Mayor’s Message

WORDS: Tom Tate- Mayor Gold Coast City PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

Working together to overcome the challenges ahead in 2023 and beyond

There is no doubt this year will be one that opens further chapters in our city’s vibrant storybook.

It is exciting to see new private sector developments being proposed at locations like the Southport marina, at our theme parks and within key tourism precincts across the coast.

These projects build on the city’s famous ‘have-a-go-spirit’ and give confidence to employers and employees including our 76,000 registered small business owners.

This year, I believe we need to continue to focus on three challenges facing our city: cost-of-living-pressures on families; further improvements to our transport network; and working in partnership with the Queensland Police Service to address crime, particularly youth crime.

In the area of cost-of-living, our Council has kept any annual general rate increases at, or below, CPI for the past 11 years. In every way, that is now our benchmark when councillors meet to consider the annual budget. Keeping rates low is a ‘non-negotiable’ for me, as Mayor.

There is a range of other measures we have in place to assist people struggling with day-to-day costs. These include payment agreements for residential rates, rebates for seniors and pensioners and support for business through various grants and programmes.

In the field of transport, I fully understand the pressure on our roads with more cars on virtually every street. We all rely on our cars to get around but we must make the switch to utilising more public transport. That’s why we are partnering with the State Government on a major trial of more public transport for the north of our city along with putting forward our share of light rail funding for stages 3 and 4. We are also investing heavily in active transport options for kids going to school as well as parents doing the daily drop-off/pick-up.

Finally, crime is an issue and while police stats show a drop in major crimes such as armed robbery, we all know that street-level crime remains a huge concern.

As Mayor, I host a regular Mayoral Safer Suburbs Forum. That forum brings together every agency with an interest in public safety – Queensland Ambulance, the State Department of Communities, Queensland Police, church groups and charities. Our sole aim is to ensure we are all ‘pulling together’ and that no resources are being wasted in our joint approach to crime.

When all is said and done, the best ‘eyes and ears’ of any community are its residents. I encourage anyone with an interest in our great city to contact my office direct with their ideas: [email protected]

Let’s work together through 2023.

Tom Tate

Mayor Gold Coast City