Gold Coast light rail: Huge change needed to ensure trams will get built by the 2032 Olympics
A big change is all but certain to give the Gold Coast access to billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades, but Gold Coast councillors has been blamed for costing the city $40m.
Gold Coast
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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate says he’s willing to rejoin an alliance with other southeast Queenland councils “tomorrow” in a bid to secure billions in critical funding.
The city is poised to return to the South-East Queensland Council of Mayors (COMSEQ), with councillors unanimously in favour of the move, fearing the Gold Coast will miss opportunities to capitalise on infrastructure funding ahead of the region’s 2032 Olympics.
Momentum for the change built rapidly after Deputy Mayor Donna Gates raised returning to COMSEQ last week at the Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast forum. The Mayor, who was one of 14 councillors to vote to leave the alliance 18 months ago, said he was prepared to vote in favour.
“If being a part of Council of Mayors guarantees our city a slice of funding available for essential services like waste and recycling, I’ll sign back up tomorrow,” he said.
“Projects should be assessed on merit and need, not on any city’s financial membership to a particular group.
“Our council vote to leave the Council of Mayors was 14-1 in favour so it was a super majority. If any councillor has a different view now, I’m happy to consider their thoughts going forward.’’
The Gold Coast has been in and out of the southeast body over the past decade.
It costs council $350,000 annually to be a member. Among key projects city leaders want support for is funding the light rail extension to the border urgently and access to a share of $2.1bn in funding for waste water upgrades, which will be divyed by COMSEQ.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, COMSEQ’s chairman said he would welcome the Gold Coast’s return.
Councillors are in favour of the move, with planning boss Cr Cameron Caldwell insisting any return had to be “meaningful” .
“Many financial initiatives are being directed through that organisation and it doesn’t matter how good our advocacy is, if we aren’t swimming in the right pool we can’t win the race,” he told the Bulletin last week.
“But mere membership alone will not be enough. The key to our success in our return is genuine engagement by the Mayor with his regional colleagues to rebuild relationships.”
Federal MP Angie Bell said she “strongly” agreed with Cr Gates slammed the council’s previous decision to leave.
“I outlined this sentiment in correspondence to the Mayor last year, where I encouraged him to re-join the Queensland Council of Mayors (COMSEQ) to ensure a direct and appropriate voice from our region,” she said.
“As a consequence of the Mayor’s absence in that forum, the Gold Coast missed out on $40 million in SEQ City Deal funding for the ADAPT1 project at the Health and Knowledge Precinct.
Revealed: Schrinner’s surprising message for Tate
THE momentum is building for a Gold Coast return to a joint body of southeast Queensland cities and regions to avoid missing out on billons of dollars of infrastructure.
A supermajority of councillors say they urgently want to return to the southeast Queensland Council of Mayors (COMSEQ), fearing the Gold Coast will be left out in the cold and miss opportunities to capitalise on infrastructure funding ahead of the region’s 2032 Olympics.
Among key projects city leaders want support for is funding the light rail extension to the border urgently and access to a share of $2.1bn in funding for waste water upgrades, which will be divyed by COMSEQ.
Despite trading increasingly hostile barbs with Cr Tate in recent months, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, COMSEQ’s chairman, said he was prepared to embrace the Gold Coast again.
Acting Mayor Donna Gates used the Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast forum on Wednesday to announce her support for a return to COMSEQ 18 months after councillors voted 14-1 to leave.
Mayor Tate and Mr Schrinner fell out badly over the Gold Coast missing out on a seat on the Olympic Games organising committee, with the pair trading multiple barbs through the year.
Cr Schrinner said the door was open to the Gold Coast returning to the Council of Mayors.
“Of course we’d like to see Tom and the Gold Coast back,” he said.
“Whether it’s the (southeast Queensland) 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 20-year SEQ City Deal or our region’s incredibly important waste plan, the Council of Mayors has shown what great things we can achieve when we work together.
“Having the Gold Coast as part of Council of Mayors again would help us achieve even more.”
While many are preparing to vote yes to rejoin, several city councillors admit they have reservations about the Council of Mayors saying the council was “bent over a barrel” into paying a $350,000 membership fee.
Robina councillor Hermann Vorster warned the Gold Coast had the chance to become southeast Queensland’s Cinderella if it rejoined.
“There’s no monopoly on good ideas and little sense ignoring what we can learn from each other,” he said.
“The Olympic clock is about to strike midnight and I don’t want to see us left with a pumpkin.”
“If we have to spend a few hundred thousand (dollars) to secure our share of hundreds of millions of dollars, so be it.
“Decisions are made by those who turn up – and that requires having a seat at the table.”
Mudgeeraba councillor Glenn Tozer admitted he had “mixed views” about but said the city could not miss out.
“Frankly, COMSEQ membership might be one way perceptions of local government ‘teamwork’ across southeast Queensland councils could include Gold Coast, and prevent excuses being made about excluding the Gold Coast from important infrastructure initiatives in waste, transport and energy,” he said.
“The annual membership fee is probably worth it for that, particularly as we approach the 2032 Olympics.”
A council insider said there was growing frustration with the lack of success the city had in advocating for funding.
“The mayor has had his chance and it isn’t working so things have to change.”
Councillors Pauline Young, Cameron Caldwell, William Owen-Jones, Gail O’Neill, Daphne McDonald, Bob La Castra and Brooke Patterson all backed a return.
The Gold Coast has been in and out over the last decade.
The council first quit in 2013, arguing the then-$235,000 annual membership fee was better saved because “the Council of Mayors’ priorities are not necessarily the Gold Coast’s priorities at this moment”.
The Coast rejoined in April, 2020, as part of the 2032 Olympic Games bid. It quit again in June 2021.
Cr Tate then said he was confident he could secure key transport and Olympic legacy projects without the Council of Mayors.
“Why did we go back in? To help the bid for southeast Queensland Olympics, so we have three tiers of government in place,” he said at the time. “That was done in good conscience, and we did that. As it morphed into a Brisbane bid, which is good, we still support it.
The Mayor was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
Cr La Castra previously voted to leave COMSEQ but said had changed his mind.
“Given the financial situation we are now in, yes I would vote to rejoin,” he said.
If it wasn’t for this I would still be opposed but the circumstances have changed and the city should not miss out.”
Cr Patterson said: “It was bewildering the Gold Coast had to be a member of the group in order to access key funding.
“It is bewildering that for the state and federal governments to contribute a fair share of funding to the Gold Coast that we would need to pay $350,000 to join their preferred lobbying group,” she said.
“But if that is what it takes, so be it.”
Deputy Mayor urges GC to rejoin Team SEQ
ACTING Mayor Donna Gates has thrown her support behind the Gold Coast rejoining the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors in a bid to fund critical infrastructure projects by 2032’s Olympics.
A supermajority of councillors, led by Mayor Tom Tate, voted to exit the powerful regional decision-making body last year, citing its $300,000 annual membership cost.
But when asked about the Coast missing out on billions of dollars of infrastructure funding in a 30-project SEQ City Deal recently and a seat on the 2032 Olympic Games organising committee, she said she’d vote to rejoin it.
Cr Gates, speaking at the Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast Forum at Sea World on Wednesday, said the question would again be put to councillors soon and that not only would she vote in favour of returning to the table but others would too.
“There is a major benefit of being at the table to take care of the divvying up of funds,” she said, adding just one example on was nearly $3 billion in waste recycling funding available for all regions.
“When we exited the Council of Mayors, it was a vote of council which was 14-1 in favour of leaving.
“It would be different (now) and it is something the mayor is opening to raising.
“I would personally support being back as member of the Council of Mayors.”
Cr Gates was backed by fellow councillors William Owen-Jones Jones and Cameron Caldwell, who both said they would support returning to the Council of Mayors.
Cr Caldwell said he’d “welcome a meaningful return to the SEQ Council of Mayors”.
“Many financial initiatives are being directed through that organisation and it doesn’t matter how good our advocacy is, if we aren’t swimming in the right pool we can’t win the race,” he said. “But mere membership alone will not be enough. The key to our success in our return is genuine engagement by the Mayor with his regional colleagues to rebuild relationships.”
The Gold Coast has been in and out of the southeast body over the last decade. It is chaired by Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.
The council first quit in 2013, arguing the then-$235,000 annual membership fee was better saved because “the Council of Mayors’ priorities are not necessarily the Gold Coast’s priorities at this moment in time”.
The Coast rejoined it again in April, 2020, as part of the 2032 Olympic Games bid only to quit again in June 2021.
Cr Tate then said he was confident he could secure key transport and Olympic legacy projects without the council.
“Why did we go back in? To help the bid for southeast Queensland Olympics, so we have three tiers of government in place,” he said at the time. “That was done in good conscience, and we did that. As it morphed into a Brisbane bid, which is good, we still support it.
“To say we are going to put the Gold Coast Mayor aside and pick some other mayor as recommended by the Council of Mayors – excuse me, what role have you got to play? Don’t bind us into those decisions. It’s illegal to represent the Gold Coast when you are not elected on the Gold Coast.”
Any decision to rejoin is likely to go before the Coast council in early 2023.
The Future Gold Coast luncheon brought together some of the Gold Coast’s most powerful figures to discuss the key next steps the city needs to take to cope with a population of more than one million people in less than 20 years.
Prominent demographer and founder of The Demographics Group Simon Kuestenmacher, the event’s keynote speaker, urged city leaders to do everything in their power to get physical infrastructure such as light rail built to the airport and beyond before the 2032 Games.
He warned the window of opportunity was “closing”.
“Please don’t waste this opportunity and don’t get stuck in these fights,” he said. “You can’t do this in a week or a year, it takes quite a long time and things needs to be done because this is the power of the ‘build it and they will come’ approach – it dictates where growth will happen.”
Stage 4 of the light rail will run from Burleigh Heads to the border via Gold Coast Airport and is expected to cost at least $2.7bn. While it is considered a critical infrastructure project for the 2032 Games, as well as for future population growth, it is not listed as a priority infrastructure project for the event.
A business case on the tramline is being developed and is due to be completed in mid-2023.
City leaders have warned construction must begin in 2025 once Stage 3, from Broadbeach to Burleigh is done.
Cr Gates said the tram would need to be done by 2030 to ensure it was fully operational for arrival of tourists and athletes.
She lamented a five-year delay between construction of stages 2 and 3: “Clearly a five year lag is not acceptable and need to get straight onto stage 4 at the end of Stage 3.
Queensland Airports CEO Amelia Evans said she was “fully supportive” of trams to the Coolangatta terminal in time: “Connectivity to and from the airport is critical to tourism and we need this to be seamless,” she said. “However it gets to the airport, we are supportive of that and have been from the beginning because carparking is already ad problem for us as the demand is stronger than the supply.”
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