Simone Holzapfel’s lobbying and PR firm Shac Communications owes $129,000 to tax office

LAST time this controversial Gold Coast PR firm was shut down, it owed taxpayers more than $330,000. Now, rebirthed through a new company, the same business has again racked up a massive tax bill. Here’s what it means.

Lobbyist Simone Holzapfel arrives for a hearing at the Crime and Corruption Commission. She was questioned as part of investigation into conduct of candidates involved in the 2016 local government elections.

CONTROVERSIAL PR and lobbying firm Shac Communications owes $129,000 to the tax office, court documents have revealed.

Documents lodged to the Federal Court reveal the tax office, which is seeking to wind up the company, served sole director Simone Holzapfel a demand to pay outstanding BAS, income tax and interest of $129,277.80 on May 2.

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The former office of Shac Communications and Robinson Prospect at Mariners Cove. Photo: Supplied

The company was given 21 days to pay, but had not done so, the documents allege.

The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, represented by law firm Hunt & Hunt, is seeking an order that Shac be wound up on the ground of insolvency, that Brad Hellen of Pilot Partners be appointed liquidator, and that costs be paid out of the defendant’s assets.

The company run by Ms Holzapfel, whose clients have included casino proponents ASF Group, Sunland, Rheem, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and six candidates in the Gold Coast City Council elections, has been struggling for several months.

Shac previously failed in 2013, collapsing with debts of $437,000, including $338,812 to the tax office, after its name had been changed to Coolabird.

In mid-2013, while her company was failing and she was working in the Mayor’s office, Ms Holzapfel donated $114,000 in 12 payments to Federal MP’s Stuart Robert’s “Fadden Forum’’ ahead of the federal election.

Mayor Tom Tate with chief of staff Wayne Moran and then-media adviser Simone Holzapfel in the Mayor’s office in 2012.

The current iteration, Shac Communications, was created with Ms Holzapfel as sole director and shareholder in 2012.

It scaled down its operations earlier this year, moving from larger premises at Bundall and losing the bulk of its staff.

It was sharing office space at Mariners Cove, owned by Shac client Sunland, with another of the couple’s companies Robinson Prospect, which was deregistered by ASIC on July 8.

Ms Holzapfel and her developer husband Matt Robinson are battling multiple court cases and financial struggles which have enveloped several of their companies and drawn in some of the nation’s most powerful people.

Billionaire developer Bob Ell, Mayor Tom Tate and Sydney developer Jim Byrnes have chipped in to help the couple out.

Shac has recently worked for Mr Ell and his campaign to build a new Tweed Hospital at his Kings Forest development.

Despite not being registered to lobby for Mr Ell or his company in NSW, Ms Holzapfel created a website, social media accounts, signage and advertisements and drove journalists through the development on behalf of Mr Ell.

A hearing into the wind-up action has been set down for the Federal Court at Brisbane on August 31.