Think Tank: Cinema industry heavyweight Terry Jackman’s Gold Coast plan
Cinema industry heavyweight and businessman Terry Jackman knows about first impressions, and believes the “tin shed” Gold Coast Airport is not making a good one.
Opinion
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It could be easier to list the major boards on the Gold Coast and beyond that Terry Jackman hasn’t chaired than those he has.
The cinema industry pioneer has headed Tourism Queensland, SeaWorld and Movie World, Indy car Australia, Breakfree and Sunland. He is chair of the National Association of Cinema Owners and Gold Coast Skyride and is patron of the Bond University Rugby Association and Northcliffe Surf Club.
What do you love about the Gold Coast?
“The obvious thing is the lifestyle — it’s casual, there’s no better beach in the world.
“We’ve got great universities and schools.
“Provided the bikies stay away I think we can maintain that way of life.”
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What do you think could be done better on the Coast?
“What the Gold Coast lives on is tourism, so what we need to do is find ways to attract tourists and keep them happy when they’re here.
“The success of the tram has been surprising, so obviously the extension is important and it’s time they all stopped fighting over who’s going to pay for it.
“Most people’s first view of the Gold Coast is the airport, which is a tin shed.
“To think that people fly on Scoot from Singapore, one of the best airports in the world, to Gold Coast and get wet walking to the terminal, is a disgrace.
“In the last 10 years, all they’ve really done is build carparks.”
“We also need to make certain that the nightclub area is contained — King’s Cross in Sydney is a big attraction and I’d like to see Surfers Paradise the same, where people go during the day with kids and at night it becomes what it is.”
In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?
“The most important thing the council and government should do, and I said this to (former Premier) Campbell Newman, is they’ve got one casino licence to hand out, make certain that is given to someone who’s going to build an iconic attraction that will bring people to the Gold Coast.
“An iconic attraction is not a 40-storey block of flats.
“Around the world, what they’ve done in Singapore with the casino, what they’re doing in Macau and what’s happened in Dubai — all of those you have to fly over to come here.”
If money, time, laws and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?
“A Skyrail would be an amazing attraction, particularly for Chinese tourists.
“It would reduce the amount of traffic going up the hills and it would give the city, as it has done in Cairns, something that’s totally different to the theme parks, nightclubs, restaurants.
“If we’re going to find jobs to keep our kids on the Gold Coast, we’re going to have to do something like that.”
What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?
“How we can help the authorities make the Commonwealth Games
even bigger and better.
“How do we make the place grow, with growth that is compatible with our lifestyle.
“We must also be insistent with the State Government that the anti-bikie laws are kept and if need be strengthened.
“The papers are now full of this ice thing, which is a horror show, and we’ve got the sort of lifestyle that attracts them so the bikies have to be kicked out and kept out.
“It’s critical — why is the government even looking at
it? They’re trying to kill our
kids — you can’t be too tough
on them.”
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