Beachgoer Rosie Foster joins mayoral race and kicks sand at Tom Tate
A young mental health nurse has launched her mayoral bid with a cheeky salvo against Tom Tate as he seeks a fourth term. Meet the latest candidate.
Gold Coast
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A young mental health nurse has joined the election race as an anti-development candidate prepared to confront Tom Tate as he seeks a fourth term as mayor.
Rosie Foster, after nominating for Gold Coast Mayor, wrote in a Facebook post: “See you at the polling booth Tater Tot (sic) with my training wheels ready to go.”
Mr Tate in a previous Bulletin story had targeted his opponents for being inexperienced.
He warned voters it is too risky to back an inexperienced candidate, describing his rivals for the city’s top job as “mayors on training wheels”.
Ms Foster is promising to represent “ratepayers, renters and residents” and “not just
just the greedy developers trashing our beautiful town”.
A keen beachgoer, she has accused council of “atrocious management” of Tallebudgera Creek which was closed in peak summer season due to a sewerage spill
Mr Tate before Christmas admitted council needed to investigate and learn how a cracked pipe had forced the shutdown of Tallebudgera Creek between Schuster Park and Tallebudgera Creek Beach near the Neptune Royal Surf Life Saving Club.
Ms Foster said she had left her home city Melbourne in 2007 at age 25 to find a better lifestyle, falling in love with the Gold Coast.
“The lifestyle, the climate, the breathtaking beaches, lush rainforest and hinterland drew me in and made me never want to look back,” she said.
But Ms Foster said she had experienced a growing sense of despair as the city was “bulldozed bit by bit and replaced with a dull depressing sea of concrete”.
“This despair has risen to a now sense of urgency that something needs to change and something needs to be done to preserve the few remaining pockets of Gold Coast’s unspoiled land, iconic world-renowned natural features, laidback culture and lifestyle,” she said.
“I have lived and worked all across the Gold Coast, from Ormeau, inland all the way south to Coolangatta. I have been a homeowner and ratepayer as well as a tenant.
“I understand the challenges of the current housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis from an intrinsic perspective.
“I am a specialised mental health nurse, and as such have strong communication skills with people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
“As a nurse my skills are in listening and advocating for the most vulnerable members of society. That is what I am seeking to do for the people of the Gold Coast. “
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