Gold Coast cruise ship sinking feeling as State talks up new Brisbane port

The Palaszczuk Government is being accused of abandoning ship on the Gold Coast cruise ship terminal.

THE Palaszczuk Government is being accused of abandoning ship on the Gold Coast cruise ship terminal.

The LNP has seized on State Development Minister Cameron Dick talking up the Brisbane port, saying it will bring $5 billion in economic value to Queensland in the next 15 years and create 240 jobs during construction.

SECRET REPORT INTO COAST CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Carnival Cruises CEO Arnold Donald at the new Port of Brisbane cruise ship terminal. Picture AAP/David Clark.

WHERE COAST CST SHOULD BE

“It’s time that Annastacia Palaszczuk got off the fence and answered whether she supports a cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast,” LNP leader Deb Frecklington said.

“Under Labor, we’ve seen continual delays, glossy reports and plenty of talk but no action.

“The LNP supports a cruise ship terminal because Gold Coast shouldn’t miss out on the local jobs and economic opportunities it will provide.”

Ms Frecklington said national passenger numbers were booming with an increase of 1 million passengers a year in the past decade.

“Brisbane will soon have two cruise ship terminals, while the Gold Coast continues to miss out,” she said.

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Mayor Tom Tate is hoping to keep the cruise ship terminal alive with a new site at Philip Park, Main Beach. Pic by David Clark

When asked about the Coast at the recent Brisbane announcement, Mr Dick said: “We have not formed a view one way or the other as a government. We’ve made that clear.”

In 2016, the Premier said “there may not be a need for that second cruise ship terminal on the Gold Coast” once the Brisbane terminal opens at Luggage Point.

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The recently released 50-page Spit master plan options report rules out the option of a CST on the northern end opting for “an iconic landmark building with an over and under water element” like a deck and cafe, or an informal parkland at Doug Jennings Park.

Mr Dick has told Mayor Tom Tate that he could resubmit his $526 million oceanside cruise ship terminal project off Philip Park, but it would have to be after The Spit master plan was completed.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate with his proposed site at Philip Park. Picture supplied

Despite plans for the project to be shovel ready by 2022, councillors are yet to vote on up to $10 million in business and technical studies.

Cr Tate wrote on his Mayoral Facebook page that the Coast port would work side-by-side with Brisbane.

Cruise companies would most likely visit Brisbane “on the way up and out to the Pacific Islands” and then drop into the Coast on the way back to Sydney and Melbourne.

“That’s why I think both docks will coexist beautifully,” he wrote. “Cruise ship experts have confirmed this to me.”