HUMP WEEK? NAH, JUST DON’T MENTION THE SPIT
A MAYOR is not a camel – but he sure knows how to ride out humps.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate shook off his political hump week with a camel ride along Coolangatta Beach yesterday ahead of last night’s VIP premiere of Opera on the Beach – Aida.
“Today I’m doing a bit of a cameo on a camel,” a chipper Cr Tate said as he joined Opera Australia (OA) artistic director Lyndon Terracini for a leisurely beach stroll aboard Aida’s animal stars, camels Daisy and Sid.
Asked if he’d ridden a camel before, Cr Tate raised a cheeky eyebrow as he replied.
“I have. I’ve ridden a lot of things before,” he said.
Relaxed and chatty, Cr Tate showed no signs of stress as he inspected Aida’s towering set in the sand.
“One thing about the Gold Coast, we think a bit different,” he said.
“We’re unapologetic. We embrace creativity and we’ve got that entrepreneurial talent and this (Aida) will excel.”
Cr Tate had only just bounced back from one of the most challenging times of his life after wife Ruth’s health scare when he and his council came under fire this week.
“Let me say that with what I’ve gone through with Ruth, nothing compares,” he said.
“This is a walk in the park. No stress at all. And the best part about it is it’s my job to stand up and defend the good name of the city, the good name of those councillors that was trying to be smeared over. Bring it on. My thing is you’ve got to recognise Australia has freedom of speech and I have the freedom to speak back.”
Cr Tate said council and Tourism and Events Queensland would wait for a postevent report on Aida before locking in plans for future Opera on the Beach seasons.
GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate said Opera on the Beach’s 2014 hit The Magic Flute and current season of Aida have set the benchmark for producers hoping to use our beaches.
“I remember from Magic Flute, when the beach was returned to the city, it was pristine. That’s what you want from any event on the beach,” Cr Tate said.
He said the operas had shown how our beaches could be used, without being abused.
“We just ticked off on SandTunes, so that’s going to be the next big one,” he said.
Cr Tate said council’s decision to allow the SandTunes festival to be held on Coolangatta Beach on December 1-2 next year did not mean the floodgates had been opened.
“You have to have a fine balance for locals because our locals love our beaches and the other side of it is to put an epic event on like this to put our name on the events map to attract people to come and visit the Gold Coast,” he said.
“For an event like this we can alternate – have an event in Kurrawa, for example, or Surfers and spread it along the Coast. Our economy is driven by tourism, in this case culture tourism, so we want that. At the same time we want to make sure 99 per cent of our facility is for locals first.”