Gold Coast Cableway Project Advances With Reduced Funding and New Route Option

The Gold Coast council is pressing ahead with plans for a tourist cableway in the protected Springbrook rainforest, despite significantly reduced funding and the addition of a new alternative route.

Councillors this week agreed to divert $400,000 - money previously allocated for an unsuccessful First Nations consultation process - to environmental assessments. This falls well short of the $1.5 million originally requested in a report to develop a full business case for the Springbrook cableway.

Alongside the Springbrook proposal, councillors also supported adding a second possible route at Mount Tamborine to the assessment process, broadening the scope beyond the Gondwana rainforest region.

Mayor Tom Tate, a long-time supporter of the project, said he expected the environmental assessment to be completed by April next year.
"The report will come back pretty quickly because now it includes Mount Tamborine - they'll run out of money and want to update us to get more funding," he said.

The decision adds another chapter to a decades-long effort to deliver a cableway attraction in the Gold Coast hinterland. The first proposal was rejected in 2000 by the Beattie government on environmental grounds. A separate $100 million plan championed by former mayor and LNP MP Ray Stevens in 2014 also failed to proceed.

A pre-feasibility study commissioned by the council in 2020 suggested a cableway could draw 580,000 visitors annually and generate around $35 million, though it did not outline a preferred route.

Since the 2024 election, the LNP state government has backed the concept but declined to provide council funding.

Cr Tate said he expected a "definitive answer" on the preferred route by late 2026. If council then votes to pursue the project further, developing a full business case could take an additional two years.

Any final proposal would also require approvals at both state and federal levels, followed by endorsement from the World Heritage Committee.

During Tuesday's meeting, councillor Donna Gates said the time was approaching for council to "once and for all say if we're in or out."