Proponents of $100m cableway project for Gold Coast Hinterland say they’ll bid their time

THE $100-million cableway project has been derailed by the State Government but Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens says proponents will simply wait for a change of government.

Former Gold Coast mayor Ray Stevens checks out where proposed Skyrider cable car will go between Mudgeeraba and Springbrook...pict Paul/Riley feb 10 1998 - headshot aerials 35/D/13257/13259

THE $100-million cableway project has been derailed by the State Government but Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens says proponents will simply wait for a change of government.

Environment Minister Steven Miles has brushed off a push for the Gold Coast Skyride, saying the idea was “inappropriate” and would likely be dismissed.

Mr Stevens has lashed out in response, saying the project had become a political issue which would never be fairly assessed on its merits.

Vancouver’s Skyride.

“My advice to the consortium would be not to submit an official application for the cableway because the green-controlled Labor Government will not review it fairly,” he said.

“When we proposed something similar they knocked it back for ridiculous reason like it being a bushfire risk, or that we simply couldn’t build it on the slopes of the mountain.

“It defies logic that they think we would operate the ride in a bushfire and let the passengers barbecue and they wouldn’t even let our engineers look at the land to assess how to do it.

“This project would create 1200 jobs during construction and around 580 to the area after and they won’t even assess it, based on its merits.”

The cable car skyride at Rotorua in New Zealand.

On the Coast to promote visitation to National Parks, Mr Miles didn’t sound impressed with the Skyride idea.

“There isn’t a proposal at the moment for a cableway or anything like that,” he said.

“Our view would probably be that that’s inappropriate but it would be up to proponents to come forward and we’d assess it.”

“We’ve revisited the framework by which we assess eco-tourism proposals and we really do want to see new facilities in our national parks, more reasons for people to visit because we want people to have those experiences.

“But they have to be sensitive and appropriate to the location and to the conservation values of the location.”

The Labor Government has introduced a Bill to Parliament aimed at repealing amendments to the Nature Conservation Act made by the LNP and voted for by Mr Stevens.

The LNP changed the object of the Act from focusing solely on conserving nature to allowing indigenous management of protected areas in which they have an interest; the use of protected areas by the community; and the social, cultural and commercial use of protected areas in a way consistent with the natural and cultural and other values of the areas.