Gold Coast City Council have voted to explore extending the proposed cableway from the Gold Coast to Tamborine Mountain.
The motion seconded by Mayor Tom Tate at the last council meeting in 2025 recommended utilising funding to identify community support and First Nations support for the cableway to either connect to Tamborine Mountain or Springbrook.
Mayor Tate said he expected the environmental assessment to be completed by April.
A proposal for a cableway from the Gold Coast through world heritage listed rainforest has been on the cards for three decades and was rejected by the state government in 2000.
The current state government supported the idea of a cableway but declined the council’s request for funding in order to avoid any conflict of interest that could arise through both funding it and approving it.
It remains actively engaged with the Gold Coast City Council on the project through the formation of the Gold Coast Ecotourism Projects Government Liaison Group chaired by the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
It was noted in the Gold Coast City Council meeting that when the route to Tamborine Mountain was previously considered it would go over significant numbers of private property.
Gold Coast City councillor Glenn Tozer said there is one proponent who has looked at Tamborine Mountain and is the only one who has put something in writing and drawn up a power point on their proposal.
He added that he believed it was a viable alternative to Springbrook.
Gold Coast City Council said meaningful consultation has not been possible with the community or traditional owners because no specific route has been identified.
Scenic Rim Regional councillor Amanda Hay contacted Gold Coast City Council Mayor Tom Tate following the council meeting and was told the intention to consider Tamborine Mountain as an alternate preferred route would be resolved in the near future.
In a letter to the Gold Coast City Council Cr Hay wrote the defeat of the motion to remove Tamborine Mountain was disappointing given the total lack of any transparency regarding the potential/likely end destination location.
She also expressed disappointment that as the local councillor she was unaware the preferred route may now again include Tamborine Mountain until reading about it in the media.
“The pre-feasibility study conducted by the City of Gold Coast Council in 2020 stated the cableway could attract 580,000 visitors.The sheer volume of traffic movements this would entail at the Mountain end defies comprehension,” she wrote in the letter.
“Traffic congestion and lack of parking are already issues experienced on a daily basis.
“Respectfully, could there be communication with Scenic Rim Regional Council on any proposal to include Tamborine Mountain as a “preferred route” and that if this is one of the options to be included in community consultation, that that consultation include the significantly impacted Tamborine Mountain residents.”
Cr Hay said the most feasible place for the Gold Coast City Council to end the cableway on Gold Coast land would be behind Thunderbird Park, which would mean large numbers of buses running from there to carry tourists up to the mountain on an already dangerous road.
