KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has blasted the proposed Broadwater location for the Gold Coast Cruise Ship Terminal today, presenting information confirming that the location is both unviable in terms of vessel inaccessibility and potential for severe damage to the marine environment.
Mr Katter highlighted the serious implications for the LNP’s Broadwater Marine Project immediately after Gold Coast City Council Mayor Tom Tate launched his draft ocean beaches strategy arguing that the Council and Queensland Government need to go back to the drawing board, to avoid wasting any further valuable resources on a doomed infrastructure plan that cannot deliver.
Mr Katter said, “The proposals for a development of a cruise ship terminal are critical for the Gold Coast and we strongly endorse the Mayor’s statements today, but we strongly believe that the beaches on the Broadwater should also be preserved.
“The Broadwater belongs to the people of this area. It belongs to the families with kids and grandkids that use the Broadwater to paddle, swim and play.
“When you start gumming up the mouth of a river, you are causing untold environmental damage.
“The Spit and open inlet in that area will have to be dredged annually or even biannually – and it will cost a king’s ransom. It will also cause turbulence in all those waters,” said Mr Katter.
KAP Shadow Minister for Tourism Keith Douglas joined Mr Katter today, and said that a recent survey of the cruise ship industry has shown that a Broadwater cruise ship terminal is unviable and impractical.
Mr Douglas said, “60 per cent of the boats being unable to access the Broadwater terminal means that the project really is dead in the water and it will never be a reality”
“If proper consultation was done, these mistakes would have been avoided; allowing for the community’s concerns to be properly addressed rather than an arrogant display of ‘we know best’.
“We need some common sense to prevail here and there is no common sense when it comes to putting a terminal in the Broadwater,” said Mr Douglas.
Mr Katter said that if the proposed Broadwater location went ahead, “There would be no fishing and no marine life due to the constant and continual dredging required.
“The only reason for doing this clearly, is that there are some very powerful and wealthy interests that want to own Broadwater lock stock and barrel and if they get Wavebreak Island – they will,” Mr Katter said.