Gold Coast light rail stage 4: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reveals his stance on tram extension
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed his stance on the extension of the light rail while making his first visit to the Gold Coast since becoming the nation’s leader a year ago.
Transport
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has thrown his support behind the Gold Coast light rail extension, saying on his first visit in the top job it’s been an “enormous success”.
Mr Albanese used his first visit to the city on Wednesday since taking on the nation’s top job a year ago this week to talk up his support for public transport and trams
The multi-billion dollar stage 4 extension, which will run from Burleigh Heads to the border via Gold Coast Airport, is the subject of a business case which will be completed in coming months before it is submitted for federal funding.
But when it’s sent to Canberra for the federal government’s support, it will have the backing of Mr Albanese.
“We have a review of all of the projects which weren't commitments from us but we will work with Queensland and NSW on this - but you will recall the $365m that we put to get light rail started,” he said.
“It was opposed by the LNP federally and it was opposed by the Queensland LNP which was happy to turn up to the opening but opposed the funding and that’s the truth of the matter.
“You had demonstrations held against the project saying it would ruin businesses but the truth is that the Gold Coast light rail has been an enormous success.
“It was vital for the holding of the Commonwealth Games here.”
Mr Albanese said federal Labor had been a friend to the Gold Coast and pointed to several key projects funding during the Rudd-Gillard era when Mr Albanese was infrastructure Minister, including the Carrara Stadium redevelopment, light rail and M1 upgrades.
The former Coalition government had taken the city for granted, he said.
The 13km tram line is expected to take three years to build.
Sources close to the light rail project expect council and state funding to be locked in by the end of 2024, with federal funding likely to follow in the pre-election 2025 budget. This would allow construction to begin in 2026 or early 2027 before being completed in 2030, enabling trams to be tested and bedded-in before the 2032 Olympic Games.
State Transport Minister Mark Bailey last week said it was critical for the public transport link to be completed to help the city cope with its growing population.
“Taxpayers expect us to make informed and responsible decisions with the State’s finances and that is an obligation I take very seriously,” he said.
“Even in these preliminary planning stages there has been extensive community consultation and I guarantee there will be plenty more opportunity for the community to make their views known as this planning work continues.
“I believe the Gold Coast community understands we can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don’t have real challenges ahead with managing the huge population growth on the Gold Coast.”
PRIME MINISTER REACHES FOR THE STARS
A Gold Coast company’s ambition to reach for the stars and outdo Elon Musk’s Space X has a wingman in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The country’s leader on Wednesday toured Gilmour Space’s Helensvale headquarters where he literally signed off on the company’s newest rocket – inking his autograph on its interior.
Company co-founder Adam Gilmour said he anticipated the rocket would be launched between October and Christmas once testing was completed.
“This is a really good sign that the Prime Minister cares about this,” he said.
‘We have almost completed the rocket and we are about two months away from fully finishing it.
“We don’t think it will go into space (during the test) because statistically no rocket ever has but if we get off the pad it’s good, if we get through the maximum pressure put on the rocket around 40 seconds in, that’s good too.
“If you look at the last Space X flight, it didn’t even get to the main engine cut-off so I want to beat Space X if we can.”
Mr Albanese praised Gilmour Space as a “great Australian success story”.
“A company … that’s at the cutting edge of innovation, science, new technology and jobs and one of the things I have talked about is a future made in Australia,” he said.
“We need to make more things here.”
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