Deputy donor promise
Cr Gates vows no more pledges if laws change
GOLD Coast Deputy Mayor Donna Gates vows she’ll never take another developer donation if law changes prevent recipient councillors voting.
Ms Gates, who represents the booming northern corridor’s division one and was elected unopposed last year, has always maintained doing everything within the law to best represent her patch.
She declared $174,000 in 2016 campaign donations, including about $80,000 from developers. Yesterday, she said from her campaign account she bought a used ute and had it branded up – and sold it again as soon as practical after the election, with proceeds returning to her political account. She also invested campaign funds in an M1 billboard, 100 T-shirts, 10 caps and 350 corflutes.
She has defended voting on development applications linked to donors, in some cases pushing for conditions costing developers “dearly”.
The spotlight is on Queensland’s Local Government Act laws on developer donations which allow recipient councillors to declare perceived conflicts but still vote on development applications.
Calls are mounting for changes to prevent councillors voting on matters related to donors, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk calling the scenario “concerning”.
Cr Gates clarified yesterday she wasn’t against changes to the laws but would hate legislation to be “retrospective that stopped me from being in the room”.
“If I can’t represent my community fully I would never take a donation. I’m happy to support the change as long as it’s not retrospective.”
Ms Gates added where local government funding law “desperately needs changing” is around donation declarations required by candidates so they reflect the net cost of a campaign, enabling candidates to deduct expenses.
Her campaign funding was raised at events she put on at which she charged $185 a ticket, costing her $130.
“I never had $174,000, the events were very expensive.”
“They were all donations but I haven’t taken off what it cost me to put on events I had and that hasn’t been taken off cost of my campaign.
“I still had a campaign, I still wrote to every resident in division one and wanted them to know about my passion, what I had done the past few years and what I had planned for future. That comes at a cost.”
Asked how she was going at the end of a week which started with her breaking down when talking to the Bulletin about the donations controversy, she said: “Just dandy, I’m fine”.