Think Tank: Adam Twemlow, KPMG, Gold Coast

ADAM Twemlow is managing partner of the Gold Coast office of KPMG: He thinks it’s time the Coast grew up and became a great city.

Adam Twemlow: Transport infrastructure is definitely something we need to improve. Photo: David Clark

ADAM Twemlow, 40, moved from Hong Kong to the Gold Coast with his family as a young boy.

After leaving high school, he completed a Bachelor of Business degree at QUT in Brisbane.

He has since worked for privately-owned companies with multinational operations, ASX-listed companies, and also has managed investment schemes and not-for-profit entities.

Mr Twemlow is now the managing partner of the Gold coast office of KPMG, which is a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services.

The office employs a staff of 50 is the alone among the Big Four professional services firms to have a presence on the Gold Coast.

1) What do you love about the Gold Coast?

I love the combination of our lifestyle — which we get through our beaches, our waterways and the Gold Coast Hinterland at the back — with the Gold Coast’s innovation from a business perspective. The city, more and more, is attracting mature businesses and our businesses are on a larger scale. We are seeing a lot of investment coming to the Gold Coast and that is creating employment in a sustainable way. I am also a boatie so I like getting out on the water, swimming in the ocean, and running.

2) What do you think could be done better on the Gold Coast?

We could do better with our transport infrastructure. Lots of people who come to the Gold Coast comment about the congestion and the traffic. The issues are just a product of the Gold Coast becoming a bigger city, growing up and attracting more people. However, transport infrastructure is definitely something we need to improve.

3) In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?

Building a tunnel is an idea and I think such infrastructure would work well on the Gold Coast. It’s an idea a bit “way out” but it could run beneath areas of the Gold Coast. After all, Sydney, Brisbane, Hong Kong and lots of major capital cities deal with the growth of population through tunnels. I think a north-south tunnel would work very well for the Gold Coast to take congestion off the roads. Another idea worthy of consideration would be a bullet train, like the Eurostar, from the Coast to Brisbane.

4) If money, time, laws and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?

I have been in training for the Kokoda Challenge that is coming up and it has made me realise just how beautiful our Hinterland is. It would be tremendous for the Gold Coast to promote eco-tourism. One way to generate such tourism would be through a skyway to connect the Gold Coast to the Hinterland. It could be something similar to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway in Cairns.

5) What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?

I think we need greater collaboration between private enterprise and government to make sure that we achieve initiatives and for the city to become great. We (KPMG Gold Coast) were part of the Future Gold Coast work that was recently done with (leading demographer) Bernard Salt, a KPMG partner. A number of initiatives were drawn up … and I think collaboration between private and public money would help to achieve them.