Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate posts provocative photo at controversial bar online

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has provocatively posted a picture of himself with Deputy Premier Steven Miles at a controversial Glitter Strip beach bar.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate (centre) with Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Steven Miles (left) and Australian Venue Co chair Bob East at the Kurrawa beach bar

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has provocatively posted a picture of himself enjoying a beer with Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Steven Miles at a controversial Glitter Strip beach bar, upping the ante in his bid to extend a trial of the venue.

Gold Coast City Council this week approved a three-year extension of a trial of the bar on Kurrawa Beach.

But the decision has been thrown into doubt after the State Government, which controls the beaches, said it no longer supported the concept.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart has written to the council saying the government would not provide “owner’s consent” for the trial, which began last summer, to continue.

This followed lobbying from the Surfrider Foundation, one of a number of environmental groups opposed to the commercialisation of beaches.

Cr Tate said council could run another three-month trial this summer without state approval, but he was pushing ahead in his attempt to get a three-year extension.

On Thursday, on his mayoral Facebook page, he posted a picture of him and Mr Miles having a drink at the bar last December.

“It was great catching up with Deputy Premier Steven Miles for a beer at the Kurrawa Beach Bar in December last year,” he wrote.

“Positive comments from patrons on the day gave both of us plenty of feedback about the trial.”

Cr Tate said an independent consultant’s survey of 2741 people and 31 businesses showed strong support for the beach bar.

He said from 44,820 visitors during the initial trial, there was “not a single incident involving unruly behaviour related to alcohol consumption”.

“Sixty-nine per cent of the community survey visitors had a positive experience,” he said.

“Seventy-four per cent of the business survey respondents had a positive experience and many would like to see it as a permanent concept throughout the year.

“Seventy-three per cent of the community survey visitors (said) they would come back and 73 per cent of the community survey respondents would visit beach clubs in other Gold Coast locations.”

Cr Tate said the beach bar was not an exclusive use of the beach as anyone could attend.

“It’s free and family-focused so (it’s) certainly not exclusive,” he said.

“What I also love is that we must reinvent our city experiences so people – locals and visitors - have a reason to keep coming back.

“It’s ironic that Adelaide, which is hardly famous for its beaches, has a beach bar that runs down to within 10m of the high-tide mark at Glenelg … and has huge support from its locals and visitors.”

Cr Tate said the Queensland Tourism Industry Advisory Board had ironically used a photo of the beach bar in a recent colour brochure, “highlighting that this is the sort of ‘new visitor’ experience the state needs”.

“Right now, council is busy preparing its land management plan, which is the next phase of gaining approval for a three-year trial at Kurrawa,” he said.