Federal election 2025: Why Gold Coast voters deserved better than a campaign which did not address issues

What has Australia’s sixth-largest city done to deserve being essentially ignored at a time when voters are to consider the direction of the country?

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Gold Coast was the city the election forgot, at least as far as the major parties are concerned.

Neither Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, nor Opposition Leader Peter Dutton campaigned here at any point during the previous four weeks and there were no funding commitments from either side towards any major Gold Coast infrastructure projects. What has Australia’s sixth-largest city done to deserve being essentially ignored at a time when voters are to consider the direction of the country?

Yet again the curse of having ultra-safe LNP seats has left this city, the small business engine room and tourism beacon of southeast Queensland’s economy, as barely even a sideshow in the competition of ideas. Both Labor and the LNP have engaged in low-stakes, small target campaigns.

Labor’s presence has been essentially non-existent while the incumbent LNP MPs and candidate have barely been heard from, a handful of hyper-local funding announcements aside.

In a microcosm of the deeply uninspiring national campaigns, there has been little in the way of any broader vision of the Gold Coast’s future or how the city will be supported to tackle the issues of population growth, lagging infrastructure and housing. Labor says it supports light rail extending to the border, yet Infrastructure Australia – set up by the now PM Anthony Albanese – took it off their priority list, albeit with dozens of other national projects also removed.

The LNP couldn’t even bring vocal support for the trams, nor the Coomera Connector, to the table. In fact, the new LNP candidate for McPherson Leon Rebello – following in the formidable shoes of former Home Affairs Minister and long-serving MP Karen Andrews – echoed her 2022 retreat from committing to the light rail, opting to fence sit and await the outcome of the state government’s fresh consultation which is reviewing transport south.

Neither have had anything new to say in terms of proposing infrastructure or significant policies that will do anything to solve this city’s challenges. Gold Coasters should rightly feel disappointed major parties appear indifferent to these challenges.

When voting, it appears the LNP is the best of a disappointing crop with its focus on aspiration and better business conditions resonating with the small business capital of the country, but it must stop taking this city and its voters for granted.

We deserve better than small target strategies and autopilot campaigns.