Sunshine Coast advocacy group demands a groundbreaking entertainment centre

A Sunshine Coast arts advocacy group is pleading with the council to gain state government cash to fund a revolutionary exhibition centre for the region, but there are bigger elements at play.

Sunshine Coast Arts, Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centre.

A Sunshine Coast arts advocacy group is pleading with the state government to stump up cash to fund a revolutionary exhibition centre for the region.

Former Maroochy Mayor and Chair of the Sunshine Coast Arts, Convention and Entertainment Centre Association Inc. (ACE) Alison Barry-Jones said the centre was a must.

“The Sunshine Coast is headless and heartless without a vibrant city centre to attract commercial investors, visitors and residents,” Ms Barry-Jones said.

“An operational arts, convention and exhibition centre is what we desperately need to breathe life into our new city centre and enrich our region’s economy and boost corporate tourism.

“With over 100,000 signatures of support from residents and high-profile community leaders, the ACE committee has been working tirelessly over the past four decades to ensure the long-overdue entertainment and convention centre becomes a reality.”

Ms Barry-Jones said the Queensland government’s City Deal Fund for major infrastructure offers grants of up to $200 million per project, which she said is ideal for the centre.

Former Maroochy Mayor and Chair of the Sunshine Coast Arts, Convention and Entertainment Centre Association Inc. (ACE) and Patron Matteo Bocelli (Italian singer/songwriter, son of Tenor Andre Bocelli)

“Successive Sunshine Coast administrations have made no effort to lobby for our share of funding, there is money there and we need to fight for it,” Ms Barry-Jones said.

“Our council has already completed more than $3 million in feasibility studies over more than 40 years, each study confirmed the absolute need for this critical, job-creating infrastructure.

“Other Queensland regions with less than our population - Mackay, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Toowoomba, and Ipswich - all currently enjoy the financial and social benefits this versatile undercover infrastructure delivers to their economies.

“The Sunshine Coast is languishing behind socially, culturally, commercially, and economically, as these same regions repeatedly access the public purse at our expense.”

A Sunshine Coast Council spokesman said “an exhibition and convention facility is proposed as part of the vision for the Maroochydore City Centre”.

Designs of the Sunshine Coast Arts, Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centre.

“As part of a recent amendment to the development scheme for the area, its proposed site was improved to be co-located with a future transit station that will better enable visitors to access by public transport,” the spokesman said.

“Further work on the proposed exhibition and convention facilities funding model will be done as the transformational Maroochydore city centre project progresses.”

MP for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson says although she supports a Sunshine Coast arts and convention centre, there were more pressing issues for the region.

“My first priorities are funding and action to address cost-of-living, housing, health and crime as well as the transport infrastructure,” Ms Simpson said.

“There are higher priorities which must come first and there must be work done to rescope the arts and convention centre to have a more affordable, achievable first stage with support from all three tiers of government and the private sector.

Sunshine Coast Arts, Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centre.

“There have been proposals in the past with council asking for hundreds of millions from state and federal government and I think this is too much at this time and needs to be rescaled to a proposal that is stageable, affordable and flexible with a more affordable first stage to enable this project to start and then to grow over the years.”

In 2022, a train from Maroochydore to Brisbane was been identified as the key project that could get a Sunshine Coast convention and entertainment centre bid on track.

In 2014, proponents of an arts, exhibition, convention and entertainment centre for the Maroochydore CBD remained behind the Sunshine Coast Council’s bid for state funding.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast advocacy group demands a groundbreaking entertainment centre