Gold Coast socialites: Who’s who on the Glitter Strip
While “old money” socialites still feature, cashed-up younger players are making their presence felt. Here are key players in the Glitter Strip’s social scene.
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The label “Gold Coast socialite” was once typically associated with well-heeled women of a certain age, who were often seen at functions in their designer finery, champagne flutes in hand.
But the Coast’s huge growth in recent years, and its awakening as Australia’s “lifestyle capital”, has seen a whole new breed of Glitter Strip socialites emerge.
While “old money” socialites still feature prominently at events around the tourist town, seriously cashed-up younger players are increasingly making their presence felt.
The Coast, particularly since the Covid pandemic, has attracted a wave of successful business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals from interstate and overseas who are making their mark on the Glitter Strip social scene - alongside some of Australia’s top social media influencers.
Here are some of the key players:
Clive and Anna Palmer
Queensland’s richest man Clive Palmer and wife Anna are the Gold Coast’s undisputed power couple, with an estimated wealth of more than $20b and a collection of mansions in one of the Glitter Strip’s ritziest suburbs.
Clive - a former Gold Coast real estate agent turned mining tycoon, resort owner, one-time federal MP and perennial political agitator - lives with his Bulgarian-born wife in an eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom 14-car garage property on the exclusive Sovereign Islands at Paradise Point.
Bought for $20m in 2021, it’s one of 11 properties owned by the Palmers at the gated estate, which fronts the Gold Coast Broadwater and where all the streets have royal names.
Palmer’s $40m super yacht, called Australia, is often moored nearby.
The Palmers have their own charity foundation and donated $1m at last year’s Gold Coast Mayoress Ball, as well as $5m to Foodbank Australia earlier this year.
Clive was a long-time benefactor of the Southport Tigers rugby league club, signing former NRL stars Israel Folau and Tony ‘T-Rex’ Williams, before withdrawing his support in 2023 after accusations from bitter league rivals that the club was trying to buy premierships.
Tom and Ruth Tate
Tom is not only the Gold Coast’s most powerful politician - he’s also one of its wealthiest residents.
A former Surfers Paradise hotelier, he and wife Ruth have made millions through shrewd real estate investments.
They recently banked a tidy $1.15m profit after selling their luxury Paradise Waters home for $5.4m, less than two years after buying it.
It brought to an estimated $25m the couple has turned over wheeling and dealing properties over the last five years alone.
The colourful mayor owns multiple Ferraris and he and his wife are regulars at major social events, including luxury boutique soirees and balls.
Ruth hosts the annual Gold Coast Mayoress Ball which has raised more than $3m for charity.
Bec and Brett Frizelle
The Frizelles are among the Gold Coast’s most influential movers and shakers.
The couple met and fell in love in 1990 at a Southport car dealership started by Brett’s father James, and where Rebecca originally worked as a receptionist while studying law.
Fast forward to 2017 and Frizelle dealership chain joined forces with Sydney’s Peter Warren Group to form a billion-dollar car sales behemoth.
Rebecca, who stepped down as an executive of the Frizelle group in 2021 when the company floated on the stock exchange, remains one of Queensland’s most powerful women.
She’s long been a co-owner of the Gold Coast Titans and was the NRL’s first female club chair, is a director of the 2032 Queensland Olympics organising committee, deputy chancellor of Griffith University and a director of Racing Queensland, Experience Gold Coast, Paralympics Australia and LifeFlight.
It was announced this week that the Frizelle family would assume full ownership of the Titans, with Darryl Kelly selling his half-share in the club. Brett will join the board as a director.
Brett is also a director of boys education charity the Dixon Guardian Trust and The Southport School foundation and his family are generous benefactors, with James donating $25m last year through his eponymous charitable foundation.
Billy and Jackie Cross
Part of an inner circle of Coast heavyweights including the Tates, Billy and Jackie are king and queen of the Glitter Strip’s entertainment and hospitality scenes.
A one-time stripper alongside gardening guru Jamie Durie in legendary male revue Manpower, Billy joined forces with Jackie to operate a string of high-profile Surfers Paradise nightclubs in the 1990s.
Through their company Cross Promotions, the couple have also been major players in outdoor music festivals including Splendour in the Grass, Bluesfest, Falls and Out 2 Lunch starring Gold Coast international DJ Paul “The Fish” Fisher.
They operate the swish rooftop venue Nineteen at The Star at the Coast casino, as well as Queensland’s largest bar management business servicing outdoor events and music festivals.
The Crosses also run male revue Thunder From Down Under, the longest-running Australian act in Las Vegas.
Jackie is a director of peak tourism and events body Experience Gold Coast.
Tracey and Mike Woodbry
The Mermaid Beach couple are unsung but significant power players among the Gold Coast’s elite.
Both are close to Mayor Tom Tate and wife Ruth, with Tracey running the annual Mayoress Charity Foundation ball which has raised millions for charity.
She is also general manager for corporate experiences at the Gold Coast 500 Supercars race, a board member of the elite girls school St Hilda’s Foundation and a former director of the Coast’s Home of The Arts (HOTA) cultural centre.
Tracey is also a major fundraiser for charities including Lifeline.
A former builder turned businessman, Mike is a keen surfer and he and his wife are regulars on the Coast social circuit, often at functions with the Tates.
Schuyler Weiss and Danielle McFall
Baz Luhrmann’s right-hand man, Weiss and wife McFall relocated from New York to the Gold Coast several years ago when the acclaimed Aussie film director was making his Elvis Presley biopic.
The couple bought a multimillion-dollar beachside pad at Miami, where Luhrmann’s production company Bazmark is now based.
They are often seen out and about at events including the annual AACTA film and television awards, Mayoress Ball and trendy new restaurant openings.
They’re active supporters of the Coast’s film industry, embracing the “Goldywood” ethos coined by Luhrmann.
Weiss was producer for How to Make Gravy, the recent made-on-the-Goldy film inspired by Paul Kelly’s hit song.
Former professional ballet dancer-turned arts executive and agent McFall is a director of the Queensland Ballet and Experience Gold Coast and previously served on the board of the Coast’s Home Of The Arts (HOTA) cultural centre.
Cathie Reid and Stuart Giles
The Queensland rich-listers have become Gold Coast residents after selling their riverfront Brisbane mansion for $5.9m last year and settling into a $6m apartment at Burleigh Heads, where neighbours include former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her surgeon partner Reza Adib.
Reid and Giles amassed an estimated $550m fortune after establishing the Epic Pharmacy chain and the Icon Group, Australia’s largest cancer care provider.
The jetsetting couple regularly jaunt to Europe, where they became engaged in Venice in 2019 while in Italy as guests of French fashion house Dior.
They are often at social soirees on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, and have close ties to the elite Bond University where Stuart is a Fellow mentoring students alongside former Wallabies captain John Eales.
The couple’s Epic Good Foundation has donated significant sums for Indigenous health, literacy and education, including through an alliance with the Hawthorne AFL club.
Giles and Reid also part own Makepeace Island at Noosa with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.
Ron and Maja Bakir
Former mobile phone spruiker turned hugely successful developer Ron Bakir and wife Maja are fixtures on the Coast’s social scene.
Bakir established Crazy Ron’s mobile phone business in the mid 1990s when he was just 17 before setting up developer Homecorp in the early 2000s.
The company, which in 2018 joined forces with Prime Life Technologies owned by Japanese giants Toyota and Panasonic, has developed hundreds of homes and units across Australia, making the Bakirs among the Coast’s most well-heeled residents.
They’re also generous philanthropists, donating tens of thousands of dollars to charities including the Salvation Army, MS Foundation and Gold Coast Community Fund.
A former Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Ron gained notoriety in 2005 when he bankrolled drug smuggler Schapelle Corby’s legal defence.
Simon and Tah-nee Beard
The mega-rich glamour couple made their fortunes through their Culture Kings streetwear brand, which started humbly at the Carrara Markets on the Gold Coast in 2008 before the Beards sold it for a jaw-dropping $600m in 2021 when they were both still in their 30s.
In 2017, the couple famously stuffed $240,000 in a duffel bag to entice US rapper Drake to visit Culture Kings’ Pacific Fair store during his Boy Meets World Australian tour.
The Beards, who have four kids, have parlayed some of their fortune into real estate including paying $15.25m for Queensland’s most expensive apartment - the Soul supertower penthouse in Surfers Paradise. They have recently been trying to sell it for $30m.
They were inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2022 and appear at social galas including the annual Ray White Muscular Dystrophy Ball, hosted by Gold Coast real estate doyen Andrew Bell.
Adrian and Jess Puljich
The son of a self-made migrant millionaire, who started his new life in Australia in the 1960s as a renderer, Adrian Puljich is growing the family’s wealth and legacy as a major developer of over 50s resorts.
Adrian heads GemLife, which builds “lifestyle resorts” for ageing Aussies in Queensland, NSW and Victoria using a land lease model, where residents own their homes but pay a weekly site fee.
The company, a joint venture with Singaporean giant Thakral, listed on the ASX earlier this month in a spectacular $1.65b debut.
Puljich and interior designer wife Jess also control a multimillion dollar property portfolio including an Ashmore mansion which has hosted the likes of Elon Musk and Hollywood stars Jude Law and Amber Heard, and a $30m retreat called Hercules in the Byron Bay hinterland.
The couple regularly attend social events including the Gold Coast Mayoress Ball.
Puljich and his developer father Peter are major figures in the Gold Coast Croatian community, and Adrian is chairman of the Gold Coast Knights soccer club.
Michael and Denise Kollosche
Michael Kollosche is the kingpin of luxury Glitter Strip real estate, with his eponymous agency racking up more than $8b in sales since it was formed in 2019.
Not bad for a bloke who started out as a receptionist at Ray White Broadbeach while learning the ropes to become one of Australia’s top property agents.
The agency specialises in big-ticket properties, with sales including the $45m Voyager Resort at Broadbeach in 2022, the $26m Mermaid Beach Shopping Village in February this year and a record-setting $25m riverfront mansion at Southport.
Kollosche, who lives with his wife on “Millionaires Row” at Mermaid Beach, runs his own community fund which has raised millions for charity including Serving Our People, as well as local surf clubs.
He stages the annual Kollosche People’s Ball at The Star casino, which this year featured entertainment by pop star Ricki-Lee and a video message from Baz Luhrmann.
Tammy Hembrow
Few Gold Coast socialites can match the reach or star power of this social media sensation.
With a net worth estimated around $50 million and an Instagram following of almost 20 million, Hembrow has forged a vast empire of fitness and lifestyle businesses and is rarely out of the spotlight.
Hembrow, who recently announced her separation from new husband Matt Zukowski, often lights up the social set, attending high-profile events ranging from Australian Fashion Week to industry award nights both here and overseas.
She also has a charitable heart, making significant donations to causes ranging from breast cancer to motor neurone disease and using her vast influence to encourage others to do the same.
Emily Jade O’Keeffe
The popular breakfast radio host’s name is often right near the top of invite lists for the Gold Coast’s biggest social events.
Her radio role at Hot Tomato gives her a wide platform and a loud voice - a voice which has been put to further use in musical shows and in her moonlighting gig as a marriage celebrant.
A passionate advocate for children’s charities, she has also served as an ambassador for endometriosis through QENDO.
Despite her early starts for radio, Em J is often the life of the party at various soirees across southeast Queensland ranging from radio award nights and charity balls to red carpet premieres for movies and musicals.
Craig and Tina Layt
Regarded as one of the Gold Coast’s top plastic surgeons, Craig Layt and wife Tina are regulars at Glitter Strip social events where much of his scalpel skills are on show.
Dr Layt, a former president of the Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, specialists in breast augmentation, facelifts and tummy tucks.
He has practised on the Coast for more than two decades, with patients from across Queensland and interstate, and also operates a clinic at Ballina.
Dr Layt recently worked with US specialists to develop a device designed to eliminate cellulite.
Last year, he voiced concern about social media trends including “designer vaginas”.
Ellidy Pullin and Chloe Fisher
With a combined more than 1 million Instagram followers, gal pals Pullin and Fisher are among the Gold Coast’s biggest influencers, often seen partying together at events across Australia and abroad.
The besties, who voice the popular Darling, Shine! Podcast, regularly travel overseas with their young daughters - often as part of tours by Fisher’s husband, international DJ Paul ‘The Fish’ Fisher.
All are part owners of Coast-based alcoholic seltzer company Hard Fizz and Chloe is partnering her multi-millionaire hubby in a new luxury beachfront apartment project at Palm Beach.
Ellidy was the partner of former snowboard champ Alex ‘Chumpy” Pullin, who died in a freak skin-diving accident on the Coast in July 2020.
She later conceived their child, Minnie, now three-and-half, using IVF and released a moving memoir, Heartstrong. She and Chloe have both collaborated with various clothing and beauty brands.
Cody Simpson and Emma McKeon
The golden couple of Australian sport also see their share of red carpets, both on the Glitter Strip and beyond.
Simpson was already a bona fide A-lister with a thriving music career before his shock bid to return to competitive swimming where he started dating McKeon, who will go down in history as one of Australia’s greatest Olympians.
Their star power adds instant gravitas to events around the country and they are regularly photographed arm-in-arm on the red carpet.
They are also unafraid to share their love and their adventures to a combined social media following of more than 20 million.
With both stars now retired from swimming, the early starts of training sessions in the pool no longer stand in the way of having a good time.
Andrew Meadowcroft
Nicknamed “The Squirrel” for his self-styled reputation as a keeper of Glitter Strip society secrets, Andrew Meadowcroft is the Coast’s leading man about town.
He runs the Squirrel House, a boutique agency offering hospitality businesses services including PR, marketing, event planning and photography, and few venue openings and major social soirees on the Coast are held without him in the room.
The chardonnay-sipping Meadowcroft has acted for clients including The Star Gold Coast, QT Hotel and Cali Beach Club in Surfers Paradise.
Meadowcroft married his long-time partner Cameron Nobbs at a “Great Gaysby”-themed wedding, attended by more than 300 guests, at the Pink Flamingo burlesque club in Broadbeach in 2019.
Margot Mott
A Gold Coaster born to Dutch immigrants, Mott’s rise to catwalk model and fashion icon commands a place near the top of the Glitter Strip social scene.
Winning the title of Australia’s top model as a teenager, Mott went on to establish one of the country’s top modelling agencies and was rarely far from the red carpet at Australia’s biggest fashion events.
Her Fashion with Flair program has raised money for charitable causes across the country and she remains both busy and relevant with her “That’s Me” fashion line.
Originally published as Gold Coast socialites: Who’s who on the Glitter Strip
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