Terror poles for Surfers

ANTI-TERROR bollards will be installed in two Gold Coast suburbs to stop a repeat of the truck attack that killed 86 people in France on Bastille Day last year.

Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach will get the heavy-duty, pop-up bollards. They will also be considered at Coolangatta and Southport once installed in the other two suburbs.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the $500,000 spent on 16 bollards in Surfers Paradise would make the area one of the safest in Australia.

“When it pops up, you can be in one of these heavy trucks and the bollards win all the time,” he said. “It will stop them dead.”

The retractable bollards will be placed across the Esplanade in Surfers Paradise at Hanlan St and near the Soul building by the end of the year. Police and council officers will be able to control when the pillars are used in the event of a major event or emergency. When not used they sit in the ground.

Cr Tate said The Esplanade had been chosen due to the high volume of people who visited the area.

The bollards come after two attacks in London where terrorists in vehicles ran down pedestrians in popular tourist areas. Similar attacks took place in France and Germany last year.

In July in Nice, a 19-tonne truck hit hundreds of people during Bastille Day celebrations. The driver was shot by police.

About $400,000 has been set aside for bollards in Broad- beach. They will be used at events such as the Blues on Broadbeach.

Bond University criminology Terry Goldsworthy said the bollards were a good way to prevent an attack.

“We have seen in recent events that terrorists are now using low-tech weapons and they are targeting events.

“This is a trend that a lot of our major cities are going to undergo.”

Mr Goldsworthy said the difficulty would be deciding where bollards were installed as they could not be placed everywhere.

Broadbeach councillor Paul Taylor said getting retractable bollards in the area would be “absolutely great”.

The heavy duty poles have also won the approval of Surfers Paradise Alliance boss Mike Winlaw who said they would help improve their traffic management plan during major events.

See video of the bollards at www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au