Dreamworld: Future of theme park Koala facility revealed

The Gold Coast’s deputy mayor has blasted critics urging State Government to pressure a city theme park into funding a koala research centre. FIND OUT WHY

THE state government has been accused of being Christmas “grinches” for failing to lobby Dreamworld to build a promised koala research facility.

The project remains on ice six months after reports more than $2.9m of funding for the state-of-the-art project had been repurposed and spent on the theme park’s Steel Taipan roller coaster.

City leaders and Opposition MPs are now demanding the government step in and put the project back on the agenda.

But Deputy Mayor Donna Gates has waded in, saying the $2.9m contribution from State Government for the koala discovery centre was focused on visitor experiences for Asian tourists “not contributing to the koala research and recovery elements of the project as is being stated”.

An artist's impression of the Future Lab” which was planned for Dreamworld and announced in 2019.

Robina councillor Hermann Vorster wrote to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in late November asking if the government had lobbied for the Dreamworld Future Lab to be built after saying in July that she hoped Dreamworld would “do the right thing”.

However Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe this week confirmed in a letter to Cr Vorster that the government did not push for the facility to be included in the theme park’s recently announced $50m upgrade.

Mr Hinchliffe, writing on December 19, said: “Such decisions are independent to the Queensland Government’s involvement and reflect the commercial considerations of Dreamworld”.

“The Queensland Government’s original funding commitment to Dreamworld under the Advance Queensland – Connecting with Asia initiative was to support the development of a proposed new attraction that would include a research and classroom space for educational institutions: the ‘Future Lab’.

Stirling Hinchliffe. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

“The Government supported Dreamworld’s request to repurpose this funding for the construction of the new Steel Taipan Rollercoaster in the wake of international border closures during the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, and to assist in the recovery of the Gold Coast’s tourism industry.

“This project delivered immediate, significant economic benefits to the region and helped contribute to the return of domestic and international visitation when borders reopened.”

Cr Vorster urged the state government to urgently reconsider the issue over the Christmas and New Year period.

“The State Government may claim to have green credentials — but so does the grinch,” he said.

“The Premier has put Gold Coast koalas on her naughty list and robbed them of a FutureLab this Christmas.

Councillor Hermann Vorster. Picture, John Gass

“The Premier is either unwilling or incapable of delivering on her commitment to koalas, and plainly did nothing to pressure Dreamworld beyond some hollow words on television.

“The State Government must do some soul searching over the break and make a New Year’s resolution to get this done.”

The state government announced funding for the Dreamworld Future Lab in March 2019, with the project dubbed a “world-class’ facility” which would become the state’s first native animal genome research facility.

At the time, it was promised that it would “allow experts to tackle some of the biggest issues facing our native wildlife — like the threat of chlamydia on the local koala population”.

Currumbin LNP MP Laura Gerber urged the government to fast-track funding for the centre, warning “extinction is forever”.

“The state government must invest in research facilities for our endangered wildlife,” she said.

“The state government’s failure to ensure we have critical koala research facilities will result in the future of our Koalas being at greater risk.

“What matters is outcomes for our environment, not making an announcement and failing to deliver.”

But Deputy Mayor Gates, as the representative for the division where the theme park is located, said: “The State Govt $2.9m contribution towards the proposed Koala discovery centre at Dreamworld (in collaboration with UQ and Yugambeh) was focused on a koala visitor experience for Asian (and particularly Chinese) visitors, with the funding approved from a program called “Connecting with Asia”.

“The State Govt funding was not contributing to the koala research and recovery elements of the project as is being stated. With the onset of COVID-19 and shutdown of international and domestic travel, and the return of the Chinse market looking difficult, Dreamworld requested that the $2.9m be repurposed to the $30m Steel Taipan rollercoaster project.

“Dreamworld considered the Steel Taipan project as a major new attraction would help stimulate recovery of domestic visitation. The State approved the request on that basis.”

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Originally published as Dreamworld: Future of theme park Koala facility revealed