Recently I was asked the following question on Facebook:-

Hi William. I wonder if you might create a note about your views on protecting the Gold Coast’s natural heritage: waterways, coastal ecosystems, hinterland forests and community capacity and how you propose for Council to balance economic growth with protecting our ecosystem services.

What follows is my response and thankfully I wasn’t asked to answer in 500 words or less.

I am an Accountant by training. I do not pretend to be an expert in ecology – but as I have been known to be a ‘bush lawyer’, and a ‘bush town planner’ it is only fitting that I have a crack at being a ‘bush ecologist’ as well!

What I do know is that here on the Gold Coast we live in a special place. A place with more biodiversity than Kakadu, due to its wide range of differing habitats and geography. Accordingly there are many areas that are significant and need ongoing protection and management in our city.

By way of background, I have worked with and for the George Alexander Foundation for the past 12 years. The twin objectives of the Foundation have been Education, and to a lesser extent, the Environment (and every now and then a mixing of the two).

In turn since 1972 the George Alexander Foundation has been administered by the much larger Ian Potter Foundation.

Like how the modern American ‘conservation’ movement was born from the seeds planted by conservative / business families like the Fords and the Rockefellers. Here in Australia the Landcare movement was born from the early work of the Potter Farm plans in the 1980s.

A philanthropic program sponsored by the Ian Potter Foundation to encourage farmers in catchments areas to ignore the cadastral boundaries of individual titles to have a more holistic approach to farm management.

An approach to farming where “conservation and production were seen as being the two sides of the same coin” and not alternate land uses which always had to be competing with each other.

As a Councillor I believe I will be able to consider and balance big picture issues with the detailed practical realities of competing economic, environmental and social interests.

I support the general intent of the existing Nature Conservation Strategy.

It is a strategy which seeks to preserve and enhance land that is of genuine ecological significance. Accordingly I have no intentions in being involved in changing the direction of the existing strategy.

Broadly speaking I support the general existing pattern of land use. A pattern which has at its core the protection of the Bay Islands, Moreton Bay and Hinterland Ranges with development taking place in the corridor in between.

The existing city plan offers protection to the highest value environmental areas and creates certainty for everyone with a ‘go zone’ and ‘no go zone’ in the simplest terms in relation to development.

I believe what is the key to the custodial role that Council has to undertake is being able to strike the right balance between human and community needs on one hand and ecological needs on the other.

This balance needs to be managed carefully as the proper custodianship of the important ecological area within the city is expensive.

In the heart of Division 2 we have a good portion of the Coombabah Wetlands which are a pretty special place and important fish nursery, along with McCoys Creek area to the immediate north in East Coomera and the Wongawallan Ranges to the west.

As a practical person, I believe there needs to be a strong relationship between the science and practical outcomes.

What we should ensure is that we concentrate and focus our efforts on areas and species that are genuinely significant and that are under real threat from development or incompatible activities.

I note that the existing Open Space Preservation Levy was actually reduced by just under 5% during this current year’s budget process and that is something that I do not agree with.

I will advocate and seek to restore the funding levels to previous levels to help ensure that the GCCC continues to have sufficient resources available to continually purchase and maintain ecological assets in our City.

However I strongly believe the use of those funds should be carefully and prudently thought out and deployed in a manner to achieve the greatest “bang for our buck” over the medium to long term.

Under no circumstances should the Green levy funds ever be allowed to be used again for political purchases.

I believe we need to maximise the environmental benefit from green levy purchases – by ensuring we acquire land that is both genuinely ecologically significant and under genuine threat from development.

Unlike Tipplers where vast amounts of money, just short of an entire year of Open Space Preservation Levy, was spent purchasing land that I personally do not believe was under any threat of significant development, and this was confirmed by reports from Council Officers back when the matter was originally being considered.

This has meant that there has been less money available for purchases of real ecological significance like East Coomera and the Coombabah Wetlands and devalues the whole policy approach.

The current purchase of the Tee Trees unformed golf course adjacent to the Coombabah Wetlands, which was a much more appropriate use of the green levy.

However I would also advocate that like the Potter farm plan cadastral plans can at times be ignored so that we can achieve the best results in land use for both the community in terms of recreational space and the environment for the long term protection of significant environmental corridors.

For example the long standing drainage problems at the interface between the Coombabah Wetlands and the Helensvale Golf Course is a case in point.

Where a slavish adherence to the cadastral boundaries that exist between State and Council controlled land needs to be better managed and controlled in a much more holistic manner to ensure that the needs of both the community and the environment are balanced.

This lack of coordination is evident between Council’s own departments when policies require the private land owners to adhere to stringent environmental controls, yet the Council’s Engineering Services appear exempt from many of the same controls.

I am also concerned about the long term funding for the Green Levy as now it has to cover maintenance and management of the areas increasingly coming under Council control.

I would support looking at innovative ways, including community management, of ecologically important areas so they don’t become infested with invasive and feral species defeating the purpose of purchasing the property in the first place.

If the community values the environment through initiatives like this, it in turn guarantees community protection.

Finally, in relation to the Green Levy, whilst its role is very important we should also be working with the Development industry to ensure protection of high quality areas (as opposed to continually picking fights over lower quality areas).

If in terms of ‘Community capacity’ you are asking after my views on a ‘population cap’, the current planning framework provides a rough natural population cap, with the strategic plan that clearly designates areas for development.

With existing zones and density values that determine how many people can go on the land and all under the overlay of the Queensland Government’s ‘South-East Regional Plan’ which provides for a population growth figure of 142,000 more people on the Gold Coast to 2031, means that there is a reasonable indication of intended population for the city, to the extent at least that we can plan ahead for the impacts of that population.

In regards to the Coastal Plan I agree it’s an issue that needs a framework to deal with the impacts and implications but needs to be considered more fully regarding economic and practical issues. So defer until after the State election is the prudent thing to do.

Finally I also understand that “a closed mind is a great thing to lose”.

In me you will find somebody who is open to new ideas and happy to work with both sides of the same coin in regards to seeking to balance economic growth and ecological protection.

Welcome to everyone, thank you for attending, and a special thanks to the Mayoral candidates who have been able to make their way here this morning (Dean sends his apologies he is working on cruise and was unable to attend).

The Gold Coast is 40 kilometres long at about five people wide so I know most of you here today, for those that I do not I would like to provide just a quick background. Last week the Gold Coast Bulletin ran a story on Lex Bell being 66 and I found myself unexpectedly having to defend a position of being the youngest candidate.

The Bully allows feedback to stories online with 500 characters. This was me in a nutshell:-

At 41 I am older than Lex was when he was first elected, but eight years younger than Dawn would have been (20 years ago). I went to school in Pimpama in the old Albert Shire (moving to the “Gold Coast” in ‘95). I have been married for 17 years, have two children so we have to live modestly. I have an accounting degree and one dry sense of humour. I have worked on the Gold Coast for the past 20 years. I have two ears and one mouth and I am happy to use them in that ratio (I prefer beer to champagne).

I might just pause to expand on some of that…like many in the Albert Shire we moved to the Gold Coast via amalgamation. My family ran a fruit shop in Beenleigh from the mid ’70s to the mid ’80s, and as a boy I grew up in small state schools in Cedar Creek and Pimpama.

I attended High School in Beenleigh – when there were only three choices in the district –the new Helensvale High and Beenleigh State High and St Josephs.

I worked at DreamWorld and gardened, while completing a Commerce Degree at Griffith University. I have since completed the CPA program as well as a Graduate Diploma in Accounting.

I have had four jobs. I worked as an accountant in a private accounting practice for four years, as an accountant and manager for a real estate company for five, and as a manager for an industrial property syndicator in Brisbane for a year.

Since the turn of the century I have managed a private investment company here on the Gold Coast called Barkala.

Barkala was owned by George Alexander, who passed away in 2008, at the age of 98.

Over the past eleven years, as well as an equities portfolio, we have held and managed a variety of assets including commercial, industrial and rural properties.

George was a philanthropist and he left his estate to a private charity called the George Alexander Foundation. The Foundation has twin objectives of supporting education and the environment.

Here on the Gold Coast the foundation is the largest private benefactor to Griffith University’s scholarship program.

When I started with George he had approximately $10m of assets, during the past eleven years we have made and donated over $10m to charity, however there remains $15m of assets still on hand. And just for the record – during the term of the current Council I have been involved in three town planning applications.

One was the Gold Coast’s most expensive on-grade carpark, where we added 30 car spaces to an existing office property at Varsity Lakes.

The second was the Gold Coast’s most expensive two-lot sub-division for our family home; where Jessica Watson managed to sail single-handed around the world and back faster than we could get an approval out of this Council.

More recently we have lodged the first Master Planning unit for the Coomera Town centre on George’s former principal place of residence.

Thanks to those three recent experiences with dealing with the City’s Planning Department, I have a pretty good understanding of the frustrations involved in dealing with this Council.

But Council is not about making money or profits, Council should be about spending money as wisely and prudently as possible.

I have nothing against Councillor John Wayne personally.

However if we do not like the decisions that are being made, we need to change the decision makers.

Unfortunately, it is an adversarial process and I have chosen to run against him. There will be no dirt sheets from me, no dirty tricks.

What I bring to the table is a fresh set of eyes and the ability to ask the tough questions of the Administration and understand the answers. Sometimes those answers are not black or white – they are grey and they require analytic problem solving abilities.

I have a desire to see a much more open and transparent Council, we can make far better decisions than are being made at the moment. I want to be part of the change needed.

I come with no baggage, no alliances or involvement in mini blocs or school yards grudges. There is nothing in my past that I am uncomfortable with.

Whilst I am currently a Director on George’s companies, in order to ensure that there is no misunderstanding or confusion at the end of this month, after 11 years, I will be stepping down from Barkala.

I will work fulltime for the next four months on the campaign and I am not interested in coming second.

Divisions 2, 3 and Susie’s Division 7 are the only Divisions currently being contested. The reality is that in five months there is a good chance that there will be no major shift in the majority of Councillors appointed.

Accordingly Division 2 represents an opportunity for change and supporting my campaign provides one of the few opportunities to inject fresh thinking people into the Council.

Since January I have sat in on all but two of the Full Council meetings. Folks, currently the tail is wagging the dog in our city.

Councillors do not appear to be making or determining policy. I believe that there has been and enormous abdication of responsibility to the Administration and deferring to the crutch of reports and external advice.

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Conversely if you ask no questions, you will get no answers, and it is pretty hard to succeed. For the record:

Councillor Wayne, in the month of October, asked no questions and spoke at Full Council only four times, in total for less than five minutes.

* 27 seconds on Tipplers

* 1 minute 9 seconds on dog registration and the Animal Welfare League

* 1 minute on Bulls on the Beach

* 1 minute 7 seconds on the benefits of the coffee table magazine

Every Monday afternoon a full suite of Directors attends Council, why? I do not know because they certainly are not being asked any difficult or probing questions.

Since January, Cr Wayne has not asked one question of the Directors.

Why Division 2 – having spent 10 months sitting in on the Full Council meetings, I am pretty confident that I could do a better job at representing our area than the incumbent Councillor.

I have spent the best part of the last 40 years living in the northern area of the Gold Coast, it is the area of the Gold Coast I have the most affinity with, and my family represents the demographic, and I bring a set of skills that are currently absent from the Council Chambers.

If we want to change the direction of the City – this is where we have to do it.

Allconnex is a classic example. It was not three good or bad decisions over the last six months but four or five years of poor decisions. We lost $1.5 billion of our City’s balance sheet when the assets were stripped by the State into the retail entity. We did not dig in and fight at the start and in the end it turned into a farce of misinformation and in-fighting.

Quite frankly, I – like many others – think that it is time that this City stops being run like a rural town. We have an almost $1 billion budget; and over $10 billion in assets. We need to put a bit of starch back into our Council.

Alone, I am not the silver bullet; I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I am pretty sure I have some better questions.

If we do not step forward – we will stay in the same place. So I am stepping forward because I would like to offer a fresh alternative, I want to get involved in being part of the solution to what ails our City. I would hope to be a reasonable voice and a voice of reason for the residents of Division 2, and the Gold Coast at large.

In this City at the moment we have paralysis by analysis, and that has to stop. We need far less navel gazing, planning, and reporting, and far more doing. If it is too hard, stop warming the seat, stand aside. We need fresh thinking and we need fresh representation.

We need Councillors who represent the Community to Council; not Council to the Community.

However I am not here to rail against the sitting Councillors, I believe they all have their heart in the right place. In a City of over 530,000 when less than 30 to 40 people put themselves forward. I think each of one of the candidates genuinely wants to serve the community in their own way and I respect that.

Last month the Mayor said that the Gold Coast has a record number of people employed – 306,000 (full and part-time) and that with 10,000 new construction jobs we are nearing the 2007 peak in the construction industry.

I’m sorry but I just do not believe the ABS sample of 700 Gold Coasters represents what is happening in our City.

Here are the uncomfortable facts – our City has 22% office vacancy; our City has retail vacancy. It has it at Pacific Fair for the first time in my life – it has it in Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Southport, and everywhere in-between. Our City has Building Approvals down 45%…Our City’s Tourism, Education and Marine industries have all been hit hard by the exchange rate and the GFC.

How can we ever be serious about fixing a problem if we refuse to acknowledge it exists?

Council cannot fix unemployment, or the Australian dollar, they are all things out of the direct control of Council.

However the most powerful tool the Council has is the town plan – how we use it, and how it is used goes a long way towards encouraging business to again flourish in our City. Small, medium, and large businesses employee people here on the Gold Coast.

This City was built on the back of people having a go and that is the spirit we need to nurture and encourage once again. We need Council to get out of the way.

Abe Lincoln said he only ever had one policy and that was common sense. But what is common sense? Is it common at all? Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.

In September the State Government held a seminar in Nerang called “Way to Grow”. The State wanted to prepare a list of key infrastructure projects to strengthen regional Queensland.

I was one of about 60-odd who attended, along with only one GCCC councillor. That Councillor asked about the climate in tropical far north Queensland.

Common sense would have been to ask a question about – Exit 54, or the next stage of the Light Rail from Griffith University to Helensvale, or to ask after a social infrastructure for the Northern Suburbs or funding a Cultural Centre.

We need to apply more common sense, we need to ask better questions.

What we have at the moment is a council that is under siege.

It is under siege with its community that it should be representing as was evidenced in the AllConnex and the Tipplers choices that were made.

It is under siege with the construction industry as is evidenced by the defensive press releases regarding the way its own information was repeated and reported.

It has convinced itself that it is so under siege from the media that in effectively a one paper town, it has decided that the way to lift the pressure is to allocate $400,000 towards a glossy magazine that will have a limited two edition run before the March elections. If I have anything to do with it – there will not be a third edition.

But with our new Mayor, and at least a couple of new Councillors we do have the chance to grab this City and help it grow up by changing the culture.

Mayoral candidates – you need seven other votes to get your mandate across the line. I am here to tell you that I will be there to help not hinder you get on with the job of running this City.

In all likelihood one of you will be the Mayor in April, and together we need to:-

* Acknowledge and help with the Cost of living pressures.

* We need, as a City, to live within our means. We cannot promise a rates freeze but we can promise to improve the value for money.

* We need to stop the waste and we need to spend as much time questioning the big ticket items as we do approving the transfer of $101 in divisional budgets for community functions.

* We need to re-engage with the State Government (we need to rescind the motion that currently prevents Councillors from meeting with State Government Ministers without the Mayor’s approval).

* We need the culture of Council to be open and transparent. We need a culture that has officers “On tap not on top”.

* We need reform (I do not care if it is two directorates or five directorates – we need to snap the culture with change. Control, alt, delete – we need to reboot).

It is not by accident we find ourselves here in Helensvale, the heart of Division 2, this morning. Just down the road in the heart of Helensvale itself is the Golf Club. It has had a drainage problem ever since the rail was extended from Beenleigh to Helensvale in 1990s.

Last year the City Council endorsed a “Coomabah Wetlands master plan” – the problems at the Golf Club rated a small one paragraph mention. That document was the perfect opportunity to set the platform to address the drainage problem.

I have been down and walked the rail line. The bush engineer in me says it looks like a $50,000 civil engineering job, and bush town planner in me guesses about $500,000 in consultants and reports.

Bob Hall, we have four Mayoral candidates in the room – here is your chance for a commitment from them all – we fix the drainage issue this term. We negotiate with the State and the Department of NO, sorry I mean DERM, and we get it done. No more excuses, no more “it’s too hard”, no more “they will not let me do it”.

What we will do is work with the State, not against it, and we will fix the problem.

At the recent “Turning Point” session the point was raised – if the City of the Gold Coast is not being run by the 15 elected Councillors and Mayor and the 10 State MPs – who is running it?

In 2008 the Council prepared a “Northern Social Infrastructure plan” – it remains in draft form, endorsed but unfunded. This week the Council advised that it passed through the State interest tests. 2008 to 2011 is unacceptable.

Yet despite having a social infrastructure plan that says we desperately need community halls and meeting places. We have built a temporary library facility, we are then knocking down the existing building, to build a $20m community hub, then we are going to pull down the temporary facility. Smells like waste to me.

I would have thought a more common sense approach would have been to keep the old Library, build a new one with suitable parking and access for the community and then re-use the original building to start plugging the needs identified in the social infrastructure plan.

If we continue to put one foot in front of the other, but not look up and look ahead, we can and will still walk over the cliff.

Finally, Transport linkages – we need to advocate for the Griffith University to Helensvale extension to the Light Rail. We need to link the Northern areas to the Coastal strip by efficient public transport.

Those linkages need to planned, designed and costed, sitting on our hands and saying we will look into it maybe in 2021. That is not the answer.

Politics is the art of compromise and negotiation. We need to get to the point where the City comes first; but we also need a strong voice for the Northern Growth Corridor. I want to be one of those strong voices (there will be no laryngitis here).

I have called the tables here today after the suite of words that we need to invoke if we are going to get our City out of the funk that it is in at the moment. Have a look around and note that none of the tables have been called:-

* “It’s too hard”

* “Red Tape”

* “Impossible”

* “It’s not that easy”

* “It’s the state’s fault”

* “Bold or future”

And I have also left – “Working for tomorrow…today” in the cupboard.

It is time for a change – here is my task.

20,000 residents; 18,000 voted; 8,000 voted for the incumbent; boils down to 9 possibly 10 booths to be manned and trying to get past 1 incumbent (and maybe a dose of apathy).

1 vote out of 15; 1 vote for change.

This is John Wayne’s third election, and my first. What I have worked out pretty quickly is that everything involves finding funds.

I have been fortunate enough to receive campaign contributions so far from an – airline pilot, retail consultant, environment planner, lawyer (thanks Frank for upgrading everyone to a round table this morning), sign writer, industrial estate agent and the Gold Coast’s best cake decorator. Thank you.

Council is much more than Rates, Road and Rubbish. It is about reading, here are the minutes and agendas for the past six months.

I am under no illusions that the role of a Councillor is an easy one. But I am prepared to put my hand up, stop throwing stones from the sidelines and at least have a crack.

Thanks for coming – and if anyone is looking for a gig with how to vote cards on the 31st March 2011 – feel free to let me know. I am hoping for a new mayor, a new Councillor or two in the New Year.

It’s time for change, it’s time for fresh thinking, it’s time for fresh representation.