By NOEL MURPHY
GEELONG’s Yarra St pier plans have won powerful backing from number-one Cats ticket-holder, Melbourne lord mayor and former Liberal state leader Robert Doyle.
The $30 million-plus proposal, linchpin of City Hall plans to dramatically boost cruise ship tourism to Geelong, has become a hot issue in recent weeks as Mayor Darryn Lyons ramps up his campaign to secure funding as the state election looms.
Cr Doyle, a friend of Cr Lyons, said Lloyds and Access Economics had identified a purpose-built facility as essential to boosting cruise ship business in Geelong rather than revamping an old structure such as Cunningham Pier.
“The cruise ship business is really big business,” Cr Doyle told the Independent.
“When a cruise ship pulls into Melbourne we garner $1 million on shopping during stopovers but there’s also $1 million in provisioning to send it on its next journey.
“Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing for a cruise ship to be not just flooding Geelong with visitors but also leaving port with Geelong wine, Geelong food, Geelong produce and Geelong gifts?
“It would be a huge boost to the city’s economy every time one of those ships docks.”
Cr Doyle said Melbourne’s absence of a purpose-built pier meant it was failing to fully capitalise on visiting cruise ships.
“We do worse than Sydney and Queensland because our pier is not purpose-built. In New South Wales, cruise ships contributed $371 million to the economy last year and Queensland is planning on growing their business from $150 million to $160 million to $341 million by 2019-2020 – therefore this is a growth industry but you must have purpose-built facilities.
“That’s why Darryn Lyons is on the right track. It’s a growing industry making big money but you need that purpose-built facility.”
Cr Doyle called on Geelong to back itself, saying he was concerned the city lacked pride.
“One thing that worries me is that it isn’t prepared to stand up and say, ‘We are Geelong’, and I think that’s misguided – it’s a great city.”
