Tom Tate and Tozer’s very big week

It’s been a busy week for Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, Australia’s most “colourful” politician, the subject of this publication’s nearly decade-long detailed “Tate Town” investigation.

First, Tate attempted to collect $441,000 from Gold Coast Council, where she led an unsuccessful libel case against the ABC and a councillor. Later, when news appeared in the media, he changed his claim to just $100. It is unclear why he made this strange move, but The council nevertheless unanimously decided to refuse IT On Tuesday, December 2. Unanimously, that is, except for one council member, Glenn Tozer. As it is, IA. He spoke to Councilor Tozer outside the Council Chambers earlier Tuesday. The interview we filmed was… interesting.

MoreoverTom Tate last week defended his decision travel to Italy at taxpayers’ expense, Being a torch bearer at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The decision was made not only because the Gold Coast is not known as a winter sports destination, but also because spent $103,957 in international travel last fiscal year.

Only one Councilor traveled abroad in the last financial year, flying to California and London at a cost to Gold Coast residents of $18,914 — Glenn Tozer.

(We will show our interview with Tozer, discuss his circumstances, and provide more information about Councilman Tozer later in this article.)

Third, Mayor Tate suffered a humiliating defeat when an obscure judicial officer called the Corporate Judge overturned his own injunction in Tate’s favor. As readers of this publication’s Tate Town investigation will be aware, Tate has acquired a floor of an adjoining block of flats, Surfers Plaza Resort, in a “Crackerjack” style takeover of the community-owned Surfers Paradise Bowls Club.

In 2023, through a Guatemalan business partner, he sought to convert that floor into “capsule” accommodation that would provide affordable accommodation for 270 backpackers in a building containing only 146 units. This radical change was initially rejected by the Council, but was later approved after the Mayor’s aide appealed the decision. Planning and Environment Court.

(The disturbing, if not scandalous, circumstances of how this confirmation came to be will be discussed in a later post.) Independent Australia The article will be published in the coming days. Like many other matters involving Tom Tate’s Surfers Plaza Resort, which involve matters of significant concern and, indeed, allegations of criminality. Stay tuned for Tate Town updates shown in the right corner I.A. home page.)

In connection with the judge’s decision, Tate and his partner Alfonso Abril had appealed the Surfers Plaza Resort Resort Company’s decision to increase their share of expenses after the bean business left the building virtually uninsurable. Not only is he virtually uninsured, but he remains uninsured for 17 days in July 2024; This poses a huge risk to other residents. Ultimately, after this desperate time, the insurance company managed to secure Lloyds of London as insurer of last resort, but only after that. annual premium increased from $71,708 annually to $704,727; 883% increase.

Both Tate and Abril complained about the severity of the increase, which would require them to pay 64% of the updated premium on the grounds that they could not afford it. Abril,”Tequila SunrisePod’s business went bankrupt and Tate claimed that the increase in costs would leave him without a tenant and cause serious financial damage.

Overturning the injunction, Judge Ron Miskinis said that because Abril was merely the tenant operating the business, his concerns about harming its profitability were irrelevant to his decision. Irrelevant because the responsibility for the costs added to other corporate owners rested solely with Mayor Tom Tate, the owner of the unit who gave Alfonso Abril a lease to operate his pod business.

Judge Miskinis then turned his attention to Tate’s claim regarding the financial harm an adverse decision would cause him:

I am also informed that although the First Applicant recently purchased an adjacent property without a mortgage for over $4.1 million, the Applicants have failed to provide evidence of the First Applicant’s financial situation.

This shows that the owner has the opportunity to temporarily pay the contribution.

The Mayor and his deputy, Abril, have since taken legal action to challenge this decision. More details on the dark events at the Surfer Plaza Resort will be posted in future “Tate Town” updates at: IA. soon.

The last major takeaway from Tom Tate’s eventful week was the approval for the Council to spend $1.1 million of taxpayers’ money to further assess the feasibility of building a Cable Car in the World Heritage-listed Springbrook National Park in the city’s hinterland. This proposal was approved by the Council on Tuesday and appears to have been Tate’s only victory in this humiliating week.

There’s a lot we could say about this proposal, but we’ll just say it’s not possible as we’ve already done this in detail in various “Tate Town” articles this year, culminating in a detailed 16-minute documentary released a few months ago.

We know this because the proposal has been thoroughly vetted and rejected each time in four previous attempts to implement it over the past 30 years. Therefore, for Council to approve this on Tuesday would appear to be a pointless and blatant waste of Gold Coast taxpayers’ money.

As it is, IA. He was at a rather small rally in the Council Chambers on Tuesday morning organized by a local environmental group Gecko. A few months ago they had organized a much larger rally and locked themselves in the Council building, which we reported on. HEREbut this one was more focused.

As it turned out, City Councilor Glenn Tozer showed up at this rally to chat with concerned local citizens and some media, and was the only Councilor to do so. He should be applauded for this.

Independent A.Australia He had the opportunity to ask Tozer questions about the Cable Car and a few other topics. It was an unquestionably spiteful and somewhat surprising speech, but nowhere near as big as this broadcast’s famous “Chicken Dance.” report with local state MP and former Gold Coast Mayor Ray Stevens Same issue in 2016.

You can view IA. Interview with Tozer below IA. provides additional commentary.

However, one detail from this interview deserves special mention.

IA. He asked Tozer why the Council is considering this proposal and plans to spend more taxpayers’ money, which has been rejected every time before. He said he voted against “in most cases” (even though not in All cases!) and this is undoubtedly true. However, it should be noted that he is a politician and his constituency includes the Springbrook area. Naturally, this tourist development would be unpopular with voters in his district, so it’s not much of a virtue signal.

It should also be noted that: IA. What’s implied in the interview is that Tozer almost always votes in favor of Tom Tate’s proposals during his more than decade-long tenure as Alderman. Just like he did with Tate’s libel lawsuit this week.

But Tozer isn’t the only one bowing to Tate on nearly every front. Practically the entire Gold Coast Council is doing the same thing. This is one of the reasons why the Gold Coast is deeply undemocratic and arguably the center of corruption in Australia as a whole. For this reason Independent A.Australia He uses his meager resources to thoroughly investigate Tom Tate and his colorful Town.

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