Paul Weston: Which major project will be the next big thing on the Gold Coast

It’s always Groundhog Day on the Gold Coast, writes Paul Weston. The same major projects keep popping up … again and again. Here’s which ones will become a reality.

FOR the Gold Coast, it is always Groundhog Day when it comes to reporting on major projects. The same developments pop up.

What is reality with light rail, the cruise ship terminal, a dive site and casino?

Add to those a real smoky, a project touted almost three decades ago, gaining interest again from all levels of government.

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Examples of a cruise ship terminal in The Spit master plan.

But first, the impact of polls. Council elections will be held in March next year and the State election is in October 2020. Promises will be made and timelines for delivery set.

Here are some projects we can tick or give a cross.

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Several council sources believe promoters of the cruise ship terminal will steer the debate from the one proposed for offshore at Philip Park on The Spit back towards the calm of the Broadwater, where they see it costing less and being more viable.

Now Labor has just protected those areas with The Spit Master Plan, but what if the LNP wins government and is convinced by its MPs and Mayor Tom Tate to embark on other options?

The AFS designs for its cruise ship for the Wave Break Island and The Spit.

“The offshore option was never really an option — it’s a 700-metre long jetty. I think the mayor is keeping the conversation going with the cruise ship terminal until the LNP wins government and it can be repositioned at Doug Jennings Park and Wavebreak Island,” the council source says.

What about the global tourism hub? Those State LNP MPs closest to the favoured site at Southport’s Carey Park — Rob Molhoek in Southport and Sam O’Connor in Bonney — vow to stand in front of bulldozers.

Labor received a positive response to a GTH in Cairns, but The Star at Broadbeach, Clubs Queensland and residents near Carey Park have run a campaign against a second casino here. What is its fallback option?

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Southport MP Rob Molhoek putting up placards in Carey Park.

A council source suggests locating the GTH closer to the airport at Coolangatta, far away from Broadbeach; or The Star maintains its monopoly but in return helps expand convention facilities.

State Government insiders agree with this fallback option. The major project everyone agrees needs to happen is more convention space.

That brings the conversation to the Broadbeach to Burleigh light rail track extension.

Mr O’Connor has highlighted that the “much needed project” is listed under a “25-year planning horizon”

But ask those inside council and government, and light rail going south is not so much a slow train coming. The consistent response is “one to four years”.

Labor would be foolish if it failed to make an announcement on funding before the poll. Expect the State to make an announcement before Christmas.

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Back in 2000, a protest group after victory against the Naturelink Cableway. Pic Adam Ward.

Likewise, the dive site is the real deal. No Groundhog Day there because tenders have been released for the project, which will feature a structure set in 30 metres of water located 2.5km off Main Beach.

But the smoky that will cause more public comment than the current controlled burn-offs in bushland in the Hinterland?

Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens, in a recent budget speech, accused Labor of rehashing old M1 funding projects.

But he brought up one close to home — the cableway to Springbrook.

“If the Palaszczuk Labor Government were serious about promoting tourism on the Gold Coast, they would seriously welcome the cable car proposal to the World Heritage-listed Springbrook National Park to promote eco-tourism on the Gold Coast,” he said.

The council is conducting its own investigation.

My insider says: “State bureaucrats are still interested in that project. People from the community have seen them on site.”

More than two decades after debate about the Naturelink cableway first surfaced, could Skyride get to fly? Will we see those old protest signs posted up on trees?

Now that’s Groundhog Day.