Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin
IT’S MAD MULLET-DAY
Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (centre) with clippers ready to give his famed mullet cut to fans for Saturday’s showdown at home against the Knights. Picture: Glenn Hampson
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CASH SPLASH
Cheap flights, discounted accommodation, $50 vouchers and an unprecedented marketing blitz are the centrepieces of the Goldcoast’s tourism fightback after ExTropical Cyclone Alfred. In the wake of cancellations and businesses suffering, state support...
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BRACING FOR IMPACT
The Gold Coast is already feeling widespread impacts from inbound category 2 Cyclone Alfred, with 37,000 homes without power, falling trees causing chaos and its world-famous beaches on the brink of obliteration. The cyclone is forecast to make...
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SHOULD COUNCIL CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGALLY PARKED CAMPERS?
The ones that just stay there, yes. If they make a mess, fine them for dumping of rubbish and make them clean it up in front of everyone. We’re not trying to cancel Aussie culture but don’t move in to a parking spot like you own it and ruin it for...
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GRIDLOCK COMING BY 2031
Future transport forecasts have revealed Southport will be confronted by traffic gridlock within six years when key link roads to the CBD will be at “over capacity”. Mapping shows the worst congestion hot spots include the first section of Smith St on...
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OCEAN BATHS BRIGADE
Bondi-style ocean pools (right) on the Gold Coast’s famed beachfronts will add a new dimension to the city’s appeal, says a new proponent. Gold Coast businessman Todd Hiscock says saltwater pools would be a “standalone tourist attraction”, giving...
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Questions over funds
More than $140,000 from a flailing Gold Coast weight loss business was deposited into a bank account for a related IV therapy business, leaked documents have revealed. Companies behind WeightLoss Solutions Australia, headed by Felicity Jane Cohen, 60,...
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STATE’S WAR ON TRAMS
State Government is at war on Gold Coast trams - with itself. Transport department bureaucrats doing a review - as promised pre-election - have already told Premier David Crisafulli’s new government light rail is the only realistic long-term way to...
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BOOK IT NOW
Le Meridien Melbourne 20 Bourke St, Melbourne Rooms from $329 marriott.com
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$5BN BUT NO RELIEF
More than $5 billion worth of stunning residential-style developments will hit the Gold Coast market or begin construction this year but there will be no immediate relief in sight for the city’s stressed housing market.
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MAGIC ACT
The $14.5m Magic Millions is on track to be a bumper Gold Coast Turf Club day after a week on tenterhooks due to race surface damage that’s still a mystery. Limited tickets remain and include Ronan Keating and Jimmy Barnes gigs. Sky Racing’s Ally...
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TRAMS IN TIME FOR 2025
Build delays and cost blowouts won’t stop the first trams hitting tracks to Burleigh by September - and rolling into the idyllic suburb by early 2026, project boss Phil Mumford (above) reveals, saying from now “this job will change and come to life in...
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UNDER LOCK & KEY
A proposal for troubled teens to build homes is being put forward as a silver bullet for youth crime and the housing crisis. The plan, described as a “win-win” by one of Australia’s leading criminologists, already has the backing of Mayor Tom Tate.
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REVEALED DREAM TAKES FLIGHT
EXCLUSIVE The centrepiece Vietnam War-era Caribou plane and details of theme park Dreamworld’s new $55m precinct - with a world-first multi-directional rollercoaster - can be revealed ahead of Monday’s launch.
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HOOKEY, WHINE & SINKING
Five years ago, Scott Hookey (right) was at the top of the world, with a collection of supercars, homes, exclusive country club membership and a commercial property portfolio. Now the ex-firstclass cricketer is bankrupt with $10m debt, banned from the...
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A FRIGHT NIGHT IN PARADISE
A man accused of threatening people with a gel blaster in an alleged robbery and arson - which shut down visitor hub Surfers Paradise (right) - will spend Christmas behind bars.
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WHAT’S THE HOSS?
The liquidator of a major construction group says it used a $6.49m invoice, which was later effectively cancelled, to obtain a builder licence for a new company set up in the name of a relative of the founder. Heinrich Constructions, which changed its...
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BIG BABY DRAIN
The number of babies born on the Gold Coast has dramatically dropped as the city’s fertility rate tumbles. Data reveals 6869 babies were born on the Coast last year. That’s a steep decline on 7653 births in 2021. The city’s average fertility rate has...
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Principal’s abrupt exit
An elite private school principal has gone on leave abruptly for the second time in a year after concerns about the school’s response to an alleged serious incident between students. St Joseph’s College Coomera has emailed families advising principal...
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OCEANWAY BOMBSHELL
The Gold Coast’s popular beachfront Oceanway cannot be finished unless sections of the multi-million dollar rollout are made “sacrificial”, meaning those bits are likely to be obliterated by storm erosion and need rebuilding. Private beachfront home...
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Bringing vibrancy back
The new owners of a multimillion-dollar Broadbeach dining precinct have shared their plans to revitalise the space with new venues and the return of a local icon. On Tuesday, restaurateur Ben Walsh announced he had sold two venues on the Surf Parade...
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WE AIN’T GAVEN IN
Insiders say key Queensland election seat Gaven - Labor’s sole Gold Coast bolthole - is too close to call. “Throw a coin in the air,” an LNP veteran says.
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A HARD LINE IN THE SAND
The Gold Coast’s world-class sandy beaches - which bring $1.3 billion into the economy each year - are at serious risk of disappearing due to storm erosion and global warming, a shock new report warns.
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5 BONUS CREDITS
Limit of five Kitchen Knife credits per product per transaction per Flybuys account per day. Wiles stocks last. Exclusions apply. Full T&CS apply.
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Time to hang up leash
The founders of the popular Paws at the Park dog market are to hand over the leash – with their last event taking place in just two weeks. Jenna Schroeder and Lia Ferguson have been running the markets since their first event at Musgrave Park in April...
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TRAM HOMES TRUTH
The Gold Coast planning boss councillor Mark Hammel is pleading with Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon to repeat her intervention that allowed 650 homes to be built on a disused city country club - on a much bigger housing crisis fix. Cr Hammel wants...
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PARK LIFE
Plans for the “Broadwater Parklands of the Gold Coast’s north” have been unveiled. Gold Coast City Council will spend $10m to build the Coomera Adventure Parklands on a massive 70,750 sqm site which will front KerkinRoad and Finnegan Way. Its...
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NINE MONTH NIGHTMARE
partner The Clogans are among one in five Coasters left devastated by a cyclonic Christmas still awaiting insurance to cover repairs. “These insurance companies need to finalise claims faster,” local MP Mark
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WHY WE STAYED ON
Stewart and Pamela Skeen still get nervous each fire season. Five years ago they lost their Beechmont “piece of heaven” in 2019’s devas tating bushfires season - but stayed and rebuilt. “You can never entirely get back what you lost,” Mrs Skeen said...
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TURBULENT TIMES
Little expense was spared in building a $260m expansion at Gold Coast Airport. But two years after it opened, international routes to the Glitter Strip have nosedived. In a SPECIAL INVESTIGATION the Bulletin has spoken with aviation experts and tourism...
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A GLITTER OF HOPE
Sophia Rizzo, aka Glitter Girl, got a big boost from winning the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Young Woman of the Year award. And now she is ready to give back and help the next generation at this year’s awards brought to you by Harvey Norman.
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PLANE AWESOME
MEET THE PILOTS + GC AT LARGE + FRIDAY’S ACTION P8-9 + P14-15 + P77
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JESS TO IMPRESS: I CAN WIN FINAL
Twelve months ago Jessica Hull couldn’t compete and now the Australian is going into her date with destiny in the Olympic 1500m final thinking she can win gold. The dramatic turnaround was again on show at Stade de France with Hull cruising home for...
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TITMUS LEDECKY MCINTOSH RACE OF THE CENTURY
It’s on again. The best swimming race at the Tokyo Olympics is shaping up to be even better in Paris. Instead of two bona fide superstars going head to head, this time there’s three with rising Canadian sensation Summer Mcintosh joining Australia’a...
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85M CAN’T BE WRONG
The Gold Coast tram turns 10 today - with revelations it will connect to Tweed before heading east-west. More than 85 million have ridden on it - including first passenger Micky Brennan (left).
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BUILDER BUST BLUES
Queensland and Gold Coast streets are littered with the shells of half-built homes and high-rises as collapsed builders abandon work sites in the worst 12 months for the construction industry in 15 years. Thousands of homeowners, subcontractors and...
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FILTHY AT EACH OTHERR
The Logan Mayor Jon Raven (below) is accusing Gold Coast City CEO Tim Baker (top) of “dropping the ball” over the Albert bert River sewer leak l k shocker - and Mr Baker is flinging i i some muck right back, saying: “A good Mayor wouldn’t seek to...
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