Palaszczuk to govern from the Gold Coast in April

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her Ministers will govern from the Gold Coast in April, to coincide with 12 months’ to go before the start of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The Premier said Cabinet, which met on the Gold Coast in May last year, would meet on (Monday) 3 April and the Premier would host a town hall meeting open to the community during the week.

During the week governing from the Gold Coast, Ministers and Directors-General will meet with stakeholders and members of the community to discuss issues and opportunities within their portfolio responsibilities. The Government will advertise for meeting requests to meet with Ministers during the week.

“Gold Coast is an important region for our State and our nation. The Commonwealth Games in April next year will be the biggest event in Queensland’s history,” the Premier said.

“We are well prepared for the Games. This will be an opportunity to showcase the Gold Coast and Queensland to the world.”

“Gold Coast’s economy has strengthened over the last two years with unemployment in the region now 5.5% compared to 6% at the last election. There are 11,700 more jobs on the Gold Coast compared to two years ago.”

“The Commonwealth Games are expected to create up to 30,000 jobs and further strengthen the Gold Coast’s tourism industry.”

Domestic overnight visitor expenditure on the Gold Coast increased by 6.5% to $3 billion since September 2015. Late last year, Trivago reported the Gold Coast is the third most searched destination in Australia, with Brisbane fourth, and online searches of Queensland destinations for this summer have increased significantly.

The Premier said the population of the Gold Coast is projected to increase from almost 570,000 in 2015 and 883,000 by 2036.

“My Government is building for the future. We have committed $1 billion in new infrastructure investment on the Gold Coast this financial year, including $94.5 million for the $420 million expansion of the Gold Coast Light Rail from the Gold Coast University Hospital to Helensvale Rail Station.”

“Our infrastructure investment will support 3000 jobs on the Gold Coast. In all, the Government employs more than 20,000 staff on the Gold Coast including in critical frontline service delivery areas of health, police, education, emergency services and child safety.”

The Premier was on the Gold Coast today to convene the Tourism and Commonwealth Games Cabinet Committee meeting. Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones and Local Government Minister Mark Furner also attended the meeting.

On 4 April 2018, over 6,600 athletes and team officials from 70 nations and territories will converge on the Gold Coast for an 11-day sporting and cultural event.

With an estimated 15,000 volunteers, athletes competing in 18 sports and seven para-sports will be contested and broadcast to a cumulative global audience of 1.5 billion.

Media Contact: Geoff Breusch       0417 272 875