How move turned into a Show-stopper
AFTER more than 110 years the Gold Coast Show is on its knees. As a ratepayer, you are being asked to put your hand in your pocket and save it. What really happened on its rollercoaster move from Parklands to the Turf Club at Bundall?
A secret commercial deed of agreement between the show and the Gold Coast Turf Club, along with financial reports, for the first time show the money trail.
Our councillors have just been provided audited accounts revealing the Show’s “deteriorating financial position” for the four years since the show left Parklands.
At its former home eight years ago, the Show had total equity of $433,000. That is currently down to $7000. On the flip side, the Turf Club’s financial position is much improved.
This is how and why it happened.
At midnight on September 30, 2013, the Parklands Trust – of which the Show was a big part – packed up, allowing the site to be cleared for the Commonwealth Games Village.
The trust’s final report says more than $5 million was transferred back to the State Government and “substantial plant and equipment” given to the racing industry and other clubs.
Along with the Show, the Lifeline Expo, 22 harness racing events and other community days, Parklands hosted 400,000 people each year. It was self funding and not a drain on taxpayers.
In the 2013 Turf Club annual report, chairman Brett Cook advised members that the Newman government had approved the relocation of the show to the Bundall equine precinct.
“Your club is racing ahead more quickly than at any other time in its history,” he said.
Treasurer Arch McDonald, reporting on an improved net profit of $2.3 million, cautioned that the “financial scars will remain for a short time” as redevelopment upgrades occurred.
But the mood at the Turf Club was optimistic. In April the following year, the club signed off on a Deed of Agreement before receiving a grant from the government of $11 million.
Those confidential documents, obtained for the first time, show a 2500 sqm pavilion had to be built for a show ring, wood chop arena and events office.
Annual rental for the events office would start at $250. Storage space of 675 sqm would be provided and all parking revenue would go to the show.
The “agreement to relocate” provided for a minimum term for the events office and licensed agreement. The bottom line was the Show had a home for the next 33 years.
“The turf club and the GC Show will co-ordinate with each other in relation to the promotion of the Gold Coast Show,” the agreement said.
We now know that in March 2015, the Turf Club approached the council to fill in “the borrow pit” at the back of the stables near the Magic Millions pavilions for a horse training area and overflow car park.
In November the following year area councillor Gary Baildon gave a passionate speech about saving the Show which had parking issues at Bundall compared to Parklands, and enough councillors supported him.
Black Swan Lake’s fate was sealed. But what about the Show?
Mayor Tom Tate at the most recent full council meeting was just as passionate about the Show surviving but does not want ratepayers subsidising a failing event.
As councillors agreed to “workshop” the Show’s future, the Mayor and rival Dawn Crichlow argued about whether the Turf Club wanted the annual event. Both admit the Show needs a new home.
And the Turf Club? In its latest annual report, chief executive officer Steve Lines talks about the promising legacy of the events centre which will have a “budget income forecast next year of $1.8 million”.
From whatever side of the lake or borrow pit you stand, there has been a big winner and equally big loser from what is supposed to be a 33year marriage to support two of the Coast’s most important institutions.