Queensland four-year terms referendum, the council elections and the Gold Coast mayor elections were happening today, in the midst of the very exhausting 32 degree heat. Mayor Tom Tate and potential mayor Penny Toland were out in force doing their rounds of the Gold Coast polling booth. Trailing behind Tom Tate – everywhere he went it seemed – were the channel 9 news, not so surprisingly. Penny did not have cameras following her, but she did get out of her truck to cheers and applause.
Many locals and even candidates have been making the very obvious claim that Mayor Tom Tate has been sticking his fingers in every pie around town and has been funding so-called independents (at least 1 in every division) to try and fill councillor seats with his supporters. It seems that Tate is rather desperate to hold on to his position and get his projects, such as cruise ship terminal on the spit, happening despite a very loud opposition from the Gold Coast residents.
While this may seem like a bit of election rhetoric, his true colours came out in full view of the very quiet community of Labrador this afternoon at about 2:15 PM, where my partner was helping Santa Strofeldt, a local aged pensioner who is running for council. Many seniors were delighted by his presence and having photos with him at the time when people started asking Mayor Tom Tate who they should vote for in the local council elections, Mayor Tom Tate wasted no time in telling people to vote for – a supposedly independent – Kristyn Boulton for Division 4, who works for the disgraced MP Stuart Robert (Fadden). He also brushed off a local who pointed to the derelict building next door to the polling booth and asked whether it was going to be cleaned up. She also brought up concerns about her health, after a bout of nasty coughing, in regards to asbestos signs on the fence of the partially demolished building, which happens to be located next to a children’s playground and senior citizen centre. Tom responded with an arrogant shrug.
A very quiet Labrador poll
I personally do not know whether this type of campaigning is legal or not and given the opportunity, I wanted to try and have a word with the very notorious Mayor Tom Tate. Getting him aside from his photo opportunities were quiet tough, but I did manage to approach him and ask him if he had had the chance to vote himself out of office yet? He humbly laughed and said “Sorry, I can’t vote twice”. Bec, my partner wanted to take a photo of him at this time, to which he tried to deny us of that right saying “I do not give permission for a photo to be taken by you”, we did manage to get a photo however, it was at this point I thought I would put the tough question on him and asked Bec if she would record.
Here is the recording of that tough question that Tom Tate struggled with – Be sure to view this in fullscreen
A very red faced Tom Tate seemed to be shrinking at this point in time, to which he notified someone “I think it’s time to move on to the next poll”. As Tom Tate was leaving, I called out to him and asked him if he would approve my development for me if I slipped him 100 bucks cash… He did not respond and he was on his way.
An upset and embarresed Tom Tate
We have also had reports of Tom’s people handing out flyers for former mayor Gary Baildon, who is running for division 7, and Gary’s people handing out for Tom. I’d like to point out that this is not uncommon practice on voting day, but there seems to be quite the push to get current division 7 member Susie Douglas (who is running a popular and successful campaign to keep her position) out of council.
Regardless of whether these tactics and behaviors are legal or not, they most definitely are shady and many people have claimed that this election has been the Gold Coast’s dirtiest yet.
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