Council & State Attempt to Trash Spit Master Plan

  • Mar 10, 2023

A TOWERING bungy structure, massive flycoaster swing, giant slides, minigolf course, pool, commercial shops and private development rising into the sky and smothering part of Philip Park - brought to you by the very same bloke who wanted to fill The Spit with V8 Supercars, screaming jet engines and 60,000 person concerts.

For the record, The Save Our Spit Alliance is strongly opposed to the emerging proposal from the AJ Hackett company to take over part of The Spit's public coastal reserve to develop grossly overreaching private tourism infrastructure and further their own commercial ambitions, despite the mayor's best efforts to quietly roll out the path paved in gold for the proponents.

The brazen proposal thus far is a Stรฆrk contradiction when measured against the binding and iron-clad Spit Masterplan - a plan built on a foundation of years-long and intensive community, business and government consultation which sounded the resolute long-term future of The Spit. When stacked against the Spit Masterplan, it's quite the total opposite of a winning direction.

As is written in the Masterplan, Philip Park had been identified to be retained as -

โ€œ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ-๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜น๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ 7.5 ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฏ. ๐˜š๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ง ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ด, ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด.โ€

If you didn't see the giant bungy commercial theme park in the Masterplan outcomes, don't worry, neither did anyone else.

๐— ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ง๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—˜๐—ซ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—จ๐—ก๐——๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—–๐—ข๐—ข๐—ž๐—˜๐—— ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ก ๐—”๐—ฆ ๐— ๐—”๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—ฃ๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ก๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—ฆ ๐—ง๐—ข๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐——๐—ฆ ๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—ง ๐—”๐—ก๐—ข๐—ง๐—›๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐——๐—จ๐—— ๐—œ๐——๐—˜๐—”

Last Monday, Save Our Spit Alliance (SOSA) reps were invited by Councillor Taylor to meet with a team from AJ Hackett to get a look at their proposal for what would be essentially the repurposing (theft?) of about 4000 sq metres of prime beachfront public reserve - a hatched hatchet plan which would no doubt destroy and heavily impact Federation Walk and The Spit as a whole to instead accommodate a privately owned and operated commercial bungy tower theme park.

With what can only be described as a notably undercooked powerpoint presentation, the AJ Hackett team and their town planner wilfully demonstrated total ignorance and dismissal of the legal requirements contained within the Spit Master Plan, and the long-demonstrated sentiments of the local community.

When stating their case to grift prime public land from the people, the evident lack of detail in the AJHackett presentation revealed that they had likely been seriously misled or very poorly advised about the kind of support they would receive from the Community Stakeholders attending the meeting.

While at first interaction, AJ Hackett CEO Danny Hughes seemed to be a fair and decent bloke, it soon became apparent in the meeting that he had been sold a total dud (with this proposal) by the Gold Coast Mayor's office, and possibly also by his own town planner, the RPS Group.

When pressed about the origins of the proposal, Mr Hughes admitted to those present at the meeting that โ€œDestination Gold Coastโ€ had apparently โ€œreached outโ€ to him almost โ€œ18 months agoโ€ suggesting Philip Park at The Spit would be a perfect place for a bungy jump theme park. Once on the hook, Mr Hughes came down for a look and he was then put in touch with a State Government โ€œsourceโ€ whoHughes claimed, โ€œencouraged us to cross the roadโ€ from Seaworld to the Philip Park site.

When pressed about the resolute 3-storey height limit on the Spit, their response was โ€œIt's the same height as the Tridentโ€ - Seaworld's 43-metre tall wooden roller coaster which was snuck under the table and without any community consultation into the Spit Masterplan prior to the SMP final approvals. At the proposed Philip Park site, the height limit is actually half of the adjacent commercial site height limit - it is 7.5 metres (1 storey).

When quizzed about the obvious negative impact on Federation Walk, their response was less than sufficient and quite diversionary, saying they had โ€œnotedโ€ that a community group was โ€œworking out of poor facilitiesโ€ on the site, and that if successful they would โ€œreplace and upgradeโ€ those facilities for the community. Really? A new shed? Pretty good price to pay for public land on the beach, a real steal most would agree, but seriouslyโ€ฆ

Is a shed a fair trade? Not when the head of Friends of Federation Walk is -

a) sitting beside you gentlemen, and

b) you don't know who she is, let alone acknowledge her five decades of work on The Spit

๐—ฆ๐—œ๐—ง๐—˜ ๐—–๐—›๐—ข๐—œ๐—–๐—˜ ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—–๐—ž๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—˜๐——๐—œ๐—•๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ง๐—ฌ

The land in question is Crown Land, essentially public land governed by the State and managed in partnership with the local council. Its car park and soft facilities are a key component of The Spit's amenity and user experience, providing meaningful beach access in a city where beachside congestion and restriction is a rapidly growing problem, and the site serves as a well-trafficked starting point for entry into the Federation Walk reserve for local visitors and tourists alike.

As a public space, it remains minimal, non-intrusive and proves to be a vital place for visitors when the holidays come around. As is, it has no impact on the skyline, does not disrupt the flow of the green space network, is free and publicly available, and Philip Park forms the southern part of a gazetted conservation and recreation green space and open space network.

Woven into the car park and framing the Philip Park space is a vast sprawl of greenery, soft-impact paths, birdlife and abundant natural flora - a veritable continuance of the Federation Walk Reserve. The park was officially dedicated to the late Prince Philip of England in recognition of his strong interests in conservation and the natural world.

Save Our Spit would like to draw attention to the following points in relation to Philip Park and this ill conceived proposal -

1. This proposal is totally outside the Spit Master Plan (SMP) as all commercial, hospitality and tourism developments are constrained under the SMP to the clearly identified infill sites at Village North and Village South Centres on the western side of Seaworld Drive and the Sports Mirage site on the eastern side.

2. Bungy operation proposals, or any additional theme parks on the eastern side of The Spit were never presented or discussed during the three-year Spit Master Plan process nor are they present in the Final Spit Masterplan 2019.

3. A bungy tower, slides and giant swing infrastructure would far exceed the maximum 15-metre height limit for The Spit (except an allowance for rides inside Seaworld Theme Park that can be above that height) and the 7.5-metre limit for Philip Park.

4. Allowing a bungy operation would transgress the Premier and Minister Dick's repeated assurance that no area of existing public park, open space or reserve would be lost to commercial developments (the caveat being an option for a possible cruise ship terminal however costs, biosecurity, zero commitment from cruise companies, climate change and huge navigational safety issues has halted and killed that option).

5. Whether you are a fan of the Monarchy or not, the name Philip Park was only permitted by the Royal family if it remained a public park with the environmental and ecological values Prince Philip believed in and advocated for were/are preserved - Approval to build a permanent commercial bungy jump operation on Philip Park would literally and figuratively be jumping on Prince Philip's grave.

๐—Ÿ๐—ข๐—•๐—•๐—ฌ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—ฅ๐—จ๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—”๐——๐—ข๐—ช ๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—•๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—ข๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—”๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿด ๐— ๐—ข๐—ก๐—ง๐—›๐—ฆ

We have since learned that for 18 months prior, this proposal has already been ticking along in the background, with the local community unaware that they were again being sold out by their own council and the State Government. The same local community that has spent decades protecting the last natural beachfront space on the Gold Coast from development โ€“ the same community that spent countless volunteer hours shaping the Spit Masterplan, the legislative backbone of what can and can't be done on the Spit.

For over 18 months there have been a whopping 27 different meetings between Cr Taylor, City of Gold Coast, State Government representatives and AJ Hackett's crew via their highly controversial lobbyist. The only time the local community has been invited to the table is after the gates were opened and the horse had already bolted โ€ฆ and once at said table, they attempted to treat us all like mugs.

The chief lobbyist working for AJ Hackett and the man behind the push for this hideous development is none other than former bankrupt spin man, Graham Staerk.

For anyone in the know, Staerk's chequered history of controversy and questionable government influence has placed him in the crosshairs as a key witness to multiple high-level investigations into council corruption and election funding in the past. Help yourself to Google and go check this bloke out, an eye-opening search for the uninitiated that's for sure. SOSA isn't suggesting any malpractice or illegality in this case with Staerk, but certainly the mention of his name should have set off alarm bells from the get go. Staerk's long-running and one-sided interest in development for The Spit is on the record, not to mention his tangled affairs with local council candidates.

๐—˜๐—–๐—ข ๐—ง๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—  ๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—˜๐—”๐— ๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐—˜ ๐—ข๐—™ ๐—•๐—จ๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ๐—ฆ๐—›!๐—ง?

So, just how can the proponents keep a straight face when trying to sell this blotch of steel, concrete and wires on The Spit as โ€˜ecotourism'? There's nothing eco about it other than it will sit atop and look down on an ever-threatened ecological space. Steel towers, fake swimming pools, artificial putt putt course, giant slides, commercial cafe and shop โ€ฆ there is NOTHING ecotourism about this, in fact it's about as eco as a plastics factory.

๐—š๐—ข๐—Ÿ๐—— ๐—–๐—ข๐—”๐—ฆ๐—ง'๐—ฆ ๐—•๐—จ๐—ก๐—š๐—ฌ ๐—›๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ฌ

In the 1990s, The Spit was home to a bungy tower, of sorts, temporarily located on the western side facing the Broadwater. The crane-style bungy operation, known as Bungee Downunder, was set up briefly on the sandy shoreline of western side of The Spit before relocating to a sort of semi-floating platform out on the water.

Enormous in height, a dagger against the undeveloped skyline but also packed with pure thrill, the crane and demountable temporary operation was exactly that - temporary. For several years hundreds of locals and tourists alike got to experience the jump, but the crane and operation had to go - and it did.

The Gold Coast is no stranger to bungy operations, with two other previous towers also built - the relatively tame small jump in the heart of Surfers Paradise being the most recent, and the much larger pink steel permanent tower at the old Coombabah Cableski World park site.

All three previous towers no longer operate and the Cableski tower went along with the business when it collapsed after a land-clearing scandal in critical Koala habitat enveloped the site owner, and the business subsequently folded.

The heart of Surfers Paradise in amongst the glitter and buildings, or out at Movieworld or Dreamworld and the adjacent theme park sites - these are the kind of spaces primed for a bungy park operation which would see such infrastructure suitably placed.

๐—ง๐—”๐—ง๐—˜ ๐—ค๐—จ๐—œ๐—˜๐—ง๐—Ÿ๐—ฌ ๐—”๐—•๐—”๐—ก๐——๐—ข๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐—ง๐—›๐—˜ ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—จ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ง๐—˜๐—ฅ๐— ๐—œ๐—ก๐—”๐—Ÿ - ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ช๐—ฆ๐—ฃ๐—”๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐——๐—ข๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ก'๐—ง ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—˜๐—ก ๐—ก๐—ข๐—ง๐—œ๐—–๐—˜

One astonishing twist to emerge from all of this is that Tom Tate is actually backing this AJ Hackett thing to be plonked on The Spit at Philip Park, in what can only be interpreted as a total abandonment of the mayor's Oceanside Cruise Terminal pet project. Speaking to the Gold Coast Bulletin about the bungee proposal, Tate says, โ€œI believe this is worth investigating and look forward to seeing how the community engagement goes.โ€

Given the proposed bungy operation would consume a significant percentage of the very same site he had plans drawn up to house his Oceanside Cruise Terminal, it's a glaring passive admission that the terminal is, as it has been from day one, stone cold dead in the water.

It's equally astonishing the newspaper didn't put two and two together here and press the mayor on why he would support a permanent commercial development of such limited scale to both wipe out the (in limbo) oceanside terminal project and permanently take over critical coastal public park and reserve space for little to no direct public benefit at all.

๐—ช๐—›๐—”๐—ง ๐—ก๐—ข๐—ช?

SOSA calls on all parties within all levels of local and state government to stop wasting the public's and the proponent's time, and to immediately put this proposal where it belongs - in the bin. Apologise for misleading the AJ Hackett company people and get to work assisting them to find a more suitable site for their operations.

SOSA is not opposed to a bungy style operation or bungy park somewhere on the Gold Coast โ€“ Adventure Tourism is a significant market that our city could benefit greatly from and we need to tap into further. AJ Hackett are one of the best at providing that kind of product (not so much at presentations to stakeholders though).

Bring on the bungy we say, BUT IT ABSOLUTELY needs to be on an appropriate site and the Spit is certainly not that place.

There are plenty of commercial sites on the Gold Coast that would better suit this operation, in particular in Surfers Paradise and the existing theme park sites.

Why not partner with Dreamworld? Why not lease or buy suitable commercial land? If they want to build it on the Spit, then do it under the SMP, there are commercial sites available for tender on the western side of Seaworld Drive going at market rates and leased from the State Government โ€“ go for your life!

But remember the SMP limits all buildings and structures to a maximum 15 metres in height on the western side of The Spit (unless they are rides inside the Seaworld Theme Park precinct) and 7.5 metres maximum height on the eastern side of The Spit.

Finally, as stated above, while Mr Hughes appeared to be a reasonable person in the meeting (and probably is), it was an insult to the community members sitting around the table on Monday, that those blokes were led to believe they could just walk in without truly acknowledging the local community and completely dismissing the tenets of the Spit Master Plan in an attempt to appropriate public land with some poorly photoshopped pics and hollow promises of very questionable future community benefits.

Either wilful ignorance or sheer arrogance (or both) has underlined the process regarding this project to this point, and the AJ Hackett crew appear to have been very poorly advised by their own town planner and lobbyist (a refund forthcoming?), the Mayoral office, Council and State representatives.

Again, Mr Hackett, please do bring your bungy to the Gold Coast, just not on Philip Park. You should be made to pay your way like everyone else, regardless of what our loose-lipped Mayor has promised you.

Paul Weston GCB
Gold Coast Bulletin - Paul Weston March 10 2023

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Why Cruise Ships will never Dock on Gold Coast
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Dec 20, 2016 Appealing Attractions - Casino ranked last ยป
Nov 26, 2016 Four Levels of Corruption ยป
Oct 8, 2016 A Murky Week in Gold Coast Politics ยป
Sep 6, 2016 Sunday Mail Casino Debacle ยป
Aug 27, 2016 Sunland Absurdity ยป
Aug 19, 2016 AGM Monday 22 6PM ยป
Jul 29, 2016 The State of Play ยป
Mar 17, 2016 Change is in the Air ยป
Feb 4, 2016 Rally in the Park Chevron Is Sunday ยป
Jan 31, 2016 The Elected Obfuscators Bluff ยป
Dec 20, 2015 A Christmas Message ยป
Nov 2, 2015 Peter Garrett re Cruise Ships ยป
Oct 15, 2015 Last chance to lodge your objection ยป
Oct 2, 2015 Back to the 1980s ยป
Sep 5, 2015 Broadwater and Spit Masterplan ยป
Aug 29, 2015 How to Report Potential Official Misconduct ยป
Jul 13, 2015 XCAT Farce Paradise Lost and more ยป
Jun 11, 2015 GCCC under review ยป
Jun 6, 2015 Another Radical Private Development ยป
Jun 1, 2015 My fun is more important than yours ยป
Apr 29, 2015 Economic Fear Campaign ยป
Mar 26, 2015 Reflections on the Water ยป
Feb 16, 2015 Project Terminal ยป
Feb 2, 2015 Election Result Sinks Gold Coast Terminal ยป
Jan 16, 2015 Tell the Truth - Public Meeting ยป
Dec 25, 2014 And so this is Christmas ยป
Dec 24, 2014 Seeney not winning friends on Coast ยป
Dec 19, 2014 The Numbers don't Lie ยป
Nov 21, 2014 Save our Spit Photographic and Art Show ยป
Nov 15, 2014 Senate Inquiry ยป
Nov 3, 2014 Grand Theft Wavebreak public rally ยป
Oct 23, 2014 Cronyism Exposed Again ยป
Oct 6, 2014 Greywater ยป
Sep 20, 2014 Expert Against Coast CST ยป
Sep 4, 2014 3 Events to attend ยป
Aug 30, 2014 Deputy Premiers Announcement ยป
Aug 23, 2014 The Hidden VDM report ยป
Jul 26, 2014 Politics and Rumours ยป
Jun 6, 2014 A call to action ยป
May 3, 2014 Move over Julia ยป
Apr 30, 2014 Just suck it up and say NO! ยป
Apr 25, 2014 That is not consultation ยป
Apr 8, 2014 Full Page Newspaper Propaganda Ads Begin ยป
Apr 5, 2014 Report revealed ยป
Apr 1, 2014 April Fools Day with flawed survey ยป
Mar 24, 2014 Questions our GC Councillors must ask ASF ยป
Mar 14, 2014 Hey small spender ยป
Feb 24, 2014 Surf threatened by CST ยป
Feb 19, 2014 Tate considers quitting ยป
Feb 14, 2014 Live blog with Mayor Tom Tate ยป
Feb 14, 2014 Gration for Mayor 2016 ยป
Feb 5, 2014 Currumbin under threat from dredging ยป
Jan 28, 2014 What is a SLAPP Suit? ยป
Jan 15, 2014 It's a whole of city issue ยป
Jan 1, 2014 Cowards Lies and China Syndrome ยป
Dec 30, 2013 North Kirra Cruise Ship Terminal ยป
Dec 30, 2013 Mick Fanning speaks out on Kirra CST ยป
Dec 14, 2013 Councillors unaware of Brisbane CST ยป
Nov 29, 2013 Grand Theft Land ยป
Nov 16, 2013 The Hidden Urbis Report ยป
Oct 24, 2013 2013 Gold Coast Media Awards ยป
Oct 21, 2013 State vs State vs Mate ยป
Oct 19, 2013 What actually happened at the vote ยป
Oct 18, 2013 Dear Councillor ยป
Sep 12, 2013 Ship visits raise concern ยป
Sep 6, 2013 Vote 1 Save Our Spit ยป
Aug 24, 2013 Mayor Plays the victim ยป
Aug 24, 2013 Cruise Industry Forum Cancelled ยป
Aug 14, 2013 Secret Study values Broadwater at $4.1 b ยป
Aug 10, 2013 AGM 2012-13 Sep 10 7pm ยป
Aug 10, 2013 CST Bidder pulls out ยป
Jun 23, 2013 Cruise Ship Terminal in doubt ยป
Jun 6, 2013 Q and A info Night ยป
May 29, 2013 Joel cans Terminal idea ยป
May 22, 2013 AECgroup Business Case Analysis ยป
Apr 22, 2013 CMC probe into Oceanway ยป
Apr 14, 2013 Secret letters and meetings ยป
Apr 8, 2013 CMC under LNP attack ยป
Apr 4, 2013 Golden myopia ยป
Mar 16, 2013 Green Sea Turtle May have paid Price ยป
Mar 9, 2013 Golden Opportunity Missed ยป
Mar 6, 2013 Controlled Messaging Fails ยป
Mar 4, 2013 Open for Business ยป
Mar 2, 2013 Gambling with our coastline ยป
Feb 17, 2013 Gold Coast Waterways Authority Appointees ยป
Feb 9, 2013 Expressions of Interest Broadwater Marine Project ยป
Feb 2, 2013 Analysis of the navigational report 2012 ยป
Jan 26, 2013 Survey Called into Question ยป
Jan 19, 2013 Light Rail court battle with Council ยป
Dec 18, 2012 Bob Katter makes it a Federal issue ยป
Dec 18, 2012 Self-interest rather than vision ยป
Dec 13, 2012 A history lesson ยป
Dec 13, 2012 Land grab confirmed by report ยป
Dec 12, 2012 Community Information Session 10AM Thurs 13th ยป
Dec 6, 2012 Selling off our public land and water! ยป
Dec 5, 2012 Shoals vital to quality waves at Strad ยป
Dec 3, 2012 A bad week and month for LNP ยป
Nov 29, 2012 The unethical removal of Dr Alex Douglas ยป
Nov 25, 2012 No one voted for this ยป
Nov 13, 2012 Annastacia stands up for the community ยป
Nov 10, 2012 Father Son ยป
Nov 10, 2012 The Younger Generation Get It ยป
Nov 6, 2012 Rally gets Australia wide attention ยป
Nov 3, 2012 RIP Angus ยป
Oct 27, 2012 Ignored Tax and Rate payer ยป
Oct 27, 2012 Broadwater water quality degrading ยป
Oct 27, 2012 In Union there is strength ยป
Oct 20, 2012 Leadership not spin ยป
Oct 16, 2012 Comparing apples with apples ยป
Oct 12, 2012 Not the Panacea of Gold Coast Economic Woes ยป
Oct 8, 2012 Divide and Conquer - Trade Off ยป
Oct 5, 2012 Dawny lets us down ยป
Oct 3, 2012 Joel Parkinson - thanks ยป
Oct 2, 2012 Thanks for the support Occy ยป
Oct 1, 2012 Free Like Me ยป
Oct 1, 2012 Gold Coast Bulletin backs the people ยป
Sep 23, 2012 Sembawang disappears into a puff of logic ยป
Sep 21, 2012 Thanks for the support Kelly ยป
Sep 19, 2012 Mick Fanning is a legend ยป
Sep 11, 2012 Ship Terminal Sembawang Wave Break Survey ยป
Sep 3, 2012 No support for Sembawang Proposal ยป
Sep 3, 2012 A letter to the Premier ยป
Aug 28, 2012 Russ Hinze changed his mind 1980 ยป
Aug 22, 2012 Facebook saving our spit ยป
Aug 21, 2012 Is the Spit Man Made? ยป
Aug 14, 2012 The qu is NOT where but WHY? ยป
Aug 2, 2012 Lose Kirra or Straddie ยป
Jul 27, 2012 Hello SGC Business Leaders ยป
Jul 23, 2012 Cruise Ship Terminal - White Elephant ยป
Jul 17, 2012 Dear Mr Tate ยป
Jul 9, 2012 City Backs Terminal - NOT ยป
Jun 22, 2012 Join Us ยป
Jun 22, 2012 Public Open Space ยป
Jun 12, 2012 AGM 2011-12 Thurs 21 June 7 pm ยป
Jun 8, 2012 Dear Mayor and Councillors ยป
May 31, 2012 A Casino spitting ships ยป
Apr 26, 2012 Not printed in the local paper ยป
Mar 3, 2012 Kelly Slater video helps SOSA ยป
Feb 22, 2012 Broadwater Community Reference Group ยป
Jan 16, 2012 Cruise Mishap a reminder to us ยป
Sep 29, 2011 Broadwater Management Plan ยป
Jun 11, 2011 AGM 2011 Wed 13th ยป
Oct 22, 2010 Cruise Ship Tourists may not spend ยป
Aug 31, 2010 Another Broadwater plan ยป
Jul 20, 2010 Gold Coast Bulletin Frenzy ยป
Jul 14, 2010 A supporters spit ยป
Apr 29, 2010 AGM 2010 Tues 18 th May ยป
Nov 26, 2009 Rich dumping filth in our Broadwater ยป
Sep 14, 2009 ITU World Triathlon great for Gold Coast ยป
Sep 1, 2009 letter - Dead section of the Spit ยป
May 25, 2009 President has a SPIT ยป
May 13, 2009 AGM 2009 Wed May 27th 6-8 pm ยป
Apr 24, 2009 Medico supports SOSA ยป
Apr 1, 2009 Tides of Change - Have your say ยป
Mar 17, 2009 Navigational Study No Secret ยป
Feb 25, 2009 News Beatups ยป
Jan 11, 2009 Safely sharing the seaway ยป
Oct 24, 2008 Catalyst - invasive species by boat ยป
Oct 4, 2008 Save Our Spit Stickers Available ยป
Sep 22, 2008 Government Architect Mr Philip Follent ยป
Sep 10, 2008 Straddie saved from Receding Hairline ยป
Sep 4, 2008 Terminal Politicians ยป
Jul 4, 2008 Terminal terminated so Move On ยป
May 28, 2008 The Good, The Bad & the Ugly ยป
May 14, 2008 Oceanway Pathway debacle ยป
May 14, 2008 GCCC Bulldozes Spit Dunes ยป
Apr 19, 2008 Celebrate a few victories ยป
Mar 16, 2008 Domestic visitors spend $3 b on Gold Coast ยป
Mar 11, 2008 Council Election 2008 ยป
Jan 8, 2008 Christmas Greeting 2007 ยป
Jan 2, 2008 Letter to John Mickell MP ยป
Nov 21, 2007 Friends of Federation Walk new website ยป
Sep 26, 2007 Paul Lucas pushing Marine Simulator ยป
Aug 6, 2007 Developers on notice re Local Area Plan ยป
Aug 4, 2007 Protection for the Gold Coast Spit at last! ยป
Aug 4, 2007 Premier Beattie Saves Our Spit ยป
Jul 18, 2007 Spit Training Centre Threat ยป
May 18, 2007 Lessons from Los Angeles ยป
Apr 25, 2007 Another Storm for the Spit ยป
Apr 16, 2007 State Government Threatens Spitโ€ฆ Again ยป
Apr 13, 2007 Gold Medal Winner and the Spit ยป
Mar 27, 2007 Sean's letter ยป
Feb 23, 2007 Sea World Ferris Wheel Fiasco ยป
Jan 29, 2007 Reignited Protests ยป
Jan 19, 2007 Financial Review Article - Millionnaire Greenies ยป
Nov 17, 2006 Beach Spirit Award Winners - The Spit ยป
Nov 14, 2006 Cruise liner dumps oil in Paradise ยป
Nov 11, 2006 Developer 'Vision' Not 20:20, say Spitfighters ยป
Nov 9, 2006 Government plans for future Spit vision: Bligh ยป
Oct 13, 2006 What a difference 48 hours makes ยป
Sep 10, 2006 Government Speak ยป
Sep 10, 2006 Boating Industry views ยป
Aug 28, 2006 Super Yachts OK- in the Right Place ยป
Aug 11, 2006 The SpitFight Goes To Canberra ยป
Aug 5, 2006 Gold Coast Bully - Taken to Task ยป
Jul 14, 2006 Natural tourism drawcard threatened - Alan Midwood ยป
Jun 25, 2006 Greatest City Dive at Risk ยป
Jun 22, 2006 Whales Spotted in Proposed Terminal Site ยป
Jun 13, 2006 Our letters sent to Peter Beattie via Peter Lawlor ยป
Jun 11, 2006 Peta-Kaye Croft ignores her constituents on SOS ยป
Jun 1, 2006 Letter to Gold Coast Bulletin - I am not a Green ยป
May 31, 2006 A letter to Anna Bligh from Gecko ยป
May 31, 2006 Spitfighters Fight Back - Life Weekly article ยป
May 27, 2006 Sailing into murky waters ยป
May 20, 2006 Life Weekly Magazine article ยป
May 10, 2006 Gold Coast City Marina - Exposed ยป
May 3, 2006 Athletes fight to Save their training ground ยป
Apr 22, 2006 Notional Shipping Terminal Confirms Public Losses ยป
Apr 21, 2006 Save Our Spit- from Strength to Strength ยป
Apr 21, 2006 Overseas Cruise Ship Campaigners ยป
Apr 2, 2006 Gaven - Ominous warning to the Beattie Government ยป
Mar 30, 2006 What the Gaven by-Election Candidates said ยป
Mar 23, 2006 Gaven by-Election Media Release ยป
Mar 19, 2006 Peter Beattie meets SOSA at Robina ยป
Mar 12, 2006 An historical journey ยป
Mar 5, 2006 Surf cola ยป
Mar 5, 2006 Storm surf breaks across Seaway ยป
Feb 21, 2006 Labor 'greed' on tunnel fiasco - sounds familiar ยป
Feb 19, 2006 Surf Rage ยป
Feb 17, 2006 Surfrider - media release ยป
Feb 13, 2006 Gold Coast - too good for a shipping terminal ยป
Feb 13, 2006 Peter Beattie and co's dancing figures ยป
Feb 8, 2006 Master Mariner questions sanity of proposal ยป
Feb 5, 2006 Surfers promise to wipe out Labor ยป
Feb 5, 2006 Councillor Susie Douglas's inspiring rally speech ยป
Feb 3, 2006 Letters to the 'Bully' ยป
Jan 25, 2006 Surfrider says ยป
Jan 24, 2006 Pro Terminal threaten to attend rally ยป
Jan 12, 2006 Public Rally Feb 5th 12 noon ยป
Jan 11, 2006 Anna Bligh confirms it's not a done deal ยป
Jan 9, 2006 Who Murdered Mundaka - is Straddie next? ยป
Dec 21, 2005 MP's Ciobo and Langbroek not happy ยป
Dec 16, 2005 Ms Levy's band of do-gooders ยป
Nov 28, 2005 A new Picture - future Spit ยป
Nov 23, 2005 Anna Bligh and misinformation ยป
Nov 11, 2005 Bulletin gone quiet ยป
Nov 5, 2005 Surfrider Foundation's support ยป
Nov 5, 2005 US Forces get the nod ยป
Nov 1, 2005 The Global War on Tourism ยป
Oct 25, 2005 Are Cruise Ships getting too big? ยป
Oct 14, 2005 Meeting Tuesday 18th October SOS ยป
Oct 13, 2005 Brad Farmers Message - Letter to the editor ยป
Oct 11, 2005 A very personal attachment to the Spit ยป
Oct 10, 2005 Map - SOS opposition to Government Plans ยป
Oct 7, 2005 Increased Cancer Risk From LA Port Complex Fumes ยป
Oct 6, 2005 From Strength to Strength in our campaign ยป
Sep 28, 2005 Venice Sinking under cruise ships ยป
Sep 21, 2005 Thats not reality but this is ยป
Sep 18, 2005 EIS rubber stamp? ยป
Sep 5, 2005 Letter to Bulletin ยป
Aug 29, 2005 Excerpts: ยป
Aug 28, 2005 Plans for lakes of effluent on Straddie !!! ยป
Aug 23, 2005 Not Exactly The Love Boat - New Book ยป
Aug 3, 2005 Premier sinking Gold Coast dive industry ยป
Aug 2, 2005 Thumbs up for Councillor Susie Douglas ยป
Aug 1, 2005 World Class Waves at Risk ยป
Jul 18, 2005 New Stickers Available ยป
Jul 18, 2005 Save our spit campaign highlights ยป
Jul 18, 2005 People and Parks Day Sunday 31st July ยป
Apr 20, 2005 Trinity Lutheran College Cruise Ship Debate ยป