Bailey and Hart tram collision as debate hots up about next stage of light rail
Burleigh MP Michael Hart has lashed out at Transport Minister Mark Bailey in an extraordinary row over the future route of the Gold Coast’s light rail.
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FURIOUS Burleigh MP Michael Hart has accused Transport Minister Mark Bailey of spreading “bullshit” about him pushing for a light rail route to help his business interests and mates.
In an extraordinary outburst when asked where the tram route should head after Stage 3A reaches Burleigh, Mr Hart blew up and told the Bulletin: “This is bullshit Bailey used about me with the brewery. It’s just absolute crap!
“I’ve been talking about light rail going in that direction (heading west to Varsity Lakes) for 12 years. This is absolute crap.”
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Mr Bailey has targeted Mr Hart in parliament, but the outspoken LNP MP is convinced the trams cannot travel south from Burleigh along the coastal route to Coolangatta, arguing the track would be too wide to fit on the Gold Coast Highway through Palm Beach.
He says the better option is west from Burleigh to Varsity Lakes before taking the heavy rail corridor beside the Pacific Motorway south to the Gold Coast Airport.
Mr Bailey told parliament Mr Hart has business interests and backers along his alternative route.
Mr Bailey also tormented Mr Hart earlier this year about a Canadian holiday during parliamentary sittings, with the minister tweeting a mocked-up postcard of Mr Hart wearing a Rocky Mountains cap.
Mr Bailey said Labor was “heading in the right direction” but Mr Hart had a “different direction in mind for light rail”.
“All the Member for Burleigh wants to do is talk about Stage 3B going west, a much more expensive and a much longer route to get from Burleigh to Coolangatta,” he recently told parliament.
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Mr Bailey said Mr Hart’s preferred western route would head “near his pub in Burleigh”.
“But it is no fun drinking alone. It appears that the Member for Burleigh’s Gold Coast LNP connections will get a free ride too,” Mr Bailey said.
The western route would have been along Burleigh Connection Road and pass near Burleigh Brewing Company, in which Mr Hart’s self-managed superannuation fund had a stake, Mr Bailey said.
He accused Mr Hart of not being upfront with Gold Coast residents by failing to disclose that the trams heading west would also be a good result for LNP supporter John Hembrow.
“Mr Hembrow is the director of Rayjon Group, the owner of Treetops Plaza shopping centre on the corner of Burleigh Connection Rd and Southport Burleigh Rd, which just happens to be along the Member for Burleigh’s proposed light rail route,” Mr Bailey said.
“A route that if built would significantly boost the value of property that sits alongside it.”
Mr Hart told the Bulletin a light rail route west would see the trams possibly 400 to 500 metres from the brewery “but I wouldn’t think there would be a stop anywhere near”.
“There is no help at all. It’s just bullshit to cover his arse,” he said.
Mr Hart said he had lived at Burleigh and Palm Beach for 35 years and knew instinctively that the trams could not fit in the corridor heading south.
He said the Transport Department had yet to undertake engineering studies to see if it was possible, yet the State Government was surveying people about it.
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