Gold Coast mayoral election 2024: Virginia Freebody to face Tom Tate at March election
The sole challenger to emerge against incumbent third-term Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says she believes he’s scared of her. SEE HIS REACTION.
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The sole challenger to emerge against incumbent third-term Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says she believes he’s scared of her - but he has laughed it off in response.
Businesswoman Virginia Freebody is to stand as the only alternative mayoral candidate to Mr Tate and revealed her candidacy by claiming he “will run away from me”.
Ms Freebody, who owns the city’s second-oldest dry cleaning and laundry business, said she wants more residents to feel heard, understood and represented by council.
“I am tired of our mayor not listening to the community’s concerns and even seeming to be quite frightened when out in public,” she said.
“A friend and I recently attended an event and tried to ask a simple question about local government from Tom Tate, but were surprised to see the incumbent run away from us,” she claimed, something Mr Tate utterly rejects.
The poll is on March 16 next year and follows Mr Tate securing 55.6 per cent of the vote in 2020. Ms Freebody ran third but this time around she has a campaign manager and media adviser.
Her new campaign is tilted at the battler worried about rate bills and she hopes she will gain support from anti-light rail residents.
Her candidacy promises to inject some colour into the mayoral race with Ms Freebody not shy about criticising an experienced political campaigner seeking a record fourth term in office.
Asked how she would be a different mayor to Mr Tate, Ms Freebody claimed: “I will listen to people. As a mayor I find him to be non-listening and he is actually frightened in public. I go to talk to him and he will run away from me. He will not listen to anyone.
“Tate runs away from his issues but you cannot run away from the people who vote for him,” she claimed.
An incredulous Mr Tate insisted he held no fear of Ms Freebody.
Asked for his response to the claims he would run away from her and was frightened to front questions, he said: “I have never run away from her.” Mr Tate then took a lengthy pause, smiling and shaking his head before adding: “Full stop.”
He later said while watching a video of Ms Freebody’s statement, he thought of the 1977 Billy Joel song Only the Good Die Young and its opening line “Come out, Virginia, don’t let me wait”.
Ms Freebody said she wasn’t so much interested in debating the Mayor but getting her message across to residents.
“He is costing us money, every day he is Mayor. Those people who vote for him are probably those who don’t have to worry about debt that much,” she said.
Ms Freebody described Mr Tate’s 11-year mayoral stint as a failure to deliver on key promises like building a cruise ship terminal, attempting to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games and reducing public debt.
She claimed that after more than a decade the city continues to struggle with $1.2 billion of total borrowings, which she said worked out to be about $1.4 million a day of repayments.
But Mr Tate said Ms Freebody’s statements about council’s finances were untrue.
“Those figures have come out of her imagination, she should just read our annual general report and then she’ll notice our debt has never been $1.2bn, it’s now down to $570m and our cash in reserve and liquidatable funds are in excess of $1.2bn so we will continue to do our rates at CPI and below,” he said.
“Democracy is a wonderful thing and anyone can put up their hand and have a run but get your facts right.
“If you don’t get them right, people won’t believe you and you won’t get the votes.”
Ms Freebody has owned and operated Burleigh Heads Drycleaners for
26 years. She will continue to juggle work and campaigning.
“If I become mayor I will call for a review into budget expenditure and scrutinise wasteful
spending. For example, one southern Gold Coast facility received tens of millions in funding for improvements even though it was already upgraded a decade ago,” she said.
“I will also push for rate rebates for vulnerable Gold Coasters doing it tough, especially
low-income earners living in low socio-economic environments. They are the ones who are most impacted by cost of living pressures.”
Ms Freebody says she would campaign for returning to basics like low rates, water, footpaths, better lit public spaces, rubbish, parks and cemeteries. She promised to maximise the city’s existing events which bring a windfall for business, attract more employers to relocate to the Coast, and advocate for more cheap family entertainment.
“I am not a fan of extending light rail and prefer State government-funded heavy rail upgrades, with new dual tracks to Coolangatta, instead,” she said.
“I would really like to see the Currumbin Creek Road upgraded and other necessary infrastructure improvements happen in other divisions.
“I would also like to introduce fixed-term building contracts where contractors have to work
within a previously agreed budget. There needs to be a time frame too with performance
bonuses awarded for completing sections ahead of time.
“A good example of this is the Eucumbene Dam and Snowy Mountain Hydro projects that were successfully finished in just 14 months — well ahead of the original schedule.
“We need to end Tom Tate’s high taxes and stop closing council meetings to the public.
Meetings should be open for all, especially the media.”
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Originally published as Gold Coast mayoral election 2024: Virginia Freebody to face Tom Tate at March election
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