Paralympian Marayke Jonkers backs Brisbane to Maroochydore heavy rail

The unreliable Brisbane to Sunshine Coast rail has left a Paralympian and motivational speaker stranded and ‘disabled by the environment’. Read why she’s backing change:

A day trip from Sunshine Coast to Brisbane is impossible for Paralympian and motivational speaker Marayke Jonkers who refuses to gamble on public transport after being left stranded at train stations.

Cancellations and changes to schedules has left Ms Jonkers in the lurch several times while travelling between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast via train – her only accessible public transport option.

Ms Jonkers, 40, has backed the Sunshine Coast Daily’s Train for the Games campaign in support of heavy rail to Maroochydore, which would allow people to travel from the Coast to Brisbane in 60 minutes.

She hopes the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will allow for greater disability access across transport and other infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast.

Since using a 300kg electric wheelchair in 2012 Ms Jonkers has relied on public transport to travel to and from Brisbane.

Now a trip to Brisbane requires an overnight bag and staying at other accommodation for the night out of fear she will be stranded at a train station without medication or other essentials.

“It’s maddening,” she said.

“If I’m in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, where they have heavy rail to light rail I don’t notice I have a disability because I can hop on a train and go anywhere.

“We’re disabled by the environment around us.”

On one occasion Ms Jonkers was travelling to Brisbane for a guest speaking event where she would join the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on stage.

But when she arrived the train was cancelled and passengers were being bussed south.

Retired Paralympian Marayke Jonkers has revealed the challenges travelling to and from Brisbane by train because it is the only viable public transport option for her while using an powered wheelchair. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“There are no restraints for wheelchairs like mine on buses,” she said.

“Luckily there was a nice station master who organised an entire bus to take me.”

Ms Jonkers travelled the world to compete as a swimmer and triathlete and said transport was never an issue.

“In Beijing I was hugged by a crying 80-year-old lady who lived near the Forbidden City,” Ms Jonkers said.

“She was not able to get inside until the Games built ramps and accessible toilets.

“It changed the community attitudes from disability not being a curse from birth but a natural part of the human experience.

“What I see here is we have this 10-year lead up to the Games and what do we want our legacy to be?

“Wouldn't it be great if it was accessible inclusion to allow people to do things, so people can travel to and from Brisbane?”

Land for a rail extension from Beerwah to Caloundra and Maroochydore is already set aside as part of the Caboolture to Maroochydore Corridor Study, known as CAMCOS.

The then Queensland Government study was completed in 2001 when the Sunshine Coast had a population of 187,442.

In October 1999 the impact assessment study and aerial photographs of the area were on public display for six weeks in preparation of the report looking into the development of an integrated transportation system.

Since then the Sunshine Coast’s population has boomed to about 340,000 and is expected to surpass 500,000 by 2041.

In the 2022 federal budget the LNP costed heavy rail from Beerwah to Maroochydore at $3.2bn based on a 2019 study and committed $1.6bn towards it.

However the state government disagrees with that estimate and is awaiting the results of a $6m joint funded state and federal government planning study.

“I have been hearing this has been coming for a few decades,” Ms Jonkers said.

“Here we are in 2022 still debating it when we have this game changing opportunity.”