Koala research cash instead spent on Dreamworld’s $5m rollercoaster

Taxpayer cash supposed to be used for a state-of-the-art koala research facility was instead spent on Dreamworld’s new rollercoaster, the government has admitted.

Almost $3m in taxpayer cash handed to Dreamworld for a koala-research facility was instead repurposed and used to build the theme park’s Steel Taipan rollercoaster.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the theme park was granted $2.7m in 2019 by the Palaszczuk government to create Queensland’s first state-of-the-art research facility to fight major issues threatening native wildlife including chlamydia in koalas.

However, Tourism and Innovation Minister Stirling Hinchliffe was late on Tuesday night forced to admit the Palaszczuk government gave the go ahead for the research cash to be “repurposed” by Dreamworld to instead build its new Steel Taipan rollercoaster.

The Steel Taipan rollercoaster nears completion in 2021. Picture Glenn Hampson

Mr Hinchliffe said the government approved the change due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In view of the Future Lab project being placed on hold, the Queensland government approved that the funding previously approved for the research facility be repurposed to support the construction of the new ride, taking into consideration the immediate impacts of the pandemic and the appeal of new tourism offers likely to attract returning domestic visitors and international tourists when borders reopened,” he said.

“I am pleased to advise that where that ended up was in the newest attraction, the Steel Taipan, which opened in December 2021.”

His comments prompted a blunt response from LNP Innovation spokesman Sam O’Connor, who questioned: “So the koala lab funding went to a rollercoaster?”

Mr O’Connor said there was a “real risk” koalas would be extinct from the wild by Brisbane’s Olympic Games in 2032.

The LNP MP said Dreamworld’s research facility was a “great idea” and called on the state government to question whether it will be built.

“To just allow these millions of dollars to be put into a rollercoaster and not follow up … it beggars belief they haven’t asked them if they’re going to build the lab,” he said.

Mr Hinchliffe said Dreamworld had applied to access cash from the government’s $25m Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund, which was designed help the tourism industry accelerate its pandemic recovery.

Dreamworld’s Steel Taipan.

The research lab was announced by then Tourism Minister Kate Jones, Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch and Assistant Tourism Minister Meaghan Scanlon.

At the time Ms Enoch said it was “vital that we find new ways to protect our native wildlife for future generations”.

Gold Coast City Councillor Hermann Vorster wrote to Ms Scanlon in June, inquiring about progress on the March 2019 announcement, saying there was “intense local interest” in the project.
He received a response from Mr Hinchcliffe on Tuesday, confirming the funding had been “repurposed” for the construction of the $32 million Steel Taipan rollercoaster as part of the government’s Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund due to “a number of delays in progressing the research facility”.

Councillor Vorster said the revelation “outs the government as green fakers.”

“The State has been caught out spending the same dollar twice — but short-changing koalas,” he said.

“They’ve just figured out Koalas can’t vote — but that doesn’t mean they don’t count.”

Coomera is one of the Gold Coast’s biggest urban growth areas and is often viewed as ground zero in the fight to save the besieged koala population of southeast Queensland.

The research centre was viewed as a key weapon in helping to preserve the koalas, who face threats on multiple fronts including habitat loss and the equally devastating effects of the chlamydia disease.

A Dreamworld spokeswoman said the Steel Taipan was an attraction “offering tremendous benefit to the rebuilding of the tourism industry and to employment in Queensland”.

“While the original plans for Future Labs are on hold, Dreamworld continues to partake in crucial koala conservation and research projects,” she said.

The projects included the recent release of two-year-old koala Jagger in a collaborative effort between several universities and the Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation, where a living koala genome bank is being built, koala populations are being improved and future generations are being safeguarded against inbreeding and disease.

“Dreamworld is committed to conservation and makes meaningful change via the Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation, which has raised over $3.5 million for animal conservation and continues to fund important conservation projects in Australia and internationally,” the spokeswoman said.