BLACK SWAN DEATH THREAT
"To go ahead with the filling will cause the bombing of your club and the death of the board by shooting at your house."
A CHILLING message has been received by the Turf Club threatening to bomb the club and kill board members and their families at their homes.
The anonymous threat, made in relation to the filling of Black Swan Lake, is being investigated by police at Broadbeach.
Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said the threat was one of many aggressive messages received.
“This is about me protecting our staff now and enough is enough,” he said.
GOLD Coast Turf Club bosses have alerted police to death threats against members and staff as the Black Swan Lake controversy turns nasty.
Police yesterday confirmed they were investigating a formal complaint after a “shooting, bombing and death” threat was made against club families, members and board.
The threat came via a post to the club Facebook page three weeks ago and a senior Turf Club employee reported it to Broadbeach police station.
The posted threat says: “To go ahead with the filling of Black Swan Lake will cause the bombing of your club and the death of the families and members and board by shooting at your house.
“Wake up you environ- mental rapists! You should all be killed.”
In a statement, the Queensland Police Service said it received information on February 16 from the Turf Club “regarding a threatening message sent to its Facebook page”.
“Inquiries have been undertaken to identify the author of the message. The investigation remains open,” the police statement said.
Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said the threat was the “last straw” and worst of many aggressive messages received, leaving staff who found it “quite distressed”.
“We got onto it straight away. It was reported to police. The board were very concerned,” Mr Lines said, adding staff, members and the board had put up with a lot of abuse generally.
Mr Lines shared an email sent to the Turf Club inbox in August last year, saying it hoped “you are praying somewhere because if you drain swan lake you are going to burn in hell!!!”.
“Death to all morons who destroy the environment ... feel free to tell me how you will not drain the lake ... there could be like consequences you know,” the email read.
Mr Lines said some of the general treatment and criticism club staff have copped during the debate about filling in the lake had been “disgraceful”.
“This is about me protecting our staff now and enough is enough,” he said.
The Turf Club has the green light from Gold Coast City Council to fill in the lake for more horse training facilities, green space and car parking.
Mr Lines added some who had stirred up debate were illinformed and didn’t know the facts.
“It has created a real storm. We have done everything to be compliant. We have a longterm plan to protect our industry which delivers $500 million minimum into the Gold Coast economy (annually). I don’t think the people who created the storm understand the implications of cultivating that emotional side of it.”
Turf Club chairman Brett Cook said board members and senior staff like himself were being “hounded”.
“I understand groups are trying to put pressure on and that is OK. But we won’t put up with this other stuff. The Turf Club will not be intimidated by these type of tactics.
“This hostile compaign against the board and our staff has been fed from the start by false information for other parties’ political gain.”
It was unclear who posted the threat but Mr Cook said he understood police had tracked down who was responsible.
“It was believed to be a man who used a female alias,” he said.
“The police tracked him and they have spoken to him I believe.”
THIS IS ABOUT ME PROTECTING OUR STAFF NOW AND ENOUGH IS ENOUGH TURF CLUB CEO STEVE LINES