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Accompanied by Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, and Federal Member for Leichhardt and event instigator, Warren Entsch, Mr Marriner spoke openly about his plans for the property, the challenges he has faced during drawn out negotiations, and importantly, he highlighted that without Government support his plans may come to nought.

Mr Entsch made reference to Division 10 councillor Julia Leu being in the audience, raising mock concern of Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey.

"Gee whiz Warren, When I heard Julia was here I shuddered a bit actually."

Video footage of the evening to come...

While he primarily expressed his concerns about the banking and insurance industry, he also spoke of the need to breath new life into the Sheraton Mirage.

"This is a region I feel very strongly about. I came here as a backpacker when I was 18, and it was about the time this building was originally under construction and I thought to myself, I'll never have the money to be able to go into a place like that.

"Over time I've been here on a number of occasions...but it's (the Sheraton Mirage) tired, it is a tired facility.

"What's happened is, it has grown tired over the years with a lack of reinvestment and our (tourism) product generally has grown tired in Australia."

Mr Hockey stressed that the key to the Australian tourism industry, and Port Douglas in particular, is attaining high yield by "improving the return out of the tourist and give them multiple experiences."

He praised Mr Marriner for investing in the region which drew applause from the audience, and offered support for the project.

"If the numbers stack up, and the ambition stacks up, then certainly I'll be offering my total support in trying to get the Government to commit some money to this project."

The focus of the redevelopment will be what Mr Marriner described as the "artistic, cultural, arts fabric" that is prevelent in Port Douglas.

"It's our view that there's a level of sophistication within the fabric of this community that lends itself to be capitalised in a little more sophisticated way than perhaps you would tackle other markets."

Mr Marriner said that property currently doesn't live up to the standard of the Mirage brand.

"Still to this day we think about it as a superior brand in the marketplace, we see it as a five star signature (property)...it doesn't deserve to carry that standing in the current position.

"In buying this asset we put a lot of focus on buying the intellectual property of the brand."

Video footage of the evening to come... 

Mr Marriner's vision for the redevelopment includes an outdoor performance amphitheatre and by his own admission avoids the terms "conference" and "convention" in favour of "a meeting place and a place of connection."

The Glade's days appear numbered should the redevelopment go ahead with Mr Marriner criticising the "outdated tent."

"To be blunt we can never expect to win back corporate markets here...if we leave this tent like structure.

"It borders, quite frankly, on being a joke. It was meant to be a temporary structure and it has been here 16 years."

Instead Mr Marriner is proposing a solar powered, 1450 seat banquet style, "smart technology" building - the first of its type in Australia.

But not all of the current buildings will face the same fate as the Glade with many to receive a much needed upgrade.

"What we're really doing is capitalising on a lot of the infrastructure that's here, we're modernising it, refurbishing it, and adding it to a new journey."

Mr Marriner said that not-for-profit groups will have free access to the Sheraton Mirage facility for 12 days a year for charitible events.