Gold Coast councillor William Owen-Jones shares the truth behind why he is quitting council
In an explosive exit interview, a councillor has revealed the real reason he resigned, say he could no longer work with Mayor Tate. Read William Owen-Jones’ full comments - and Tate’s response
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William Owen-Jones is not going quietly.
After 12 years as a City of Gold Coast councillor representing the northern suburbs of Division 2, Cr Owen-Jones is walking away - despite still being considered at the top of his game as a city representative.
But there’s a reason he’s calling it quits.
And it’s not, as politicians usually prefer to say, simply because ‘it’s time’.
“Life is pretty short and over the past decade I have not enjoyed a sensible working relationship with Mayor Tate,” he said.
Whoa. Sorry - what?
“To be honest, I did not want to serve a fourth term in that environment. So in February 2023 I made the decision to not re-contest.”
But it’s not just that. The state is copping a serve too.
“The more complicated answer (is) three years ago, the State compulsory acquired our family home to make way for a temporary connection of the ‘Coomera Connector’.
“It is a pretty stressful event to have a State Government unexpectedly decide to route a highway through your lounge room.
“It would be fair to say that losing the family home of 15 years gave me pause to reconsider what I wanted the future to look like.”
While not naming whether he had a preferred candidate to take the reins in the division, Cr Owen-Jones said the passing of the role to an effective local was important to him.
He said he gave notice last year in order to give “a strong, determined, caring person with a genuine connection to the community” time to establish themselves and meet with residents.
Notably, award-winning business woman Naomi Fowler was the first to nominate for the role, just three months after Cr Owen-Jones’s announcement.
After a dozen years leading his division, he said he was proud of the achievements made.
“In 2011, the city’s economy had ground to a halt; office vacancy was over 25 per cent and the city desperately needed change,” he said.
“I had lodged a two-lot subdivision plan on the same day that Jessica Watson had set sail; she made it all the way around the world single-handed; (but) after spending over $100,000 with consultants, I couldn’t get a simple plan approved.
“I felt like I could do a better job, so I campaigned pretty relentlessly over six months on a platform of ‘fresh thinking, fresh representation’ and I won.
“(My) proudest achievement would be fighting hard to find a long-term solution for the Helensvale Golf Course.
“The golf course is the lungs to the suburb, and when the leaseholder walked away in 2018 it was important for Helensvale to scramble to find a new operator … (meanwhile) the Mayor’s office was in the background chipping away to see if the site could be put up for sale, or made into tennis courts so a casino could be built in Southport, or an equestrian facility, or a showground or some other crazy-hat plan.
“I am also very proud that over the last decade the City has paid down debt, increased our reserves and we have laid a strong financial platform for future generations.”
As for his worst moment in office, a familiar name was raised.
Cr Owen-Jones said Mayor Tate’s vote to expand the Oxenford rock quarry was another contributing factor in his decision to step down.
“(The worst moment was) in November 2021, when Mayor Tate sided against the residents of Oxenford and voted for the further expansion of an existing hard rock quarry, to within 200 metres of residential properties,” he said.
“That for me was unforgivable. I couldn’t reconcile that with the Mayor who had fought long and hard to stop the Reedy Creek quarry from being established more than 500 metres away from residents just a couple of years earlier.
“It was a low point for me, and definitely contributed to my decision to not run again.”
Despite those tough times, Cr Owen-Jones said he remained incredibly optimistic about the city’s future, and believed it would continue to grow at the same pace it has for the past 50 years.
However, he said it was important to focus on “boring” projects like roads, bridges and footpaths, saying it was time to ‘build s--t, not bulls--t’.
“We live in an awesome part of the world, and have matured incredibly with world-class tertiary education options now existing where there was nothing 40 years ago,” he said.
“In my opinion, we need far less investment of time and tatepayers’ money on chasing the pipe-dreams and shiny baubles – ill-conceived Commonwealth Games bids, offshore cruise ship terminals, stadiums, concert halls, Lyrics Theatres, Taj Mahals, nuclear power plants or the world’s tallest cathedral.
“It might sound quirky, but I think the city needs to set up two embassies: one in Brisbane and one in Canberra, and we need to get back to working with others to achieve outcomes. We need to continue to respect our ratepayers funds.
“We need to continue to invest in the future. Great parks – Greenheart and the Spit; critical infrastructure projects like the proposed waste-to-energy plant, and boring beige projects like roads and bridges and footpaths.
“We need to complete the Oceanway, and we need to continue to reduce the dependency on single-trip car rides.
“In short, we need to ‘build s--t, not bulls--t’.”
If that sounds like a possible campaign platform, that could well be on the cards … one day.
Cr Owen-Jones said a tilt at the mayoralty was not in his near future, but said “hypothetically” if it should ever happen, it would require a unity ticket.
“The easy answer (to running for mayor) is ‘yeah, nah’,” he said.
“I am totally over the Trump / Morrison / Newman style of ‘strong man’ leadership. It is boorish and divisive,” he said.
“We need to get back to working collaboratively with all other levels of government, and all other elected representatives.
“I’m not sure if (wife) Mandy would let me use either as a slogan (but I’m thinking): ‘If you want to go far, go together’ or ‘Build shit, don’t bullshit’.
“Regardless, I guarantee it would be a fun campaign.”
As for division 2, Cr Owen-Jones said he believed the area would continue to grow on strong foundations.
He said the division’s wishlist relied more upon state than local government abilities.
“The majority of the suburbs that I have represented are well established, with Helensvale and Oxenford having great schools and sporting clubs.
“The City does need to continue to invest in the development of sporting fields and community facilities in the newer, fast-growing suburbs like Hope Island and Coomera.
“I am confident the plans are in place for that investment to continue into the future.
“Unfortunately, the majority of other ‘needs’ are services that have to be delivered by the State.
“Without a doubt, we need a stronger and better supported policing presence, we need an improvement to the availability and timeliness of public transport, and we need an improvement in access to health and social service networks.
“We also need a State Government to quadruple their investment in social housing on the Gold Coast.”
Cr Owen-Jones said he had borne personal witness to the city’s growth, completing his primary education in a two-teacher school at Pimpama with just 30 students in total, to now being a resident in Australia’s sixth-largest city.
He said growth was a good thing for the city, and would continue regardless.
“I am incredibly optimistic for our future,” he said.
“I believe people have come from everywhere to live in our part of the world, and that is not going to stop anytime soon.
“The Gold Coast is the wrong place to move to if you do not like growth, but it is one hundred percent the right place to come to if you want to live your best life. It’s a great city.
“We are heading in the right direction … and, just quietly, a premiership from the Titans, a premiership from the Suns and the introduction of daylight savings are the three things that will help change our city forever.”
While his next campaign may be years away, if ever, Cr Owen-Jones said the State Government’s cap on spending had reduced the ability of newcomers to upset a sitting councillor.
He said lifting the cap to $30,000 would help everyone.
“Even though it is incredibly difficult to unseat an elected representative, ultimately if you put in the hard work and knock on 10,000 doors you have a good chance. That’s how I did it,” he said.
“Six weeks of angry or negative posts on social media will not win an election. In the end people want positive engagement, (and) positive wins every time.”
Meanwhile, Cr Owen-Jones said he was looking forward to enjoying his “glorious gap years”.
He said travelling with his wife was next on the agenda, along with continuing his volunteer and charity work.
“My wife Mandy and I both missed out on doing a lot of travel after uni,” he said. “We got married pretty young, we have raised two awesome humans, and now after 30 years together we are going to really put our marriage to the test and try travelling together.
“I am also hoping to continue to help out with volunteering and charity work within the Gold Coast community. Hopefully, that will keep me fully engaged, relevant and in touch with what’s going on.
“Finally, I am going to try really hard to be graceful and not write cranky old man letters to the editor.”
MAYOR TOM TATE RESPONDS
In response to the comments by departing councillor William Owen-Jones, Mr Tate has hit back, stating Mr Owen-Jones should become an author in his next career as he was “good at writing fiction”.
Mr Tate said Mr Owen-Jones should not blame just one person when he found himself in the minority during council decisions.
“I’d encourage William to become an author in his next life but stick to writing fiction as he appears to be very good atthat,” said Mr Tate.
“Let’s remember that I am just one vote in council. My vote holds the same weight as every other councillor so as decisionshave been made in council over the past 12 years, they have been made by the majority of councillors.
“I can’t help that William has found himself in the minority on many occasions.”
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