Gold Coast light rail: Tram extension to be accelerated for 2032 Olympics

The light rail extension to Gold Coast Airport will be “accelerated” as part of the city’s contribution to the 2032 Olympic Games in southeast Queensland.

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate will push to fast-track funds for road upgrades and light rail to the airport as the city’s contribution to a 2032 Olympic Games in southeast Queensland.

Cr Tate earlier this week refused to answer questions about whether he would back financially supporting a joint regional Olympics bid after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Cabinet voted to proceed with it.

Cr Tate, who supports the Games coming to the region, yesterday broke his silence and insisted the Gold Coast would not put up specific funding for the Games but instead its funding contribution would focus on infrastructure builds.

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Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate yesterday. Picture: Emily Halloran

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“Council’s contribution will be through infrastructure for the city – we know we will have to accelerate the light rail to make sure it goes to the airport in Coolangatta well in advance,” he said.

“Other infrastructure we have to come up with is the other roads linking to the Coomera Connector,” he said of the gazetted arterial road, intended to take pressure off the M1 by running from Carrara to Stapylton.

The latest council light rail map for the Gold Coast.

“We have a part to play in this and I want the local roads to happen at the same time,” Cr Tate said.

“The funding of that infrastructure is what we will have to meet and after the election we will need a mayor who knows how to get value for money, plan carefully and come up with a funding model.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will go ahead with a bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games. (AAP Image/Attila Csaszar)

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Ms Palaszczuk said when revealing Cabinet had greenlighted the bid that key "partners” – the Federal Government and local councils including the Gold Coast – would be required to financially back it.

The Gold Coast is being pencilled in as host of seven or eight sports and for a second athletes village for 3000 people.

Cr Tate yesterday insisted he also had no interest in rejoining the Council of Mayors, which Ms Palaszczuk met with about the Olympics yesterday, saying the $300,000 membership fee wasn’t value for money.

“I don’t think I need to – it is about $300k to sit around a table with all the other mayors when I can just pick up the phone and not spend that kind of money,” he said.

“They’re talking about other issues which are not relevant to the Gold Coast and I don’t want to fund those projects.”

Retiring councillor Dawn Crichlow isn’t a fan of financially backing “fancy” infrastructure for a 2032 Olympics but thinks it would be great for southeast Queensland if the bid is won.

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Veteran Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow said the council shouldn’t be financially chipping in for the Olympics or any “fancy infrastructure”, saying the Gold Coast had too much “basic” infrastructure to fund.

“The Olympics would be great, Sydney benefited from it. But we are talking 12 years away and we haven’t got our basic infrastructure good enough yet,” she said.