Gold Coast light rail Stage 3 is a 6.7km tram extension. Construction started in July 2022 and it’s still not finished.

The budget was $1.219 billion.
In Sept 2024, the Department of Transport and Main Roads quietly increased it by $330 million (a 27% blowout)
Completion is now scheduled for mid 2026, that’s the 3rd target date.
Stage 4, the airport extension, was cancelled in September 2025 after the estimate ballooned from under $3 billion to $9.85 billion.
The construction contractor is John Holland, owned by China Communications Construction Company, a Chinese state owned enterprise.
The system itself is owned and operated by GoldlinQ, a private consortium majority owned by foreign investors.
Queensland taxpayers funded the vast majority of the capital cost. The Queensland government guarantees the consortium gets paid every year regardless of performance.
The private consortium collects for 18 years.
In 2023, residents formally petitioned the Queensland and Federal Auditors-General to investigate. 2 years on and no investigation has been opened.
The full business case documents have never been publicly released.
It’s all legal.