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ALL glasses were raised to the cruise ship terminal proposal at a Magic Millions marquee on Surfers Paradise beachfront this morning, with state member for Surfers Paradise John-Paul Langbroek leading the charge.
Katie Page-Harvey, CEO of Harvey Norman, and James Frizelle's Automotive Group's Rebecca Frizelle were also vocal about their acceptance of the $7.5 billion project proposed by the ASF Consortium for the Southport Broadwater.
Frizelle called it a "no-brainer" and Page-Harvey likened the opportunity to "tourism gold".
The cruise ship terminal wasn't an allocated talking point of Celebrating Magic Millions - Breakfast on the Beach, an unofficial event on the Magic Millions calendar run by Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce and Surfers Paradise Alliance, but it surfaced early on in the panel discussion between Langbroek, Page-Harvey and Frizelle (pictured below with MC Ian Cousins).
"If you come to the Gold Coast and don't want to see development, then you should go somewhere else," says Langbroek, who is Minister for Education, Training and Employment.
"The cruise ship terminal is something that should be done, but also needs to be environmentally friendly.
"What I don't understand is that more and more people on the Gold Coast are going on cruises and their popularity is increasing all over the world, yet we don't want it? I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it.
"I will never criticise colleagues for going with a view that supports their own electorate, but I think sometimes there is a noisy minority at play."
Frizelle backs Langbroek's views on development, based on how deeply the culture of growth is embedded in the region.
"We either keep going forward with development, which we started a long time ago, or we bring everything to a halt which would be damaging; but we can't just stop going in the direction we started on so long ago," says Frizelle.
"With the cruise ship terminal, if you have someone on your doorstep wanting to give $7.5 billion to an investment that creates 15,000 permanent jobs and 7500 in construction phase, and that brings in 75 cruise ships per year, then I really don't understand what there is to think about.
"The Gold Coast's good looks frankly aren't good enough to put us on the world stage without developments like these."
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