News that the Robina Community Centre is to be scraped is just disgraceful. We all want lower rates but not at the expense of fundamental community services in growth areas.

Cr Eddie Sarroff and other Coastal strip Councillors must stop pork-barrelling their Council divisions at the expense of families in our growing northern and western suburbs.

While the divisions of Councillors Grew, Gates, Young and Wayne continue to be overlooked for pools, libraries, sporting field and other basic community facilities and improvements; Councillors Sarroff, McDonald, Crichlow, Pforr and Douglas are syphoning off millions and millions for new libraries, community centre, footpaths, park refurbishments and foreshore "embellishments". 

How is it okay to spend $60m on the Broadwater Parklands and nothing in Robina or Coomera?

This isn't responsible fiscal management this is just shameless politicking and divisional gouging! What Cr Sarroff must do is provide better management of the city budget not pick off projects to embarrass or punish Councillors he doesn't like!

Budget revelations that red tape and design costs are blowing out the Gold Coast City Council budget should come as no surprise. I have real sympathy for our Councillors, this issue was a massive source of frustration for me while in Council and to be frank it's get worse. But we only have ourselves to blame.

Red tape, local law making, consumer protection, public safety, litigation, duty of care, risk management and environmental policies are being driven by our State and Federal Governments in response to a society that has become over-indulged, fussy, litigious and just down right selfish. In fact there are more layers of legislation now than you'll find in a Sara Lee pastry.

Put simply we're legislating ourselves into oblivion. I believe it's a symptom of our affluence. Poorer countries just can't afford the standards of public infrastructure and government services we so readily take for granted.

In the 60's and 70's playgrounds, shelter sheds and bbqs were built by Lions or Rotary, we were happy to clean the barbie ourselves and the community was grateful. Today parks have become a selling feature of new developments, the bbqs are cleaned for us and our expectations have become unreasonable.

Had we raised the Hinze Dam for increased water storage and flood mitigation back in the 1999 there was only a single piece of legislation we had to comply with and the cost would have been under $50million. Ten years on Council had 27 new pieces of legislation to comply with and the cost blew out to over $400million.

Bottom line, we expect too much, and our government's response is to make more rules "just in case" something goes wrong. In good times the bureaucrats go crazy finding new ways to shuffle paper and deflect attention from poor performance.

It's time for less rules and less paper shuffling. It's time for lower taxes and charges, more doctors and health care workers, built better transport systems, developed solar and alternate energy solutions and paid our police and teachers better.

And, maybe its time we went back to cleaning the bbq down the park ourselves.

You’d never guess it’s almost end of financial year again, Councillor Sarroff is rallying on behalf of the people, Dale Dickson is allegedly the most evil CEO that ever walked the planet and Councillors are apparently all greedy divisionally focused megalomaniacs. Never mind that an amazing amount of hard work has been done by hundreds of people in the organisation to continuously deliver a standard of living and services that most of the worlds inhabitants can only but dream about.

For the record, I don’t like paying rates either. That said however, when you weigh up all the government taxes and charges we pay, council rates are the best value for money we’ll ever get! While inflation and CPI increase tax income without government having to make any adjustments rates on the other hand have to be “manually” adjusted each year. We berate our Councillors for daring to put up rates while the state and federal governments imply 'get luckier as we get luckier'.

It’s time Cr Sarroff dropped the “people’s champion” routine, all it does is makes the other councillors look bad, while he knowingly pushes ahead in the full knowledge that fourteen other votes will carry the budget which he too secretly wants adopted. The average rate payer pays around $2,000.00 annually to have their poo and garbage taken away, the world’s best water delivered to their door, streets swept and maintained, beaches protected, parks mown, bbq and toilets cleaned, kids immunised, mosquito’s sprayed, canals dredged and the list goes on!

My biggest beef with the budget is simply this, the coastal strip thrives at the expense of the north and west! Councillors Young, Gates, Grew, Shepherd and Wayne have a strong case for more facilities in their areas, the older areas are typically over-serviced while families thrive in the growth areas of our city with less than a fair share of pools, libraries, community centres and public transport.

Years of poor planning and policy making are coming back to bite us. Revelations that home ownership for New Yorkers is more of a reality than for Gold Coasters should come as no surprise!  Council and the Queensland State Government have spent decades planning for medium to low growth when real growth has continued to outstrip even the most optimistic of forecasts.

It’s the consistent planning for less that has created the infrastructure fiasco we now have in the Great South East! The latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has found that the Gold Coast is “severely unaffordable”.

Those councillors who proudly wore the so called green, anti-development badge of honour through the nineties & the noughties owe the ratepayers of this city and our kids an apology. Frankly they should resign. Their belligerent stand against population growth, density, height, the light rail and reasonable infrastructure charges are all factors in our affordability crisis.

Affordability is not just about housing at reasonable prices. Affordability is also about access to services and care. Without affordable high density “bedroom suburbs” close to the coastal strip, health care and hospitality workers are forced to live further away and labour costs rise. As costs rise, visitors and retirees will be required to pay more, making the Coast a kind of Monte Carlo, a place only for the rich.

Council and the State Government must act fast, it’s time to free up our archaic development controls and encourage greater plot densities, height and yield along the major transit corridors. Construction of the Light Rail must be fast-tracked to provide rapid access to the coastal strip and certainty for developers.

We barely scrapped through the GFC, we must learn from the past and make development of affordable housing the number one priority. To capitalise on the next economic surge the planning & development process must be faster, easier and cheaper.  

Seems Surfers Paradise isn’t the only entertainment precinct facing the challenge of bad behaviour after dark. Last weekend’s police blitz of Sydney night-clubs comes hot on the heels of a major blitz only a few weekends ago in Newcastle and just months after Melbourne City Council announced plans for “mobile” secret squirrel security vans. 

My mother always used to say nothing good happens after midnight and now on reflection I have to admit she’s right. In Sydney and Newcastle plans are underway to wind back night club hours from 5am closings to 3am and even the possibility of raising the drinking age back to 21 is on the table for discussion.

Not surprisingly NSW licensed venues are concerned and well should they be, their best sales apparently  come in the wee hours when the drinks flow more liberally, more spirits and exotic drinks are consumed, and with them night club profit margins soar!

This is no new challenge for us, one has only to cast their mind back to the 1970’s and the squads of riot police toting shields and batons at Coolangatta and in Surfers to realise this is a problem that needs constant management and regular review. I for one am fed up with the thug like behaviour of  some patrons and news of "glassings" in Surfers Paradise. It’s seems the more booze some people consume, the more stupid and senseless the behaviour becomes. If people can’t be responsible then there can be only one priority, “the public interest”.

While there are some who think twenty-four hour trading and extended hours are great for the city I completely disagree, it’s time more was done to protect our city image and to make sure it’s a safe place for families and visitors.  Tell me what you think?

With Schoolies only a week away I felt it timely to write to all the mums of year twelve students and provide some words of comfort. Chill! Forget the media hype, there isn’t a safer week to be in Surfers than the first week of Schoolies. Thanks to Council, the State Government, St John’s, the Red Frog Brigade and many other volunteer organisations Surfers couldn’t be safer.

During the height of Schoolies we have more organised activities, more ambulance officers, more police and more carers on hand than any other week of the year! The media hype during Schoolies is akin to the road safety hype of Christmas and Easter, statistically our roads are at their safest and I suspect the same goes for Surfers.

While public safety is well in hand police and volunteers however can’t really contend for the chastity and virtue of our kids. Frankly if you don’t trust your kids to stay out of each other’s clothing during Schoolies then you may need to re-think your parenting strategy or revisit your birds and bees discussion.

Our kids need the heads up on the consequences of un-protected sex, sexually transmitted diseases. If we haven’t covered off on these way before Schoolies then it’s us as parents who have dropped the ball. Schoolies is just an opportunity to play up, not the cause.  

In a city of over 100,000 dogs and twice as many cats, the state government's proposed ban on dogs in new housing estates around Coomera may seem a bit extreme but it is probably a fair response to years and years of pet neglect and irresponsible pet owner practices!

Sadly those of us who responsibly take care of our pets, register them and keep them under control will be penalised because half the city's pet owners don’t register their pets and worse still don’t keep them out of harm’s way.

It’s sad that hundreds of acres of established koala habitat will be felled by dozers to make way for the new Coomera Town Centre and desperately needed housing! The least we can do is make sure those areas being preserved for surviving koalas are pet-free and allowed to be a sanctuary for our national icon.

I’d gladly go without a pet pooch to live in the fabulous new urban environment that’s planned for Coomera. Heritage Pacific have set new standards for green living, integrating natural habitat, paths and bushland access in their new residential estate.

Let’s hope the others will follow!

There will always be plenty of dogs and cats, but I’m not so sure about koalas!

Regardless of what you think about Indy and our Super GP no show, “Events” are core business for our City and there’s nothing quite like the glamour and adrenaline of a major motorsports event to bring in the crowds.

The demise of Indy should however cause us to stop and take a big breath. While I love the street circuit and the idea of cars roaring through Surfers Paradise it’s quite possibly time for a change. With 2000 people a week still moving into the South East corner of Qld it’s time for us to look after our other core business, make way for the light rail and keep our major roads moving! Let’s create a world class motor sports precinct between here and Brisbane, one that can cope with year round motor racing events, concerts and extreme sports. That way we can have the best of both worlds.

The panoramic chopper footage will be just as spectacular panning Moreton Bay and the Broadwater, Surfers will still enjoy international  exposure as the city’s entertainment heart and all those visitors who come for  “the beach” will have unfettered access to the coastal strip from Main Beach to Burleigh. The strip is only going to come under more pressure in years to come and must be accessible not just to those staying close at hand but the thousands of day trippers and ordinary families from the north and west of the Coast. Oh, and while we’re at it we may even find a new home for the Mike Hatcher Raceway and Reedy Creek Motor-cross clubs! 

This morning as I wandered through the Coolangatta Airport, I overheard some lady going on and on about how terrible the airport is. I fail to see her point, obviously she’s never visited a third world country, she obviously never been to Charleville or Blackwater or Mt Isa and to be blunt she has probably had some sort of personality disorder. I looked around, the sun was shining, there was great food and coffee available from about six different positions, a fantastic newsagency, book and gift store, clean floors, sparkling new furniture and a good healthy dose of the Gold Coast’s best fresh air on the way to the plane.

This week I celebrated my 50th Birthday, what a blast. It only seems like yesterday I was celebrating my 40th, this past decade has flown past at breakneck speed but it’s been wonderful. Aside from the fun the ribbing has started to wear a bit thin, “ hey old man, boy are you old, have you started colouring your hair yet”. All that’s okay but the one I hate is “are you okay, how are you taking it, hope you’re not too depressed’. Depressed what’s to be depressed about, I’m just tired! When Melinda and I started reflecting the other day on all we done this past ten years we were blown away by how rich and full our life has been. We’ve seen our four boys grow from toddlerhood to teenage-dom, travelled the world, moved from broadcasting into politics and back again, had a crack at the mayoralty, celebrated with the Coach and Michael Searle the entry of the Titans and the list just goes on and on and on!

I’ve come to the conclusion however that milestones like my 50th are a classic example of glass half full, glass half empty. On the other hand there’s been some challenges, periods of unemployment, the sad loss of my mother and sister last year, but life if for seizing, it’s for having a go and learning to dust yourself off “regularly”, learning to laugh and making sure you don’t forget to live in the moment, life is happening NOW, it won’t be better in the future or better if you had more money, it’s better each and every day because we can chose our attitude, our friends and how to spend our time.

A few years back high profile radio personality Alan Jones visited the Gold Coast and spoke at the Cornie’s Lunch. In his address he described the Gold Coast as the most egalitarian city in the nation, he’s right! It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor, the best that our city has to offer, the beach, the fresh air, the hinterland and amazing facilities are all laid on “free of charge” 365 days of the year. The experience is just as good regardless of what car you drive or shoes you wear because once you kick off your shoes and put your feet in the sand, suddenly we’re all equal!

We live in Paradise, I thank God I was born on the Gold Coast, I’m thankful for my amazing friends and family and count the honour of living here as a privilege every day.   Seriously, how can anyone living on the Gold Coast seriously complain about life in Australia’s best city, it’s paradise here!

This week I celebrated my 50th Birthday, what a blast. It only seems like yesterday I was celebrating my 40th, this past decade has flown past at breakneck speed but it’s been wonderful. Aside from the fun the ribbing has started to wear a bit thin, “ hey old man, boy are you old, have you started colouring your hair yet”. All that’s okay but the one I hate is “are you okay, how are you taking it, hope you’re not too depressed’. Depressed what’s to be depressed about, I’m just tired! When Melinda and I started reflecting the other day on all we done this past ten years we were blown away by how rich and full our life has been. We’ve seen our four boys grow from toddlerhood to teenage-dom, travelled the world, moved from broadcasting into politics and back again, had a crack at the mayoralty, celebrated with the Coach and Michael Searle the entry of the Titans and the list just goes on and on and on!

I’ve come to the conclusion however that milestones like my 50th are a classic example of glass half full, glass half empty. On the other hand there’s been some challenges, periods of unemployment, the sad loss of my mother and sister last year, but life if for seizing, it’s for having a go and learning to dust yourself off “regularly”, learning to laugh and making sure you don’t forget to live in the moment, life is happening NOW, it won’t be better in the future or better if you had more money, it’s better each and every day because we can chose our attitude, our friends and how to spend our time.

A few years back high profile radio personality Alan Jones visited the Gold Coast and spoke at the Cornie’s Lunch. In his address he described the Gold Coast as the most egalitarian city in the nation, he’s right! It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor, the best that our city has to offer, the beach, the fresh air, the hinterland and amazing facilities are all laid on “free of charge” 365 days of the year. The experience is just as good regardless of what car you drive or shoes you wear because once you kick off your shoes and put your feet in the sand, suddenly we’re all equal!

We live in Paradise, I thank God I was born on the Gold Coast, I’m thankful for my amazing friends and family and count the honour of living here as a privilege every day.

What’s great about the Gold Coast? EVERYTHING, our lifestyle, beaches, climate, facilities and way of life. Sadly most of us are so busy with our work and families that we often don’t make the most of things. Perhaps it’s time for some fresh thinking, perhaps it’s time for some innovative work practices and trading hours so that we not only improve productivity but line the city up with our friends over the border and gave families more time to breath.
 
In the latest edition of Time Magazine there’s a great story about the Utah Government and their very bold move to a forty hour, four by ten, four day working week. Not only has it led to greater morale and productivity but significant savings in energy. An estimated 13% saving in energy. Less time commuting, better work flows and more time for family!
 
Perhaps Gold Coast Council should lead the way, shake of the shackles of our northern city dwellers and move to the Utah Model! Most Council employees enjoy a 38 hour week and nine day fortnight, let’s go back to 40 hours over 4 days, and move the clocks to daylight savings time. With any luck everyone else may follow!
 
This kind of thinking may not only save us money but re-affirm our place as the nation’s best place for families and visitors! Now that’s what I’d call a BOLD FUTURE!

Rob

The Taj Mahal is a tomb, not an administration centre, not a seat of governance, a tomb. Comparisons between the Taj and our Council’s plans for a centralised bigger, better and shinier home are just ridiculous! So too is the ongoing debate and discussion about the city administrations’ accommodation needs.

Like it or not we’re a growing city, more people and more services, equal more staff!  We have no choice we have to expand what we have, centralise it or rent more space. Regardless of which you prefer they all cost money and really can’t be avoided. What we can’t afford is another decade of game playing and indecision. It’s time Councillors Sarrof and Crichlow stopped grandstanding on the issue. These popularists and their decade of rhetoric about saving the ratepayers money, has nothing to do with good decision making,  and everything to do with cheap politicking at the expense of those councillors who are actually trying to make sensible decisions.

The grandstanding and indecision gets a few of them great media but at ratepayer expense. Our councillors must stop game playing and just make a decision. Every time they come up with another “brilliant” idea or call for a report it costs the ratepayers millions of dollars. While I’m no longer privy to the confidential reports and budget numbers it would be fair to say their indecision is costing ratepayers at least fifteen to twenty million a year, about 3% of our rates. Rented premises account for at least fifteen million and each series of reports and studies cost another two million a time. 

In case our councillors have forgotten, amalgamation of Albert Shire and Gold Coast was almost 14 years ago, it’s time to move on, Evandale is not better than Nerang and Nerang is no more central than Robina. What the city needs is a modern solution which takes into account the changing dynamics of the work force and the need for Council to set an example in respect of the environment and place their administration facilities where there is great public transport, right next to a train station.

We should develop multi-service facilities at Robina, Nerang, Coomera and Southport. These sites will all be eventually linked by heavy and light rail, each site provides an opportunity for greater access and centralisation of community facilities like a library, customer service desk, tourism counter, community meeting rooms, auditorium, youth centre and maybe even an aquatic centre. Council departments could be located in a tower above the site with space being developed for commercial letting, this way Council can either expand or contract depending on future business trends. We should sell or lease Nerang to the Queensland State Government for the new water authority and main roads. We should leave the Mayor’s office and Council Chambers as they are but progressively vacate the old Evandale Office Buildings over the next decade or two and secure State & Federal funding for development of a Cultural precinct and Museum befitting the nation’s sixth largest city and tourist industry.

While I’m not clear about Cr Peter Young’s motivation or suggestion of a decentralised administration, I do think he may be on to something. The push for a centralised Taj Mahal is so yesterday; let’s put Council back into the community. Let’s get creative with Evandale. Let’s just make a decision!  

Faded Curtain Syndrome, You have to laugh, spring is in the air, summer is almost upon us, so here we go again with the great Daylight Saving debate.

The pollies are all doing the usual, feigning concern for the voters and “my people”, concerned for the farmers, curtains don’t fade faster up north because of Daylight Saving, in fact the days are shorter as you move north and longer as you travel south.

Speaking personally daylight savings is what it is - a nuisance! But for thousands of Queenslanders and more importantly Gold Coasters it’s a monumental pain in the neck AND a missed opportunity! It makes no sense for us to be on a different time zone than NSW, Victoria and Tassie, it messes up family life down on the border, it makes doing business more complicated for multinational companies, it messes with flight schedules and more importantly it just makes Queensland look STUPID.

If anyone has a case to complain it’s the Tasmanians, it still broad daylight at 10.00pm. Here in Queensland it just means we get till 7 or 8 at night to enjoy the evening and it won’t be light till 5am instead of 4am when most of us are asleep anyway.

If we were serious about the environment and doing our bit for global warming we’d embrace Daylight Saving in a heartbeat! Tasmania actually used to run Daylight Saving longer than any other state because the power savings were significant for a state largely dependent on the hydro for their electricity, and gas fired turbines when the hydro couldn’t cope!  

I don’t know about you but the comments of our local pollies and Premier Anna in this weekend’s Gold Coast Bulletin are pathetic. Peta-Kaye Croft (doesn’t bother me), Anna (would love it but we can’t do it!), Alexander Douglas (I represent the people of Gavin), Ray Stevens (I’ll have to look at it). Give me a break, you all know it’s good for the Gold Coast, you all know it’s the right thing to do, you’re all just either gutless, stupid or ill-informed!

It's not faded curtains we need to be concerned about it's the brain-fade of our civic leaders which is the real worry.

Councillors and State Members should be out in force for this Thursday’s Turning Point 2010 conference at the Marriott. The conference will look at how we can move forward faster with desperately need infrastructure and opportunities to get the city’s ailing development industry back on its feet. Over the past five years Council & State have bled over $1.3b from local developers for infrastructure and billions more in land tax with very little coming back to meet the challenges of city growth. Gold Coast Council until recently was using interest earned on developer head-works and infrastructure accounts to subside low rates but now it’s all come to a grinding halt. This week’s conference on development will be attended by over 200 local industry representatives, no state members and only two Gold Coast City Councillors, Sarroff and Betts! The only way we can sustain our lifestyle, jobs and quality of life is with everyone pulling together. This conference should be a priority, we need sustainable development if our kids and seniors are to receive the services and quality of life they deserve. If Council and developers can’t get a better deal from the state then rates will go up! To the closed minded development is about the rich getting richer, to those with common sense it’s about housing affordability and a future for our kids!

I don’t know what’s being fed into the air conditioning system at council but it’s time our senior boffins got some fresh air. Charging personal trainers and exercise groups to use our parks is a bit like telling ratepayers they’re not allowed to pick up their own rubbish, we’d rather pay someone to do the work for us. This latest nonsense from Council is just ridiculous.

On one hand we’re spending a million or more subsidising our city’s “Healthy & Active” program and now we want to penalise commercial operators who provide a similar service at no risk or cost to rate payers a fee for using our parks. I thought that’s what parks were for. Next we’ll be charging the lifesavers for using our beaches to teach kids CPR.

When will the nonsense stop? Council should be encouraging these programs, supplementing them not road-blocking them. If we’re going to charge the operators of these health & fitness services for providing a service to ratepayers then perhaps we’ll have to start charging everyone a fee to use our parks, paths and BBQs. Council is so far off the mark on this issue it’s just not funny.

This just reeks of bureaucracy gone wrong!

Well Gold Coast Council’s Kerbside collections are back with many suburbs around the city resembling Steptoe & Son an old 1960’s British sitcom about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. To be honest I always had mixed feelings about Kerbside clean-ups when I was in Council. We did a couple in my area, and I killed one off in my last year as I felt they turned the suburbs into a bit of a rubbish tip and was frustrated that so many ratepayers never read their information flyers and so we had weeks of legacy rubbish to clean-up long after the deadlines had passed. In fact one year I ended up collecting station wagon loads of rubbish for some of my elderly constituents who missed the cut-off.

All that said Cr Grummitt has bought it back and good on her! It’s been fun to watch the procession of drive-bys this weekend of people looking to pick over the rubbish in search of hidden treasures. It’s all quite environmentally friendly really! Tell me what you think!

Gold Coasters should be riding high after this weekend’s round of footy!

On the back of an awesome win away for the Gold Coast Titans, GC United put on a night to remember at Skilled Stadium! As a virgin to the world “football” I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of world class soccer right here at home!

Aside from the team’s stellar performance the atmosphere was something else. The GC United Fan Club were highly organised, very entertaining and “out in force”. I’m not sure how many beers they enjoyed at the Dog & Parrot prior to the game but they were in great form! The chanting, the singing, the cheering really set the scene for a great night! It was as though Skilled Park had somehow been miraculously teleported to the UK.

Sadly only 7,500 people turned out for the 5-0 thrashing of North Qld Fury but with the standard set I’m sure many more will follow!

While Clive Palmer delighted the fans with his victory lap, Leanne Mensik the CEO’s wife and her family did a sterling job of educating and stirring up the corporate guests many of whom can only be best described as “football” virgins.

As each code launches its brand of world class “footy” our city is just a little better off economically, socially and spiritually. Footy is not just great entertainment, its great business and the Coast can only but benefit from Clive Palmer’s vision and investment.

Thanks Clive.

I’m not sure what all the fuss is about, the only person I’ve ever known who visited the Czech Republic was my dad. He spent four years in a German POW camp during WWII and he doesn’t have any fond memories of the place, so maybe we should be sending some of our Councillors there, FOR A REALITY CZECH!

Seriously, Councillor junkets need to stop, it shouldn’t be up to rate-payers to fund their education. On the other hand however I think we need to be a little fairer with our employees. It’s reasonable to expect some of our senior staff to travel with Gold Coast Tourism and Economic Development  when there’s serious business up for grabs. The Gold Coast Bulletin’s criticism of CEO Dale Dickson and David Montgomery’s trip to the UK is to be blunt unfounded. Three years ago Gold Coast Council decided to negotiate much more generous insurance arrangements with brokers and underwriters in the United Kingdom. As a result of these negotiations, the CEO encouraged us to establish our own “captive cell insurance entity”. A statutory requirement of this arrangement is Council must appoint Directors to represent the city or ratepayers. While the annual travel cost associated with this may seem extravagant at around $30,000, the direct savings are in the millions of dollars year after year!

Regardless of how you feel about the CEO, his salary and performance, on this count he must be commended for his initiative and innovation. A few million a year in insurance savings may not sound like a lot, but on this count an annual business class trip is more than warranted and a good return on investment.

As for all the Councillor junkets, they should stay put or pay their own way. The Mayor however needs to work a whole lot harder at representing the city nationally and abroad in partnership with tourism and economic development.

It’s time for all the pollies to stop ducking and weaving, more reports and paper shuffling won’t find our kids somewhere to ride their motorbikes, let’s pour all that energy, time and money into building the southern hemisphere’s largest undercover, indoor, soundproof extreme sports centre!

Not only will it fix our problem forever, it’ll become a major tourist attraction, a centre for events and draw more visitors to the Gold Coast! We could close the Suntown Tip, level the entire area, plant thousands of trees, create massive landscape barriers, car-parking and then build a massive indoor facility for concerts, rodeos, motor sports and skate facilities.

Extreme sports, skate and surf all fit our city image so what’s the downside! We found $158m for Skilled Park, we found $180m for the new AFL Stadium, let's find $30m for our kids and extreme sports!

Over the past ten years Gold Coast Council and the Queensland State Government have spent millions of dollars managing community expectations, politicking and investigating potential sites for motor sports in South East Queensland.

The challenge is finding a suitable area, at one stage Gold Council staff identified over fifty potential sites, each site has significant challenges and almost all suffered from NIBY syndrome. Nobody wants a motor sports facility in their back yard!

Even the few sites far enough away from residential areas had limited lives as most of the land adjacent was earmarked for future development. There is no piece of land that will work in our rapidly growing city. Our only option is to fix the problem once and for all with a permanent non-invasive facility or we have to forget motorsports forever and frankly that option is not in the best interests of our kids!

Nothing can prepare you adequately for public life! When someone steps up to run for public office they don’t usually expect to receive death threats. I’m sure Tweed Mayor Cr van Lieshout must be concerned about calls she received this past week suggesting she look into making funeral plans.

As frustrated as we get at times with our local councillors there is never any excuse for this kind of behaviour. Before my run at council back in 2003 former Mayor Gary Baildon warned me about the impact life as a councillor may have on my kids. At the time I thought he was exaggerating, I since discovered he was absolutely correct.

In my four short years as a Councillor I received many threats, most just from irate rate payers but the repeated late night calls from a drugged out lunatic threatening me and my family was very disturbing, especially when he told us he knew where we lived and what schools our kids attended. Aside for notifying the police who did nothing, we were quick to have our phone number and address removed from the white pages. When I opposed liberalisation of the adult entertainment industry early in my term it was suggested I be “very” careful who I upset by a night club operator. Aside from these threats, some of my kids were ridiculed and bullied at school and we received many bizarre late night phone calls from “constituents.

On a lighter note one ratepayer gave me an earful one afternoon because the grass was getting a bit long in Norm Rix Park and went so far as to describe living in Labrador like “living in a third world country”. Really me think he dost complain too much!

I know politicians frustrate us all at time but none deserves to be abused or threatened least of all their families.

Nothing can prepare you adequately for public life! When someone steps up to run for public office they don’t usually expect to receive death threats. I’m sure Tweed Mayor Cr van Lieshout must be concerned about calls she received this past week suggesting she look into making funeral plans.

As frustrated as we get at times with our local councillors there is never any excuse for this kind of behaviour. Before my run at council back in 2003 former Mayor Gary Baildon warned me about the impact life as a councillor may have on my kids. At the time I thought he was exaggerating, I since discovered he was absolutely correct.

In my four short years as a Councillor I received many threats, most just from irate rate payers but the repeated late night calls from a drugged out lunatic threatening me and my family was very disturbing, especially when he told us he knew where we lived and what schools our kids attended. Aside for notifying the police who did nothing, we were quick to have our phone number and address removed from the white pages. When I opposed liberalisation of the adult entertainment industry early in my term it was suggested I be “very” careful who I upset by a night club operator. Aside from these threats, some of my kids were ridiculed and bullied at school and we received many bizarre late night phone calls from “constituents.

On a lighter note one ratepayer gave me an earful one afternoon because the grass was getting a bit long in Norm Rix Park and went so far as to describe living in Labrador like “living in a third world country”. Really me think he dost complain too much!

I know politicians frustrate us all at time but none deserves to be abused or threatened least of all their families.

Last week I heard that each and every Queenslander now owes $30,000. That’s the dollar value LNP Federal Member, Stuart Robert  claims we’ll owe by the time KRudd and ABligh are finished with their borrowings splurge. Given we’re a family of six that means the government has run up more debt on our behalf than we owe on our mortgage and combined household debt. Thanks! Perhaps it’s time state & federal governments stuck by their own rules! In Queensland, Councils MUST run “balanced” budgets! That means Gold Coast Council is bound by STATE GOVERNMENT legislation to control its spending! The same rules don’t apply in George Street or Canberra. While I’m pleased to see our governments taking initiatives to stimulate our economy I’m concerned that decades of over stimulation have conditioned us into living and behaving like spoilt brats. Kevin and Anna are faced with one fundamental challenge. How do they retain office without spending what we don’t have! The truth is they are a reflection of the electorate, we want more, so they keep giving us more. We all know we’re living beyond our means but we don’t want to stop. If we really loved our kids and if we were really concerned about our future we’d all pull our belts in and vote for responsible fiscal policy not populist politicians who just tell us what we want to hear. So what do you think?

The news that nightclubs must switch from glass to plastic is welcome news, but isn’t this just another smokescreen by the premier to deflect attention from the real issue?

LNP member for Surfers Paradise, John-Paul Langbroek is right to suggest the measure doesn’t go far enough. 

Each year the state government undertakes a review of police numbers based on August census data! That may be fine for Cunnamulla, but August is the Gold Coast’s lowest month for visitors! Our population almost doubles at Christmas and for most of the year there’s an extra seventy odd thousand people in town.

When there were problems in the adult entertainment industry a few years back the CMC recommended legalising inappropriate behaviours so the police didn’t have to enforce the old laws.

When we had trouble with jet-skis on the Broadwater the government introduced new rules abdicating enforcement to Council. When faced with the challenge of managing graffiti the state has fundamentally done nothing.

Anna should spend less on the spin doctoring and paper shuffling. The answer isn’t more and more rules, the answer is less ducking and weaving and simply more police for the Gold Coast.

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way .. I’m Rob Molhoek

The Surfers Paradise Alliance this week launched it’s plan to market the precinct by sector or precinct, based on the New York Manhattan Island Model. Uptown, Downtown, Northside, etc. Not a bad idea but I’m not sure it will necessarily drag the locals back in!

The challenge Surfers Paradise faces quite fundamentally is that right now it’s something of a construction zone and many parts of the precinct are long overdue a serious face lift; paths, gardens, furniture in many parts of the precinct don’t measure up.

In recent years millions of dollars have been poured into citywide makeovers. There’s the brand spanking new shiny Southport Broadwater Parklands, Paradise Point, Broadbeach, the Labrador Foreshore and down the southern end Coolangatta & Currumbin.

While I applaud Surfers Alliance for the initiative I’m not sure that clever marketing right now is going to have the impact necessary to drag the locals back into the city’s iconic engine room.

The dollars may be better spent on fast-tracking the makeover that’s being ushered in with our new Hilton Towers and Soul! City’s go through cycles, New York was on its knees until Mayor Giuliani ushered in his agenda of transformation, Surfers will come back but there’s some series work to do!

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way .... I’m Rob Molhoek

The multi-million dollar push by Queensland Tourism to bring in more tourists is welcome news for the city’s tourism industry. There’s never been a better time to travel, airfares and accommodation deals are just sensational. What bothers me however is the cost of getting around!

The other week I flew to Sydney with Jetstar for a poultry $119.00 return! The  cab fare was $176.00. If I’d taken my own car parking would have cost $72.00.  I could have flown from Brisbane, but the bus to Helensvale and Airtrain would have added $60.00 and around 6 hours to the trip.

If Queensland Tourism are serious about bringing more families to paradise then they must also push for cheaper and better public transport. There’s no decent or inexpensive public transport to Coolangatta Airport! Airtrain services need to run earlier and finish later so you can get to Brisbane for early morning or late night flights.

We need more taxi’s and cheaper fares, affordable airport parking and a  Rapid Transit System that runs not just from Parklands to Broadbeach but the entire length of our coastal strip from Helensvale to Coolangatta.

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way ...... I’m Rob Molhoek

This week’s global outpouring of grief at the passing of Michael Jackson is a sobering reminder that nothing in this life is forever.

Michael Jackson is without doubt one of the most talented and passionate artists ever known to humanity. His life has touched billions. Reverend Al Sharpton summed it up in his eulogy, “It was Michael Jackson who brought the coloured world together, people who were once separate became connected through his music and then they become comfortable with each other.”

His music has brought together people of all races and generations like no other force or quest in recent history. But no speech, no performance cut through quite like little Paris Katherine’s closing word’s, “Ever since I was born Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and I just wanted to say I love him so much”.

Sadly Paris and her two brothers now will only have their father’s legacy to hold on to! Aside from his music, Michael’s legacy is his message of love and a life of persistence and optimism.

As I’ve watched the global coverage of his passing and this week’s memorial service I’m challenged both as a dad and a human being to reflect on my life and my legacy. Will my kids say I was the best dad ever, will there be an Al Sharpton and a Brooke Shields or two to say I made a difference.

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way ... I’m Rob Molhoek

Just when you thought raising kids couldn’t get any more complicated Newcastle University Biologist Karmin Nayernia has apparently created artificial sperm. According a report in last week’s Daily Telegraph the role of men could become entirely redundant. Kind of brings a whole new twist to the concept of absentee parenting.

I don’t know about you but I reckon this about takes the prize for lunacy! As if we don’t already have enough single parent homes? And with no dad to pick up the tab for child support I guess the government would be expected to pay out even more welfare dollars to unsupported kids or should I say artificial embryos.

I’m amazed there is someone out there funding this research. I’d rather see funding to fast-track a cure for Cancer, MS or Leukaemia. Let’s help the living, we have enough challenges looking after normal human beings without creating artificial ones!

While Professor Nayernia’s stated aim is to one day help infertile men have children, it opens up Pandora’s Box. A woman could, in theory, be both mother and father to her own child and at its crudest, we now face the possibility of a world where women do not need men to make babies. So what’s next? Cloning of radio personalities? One Holmsey and Flan for Breakfast is probably enough!

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way ... I’m Rob Molhoek

This Weekend’s Gold Coast Bulletin exposed in all their glory, Councillor travel junkets and the total lack of accountability attached to each trip.

I find it absolutely hilarious that the Councillors Clarke and Young are now calling for “travel controls. To the best of my knowledge Cr Young has enjoyed more junkets than any other councillor and the Mayor says he will slash travel costs.

I don’t believe, Cr Clarke promised rates freezes and has presided over a council that has bumped them up more than any other council since amalgamation. Cr Clarke was opposed to the Light Rail and now he’s extolling its virtues.  Isn’t this the same person who recently flew to Dubai at ratepayer expense and declared the trip a waste of time! Our mayor should be busy supporting serious trade delegations, promoting the city like a modern day Sir Bruce Small and spending  time in Canberra lobbying for a better deal.

When we elect someone to represent us in Council we expect them to come with the talent to do the job. It shouldn’t be up to ratepayers to fund their “self-education” and travel junkets. They should fund their own education like the rest of us! The ratepayers won’t be paying of our kids HECS debt and nor should they be paying for councillors to learn the ropes.

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au.

There is a better way. I’m Rob Molhoek

Former Queensland Government Minister Gordon Nuttall has pleaded not guilty to 36 counts of receiving secret commissions. In court earlier this week there was some contention about whether loans or payments he received from mining magnate Ken Talbot and businessman Harold Shand!

As a former councillor I’m a little bemused at the double standards! Members of political parties are allowed to hide behind a smoke screen in respect of campaign contributions, gifts and sponsored hospitality.

State and Federal members are subject to quite rigid disclosure requirements which are nothing compared to those imposed on Councillors.

Technically city councillors however are required to declare just about everything, even a free cup or coffee. If you were to receive a gift from a non family member, tickets to a game, corporate hospitality it must be disclosed publicly. In fact at the start of each new term Councillors are required to declare “all” of their private and business interests, including the family home.

It’s these disclosure requirements which lead to the CMC Inquiry into Gold Coast Council. The outcome was a minor re-draft of the rules for councillors so that now you can also view the list on-line. So now you can see just how many freebies our Councillors receive, and how much coffee they drink, well maybe not!

All  that said I find it hard to believe that Mr Nuttall could have been in any doubt about his obligation to declare gifts or loans in the order of three hundred thousand.

Tell me what you think at 1029.com.au

There is a better way. I’m Rob Molhoek