Gold for Australia! How ‘people power’ toppled Trump’s GC Tower
Craig Hill, who destroyed Trump Tower, tells how he and 280,000 other Australians defeated a tyrant.
I recently got my 15 minutes of fame for helping out Stop the proposed Trump Tower project on the Gold Coast. But the truth was that I was the public face of something much bigger: a campaign supported by hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians who decided enough was enough.
When I first heard about the proposal to build a Trump-branded tower on the Gold Coast, my reaction was simple: not in our backyard. Two things suddenly crossed my mind. First of all, I did not believe that Donald Trump’s values aligned with Australian values. Whether people support it politically or not, Australia has long prided itself on fairness, respect, inclusion and a certain humility. To me, Trump represented something completely different.
My second concern came from my professional background as a business consultant and corporate trainer. The Trump Organization’s business model has sparked controversy around the world. In many places, brand-related developments have become divisive, politically charged and economically risky. Gold Coast added to Trump name Damaging the city’s image rather than improving.
So, like many Australians with strong opinions and perhaps too much optimism, I started. Sign petition on Change.org. To be honest, I didn’t think this would go very far. My friends at the bar all told me the same thing: “If Trump wants it, it will happen.” I probably half believed them too. Still, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that another petition was already gaining momentum. This initiative was initiated by someone I’ll call CK, who understandably asked to remain anonymous because he wasn’t concerned about the backlash from particularly aggressive Trump supporters online. Once connected, we made the logical decision to consolidate our petitions. Our petition together reached 143,000 signatures. Amazing!
At the same time another petition More than 16,000 signatures have been collected on the Queensland Government website, launched by Samantha Jennings. Later, advocacy group GetUp also joined the fight with his own petitionHe collected another 120,000 signatures. In total, that’s almost 280,000 Australians publicly saying “No thanks.” This level of opposition attracted attention very quickly.
Soon I was getting phone calls from journalists all over Australia. Newspapers, television shows, radio stations: Suddenly everyone wanted to talk about the campaign. the story was going viral almost as fast as the petitions themselves.
aspect political candidate On behalf of the Marijuana Legalization Party, I felt that this issue was clearly a public nuisance and deserved more than online activism. I knew people on the Gold Coast who were active as independent political candidates and community campaigners, so I started making calls.
To be clear, they deserve most of the credit for what happened next. It was they who organized locally, motivated hundreds of residents and helped establish a truly united front on the ground. I turned an idea nurtured by others into something much bigger.
I also started lobbying politicians directly. I emailed every Federal Congressman and Senator in the country. Many members of the Labor Party and the Greens responded positively and expressed support for the concerns raised. I repeated the process with members of the Queensland Parliament and received many supportive responses there too.
I have also contacted Gold Coast City councillors. Three of them privately supported the campaign. But Mayor Tom Tate not among them. Then came what I suspected might be the tipping point.
I have reached out to unions to gauge their position should the development progress. While no one wanted to speak publicly, several representatives unofficially suggested there were discussions about potentially blacklisting the site if the project moves forward. For a major development, such uncertainty is enough to make investors nervous. Whether this is decisive or not, it is clear that something has changed.
ONLY INSIDE! Trump Tower in GC is abandoned. https://t.co/W3hFBHzI8v
— Dave Donovan (@davrosz) May 13, 2026
Just three months after the campaign started, developer David Young And Trump Organization announced What can only be described as a spectacular public schism. both sides we blamed each other for the collapse of the project. Watching this incident felt strangely like seeing the end of a bad love affair, as both parties insisted: “It wasn’t me, it was you.”
Young made clear that he realizes the Trump brand has become a lot, too. politically toxic in Australia. Unconfirmed reports suggested that public opposition was starting to scare off investors and potential flat buyers. Quite simply, these investors and buyers did not want to be associated with the Trump name.
When the news came out that the project was canceled, my phone started ringing again. Media attention did not end with Australia. I spoke to international media organizations; New York Times And Times of London. For someone who initially expected a forgotten online petition with a few thousand names, it all felt surreal.
Needless to say, I suspect Donald Trump himself isn’t particularly excited about any of this. If the rumors that he is angry about the Gold Coast mishap are true, I probably shouldn’t expect to get a US visa anytime soon.
There’s a bigger lesson here, though.
This campaign was never about me. It was about what can happen when Australians come together around something they believe in. Hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions, thousands more organized locally, and probably millions more quietly supported the idea from the sidelines.
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has managed to unite a significant number of Australians; but perhaps not in the way he intended.
And if there’s one thing this campaign has proven, it’s that when Australians work together we can achieve extraordinary things: even outmaneuvering and defeating the President of the United States.
Craig Hill is a writer, journalist and business consultant based in Brisbane. He is the author of Doctor Who and Star Trek episode companions. He was the Cannabis Legalization Party candidate for the Queensland seat of Bonner in the 2025 Federal Election. You can follow Craig on X/Twitter @CraigHill01.
Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.
