Politicians have vowed to block any moves by the local council to approve construction of a casino on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast holiday strip following revelations that councillers met with representatives of NagaCorp earlier this month.
As reported by the Sunshine Coast Daily, members of the Liberal National Party (LNP) have sought assurances from party leader Tim Nicholls that he would oppose any casino license for the region being issued.
“We do not support a casino here and don’t believe it is what people want,” MP Jarrod Bleijie said.
“We would not encourage the council to apply for a license and would do everything to reject it if they go down that path. This is not the Gold Coast. If the vision is light rail to a casino, we don’t want it.”
The same newspaper revealed last week that a number of NagaCorp’s senior management, including majority owner Dr Chen Lip Keong and Chairman Tim McNally, were among a group that inspected sites and met with the local council on 13 November.
World-renowned casino designer and architect Paul Steelman was reportedly also present, having designed NagaCorp’s recently opened Naga2 extension to its NagaWorld property in Cambodia.
However, the LNP has called for any application for a casino license by the Sunshine Coast council to be rejected. Federal LNP member Andrew Wallace has also stated his opposition to any such move.