No trams here: Buses on the cards as Coolangatta leg of light rail scrapped

The last stage of the Gold Coast’s light rail has been scrapped, with the LNP government saying an independent review exposed a potential multibillion-dollar cost blowout.

Stage four of the light rail system would have provided trams from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta, via the Gold Coast Airport.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said on Monday the planned expansion had been met with overwhelming opposition on the southern Gold Coast.

“We promised to be a government that listened to the people of Queensland,” he said.

“The Crisafulli government is taking on board consultation and the views of residents of the southern Gold Coast, and we will not be proceeding with Gold Coast light rail stage four.”

He said Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg had been tasked with coming up with a great plan for public transport for residents of the southern Gold Coast.

“And that means the rollout of more rapid buses immediately,” Bleijie said.

The deputy premier added that the project could have cost up to $9.85 billion, “far exceeding Labor’s previously reported cost of $2.7 billion and their subsequent blowout cost of $7.6 billion”.

Hermann Vorster, MP for the local seat of Palm Beach, said on Facebook on Monday morning that his constituents had spoken “loud and clear”.

“Our community also values simple pleasures in life, like a beach visit,” he later said at a media conference alongside Bleijie.

“And when light rail stage four was revealed to ... abolish 1100 beachside car parks, affect 235 properties with forced resumptions and to put at risk our natural environment, they said no.”

Vorster said a 3D flyover of the plans showing some roads being reduced to one lane had divided the community.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said on Monday he was disappointed in the state government’s decision, and questioned the claim costs would blow out to $9.85 billion.

“We’ve been on this journey since 2009, and in my view, it’s still the one project, now it’s truncated,” he said.

“I’ll leave it over to state government to find a solution for Gold Coasters to get to the airport in Coolangatta.”

He said taking the light rail extension off the table meant there would be no public transport legacy from the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, despite the city hosting nine events.

“How come Sunshine Coast gets the light rail and heavy rail over there ... is it politics? I don’t know, that’s another question I’d like to ask.

“As an engineer … the optimum solution is the light rail to continue all the way to Coolangatta, and I think that will happen one day, but that day is not today.”

Labor Opposition Leader Steven Miles also voiced disappointment in the decision and denied claims of an almost $10 billion price tag, saying stage four had been expected to cost between $3.6 billion to $7 billion.

“The success of the earlier stages of light rail prove that light rail is the public transport solution for the Gold Coast, and for ideological reasons this LNP government have gotten rid of that vision and replaced it with buses,” Miles said.

“It is a bad decision that condemns one of our biggest cities to a half finished public transport network, it condemns the population of the Gold Coast – more than a million people – to sitting in a traffic jam each and every day with no real alternative.

“This is an act of economic vandalism against one of our tourism gateways, and the state will pay for it for decades to come.”

The Gold Coast, the nation’s largest non-capital city area, has added almost 70,000 residents since 2019 and has more than 750,000 residents.

The Burleigh to Coolangatta leg of light rail would have included stops at Southern Cross University and tourist attractions including Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Burleigh Head National Park.

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