Think Tank with John Flynn Private Hospital CEO Greg Jenke

A CABLE way, better roads and daylight savings could keep the Gold Coast on track for sustainable growth, according to John Flynn Private Hospital CEO Greg Jenke.

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As CEO of Tugun-based John Flynn hospital, Greg Jenke is responsible for 345 beds as well as an emergency department, intensive care unit, critical care unit, 13 operating theatres, cath

labs, renal unit and more than 50 on-site practices.

In his 32-year hospital career, he has held executive positions in four states in public and private healthcare facilities.

Mr Jenke has also been a president of the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE in Mildura, chairman of the Coffs Harbour Future Development Corporation and is currently a trustee of the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation.

Mr Jenke loves that the Gold Coast has some of the best healthcare facilities. Picture Mike Batterham

What do you love about the Gold Coast?

“Pretty much everything. Access. The healthcare facilities are some of the best in Australia and the world and we’ve got them right here on the Coast — public and private.

“The Gold Coast University Hospital is a phenomenal place and the private hospitals are right there with it.

“Also the natural attributes of the beaches and hinterland, the forests — you can be swimming in the sea in the morning and be walking in the Hinterland in the afternoon.

“We’ve got top-level sport, top-level stadiums. I’m an AFL fan.

“Access to the world through the airport is very impressive and getting better — access to Brisbane.

“Golf courses, restaurants, shopping — it’s all very good and very accessible.”

What do you think could be done better on the Gold Coast?

“We’ve got this mentality that everything has to grow, which I think is good and I certainly promote that, but I think we’ve got to make sure that we keep the infrastructure up to it.

‘I don’t think we can allow ourselves to grow for growth’s sake, we’ve got to ensure the infrastructure grows with it to support it.

“Road infrastructure is unfortunately a testimony to letting the growth get away from us a bit because we’re now facing major issues on our roads and all our arterials are clogged.

“You only need to go south on the M1 on a Friday afternoon to see that in action.

“We need to allow the city to grow and allow the city to breathe.”

‘In Europe the trucks stick to one lane in built-up areas of the main highways’ Mr Jenke thinks our road rules need work. Picture Mike Batterham

In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?

“In Europe the trucks stick to one lane in built-up areas of the main highways.

“I think it’s a recipe for disaster having B-doubles and cars trying to share the same space without some differentiation.

“I think in Europe they’ve got it right. I’m only talking in the built-up areas — say from Pimpama to Chinderah.

“I know that has issues for slow cars in front and fuel economy for trucks and so forth, but we’re talking about safety.

“Also, I love the idea of the chairlift, the skyride, I’ve been on those in Dubrovnik, Cairns, Hong Kong, San Diego, Barcelona — all over the world we’ve got these chairlifts that take in great slabs of vista.

“We’ve got such a beautiful skyline and hinterland, it would be such a shame not to have something that goes between the two.”

Mr Jenke reckons daylight savings is a must for Queensland. Picture Mike Batterham

If time, money, laws and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?

“Daylight saving. I’m passionate about the fact that we don’t have daylight saving and I think the tourist industry is disadvantaged as a consequence of it.

“Working right on the border I can see the practical problems associated with people from both side of the border using our facility, so I can only imagine what it’s like for the airline operators.

“I think not having daylight saving is good for surfers and joggers who like to get up at 4.30am, but for those people who work and then come home in the dark, or who have no opportunity to go out with the kids and buy an ice cream because nothing’s open because it’s dark — I think an extra hour of sunlight in such a beautiful, tourist-based place like the Gold Coast is a must.

“I’ve lived in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, all of which have daylight saving and I’ve seen the benefits of it.

“From 4.30-9 we’ve got daylight in the morning and nothing’s open except for the coffee shops — all that wasted time.

“If you shift that daylight to the other end of the day, people come out of work and the sun’s still up and they feel energised and they feel like they want to do something.

“Our head office is in Sydney, so we have an hour of lost productivity because we can’t contact anybody.

‘To be so far east and not have daylight savings is crazy.”

What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?

“I think they’re already having it, there’s a lot of pent-up enthusiasm.

“We’ve got a fantastic product, a fantastic entity in the Gold Coast that can only get better and better if everybody gets on board and the conversations that are being had now are all about how we can make it better, how we can move forward, how we can grow sustainably.”