Gold Coast cruise ship terminal: Mayor Tom Tate vows to resurrect controversial project once demand returns

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has defiantly insisted his beloved offshore cruise ship terminal is still afloat and merely in mothballs while riding out the rough COVID-19 seas.

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has defiantly insisted his beloved offshore cruise ship terminal is still afloat and merely in mothballs while riding out the rough COVID-19 seas.

Confidential budget documents revealed the Gold Coast City Council recently ticked off diverting $1.25 million earmarked for the project for other purposes.

Cr Tate hit back at suggestions the controversial proposal had been shelved and insisted it would be brought forward for funding when the fate of the cruise ship industry became clear.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images

“Our current budget was designed to reallocate funds to those most-needed because of COVID-19 and the cruise ship project was fine to put on pause to fund other projects,” he said.

“While it is paused, we will need to see the progress on the return of the cruise ship industry itself and it could be delayed because people don’t want to travel, then, really, we will keep it on pause until there is demand and a return on our investment.

“It is not cancelled at all.”

The project was put on hold earlier this year. Picture: Supplied

Council spent about $500,000 in the 2019-20 financial year on the proposed jetty and this year had allocated the $1.25 million spend.

That money will instead be “utilised by the Kirra Beach Tourist Park acquisitions costing about $1.1 million”. The remaining $250,000 will remain in reserve for future allocations.

Some of the previous funding has been used for studies for council’s pitch to the State Government. City hall wants to build a cruise ship terminal off Philip Park at The Spit.

In May, Cr Tate vowed to halt further funding of his controversial $650 million offshore cruise ship terminal project until the industry’s post-COVID-19 future became clear.

The proposed offshore Gold Coast cruise ship terminal. Picture: Supplied

Australia’s cruise ship industry has been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, with multiple deaths linked to passengers aboard the Ruby Princess which docked in Sydney in mid-March with several crew and tourists unwell.

The Gold Coast project has been in a holding pattern for more than 18 months while the State Government proceeds with the Spit Master Plan.

The terminal will be subjected to a detailed environmental impact statement should it proceed.