Ann Wason Moore: Burleigh MP Michael Hart speaks out on light rail, heavy rail and JobKeeper
Burleigh MP Michael Hart has said he “just wants some straight answers” on light rail and opened up about his position on heavy rail, JobKeeper and coal. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW
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IT is meant to be a quick coffee catch-up.
A chance to have a chat with Burleigh MP Michael Hart, the LNP representative for what is surely the most contentious seat on the Gold Coast, if not the southeast … or even the whole damn state.
After all, development, public transportation, growth, the environment — all are hot-button issues causing some serious southern suburb discomfort.
So maybe that’s why this mini-meeting turns into an almost three-hour marathon.
But that’s the present nature of the seat of Burleigh, not to mention the state of current politics — it’s hard to stop once you start.
In fact, that’s exactly the issue dividing the central suburb of Palm Beach … how to stop light rail and the development it brings.
And for many constituents, Mr Hart has become the hero of the hour.
He’s taking their concerns not just to heart but to parliament, questioning whether we’re really on the right track.
“I use the light rail and I championed it from the start — but not down the Gold Coast Highway south from Burleigh,” he says.
“We have a perfectly good rail corridor available down the M1, let’s head west from Burleigh and use that. We don’t need to have heavy rail to the airport, we just need light rail in the heavy rail tracks and a connecting station at Varsity.
“It makes sense to take the tourists round the back from the airport to Burleigh, they’re not coming here to stay in Tugun or Currumbin. There aren’t even any accommodation towers for them.
“I just want some straight answers. If (Transport Minister) Mark Bailey can show me the maps and the studies and explain why and how light rail will work down the Gold Coast Hwy, I’ll happily be convinced. But I just can’t see it working from an engineering, financial or common sense perspective and I think he knows that — that’s why he’s not coming clean.”
Mr Hart insists his preference for the M1 route has nothing to do with the fact that the light rail would then pass by his place of business, saying the Gold Coast Hwy route would pass by his personal residence — thereby raising its value.
While that argument makes sense, less understandable is Mr Hart’s stance against higher-density developments in Palm Beach, given he lives in one himself.
“I’m a hypocrite,” he says.
“I’m living in a building that’s over-dense and doesn’t have an appropriate setback and now I’m opposing others just like it.
“If I had realised all that at the time perhaps I wouldn’t have bought it off the plan. But just because I’ve done that doesn’t mean I have to keep letting it happen. I can admit I could have done better and I want better for our city.”
As a retired aircraft engineer, Mr Hart says he has a responsibility to maintain a “helicopter view” when it comes to seeing the best path forward for the future development and growth of the city, and he has some interesting opinions.
While he continues to champion an alternative route for Stage 4 of the light rail, he also believes we may not need it at all.
“Public transportation will be obsolete in five to 10 years anyway, people already prefer Ubers,” he says.
“The problem with public transportation is that it takes you from one fixed place to another, but people want to go from where they are to where they want to be — not just in the vicinity.
“Once fully autonomous vehicles are on the streets it will change the whole game, you won’t need carparks, you won’t need public transportation, your car will do it all.
“So we need to really take that helicopter view of the whole situation and think whether we really want to sink all this money into something that will soon be obsolete.”
And it’s not just light rail in his sights, but the prospect of fast rail too.
Queensland’s Olympics bid team is pushing ahead with plans for fast rail connectivity between the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba, with trains travelling 160km/h to link the cities and decentralise southeast Queensland.
But Mr Hart says it’s pointless.
“What’s the point of fast rail? It’s just linking the airports together … so why not just fly? Don’t take a train, take a plane.
“Why not? Get an A320, it fits as many people as a train, get rid of security checks and check-in times and it works just like a train — but far faster and better.
“You could use your Translink card just like on a train. The plane goes at a set time just like a train and if your not on it, you miss it and have to catch the next plane at the next set time … just like a train.
“If we’re going to spend all this money on fast trains that just take you from one airport to another, why not just use planes? The infrastructure is already there.”
It’s not the only example of Mr Hart’s blue-sky thinking.
From renewable energy to climate change, he has an interesting perspective when it comes to the environment.
“It’s incredible that banks won’t lend money to the coal industry and are cutting their own throats and shareholders’ throats because someone has got in their ear and said coal is bad for the environment.
“It’s not bad for the environment. Carbon dioxide is what makes that plant out there green,” he says, pointing outside the window of his electorate office.
“Take the carbon dioxide out and it will die.
"You can’t lie about science. When people say you need to stop carbonising the world then you take away the stuff the plants eat. Then the plants die and we go back to the ice age.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t invest in renewable energy. There is a big future there, but we can’t go rushing to implement it across the board when the technology is not ready yet.
“Look at what happened in Texas. They relied on wind farms and renewables for energy and then froze when the power went out because renewables are unreliable.”
Reports have since shown that the Texas blackouts were primarily caused by inadequately winterised natural gas equipment, rather than frozen wind turbines and solar panels as claimed by the state’s governor Greg Abbott.
Mr Hart says he’s not one to believe in fake news or conspiracies — and is eager to receive his COVID vaccination, which he says he will happily post proof of online.
However, he says he’s not immune to some suspicion when it comes to the state government’s handling of the pandemic crisis.
“Truly, I’m not a conspiracist but someone said wasn’t it funny that our most recent Queensland COVID lockdown came on the same day that JobKeeper ended.
“They wondered whether the Premier did that to send businesses to the wall to prove her point that the federal government should have extended JobKeeper … I’d hate to think that’s true.”
And yet, when it comes to his personal relationship with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mr Hart has nothing but praise.
“Obviously our political views are very different, but as a person she is a lovely lady.
“In fact, of the 50-odd Labor MPs, I’d say 45 are great people. We go at it in work, but outside of that there’s a great deal of respect.”
Yet the federal government’s ongoing crises regarding women in the workplace has affected Mr Hart’s own office.
He says the critical lens now applied on male politicians has made for a sometimes awkward office atmosphere.
“There are two young women in my office and I’m so mindful when I’m around them … and I shouldn’t have to be,” he says.
“I shouldn’t have to think about that.
“But you have to because what worries me at the moment is that anybody can make a statement about a male politician and you’re guilty regardless.
“I agree there has to be change in our workplace and that women have suffered too much but right now it feels as though the pendulum has swung too far.”
It’s easy to see what voters in the seat of Burleigh find appealing about Mr Hart — he’s not afraid to say what he really thinks.
And that’s not something he plans to change. Despite the flack he cops as a public figure, he says this job is about love, not money.
“Being a leader means listening to the voice of the people but sometimes making the difficult calls and then wearing the consequences. I’m prepared for that.
“That’s what I’ve been doing and that’s what I’ll keep doing. This is a critical point for the seat of Burleigh, which is why I’ll stand again at the next election.”
Indeed, time is finally up for this marathon meeting, but Michael Hart is far from finished.
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