Gold Coast light rail stage 4: State government accused of hiding real facts behind tram expansion
A leading Gold Coast business boss has warned the “clock is ticking” on getting the light rail built for the Olympics and tells critics why it’s needed urgently.
Transport
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Mayor Tom Tate and business leaders want the federal government to make a firm commitment on the future of the light rail extension.
Calls are growing for the government to confirm it is still committed to building the tram extension from Burleigh Heads to the border via the airport.
There are fears of the project faces being delayed by a government’s review into more than $120bn of infrastructure projects, something which would put its completion in time for the 2032 Olympics in doubt.
Mr Tate said Gold Coast needed certainty about the project’s future.
“I am advised that Minister Catherine King’s Department are currently completing a review of all major infrastructure projects with the process to be finalised within a couple of months,” he said.
“The Gold Coast light rail was always intended as a project to connect the heavy rail at Helensvale to the very south of the city at Coolangatta, via the Gold Coast International Airport.
“To not complete the fourth stage before the 2032 Olympic Games would be a betrayal of the Gold Coast and in direct contrast to Infrastructure Australia’s elevation of the project to priority status.
“I am heartened by the positive comments supporting the light rail by the Prime Minister and Senator Murray Watt and I look forward to confirmation of the Federal commitment to Stage 4 in the near future.”
Senator Watt has previously said the government supports the project but is yet to commit funding.
“Light rail on the Gold Coast started under Anthony Albanese as Infrastructure Minister, and his government continues to support it, contributing nearly $400m for Stage 3 which is now under construction,” he said of the stage now being built to Burleigh,” he said in August.
“The Albanese government will work cooperatively with the Queensland Government as it identifies what transport projects it is proposing in conjunction with the Olympic Games, as we already have on Olympic venue funding.”
The federal government’s review is aimed at clamping down on inflation and reign in spending.
The independent review is looking at the federal government’s infrastructure pipeline, the Infrastructure Investment Program.
Labor says it will focus on projects that are “genuinely nation-building, economically sustainable and resilient to our changing climate”.
Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said delays to the project would be costly.
“The clock is well and truly ticking for the Olympics and, love it or hate it, the light rail is a key part of our transport plans going forward,” he said.
“It’s not just the light rail, it’s the whole integrated transport system needed to maintain the mega sports city status we aim to achieve.
“We saw the delays on Stage 3 and the cost (blowouts) they caused, so surely we can learn from the error of our ways and get ahead of the curve this time.”
Light rail extension's future hidden behind a 'cloak of secrecy’
The state government is being accused of secrecy on light rail with a councillor claiming key details could be kept from he and his colleagues because council officers were believed to be forced into nondisclosure agreements about the project.
Cr Hermann Vorster has written to the Transport Acting Director-General calling for an end to “the cloak of secrecy”.
It comes in the wake of bombshell revelations from council officers that 500 parking spaces would be removed as part of the works for light rail Stage 3 to Burleigh.
The parking shock was unveiled after more than a year of questioning behind the scenes from Cr Vorster and neighbouring Palm Beach councillor Daphne McDonald.
At a transport committee update in August, Cr McDonald asked officers a series of direct questions which sparked the bombshell response.
Cr Vorster last week wrote to the Transport Department Acting Director-General saying that the government could ease tensions over information about the light rail by updating its website and meeting with residents.
“Acting Director General, as someone who represents Burleigh Waters, I have a keen interest in the future of light rail and a duty to ensure it is properly interrogated,” he wrote.
“To do that, I rely on City officers to provide full, frank, and fearless advice when asked during meetings of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee and Full Council.
“Incredibly, however, I understand that City officers may have been asked to sign nondisclosure agreements with the state government, its consultants, and delivery partners which may prevent them from making certain disclosures to councillors.”
He added it would raise legitimate questions about whether councillors were being fully informed and making decisions on the public interest.
Cr Vorster told the Bulletin: “I’m making every effort to shine the light on this issue in the community, through the media and also in the council chamber.
“But it is concerning to learn the state government may be binding City officers with non-
disclosure agreements to keep certain facts hidden from the council.
“It may be that these agreements cover benign details, but we just don’t know what we don’t
know and there may be nasty surprises hidden in these plans.”
Cr Vorster said the community would not trust the state government if it did not trust residents to be provided with the full facts.
“Residents don’t feel there has been genuine consultation and feel targeted by a minister who
won’t turn up to community meetings and answer questions,” he said.
In his letter to the department, he said the government did not intend to publicly release the business case on Stage 4 light rail to the border despite spending billions of dollars.
“This pattern of behaviour is undermining public trust in the project because the minister and the state government appear not to trust the public with the truth,” he wrote.
Cr Vorster added that no-one had known about the loss of car parks until officers were asked at a committee meeting.
A Transport and Main Roads spokesman said TMR Acting Director General (ADG) Sally Stannard thanked Cr Vorster for his correspondence which was received on Friday.
“The office of the ADG will respond directly to Cr Vorster,” the spokesman said.
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