It has been described as a vital part of the 2032 Olympic Games, but the Gold Coast light rail has split LNP ranks, triggered protests and attracted opposition from one of Australia's surfing greats.
In a post to his more than 1.2 million Instagram followers this week, surfing champion Mick Fanning said "let's try [to] stop Stage 4 of the light rail".
"This affects everyone from Tallebudgera to Coolangatta," Mr Fanning, who owns a property along the proposed route, wrote.
The post linked to an online survey hosted by federal Liberal party MP Karen Andrews, whose electorate takes in the proposed light rail route.
She announced her opposition to the current proposed route ahead of the 2022 election, asking supporters to "stop stage 4 from destroying the southern Gold Coast".
While light rail has received bi-partisan support from all levels of government, the LNP's state member for Burleigh, Michael Hart, said "it's an excuse for them to over-develop the coastal strip down the Gold Coast".
"I've always supported getting light rail to the airport but I'm starting to change my view on that," he said.
Yet the clock towards the 2032 Olympics is ticking, and as billions in infrastructure funding is rolled out, the Gold Coast remains overtly car-dependent.
Public transport usage lacking
The opposition has been based on concerns about how light rail would impact parking, traffic, amenity and local businesses along its Gold Coast Highway route.
"Wherever light rail is finalised, that looks like Burleigh at the moment, we could just go electric buses from the airport to Burleigh," Mr Hart said.
But Griffith University Cities Institute deputy director Matthew Burke said the Gold Coast would need light rail to move the volumes of people who would be using the airport during the 2032 Olympic Games.
"The city will really struggle if everyone has to get on a bus, get themselves to Burleigh and swap on a tram just to get from the airport," Professor Burke said.
"People are just starting to realise just how slim the infrastructure works are."
According to the Gold Coast City Council, 3.3 per cent of households used public transport in 2021, just up from 3.1 per cent in 2011.
While usage peaked at 4.7 per cent in 2016, it remains well below the target of 12 per cent by 2031.
That problem is compounded by population growth, with the city expected to surge from less than 700,000 residents to more than one million within the next two decades.
The council's transport strategy estimates that each new resident adds 3.1 car trips to the road network every day, with each car only carrying one person on average.
"If current levels of car dependence continue, this population growth could lead to a doubling of car trips on our road network by 2031," the strategy states.
More than light rail needed
The council's strategy also notes that public transport services linking western suburban areas to the coastal strip have been lacking, making those areas "highly car dependent".
Light Rail Business Advisory Group chair Steve Harrison said stage four would "increase [light rail's] ability to be used instead of using a motor car".
"The buses that are currently operating that route [can then] transfer across to east-west connections to better service the Gold Coast," he said.
In addition to light rail, extending heavy rail services south to the Coolangatta airport has been proposed on-and-off since 1997.
"There's been disappointingly no commitment to do that yet even before 2032," Professor Burke said.
With about six-million people travelling through the airport every year, Professor Burke said the city would "really struggle".
The federal government this week announced a 90-day review into more than 700 Coalition-era infrastructure projects.
While he said stage four could be pushed back "a matter of months or a year", Professor Burke said the review was "not looking at this project as a problem child".
"There are a whole heap of other initiatives that were promised by the Morrison government and its predecessors, many of which have not gone through business cases or the Infrastructure Australia process properly," he said.
Mr Fanning, Ms Andrews and federal infrastructure minister Catherine King have been contacted for comment.
