Hopes for a new and strong Gold Coast waterways board would be assembled to handle botched Broadwater have been ruined when the Bligh administration has introduced a weaker committee instead, which is limited only to making dredging location decisions.

In spite of years of lobbying by local residents for the revival of the waterways authority, Rachel Nolan, Minister for Transport said to a Parliamentary Estimates meeting in Brisbane yesterday that it would only add to unnecessary bureaucracy.

The newly formed Gold Coast Waterways Steering Committee would make decisions regarding priorities on dredging, which will be financed $3 million from contributions from Marine Queensland, the local council, and the State government.

"What we are setting up here is a steering committee which will decide on dredging priorities and which will involve all those parties who are actively involved, who are putting money in or who have a environmental responsibility," Ms. Nolan said.

"This, I think, is a good outcome for taxpayers, in that the people who own the big boats are chipping in and it's a good outcome for the broader Gold Coast boating community."

Fiona Simpson, the opposition's Transport spokeswoman said she was surprised by the decision.

"I finally thought they had seen the light and would do something sensible but all they came up with was a steering committee," Ms. Simpson said.

"Anything they call a steering committee normally has no one driving it and is a very temporary vehicle, rather than a long-term, sustainable solution."

She added that the administration entirely missed the point about an essential authority which could have utilized local knowledge to develop their own economy, instead of Brisbane bureaucrats being in charge.