New Gold Coast councillor Brooke Patterson copping it over social media post backing Mayor Tom Tate and slamming the Premier

A councillor has copped a backlash on social media over a controversial post, with one critic accusing her of pushing “misguided propaganda”.

NEWLY elected Southport city councillor Brooke Patterson is facing a backlash from some residents after publicly supporting Mayor Tom Tate and firing a political shot at the Premier.

A prominent Coast LNP member who ran as an independent in the March local government poll, Cr Patterson has been accused of trotting out the “party line” to target Annastacia Palaszczuk about the closed border.

Councillor Brooke Patterson and Mayor Tom Tate.

In a post on her Facebook page, Cr Patterson wrote: “The Premier owes the Gold Coast Mayor and the Gold Coast an apology.”

Cr Patterson explained that the Mayor had agreed the city needed to make sacrifices including the border closure then he “took the hit from a justifiably aggrieved and deeply distressed Gold Coast businesses”.

MORE NEWS

Coast restaurant co-owner hits out at Queensland border closure

Why this Gold Coast mansion is going viral

Beaches reopen after fatal shark attack

“Now the Premier shows us she is happy to bend the rules when it suits her,” she wrote.

The Facebook post included an aerial photograph showing thousands of people in inner-city Brisbane protesting at a Black Lives Matter rally.

“How does she allow this kind of mass grouping whilst allowing the Gold Coast to suffer? This is a slap in the face to our mayor and our city,” Cr Patterson wrote.

Premier Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Tourism Minister Kate Jones meet with Mayor Tom Tate on the Gold Coast. Picture: Jack Tran.

A resident in a post wrote: “Come on Brooke don’t jump on the LNP bandwagon by copying Deb’s (Opposition leader Deb Frecklington) posts.”

Another resident wrote: “Brooke it’s obvious this post has backfired. You went into the local government elections on the platform of being an independent candidate, even as you are a member of the LNP. It’s a shame on you, so early after your win in Division 6, are now pushing the LNP State Opposition’s misguided propaganda.”

Cr Patterson was also accused by a resident of deleting posts, but denied this.

Cr Patterson told the Bulletin she stood by her comments on social media.

Brooke Patterson doorknocking in the new Division 6.

“The Premier owes our Mayor and the city an apology. The Mayor took the Premier in good faith when she came down just ten days prior to ask him to back her very strict position,” she said.

“The Gold Coast was called on to make a significant sacrifice for the greater good. Right now we see there is one rule for the goose, one for the gander. If you are a business on the Coast, it seems you are the gander.”