Inside the Gold Coast’s biggest political spat between Cameron Caldwell and Kristyn Boulton

Rookie councillor Kristyn Boulton finds herself defending a $60,000 spend on stamps and letters - the drama was sparked by one of her biggest rivals.

Kristyn Boulton and Daphne McDonald at council. Photo: David Clark.

A POSTAGE expense drama in which rookie councillor Kristyn Boulton finds herself defending a $60,000 spend on letters to residents is the first round in what promises to be an all-out fight with rival Cameron Caldwell for Division 4 in the March poll.

The Bulletin understands concerns about Cr Boulton’s mailout spending were raised as early as January, but the matter did not surface publicly until Cr Caldwell brought up postage spending at a committee meeting on October 24 when he quizzed council CEO Dale Dickson.

Both councillors have strong LNP links. Cr Boulton previously worked in the office of Cabinet minister and Fadden LNP MP Stuart Robert, and Cr Caldwell – the city’s planning committee chair – is considered one of the city’s northern LNP heavyweights.

Their rivalry has come to a head through council boundary changes for the March 28 election next year. The biggest impact has been on Cr Caldwell’s Division 3, which was divided up.

He admits that privately he has made up his mind, but publicly will not reveal where he will run.

Most observers at City Hall predict he and Cr Boulton will fight it out in the new Division 4, extending from Coombabah and Biggera Waters to north of Paradise Point.

Cr Cameron Caldwell during a meeting. Picture: Richard Gosling.

When the matter flared in a Bulletin report this week, Cr Boulton did not respond to requests for comment, but the next day sent a letter to the editor explaining that her flyers were a big part of communicating with constituents not on Facebook.

Cr Caldwell declined to comment.

The Bulletin understands the amount being spent on letter mailouts was raised as early as January when a council representative – not Cr Caldwell – was approached. This was before the boundary changes.

“I questioned (the councillor) how Kristyn was doing so much direct mail. It costs $26,000 to $27,000. It seemed excessive,” a complainant had said.

Sources suggest an internal email was sent to a council officer to clarify spending policy but the issue did not surface publicly until Cr Caldwell questioned Mr Dickson at the October 24 committee meeting about the council’s draft annual report.

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“Do you think we should add a column there that discloses the amount of postage that’s been expended by councillors? And do you have data that would support that column being inserted?” Cr Caldwell said.

The CEO seemed surprised.

“Ah, ah, we could. We are waiting for clarity around the postage question,’’ Mr Dickson said.

“We’ve got expenses reimbursement, an advertising spending policy – we are waiting as I said with respect to Belcarra 2 what rules might apply to postage as it relates to certain councillor and candidate functions.

“There is no current impediment to including postage. I just want to be clear that we do have absolutely accurate records in relation to individual councillors. We don’t account for that in the same manner as we clearly do require disclosure and on that page.”

Kristyn Boulton at council. Pic by Richard Gosling.

But Cr Caldwell was quite firm. “I’m sure you can do it accurately,” he said.

Councillors knew Cr Boulton’s expense history would be exposed.

In a report this week, the Bulletin detailed a list showing five councillors spent $81,304 on mailouts through the council’s print room in the 12 months to June 30. Cr Boulton was the highest, spending $57,683.24.

On Tuesday at the full council meeting, councillors voted to include postage expenses in future reports.

Cr Caldwell told colleagues: “To have a single councillor in just one 12-month period spend $57,000 in postage in circumstances when we have only 27,000 electors in each particular division, we need to have a level of accountability to the general public and not have this (data) be unable to be seen by them so they can make an informed decision.”

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The council’s official position is other bulk mailout costs incurred at the request of councillors have been allocated to other budgets.

“There is no individual councillor budget for postage and whilst some data on individual councillor requests is available, this data is not a complete or accurate record for all 15 councillors,” a spokesperson said.

MBob La Castra, Kristyn Boulton and Donna Gates at council. Photo: David Clark.

Several councillors believe Cr Boulton spent too much and the money could be used on much needed improvements to her division. Others suggested she was in a “whole world of (political) pain”.

A council insider summed it up as a “hatchet job”.

Some are furious about being collateral damage, featured in media reports after spending less than $400.

An LNP source close to both saw a much bigger battle ahead.

“I think he (Cr Caldwell) is trying to stop her running in her area. It’s like ‘don’t take me on’. It’s like ‘hey, I’m not going to go down easy’. It’s telling her ‘you have an open division to run in 7’. It will be a hard fight,” the source said.