BLACK SWAN LAKE PROTESTORS CAUSE A FLAP OUTSIDE MEETING
A GROUP of protesters chanted and waved placards as councillors arrived at the Evandale chambers for the year’s first full council meeting yesterday.
Up to 40 residents, many of them community group leaders, made clear their opposition to the filling of Black Swan Lake as councillors arrived at Bundall for the meeting at 1pm.
Mention the Bundall waterway inside the council chambers and a majority of councillors will refer to it as a toxic “borrow pit”.
But a Bulletin online poll yesterday revealed almost 95 per cent of respondents want the lake to remain open for bird life.
Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast spokesperson Sally Spain said the protesters wanted sustainable planning for the city which would see a home preserved for 53 species of birds on public land.
“We have to liaise with council outside its doors. In prior administrations before the Tate administration, the groups which were concerned with our wonderful heritage and our tourism heritage could have a word (with the council),” she said.
“We ask that this council rethink its policies and this city be saved and not exploited.”
Deputy Mayor Donna Gates later stepped outside the chamber when the gallery and media room was cleared for a closed session to discuss the future of the Gold Coast Show Society.
Cr Gates decided to not participate in the debate because the Show Society is staged at the Gold Coast Turf Club grounds.
“I left the room because of the nexus between the Gold Coast Show and the Turf Club. I’m a member of the (Turf Club) board now,” Cr Gates told the Bulletin.
“I was not a member when the borrow pit decision was taken and I’ve participated in debate and come under some criticism since that time over my participation. I believe a perception exists that needs to be recognised. On this occasion I felt that I should not participate in the debate about the location of the show in the future, nor about the funding there, that’s what the motion is about.”
Councillors on their Register of Interest who have noted honorary memberships with the Turf Club include Cr Gates, William Owen-Jones, Cameron Caldwell, Bob La Castra, Dawn Crichlow and Paul Taylor.