Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate vows to fund cableway if it fails to gain support from State Government

THE Gold Coast’s long-shelved $100 million cableway into the Hinterland has a new champion, who says he’ll end 20 years of delays and build it. Mayor Tom Tate reveals how.

MAYOR Tom Tate has vowed the city council will fund and build a cableway in the Gold Coast Hinterland if the project fails to gain support from the State Government.

Fresh from promising to put money towards a dive site off The Spit, the Mayor yesterday went further, declaring the council’s strong budget position would give city hall the ability to push ahead with other projects.

“We have the capacity to deliver more infrastructure but I don’t want to deliver just transport infrastructure but also tourism infrastructure,” he said.

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“And that means … I’ll let the cat out of the bag a bit, not just the dive wreck only. Mate, if they don’t push for the skysail, I reckon we should look at it and council will build it ourselves.”

Cr Tate said the city would be able to proceed because of its ability to acquire land.

A Naturelink cableway was proposed in early 1998, running from Mudgeeraba to Springbrook, but was canned by the Beattie government in late 2000.

Several other proposals were made in the 2000s but none got off the ground.

In 2014 the Gold Coast Skyride proposal, which had backers including Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens, was unveiled.

The plan was quietly shelved in 2015 after the defeat of the Newman government.

But Mr Stevens said yesterday he was not confident Cr Tate would be able to proceed with the tourism infrastructure, warning it would still require State Government approval.

“It’s the same problem we faced – it will need approval from a state Labor government and the Federal Government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act,” he said.

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Ray Stevens. Pictures: Jack Tran

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“It’s not a problem of money – the money is there to build it today – but it is the approval.

“Unless Tom has a magical way to gain that, then the Gold Coast City Council will get the same answer that Gold Coast Skyride Consortium got from the State Government.”

The budget, unveiled at the Evandale council chambers yesterday morning, revealed the council would spend $34.7 million on tourism and marketing for the city.

But Cr Tate said more could be done, especially after paying off the last of the city’s $269 million contribution to the Commonwealth Games

“It opens up a range of possibilities for the city,” he said.

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The Mayor of Gold Coast, Tom Tate (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“Once you pay down the debt right down and with the efficiency of our operation we can go ahead and continue on with (future stages of) our Home of the Arts (cultural precinct) without further delay.

“I would say the green bridge can roll on and the cruise ship terminal, should we get a tick from the state, is full steam ahead.”