot at the ritzy Royal Queensland Golf Club. City Beat readers will recall that a $35 million theme park style Top Golf facility has been mooted for the now fallow eastern section of the club to help it raise more revenue for future expansion.

Now other proposals have emerged. Along with a new 9-hole course there also is support for either an additional four holes to be integrated into the championship course or a championship quality par three course.

Golfer in action at the Royal Queensland.

Club general manager Paul Hinton says member support is crucial as options for the land are explored, but our spies say the club is under pressure to create additional capacity to reduce congestion on the greens.

We hear things have become very crowded during tee-off times, a situation that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 when more people wanted to get out and have a hit.

Club president Andrew Greville says that while the par three course would add to annual maintenance costs, it could also be used by juniors, seniors and guests to generate additional revenue. “Many great courses around the world including Augusta. Pine Valley and Olympic in the US have wonderful par three courses adjacent to their main course,” according to Greville. He says the club will continue to look at the nine hole expansion and also determine suitable commercial options for the northern part of the eastern section of the course.

PNG BOUND

PAUL Mulder, one of Gina Rinehart’s former top executives in Queensland, is becoming somewhat of an expert on Papua New Guinea. Mulder, who founded Brisbane-based Mayur Resources back in 2014, is now a regular visitor to Port Moresby as he progresses the company’s cement and quicklime project north west of the capital.

Mulder tells your diarist that the cement works will play a pivotal role in the country’s infrastructure roll out that includes a national electricity and road network.

“It is a beautiful country and I spend a lot of time up there,” says Mulder, who spent six years working for Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, including a stint as group managing director of its coal and infrastructure operations. “I actually have a flat in Port Moresby now.”

Mulder says the cement and quicklime works, which will include a quarry, processing facility and wharf, will have the capacity to supply all of Papua New Guinea’s needs as well as a big market in Australia.

He says most of the cement and clinker imported into Australia has to come from Japan and other Asian countries, requiring lengthy journeys of about two weeks. By contrast, the cement from Mayur’s project will be able to be shipped in a couple of days.

Mulder says all the approvals have been granted for the project, which will cost north of $300 million and employ thousands of locals. Construction is expected to start next year.

HIGH VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC vehicles are set to dominate roads around the world in the next two decades. But while Europe and UK have set aggressive targets for the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles, are we dragging our feet in Australia?

Some in the electric vehicle industry say we risk becoming a version of Cuba where old petrol clunkers from the 60s are still common sights on the roads. Brisbane-based EV charging company Tritium says US President-Elect Joe Biden has proposed a US$400 billion public investment in the automobile industry to improve battery technology and change the federal vehicle fleet to electric cars and trucks, while also installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country.

Supplied Editorial Tritium electronic vehicle charging stations. Source: Supplied

Tritium, which exports most of its chargers to the US and Europe, earlier this month released a new and more powerful charging system that also provides new payment systems. The new charger eliminated credit card payments allowing customers to pay through the charging cable when it communicates to the car directly. Tritium founder David Finn says the electrification of transportation is at tipping point.

NEW BROOM

SOME rearranging of the deck chairs at Brisbane-based Central Petroleum with Wrix Gasteen resigning from the board and former APA boss Mick McCormack stepping up as chairman. McCormack’s appointment is expected to bring some stability to the gas company that has experienced a rocky few years.

In mid-2018, gas industry legend Richard Cottee abruptly quit as MD after six years in the post. He had a rocky tenure, dealing with a failed attempt at a board spill by rebel shareholders in 2017 and a scuttled $87 million takeover attempt by Macquarie Group.