Success of Cairns Skyrail proof that hinterland cableway would be a huge tourism hit on Gold Coast

IT’S been bitterly debated for 20 years but the time may finally be right for the Gold Coast to get its own hinterland cableway to rival the Skyrail in Cairns. Here’s why

A RECENT trip north by the Woods clan had many highlights.

There was the magic of swimming alongside a green sea turtle off Green Island, the beauty of the coastal drive from Cairns to the Daintree Rainforest, the fun of going for a dip at the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon.

There was also an old favourite, the gentle ride high into forest-covered mountains aboard the Skyrail Cableway.

It is an experience that never fails to impress.

One would need to charter a helicopter to get anything like the same view of the rainforest canopy.

But in Cairns it’s possible to achieve for just $79 return.

It’s no wonder that the attraction is a roaraway success.

There is no better way to introduce children to the natural beauty of the rainforest. Picture: Keith Woods

When I visited last week the base station was thronged with people lining up for their turn.

The friendly staff were run off their feet, loading new passengers into each cable car as fast as they could manage.

This despite the fact that the line can carry 700 people per hour on 114 gondolas.

That’s up to 5600 people per day who access the Cairns Hinterland and spend money with its businesses without taking to its roads in cars or buses.

Purling Brook Falls is one of the most impressive sights on the Gold Coast. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The Gold Coast — which badly needs to diversify its tourism offering — could easily replicate that success.

Our Hinterland, the fabled green behind the gold, is every bit as magnificent as its northern cousin. In fact, in many ways, it is even better.

Barron Falls is certainly impressive, but does it really beat Purling Brook Falls for sheer beauty? I’d argue not.

And I know of few more spectacular spots to enjoy a coffee than at the appropriately named View Cafe overlooking the Hinze Dam.

Both have been proposed as stopping off points for a Gold Coast cableway which — over the course of 20 years — has been repeatedly shot down.

FLASHBACK: 1998 GOLD COAST CABLEWAY PLAN

Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens has been involved in trying to get the Coast version off the ground for all of those 20 years, and is still passionate about the project.

He is in no doubt about why it keeps getting rejected.

“The Greens have too much power over the Labor Party,” he told me. “They don’t want any commercial development of any kind up there. And what the Greens want they get.”

Gold Coast and Hinterland Business Alliance president Bob Janssen agrees.

“There will never be a cableway under a Labor government,” he told me. “They need the green vote to win seats.”

It’s a strange situation, on a number of counts.

First of all, the Green Party has no state or federal MPs on the Gold Coast. They shouldn’t have a veto on Coast-based projects.

The spectacular outlook at the View Cafe. Photo: Kit Wise

But even more significantly, there’s a strong argument that objections to a Hinterland cableway on environmental grounds just don’t hold water.

The evidence is present in Cairns, where a trophy cabinet stuffed with awards for “sustainable tourism” and “eco-tourism” takes pride of place at the Smithfield base station.

The evidence is in how the Cairns attraction was built and maintained with so little impact on the precious rainforest below.

And the evidence is also on the ground here on the Gold Coast, where an increasing number of cars and tour buses are trundling up the few roads to Springbrook.

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Can anyone seriously suggest that this is better than whisking visitors high into the Hinterland via electric-powered gondolas? That it’s better to have the noise, pollution and roadkill that vehicle traffic brings?

There is another obvious upside for the environment from a cableway project — the way it would bolster a love of our rainforest in visitors and locals alike.

“There is no better way for kids to get an appreciation of the environment,” Mr Stevens said.

Having taken three young children on the Cairns version last week, wide-eyed with wonder, I know this to be true.

The success of the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway near Cairns provides a useful template for the Gold Coast. Picture: Keith Woods

The jobs and revenue created by a cableway also gives business a powerful incentive to ensure the environment is preserved, as Bob Janssen was keen to point out.

“Allowing people to experience the wonders and beauty of nature instils a desire to protect it,” he told me. “It would be counter-productive for a nature-based business operator to destroy the very asset that underpins their business.”

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That has certainly been the experience in Cairns, where business is flourishing but nobody seriously suggests the environment is any worse off.

The same could be true on the Gold Coast — where as few as four towers would need to be placed within national park to make the cableway a reality.

The arguments about the Coast cableway have been swaying back and forth for 20 years. But the time may finally be right to finally forge ahead.

The objections about feared environmental damage have been proven unfounded by the experience of our fellow Queenslanders up north.

Tourism Minister Kate Jones says she’s happy to consider any proposal which “stacks up environmentally”. Picture: Brendan Radke

And Minister Kate Jones has made clear she is open-minded about new investment which could boost Gold Coast tourism.

“As I’ve said consistently, I’m happy to look at any proposal but it must stack up environmentally and give visitors a true eco-tourism experience,” she told this column.

Council is also highly supportive, with a spokesman for the Mayor telling me he is “100 per cent behind new tourism products”.

Business leaders behind the two failed pushes for a cableway have indicated they may be prepared to try again. Given that the Palaszczuk Government needs to prove it has more to offer than casinos, could it be third time lucky for cableway proponents?

They should at least give it a go, approach the Minister, see if she would be willing to have a discussion about what would be needed to get the project over the line.

They would have the bulk of the city behind them and they would have the Cairns experience to prove the doubters wrong.

It would quite clearly be a massive tourism hit, and it would mean Gold Coasters like myself would not longer have to fly north to experience the wonder of forest canopies from above.