Gold Coast mayor re-floats terminal plan

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has re-floated his dream of having a cruise ship terminal at the city, saying he'll use upcoming local government elections to gain a mandate for the plan.

Mr Tate confirmed on Tuesday he would be pushing for an off-shore terminal to be built on the ocean-side of The Spit, a stretch of land that separates the city's Broadwater from the sea.

The move comes months after Queensland's state government canned a proposal to build a $7.6 billion terminal at Wavebreak Island in the middle of the Broadwater as part of an election promise made by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Mr Tate says he's listened to concerns and has abandoned building a terminal inside the Broadwater.

Instead he's hoping to gain support for a floating platform to be built in the sea off the eastern side of The Spit with a jetty connecting the terminal to the mainland.

He believes making the issue a key element of his re-election bid in March's local government ballot will allow a "silent majority" to show they support the idea of a cruise ship terminal in the city.

"Then I can take it to the state government and say the people of the Gold Coast want this," Mr Tate said.

Environmental groups have quickly criticised the idea.

The Save Our Spit group, who have long campaigned against the development of a cruise ship terminal, used their Facebook page to speak out against the new proposal.

"The completely unprotected exposure to winds and the surrounding swell and seas would make a regular summer cruise schedule impossible there," the group claimed.

"The shipping companies know this, have reflected it in their statements, and we know their insurance companies concur, and would not likely insure any ship for a regular schedule in such an exposed location."

Mr Tate said he hadn't devised a timeline for the project and admitted there would be engineering challenges to his proposal.

"To tick all the boxes, especially the environmental box, it'll take some time to have that all done," he said.