Jones’ eco tourism push revives plans for Gold Coast hinterland cableway project

A PUSH from Tourism Minister Kate Jones for more eco attractions on the Gold Coast has revived plans for the $100 million cableway project.

A PUSH from Tourism Minister Kate Jones for more eco attractions on the Gold Coast has revived plans for the $100-million cableway project which proponents feared was dead and buried.

Gold Coast Skyride CEO Terry Moore, the former boss of the Albert Shire, yesterday welcomed Ms Jones’ support for developments like the 9km project he and other key business and political figures want to build in the Hinterland.

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“The Minister’s comments are very encouraging,” he said.

“We would like to meet with her to discuss the project.”

Ms Jones put both eco tourism and education on the agenda for the city this week when she met with business and industry figures at a lunch hosted by Gold Coast Tourism.

She also gave her support to the Gold Coast Tourism Management Plan, developed by the industry and council, which lists a skyrail as a key future project for the city.

Mr Moore admitted yesterday that the group behind the project — which includes businessmen Terry Jackman, Terry Morris, Bruce Mathieson and John Hembrow, as well as Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens — had placed it on hold.

“We met after the election and agreed that it would be harder to get approval for the project under the ALP,” he said.

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“So it is pleasing to think that the current government will look at it.”

Mr Moore said the Skyride board was not due to meet again until June, but it was now likely Ms Jones would be approached before then.

The 9km Gold Coast Skyride would run from a privately owned site on Springbrook Rd and have four stops before reaching its mountaintop station at The Settlement.

The route, offering scenic views of the Hinterland, Little Nerang and Hinze dams and the Gold Coast, is similar to the Naturelink cableway proposed in 1998.

Mr Stevens, who found himself at the centre of a media storm last year when he refused to release a report by Integrity Commissioner Richard Bingham about his involvement in the cableway, declined to comment on the project yesterday.

He did comment generally on eco tourism however, indicating it would be difficult for the ALP to support major projects, on the scale of the cableway, because the party relied on The Greens’ backing.

Shane O’Reilly, who heads up one of the biggest eco tourism ventures on the Gold Coast, O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, said yesterday he would like to see a project on the scale of the cableway go ahead.

“We need a larg infrastructure project that can deliver numbers up into the area,” he said.