Keith Woods opinion: I’m pale, live inland – and I say Mayor is right on beach bar critics

Mayor Tom Tate reckons ‘pale’ people who have an issue with the concept of beach bars should ‘head back to the mountains’. The Mayor is right, but why stop there, writes Keith Woods.

Mayor Tom Tate made a comment on Monday that, delicate flower that I am, I’m afraid has hit home.

Speaking about beach bar opponents, Mr Tate said the “pale” folk should just return to their mountain homes.

“Some of the people who complain, looking at them, pale and all that sort of people from the mountains, they don’t go the beach, they just come down to protest. I say no worries, we love you, just go back to the mountains,” Mr Tate said.

The comment hit home because, dammit, he’s right.

Your columnist does not quite live in the mountains, but close enough – chateau Woods is perched upon its foothills.

It’s not exactly Tamborine Mountain, but it’s not the beach lifestyle either.

And your columnist is also, this week of all weeks, feeling especially sun-starved.

Having attended Future Gold Coast on Friday – a brilliant event, but inside – the weekend was taken up looking out at grey skies and rain on Saturday, before returning to Bulletin towers on Sunday.

Pale does not even begin to explain my complexion.

The Kurrawa Beach Club during the previous beach bar trial.

Gold Coast Bulletin columnist Keith Woods. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

So yes, I bear little relation to my wonderful friends who live in beachside suburbs and start each day with a healthy constitutional along the sand.

Therefore – and this is where the Mayor really was spot on in his remarks – I feel I would have little right to voice any objection to the beach bars plan.

While the beach does belong to all of us on the Gold Coast, there is clearly a very special affection for our glorious coastline among those who, bravely dodging e-devices of all manner – walk along it every day.

If you live, like I do, above sea level on a hill in Helensvale, or indeed in any western or northern suburb where this is not a part of your daily life, then you probably don’t get to have the same say.

There’s a divide in this city, as big as the north south one, and it’s east west.

I love the beaches, don’t get me wrong, but given the choice, I’d sooner hike through Springbrook rather than stroll the coast.

Both lifestyles are equally valid, and let us say, quite magical.

The fact that both are possible in the one city is really quite extraordinary.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Of course, if we carry the logic to other projects, we maybe have to admit that hinterland residents should have a greater say over any cableway plans. One suspects Cr Glenn Tozer might agree with that one.

And then there is the “elephant in the room” mentioned by the Mayor at the Future Gold Coast luncheon on Friday – stage four of the light rail from Burleigh to the border.

One of the fault lines in arguments over that particular project centres around whether the state government is right to give an out-sized say on the project to residents of areas the project would pass through.

This column argues the state is right on that one.

Just as the Mayor is right to say hinterland types should have less say on beach bars.

If the bars get built, I look forward to debating the point by the sand over a beer.

NORTH v SOUTH

Speaking of elephants in the room, and the Future Gold Coast lunch, your columnist found the presentation by demographer Simon Kuestenmacher fascinating.

“You are a young city, but you’ve well and truly reached your midlife crisis,” he said. “You’ve reached that point where you ask: who the hell are we? I remember who I used to be as a teenager in my Glitter Strip years. But now I have new capital, new population, new values moving in. This is changing the very fabric of the people that collectively make up the Gold Coast.”

On infrastructure, Mr Kuestenmacher was clear: the Gold Coast faces a “fork in the road” moment. The choices we make now will echo for decades.

The elephant in the room, as Mayor Tate mentioned, was light rail stage four.

There is another elephant that barely squeezed in, however. The fact that the greatest population growth is in the city’s north, which apart from Premier David Crisafulli’s speech, got little attention.

Expect that to change. With an increasing population, will come greater political influence.

The seat of Coomera is Queensland’s most overcrowded electorate, with 55,340 electors – already 37.4 per cent above the state average of 40,364. By 2032, the Queensland Redistribution Commission estimates Coomera will balloon to 71,060 voters, a staggering 59 per cent above the norm.

The Commission is working to redraw boundaries acknowledges that change is necessary. “The boundaries of Coomera and surrounding districts will require significant adjustment during this redistribution,” it says. However it is done, the area will effectively gain an extra seat before the next election.

Basic transport challenges that light rail stage four do not affect are front of mind for most people in that Coomera/Pimpama area.

From his speech, it appears this is something Mr Crisafulli is aware of.

Whatever happens with southern transport, expect more investment to head north as well.

Follow @keithjwoods

Originally published as Keith Woods opinion: I’m pale, live inland – and I say Mayor is right on beach bar critics