Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If ever there were any doubt, this week we have finally demonstrated once and for all that the Sunshine Coast community utterly rejects Mayor Jamieson's desire to see a casino built in our region. Alongside thousands of my constituents, I have been fighting this proposal since it first became public last year. I immediately started a petition and, within months, more than 7,000 local residents had signed to declare their opposition to this community-changing casino. I held a casino forum where more than 300 local residents attended to voice their unanimous and passionate rejection of this ill-judged scheme. The mayor refused to attend, and ever since he has continued to be evasive. This week, thanks to a great initiative of the Sunshine Coast Daily, we now have robust ReachTEL data that tells us exactly what our region thinks about this issue: 81 per cent want a convention centre—that's great—yet, asked if they want to support a casino, even if it included such a convention centre, nearly 76 per cent gave an emphatic no. I don't want to see local lives destroyed and our community changed forever by a casino on the Sunshine Coast. No less than three-quarters of my constituents agree. If the mayor wants to continue with his push for a casino, he should make it an essential plank of his re-election campaign in 2020 and let the people decide his fate.

See this speech in context