First, why was I shocked? Because, suddenly, the whole consultation we knew about: the web survey, the web feedback form, the face to face sessions, the emails, the phone calls, was disregarded by the TMR, and pushed to the back of their report as non-scientific, anecdotal, non-representative, and skewed by people with vested interest.
"An independent survey of Gold Coast residents and businesses has shown overwhelming support for the Coomera Connector"
"Research has told us that the vast majority (80%) of the community support the Coomera Connector being built as soon as possible to provide an alternative to the Pacific Motorway (M1)."
https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/_/media/projects/c/coomera-connector/coomera-connector-community-consultation-summary.pdf
It shows that the consultation had two parts: part one done by TMR, which was delayed multiple times and finally started 8 November 2019. It was widely publicised well before that. Our petition to the Qld Parliament against the Coomera Connector was published on facebook already on 4 September and posted to the Parliament on 20 September 2019:
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/petition-details?id=3203
TMR sent out newsletters, ran radio, newspaper and facebook ads.
Was it representative? 3,200 visits to the website, 593 online surveys and feedback forms, 2086 people attended community sessions, 700+ pieces of feedback received.
What was the answer to the most important question:
The opinion of people most knowledgeable about the project and most affected by it. Disregarded. Thrown into the bin.
....
And part two, which started 10 days after the TMR web survey opened. I didn’t know about that part. I don’t remember the TMR website mentioning it. Why was a private company (colmar brunton) hired instead of TMR doing it themselves? Was it a quick decision on the part of the Labor party to get the result they wanted? Did TMR not want to do it, or could not do it given the short time frame? We know the Premier announced the start of work ($20m business case) two weeks before the consultation officially started:
The same thing is happening again. The business case is to be completed in July 2021, but the Labor party already announced $755m for the works to be started in the middle of next year. Why did we bother with public consultation at all? Why do we bother with the business case now? The politicians already know the result.
If the business case was to be done honestly, it should show the environmental, health, and lost productivity costs of different uses of the public land reserved currently for the Coomera Connector.
………
Going back to part two of the public consultations. There are a few additional things that are fishy about it:
We don’t know the script of these 18 minute phone conversations. Why is the script secret? Were the participants steered into answering questions in a certain way? What were they told about the project? We know that 29% of the people who provided answers were not even aware of the project. They did not see the maps. They did not know how close to homes it would go.
So, what have I skipped?
Even if they called me, they wouldn't include my opinion, because I use public transport. If they called my wife, they would also not include her opinion, because she does not drive on the M1 at least 2 times a week. We both live in Coomera and the Coomera Connector, if built as a 6 lane motorway (easily capable of moving 120,000 cars per day), will have a huge negative impact on us. What is a major motorway anyway? Did they also exclude people who only use the Smith Street Motorway? They excluded people who live in Surfers or Broadbeach or Labrador and do not use the M1 at all. They will be impacted too, because Coomera Connector will be bringing thousands more cars to their suburbs. They excluded people who walk, bike or use public transport for work or school. They excluded many retirees, students, and people who work from home. How is that "broadly representative" as the TMR claims? How much of the community was excluded? My guess would be that about a half. Now re-read how the consultation results were reported:
"Research has told us that the vast majority (80%) of the community support the Coomera Connector being built as soon as possible to provide an alternative to the Pacific Motorway (M1)."A closer to truth summary of the quantitative information from the public consultation is this:
1. "Of the people who filled our web survey, more are against the Coomera Connector, than for it."
2. "We hired a private firm who got most people who use M1 at least twice a week, to say they support building a Second M1."
"Nearly two years after being scrapped by the former Newman government, the Inter-Regional Transport Corridor (IRTC), an 18.5km arterial corridor from Carrara to Coomera, has been restored as a future project. [...] The re-gazetting of the project means no development can be carried out along the corridor which will one day carry a two-way, four-lane road between Nerang-Broadbeach Rd and Foxwell Rd."
Survey shows strong support for Coomera Connector [The web survey shows the opposite]
Published Friday, 05 June, 2020 at 08:33 AM
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Mark Bailey
An independent survey of Gold Coast residents and businesses has shown overwhelming support for the Coomera Connector. [The phone survey was not independent - TMR hired a company to do it. The script is secret. The detailed results are secret. It would be independent if it was done transparently and paid for by an independent body. It omitted residents and businesses who do not use major motorways at least twice a week. It would be fair if it told the surveyed people about the history of this transport corridor, including the fact that it was un-gazetted by the Newman government, exactly how close to homes it is, health impacts of living next to a major road, destruction of conservation areas, costs, impact of induced demand on traffic congestion, public and active transport alternatives.]
[...]
Federal Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure Alan Tudge said Gold Coast residents had backed the plan to get the Coomera Connector underway. [Neither survey was restricted to Gold Coast residents only. The web survey showed the opposite of what is claimed here. The known phone survey results are only from people who use the major motorways at least twice a week.]
[...]
Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said four out of five people who answered the independent survey last November backed the M1 alternative.
“This was an independent survey of 1,000 residents and businesses spread out between Loganholme and Coolangatta,” Mr Bailey said. [see above]
[...]
State Member for Gaven Meaghan Scanlon said more than 2,000 people attended a series of community drop-in sessions run in late 2019 and more than 700 individual pieces of feedback were also received.
“Eighty per cent of those surveyed supported the Coomera Connector overall and 76 per cent supported the priority Stage 1 section between Coomera and Nerang,” Ms Scanlon said. [Putting these two paragraphs one after another may mislead readers to think that the 80% and 76% numbers are connected to the 2000 and 700 numbers. The web survey results are omitted.]
That's simply a lie. That's not what the phone survey revealed. If the term Coomera Connector now means only a motorway, then the survey revealed that 4 out of 6 of the people who use M1 (or some other major motorway) at least twice a week, supported it, and we still don't know what they were told about it by the interviewers.Community consultation on the Coomera Connector was held between 8 November and 8 December 2019.
The consultation program included a series of 10 community drop in sessions along the 45km project corridor, plus online engagement activities.
There was significant interest from the community with 3,200 visits to the website, more than 2,000 people visiting the community drop in sessions to talk to the project team, and 700 pieces of feedback received.
A telephone survey of 1,000 residents and businesses revealed 4 out of 5 people in the project corridor area support the introduction of the Coomera Connector.
