Gold Coast City Council election 2024: Candidate Danielle Dunsmore gives the finger during debate

Mayoral hopeful Danielle Dunsmore has declared her shock decision to flip the bird during a candidate debate was not her “finest moment”. SEE THE VIDEO

Mayoral hopeful Danielle Dunsmore has declared her shock decision to flip the bird during a candidate debate was not her “finest moment”.

Ms Dunsmore elicited gasps from the audience at the Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce candidate breakfast on Wednesday morning when she finished her address by giving Bulletin editor Ryan Keen the finger.

Gold Coast mayoral candidate Danielle Dunsmore gives the finger during a central chamber of commerce debate at the Mantra on View, Surfers Paradise on February 28, 2024

It came after she was asked for her vision of the legacy of a 2032 Olympics Gold Coast athletes’ village, and said she wasn’t “100 per cent across the Olympics”, prompting Mr Keen to remark “strong finish”.

Following the debate she revealed the reasons behind her actions.

“Not my finest moment! Maybe I only said one small word, but I did definitely give a cheeky flip of the (bird) for the compere’s disrespectful attitude. Sorry mum, will do better next time,” she wrote on social media.

“Oh well, my mum has made me promise to do better.”

VIDEO: Coast mayoral candidate flips the bird in tense debate

A mayoral candidate gave the finger and swore while another accused incumbent Tom Tate of trying to turn the Gold Coast into “15-minute cities” in a fiery pre-election debate.

Around half of the 46-strong field contesting the March 16 poll attended the Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce’s meet the candidates breakfast at Surfers Paradise’s View on Mantra.

The two-hour debate was an, at times, tense affair, which boiled over.

Mayoral challenger Danielle Dunsmore criticised Mr Tate’s leadership and described his decision to quit the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors (COMSEQ) over its $350,000 membership fee as a “f--k-up”, claiming it had cost the city $100m.

“If I was in corporate, where I have been before and I made a f--k up and didn’t pay $250,000 to get $100m I would get sacked,” she said.

Ms Dunsmore described the council as “the worst in Australia” to work for, defended her comments having previously described Surfers Paradise as “looking like a detention centre” as well as her push to remove shark nets.”

She finished her address by giving Bulletin editor Ryan Keen the finger.

It came after she was asked for her vision of the legacy of a 2032 Olympics Gold Coast athletes’ village, and said she wasn’t “100 per cent across the Olympics”, prompting Mr Keen to remark “strong finish”.

Third-time candidate Brett Lambert used his speech to launch a fiery attack on Mr Tate’s leadership and credibility, claiming the city was “choking in debt, dishonesty and deception”.

“The transparency needs to be there for the public to see, not just when it is political time for running a campaign,” he said.

Brett Lambert points the finger at Tom Tate for all the Coast’s troubles. Picture Glenn Hampson

“We need to ask there questions we need to be upfront and say you have to tell us where the money is going? Is it going into bank accounts?

“We need to keep the bastards honest, we need to take out the trash.”

Mr Lambert added: “The Gold Coast is now looking worse than the Gaza Strip, it’s looking worse under his watch, this is not a good thing.

“We know what he is doing, trying to turn our Gold Coast into 15-minute cities,” Mr Lambert claimed.

“The people know that.”

Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce Council Election breakfast at the Mantra on View, Surfers Paradise. Mayoral candidates on stage. Picture Glenn Hampson

The 15-minute city concept comes from town planning and relates to improving neighbourhoods by ensuring shops and community infrastructure is all within a 15-minute walk of homes.

It has also been seized on as a conspiracy theory to take away cars as a means of controlling the population.

Mr Lambert refused to say whether he would fill out the ratepayer group the Community Alliance survey on major issues affecting the Gold Coast, calling the question a “stitch up”.

It was pointed out by moderator Mr Keen that Mayor Tate has refused to fill out the survey as well, saying the community knew where he stood on all the major issues.

Mr Tate remind stoic during the debate and did not respond to Mr Lambert’s claims beyond grimacing in confusion.

The incumbent mayor used his speech to talk up the council’s planned film studio at Yatala, the extension of the light rail, the 2032 Olympics and ending landfills by 2036 as well as the importance of fostering the education sector along with the city’s economic mainstays of tourism and construction.