State Government rejects $4.4b cruise chip terminal proposal from Breakwater Group on Gold Coast

THE group behind an ambition $4.4 billion cruise ship terminal vision are calling The Spit masterplan process a ‘farce’ after State Government rejected considering their proposal.

GOLD Coasters behind an ambitious $4.4 billion cruise ship terminal vision are calling The Spit masterplan process a “farce” after State Government rejected considering their proposal.

The group — which includes a maritime engineer involved in developing the Broadwater’s Seaway access in the 1980s — are also accusing State Government of “Brisbane bias”.

The Breakwater Group has been told its proposed four-berth cruise ship terminal and eight-bay superyacht marina north of SeaWorld will not even be looked at.

Breakwater Group plans for a mega development involving cruise ship terminal, superyacht marina and ferry terminal at The Spit with 175 land packages for third-party developers

An August 2 letter from James Coutts, Executive Director of Priority Planning Projects at the State Government, rejected their push to be included for public evaluation.

“I appreciate the considerable effort invested by the Breakwater Group in producing plans for its proposed cruise ship terminal facility,” Mr Coutts wrote.

“However, it is not possible to agree to your request that the masterplanning process for The Spit include an evaluation of the Breakwater Group’s cruise ship terminal proposal.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has decreed no development on The Spit north of SeaWorld, which automatically rules out the project. It is a line in the sand that Minister for State Development Cameron Dick has repeated.

Breakwater Group spokesman Bob Janssen wrote a letter to the State Government’s sole Gold Coast-based MP Meaghan Scanlon ahead of the August 2 rejection, imploring for her help.

“I find it inconceivable any government would claim to conduct a public consultation process on a significant and controversial Gold Coast landmark when almost 50 per cent of it is declared off limits,” Mr Janssen wrote to Ms Scanlon.

“If this is the case, this would effectively negate the process’s purpose and justifiably claim it to be a farce,” Mr Janssen wrote.

Sunrise at the sand pumping jetty, The Spit. Picture: Jules Ingall.

“The northern end of The Spit is the only site on our entire city coastline where an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cruise ship based port can feasibly be built.”

Mr Janssen’s letter then accuses the Labor State Government of Brisbane bias for its refusal to acknowledge their proposal.

“It gives support to a growing perception that this Government is Brisbane centric, a predisposition that comes at great cost to the community of the Gold Coast.”

Northern part of The Spit. Picture: Destination Gold Coast

In a speech at one of the first masterplan workshops earlier this year, Mr Dick said the Queensland Government was committed to “a genuine process of consultation and engagement to help realise The Spit’s potential”.

“We need to see The Spit no longer as a battlefield, but as an opportunity to build consensus for a vision that delivers a sustainable future,” he said.

Breakwater Group proposes four cruise ship berths in a sheltered harbour north of Sea World, a super yacht marina, ferry terminal and 175 land development sites sold off to third-party developers.

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The group proposes a five-storey height limit. A tunnel from The Spit to Wavebreak Island with a new bridge across the Broadwater to Labrador would ease Main Beach traffic congestion.

A similar Breakwater plan was submitted as a market-led proposal in 2015 and was immediately denied entry to the market-led process by Labor.

State Government’s Spit masterplan consultation process goes through to July 2019.

Mayor Tom Tate has been told his separate oceanside terminal proposal can be resubmitted to State Government after the masterplan is completed.