Council, State Government and a community group are at loggerheads over a project that would see a cableway strung from Mudgeeraba to Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Almost 14,000 people have signed a Change.org petition protesting the proposed cableway travelling across World Heritage listed land.
The petition is addressed to Minister for the Environment Meaghan Scanlon, Treasurer Cameron Dick and Minister for Tourism Industry Development and Innovation Stirling Hinchliffe.
The petition, started by the Cableway No Way Coalition, has requested the State Government reject the Gold Coast City Council’s request for a Queensland Government funded business case feasibility study into building the cableway.
The cableway was first discussed as the 1998 Naturelink Proposal which outlined plans to bring a 11.6 kilometre passenger cableway to the Gold Coast.
The proposal was declared a ‘significant project’ under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act and an environmental impact statement (EIS) was prepared.
The proposal, supported by the EIS, was referred to the Commonwealth for assessment and in November 2000 the Queensland Government refused the application.
In the Co-ordinator General’s decision report, it was outlined that the development failed to conserve and protect resources, imposing a risk to water supplies, threatening National Park values and would cause a significant loss of recreational values.
“The development compromises the World Heritage values by failing to assess the viability of local flora and fauna populations that may be adversely affected by the direct impacts and displacement during construction and operation,” the report noted.
The report also claimed the development design did not present any clear benefit socially or economically to the local community.
A spokeswoman for the Cableway No Way group, who asked not to be named, said 23 years on from the original proposal, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate reopened the discussion.
“It’s been reinvigorated by Tom Tate saying he would like to request some funding from the State Government to fund a business feasibility study into the cableway,” she said.
Cr Tate would only provide comment to the Guardian & Tribune on