Surfers Beach Radio

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02/07/2018

This is unbelievable! The Mayor of the Gold Coast, Cr. Tom Tate, who fought tooth and nail to STOP Surfers Beach Radio from returning is NOW saying that it is a good idea! Here is the letter that was sent to all Gold Coast Councillors and other interested parties - Tom Tate, you are a piece of work mate.

Hello Councillors,

I am back in Australia for a family visit. I have been told by numerous people that Councillor Tate is now speaking publicly in the media
about the benefits of Surfers Beach Radio and how he would like to see it return.

This is the SAME Cr. Tate who fought tooth and nail to STOP Surfers Beach Radio from returning. He did a secret backroom deal (this has been confirmed in writing by Cr. Tate) with GCCC CEO Dale Dickson to have the matter of a test broadcast scuttled by having the decision decided by 'delegated authority' by an unelected council bureaucrat (Ms. Collette McCool) who completely ignored all the written evidence supporting the project and completely bypassed the democratic council voting process. She also took only 1 business day to investigate and did not invite any input from supporting parties.

A subsequent formal investigation by the Queensland State Ombudsman found against the Council in this matter and commented that proper procedure was NOT followed by Council.

For Cr. Tate to now say that Surfers Beach Radio is a good idea is completely hypocritical and reprehensible.

Surfers Beach Radio had the support of 98% of Surfers Paradise traders in writing, 76% of the public via the Gold Coast Bulletin poll - the ONLY person who was against this was Cr. Tate - he also denied you, the elected Councillors and representatives of the people of the Gold Coast, the chance to vote democratically on the matter.

Any attempt by Cr. Tate to reinstate Surfers Beach Radio will result in legal action against the council for our losses which are substantial. You can see the entire story about the history of this on our FB page at https://www.facebook.com/surfersbeachradio/

Cr. Tate, your actions are reprehensible and it is about time the other Councillors on the Gold Coast stood up to you regarding this matter. I will also be referring this information to the Crime and Corruption Committee in Queensland for further consideration.

Surfers Beach Radio is the home page of the group wishing to reinstate Beach Radio to Surfers Paradise beach.

21/10/2016

Surfers Beach Radio gains the support of the Gold Coast and HInterland Business Alliance Group.

'Dear Geoff, The Gold Coast & Hinterland Business Alliance (GC&HBA) will certainly support Beach Radio. Social trends have historically proven that what is old becomes new again. Beach radio provides a rare communication element in today's society by delivering direct and consequently a more personalized community engagement. This medium targets a relatively captive audience within a specified area allowing news and effective point of sale advertising that can prove beneficial for those local traders who become involved. For these reasons amongst others, on behalf of the GC&HBA I wish you well in reestablishing Beach Radio within the Surfers Paradise precinct. Kind regards, Bob Janssen President Gold Coast & Hinterland Business Alliance INC.'

11/05/2016

People are completely complacent on the Gold Coast. They don't give a crap about proven corruption in their own council. This has been proven time and again especially in the case of Tate and co. bypassing official votes and approving things by 'delegation'. Even the State Ombudsman found the council screwed up in our case and NOTHING has been done. All the councillors know about it and they too are too scared/ignorant to speak up or even dare to challenge Tate and his cronies or ask what is going on. Disgusting. I have now moved to Europe to continue my business expansion as trying to get anything done on the Gold Coast via Council is a complete joke if you are not 'in the LNP boys club'. It is even worse than when the 'white shoe brigade' were in charge. Surfers Beach Radio will be submitting evidence to the CCC investigation regarding the actions of this corrupt council and I hope they all get kicked out like other dodgy councils have. Thanks Gold Coast City Councillors - you have succeeded in grounding and driving away yet another entrepenuer/doer like myself who wants to get something done, but you have completely ignored the wishes of the local traders, public and tons of other official bodies, just so you can keep control for your own twisted little egos. You are a pack of scumbags and I hope the CCC investigation shows you all up for what you really are. I have said this time and again in public and online and Tate and his crew are too gutless to challenge me in court, which I would dearly love to see. Their silence says it all about their guilt in these matters.

06/03/2016

PRESS RELEASE.
DATE: 6/03/2016
QUEENSLAND OMBUDSMAN CONFIRMS GOLD COAST CITY COUNCIL BUREAUCRATS DID NOT DISCLOSE ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE APPLICATION BY SURFERS BEACH RADIO FOR A LICENCE TO BROADCAST ACROSS SURFERS PARADISE BEACH.

Surfers Beach Radio has now had a report from the Queensland Ombudsman which confirms GCCC officers did not disclose all information to the applicant regarding the application to broadcast a music and beach safety information service across Surfers Paradise Beach.

The Ombudsman’s office has also confirmed that the Council officers did not afford Surfers Beach Radio group the opportunity to comment on adverse information it had in its possession regarding the application before a decision was made.
Mr. Craig Allen of the Queensland Ombudsman’s Investigation and Resolution department states in his report:

‘Having considered the information closely, I believe that the information council held was largely, but not fully, disclosed to you. I also have seen no evidence that the council divulged to you information about its informal inquiries of businesses located on the Esplanade opposite Surfers Paradise Beach.’

Concerns were also raised by the Ombudsman’s office about the failure of certain council staff, including Mayor Tom Tate and CEO Dale Dickson to document in any way ‘informal discussions’ regarding the application.

According to Surfers Beach Radio’s Geoff Harrison:

‘The Ombudsman’s office has confirmed that Gold Coast City Council bureaucrats act in a way that completely disregards the views and the rights of applicants in council applications. This is not democratic. Also, a backroom deal was done between Mayor Tom Tate and Mr. Dickson to have the decision made by delegation, not by the elected councilors - then the decision was skewed towards the council from the start, as confirmed by the Queensland Ombudsmans office by not disclosing all information to the applicant before the decision was made.
It is not acceptable that ALL information is not fully disclosed to BOTH parties before decisions are made by council officers who are not elected councillors.

Surfers Beach Radio is now demanding a new investigation and a full hearing of the matter to grant a licence by Gold Coast City Councillors – at least they are answerable to their local residents if they choose to prevent applicants from getting all the information they are entitled to before major decisions are made.

For more information, contact Geoff Harrison via email.

[email protected]

11/01/2016

Post Tom Tate page. Wonder if he will reply or remove it?

Hello Mayor Tate - what is important to me and many other people is that you don't LIE. You said to me in front of the Lady Mayoress and a number of other people at Shuck at Main Beach, you were in support of Surfers Beach Radio and would like to see it come back. (Your Islander Hotel was one of the biggest advertisers on Beach Radio, but you don't want anyone else to have the same opportunity) Since then you have fought tooth and nail to PREVENT Surfers Beach Radio from getting a council licence, therefore STOPPING millions of visitors from getting vital safety, community, surf life saving and other information on the beach. It has now been confirmed in writing from the council that you had informal and secret conversations (no minutes taken) with the GCCC CEO Dale Dickson to stop a full council vote on the matter by the elected councillors, many of whom are in full support of the return of Surfers Beach Radio. You supported the matter being decided by 'delegation' by an unelected council bureaucrat (Ms. Collette McCool) who did not carry out any kind of proper testing, or make contact with any of Surfers Beach Radio's supporters and made her decision within a 48 hour business time frame. (This seems to be your modus operandi - anything you like/dislike is pushed on to the unelected bureaucrats, taking the decisions away from the elected councillors). All this is now under investigation by the Queensland State Ombudsmans office as you are fully aware. At least tell the truth in front of other people Mayor Tate. PS. I wonder how long you will allow this to stay on your page, or will you reply? We will all be very interested in your response, including 100% of 39 central Surfers Paradise Traders who voted in writing for the return of Surfers Beach radio and the over 70% of readers of the Gold Coast Bulletin who also want it back. Obviously the opinions of these people mean nothing to you. I and many others will be voting 1 Penny Toland.

Check it out and comment here:

https://www.facebook.com/MayorTomTate/?fref=ts

Politician

20/11/2015

PRESS RELEASE:
20/11/2015.

SECRET DISCUSSIONS HELD BETWEEN GCCC CEO AND GOLD COAST MAYOR REGARDING SURFERS BEACH RADIO – NO RECORDS KEPT.

Surfers Beach Radio CEO Geoff Harrison says he is disgusted by official council confirmation that secret discussions were held between Mayor Tom Tate and Council CEO Dale Dickson regarding the application by Surfers Beach radio to broadcast vital safety information across Surfers Paradise Beach.

No official record or minutes of the meeting and discussions were recorded by either party. This is confirmed by the GCCC response to a Queensland Ombudsman’s investigation into the matter.

Here is the quote by the council from the official Ombudsman's report:

"In relation to any records held by the Mayors office relating to the application, the Gold Coast City Council has responded that no records are held. Council indicated that discussions were held informally. The CEO informed the Mayor that his advice was that the matter be determined by delegation, which the Mayor accepted."

According to Surfers Beach Radio CEO Geoff Harrison –

‘The issue to grant a council licence to Surfers Beach Radio was on track to be decided by a full council vote after recommendations by beaches committee member Cr. Bob La Castra.

We now find out that It appears confirmed by Council that a secret meeting was held between Mayor Tom Tate and CEO Dale Dickson to bypass the full council by forcing the issue to a decision under delegation. This is an important matter and discussions were held between the Mayor and CEO under the veil of secrecy, with no record of this meeting being held, no minutes taken, no record made and absolutely no consultation with other elected Councillors.

This is confirmed by the Queensland Ombudsman’s office in their initial report into the matter, dated 11/12/2015.

This is a serious abuse of power by the Mayor and the CEO. The decision to grant a council licence for Surfers Beach Radio is an important matter which involves delivering vital weather and safety information to the users of Surfers Paradise beach and should be decided by the elected representatives of the GCCC council, a number of whom have thrown their unqualified support behind the project.

The subsequent 'delegated' decision was flawed with the council officer appointed not contacting any of the many supporters of Surfers Beach Radio in any way, not carrying out any proper studies, not asking any questions of the supporters of the project and making her decisions in 48 business hours.

For the Mayor and the CEO to secretly conspire to bypass and deny the elected councilors their say on this matter is reprehensible. The Mayor has now been caught out on a number of occasions pushing through his own agenda via ‘delegation’ on a quite a few matters – this has upset a number of Gold Coast City Councillors. Council decisions should be transparent and open to scrutiny by everyone, not decided in secret by the Mayor who seems to think he is the dictator of the Gold Coast.’

For more information, call Geoff Harrison,
Surfers Beach Radio.
0403 494 045.

16/11/2015

Surfers Beach Radio is awaiting the report of the Queensland Ombudsman for the investigation into the behaviour of the Gold Coast City Council in relation to the application for a council licence to run the Beach Radio service. We look forward to seeing the Council responses to our concerns. They will be published here as soon as they become available.

17/08/2015

Hello,

Surfers Beach Radio group has made an official complaint to the
Queensland Ombudsman office regarding the behaviour of the Mayors office, the actions of the CEO and the complaint process undertaken by Mr. Joe McCabe (acting CEO) in the process of our application to have the council decide the matter in a democratic way via a full council meeting.

We feel the full council meeting was highjacked by the Mayors office which put pressure on the CEO to have the matter heard under delegation and subsequently decided by an unelected public servant who completely ignored the evidence of our many supporters - and made the decision without even boterhing to have a personal meeting with our group or any of our supporting traders, Combined Chambers of Commerce, official Tourism bodies, beach safety advocates and many others and refused to carry out any sound testing to back up her findings that sound would impact local traders, 39 out of 39 of which are in full support in writing of the return of the service.

This is a disgusting abuse of power by the Mayor's office which interfered in an official council committee report by applying pressure to have it decided under delegation, therefore denying a free vote of all councillors, at least four of which are in support of the return of Surfers Beach Radio with many others indicating they wished to have a say on the matter.

Also, we have major problems with our complaint being investigated by a so called independent officer, which turned out to be the acting CEO who was investigating his own superior, the actual CEO of the GCCC.

This a complete conflict of interest. We raised this at the time with
Mr. McCabe who assured us he would ask serious questions, however he simply rubber stamped the flawed view of the unelected public servant.

Once the Queensland Ombudsmans report into our complaint is completed, we will be asking the Minister for Local Government in Queensland to also look in the matter.

Regards,

Geoff Harrison,
Owner,
Surfers Beach Radio.

16/08/2015

Surfers Beach Radio has been refused permission for 2015/16 season to broadcast across Surfers Paradise Beach. A formal complaint about the way the council handled this process will now be made to the Minister for Local Government in Queensland. We feel there has been untoward pressure exerted on the Council by the office of the Mayor. Details below:

Surfers Beach Radio negative permit decision a slap in the face for democratic process by Gold Coast City Council.

Surfers Beach Radio group is extremely disappointed with the decision taken by the Gold Coast City Council to disallow a council permit for the operation of a Beach Radio information and music service at Surfers Paradise beach.

This is despite overwhelming public, industry, academic and trader support in writing for the service.

The decision was supposed to go to a full council democratic vote by all City councillors, but this process was interfered with by the Gold Coast City Mayors office after 'discussions' were held between the Mayor and CEO Dale Dickson, (confirmed in writing by acting CEO Joe McCabe - quoted in his investigation report) who then instructed one of his non - elected public servants, Ms. Collette McCool to decide the matter under council delegation.

Before denying the granting of the permit, Ms. McCool did not carry out interviews or written surveys with central Surfers Paradise traders, (39 of whom supported the return in writing) did not carry out any sound testing before making statements regarding how the sound would impact on traders and did not consult with any key supporters or supporting Gold Coast City Councillors before making her findings.

The only research done by the council in the matter was 'six verbal interviews with central Surfers Paradise traders conducted by council officers' (unverified as the council refuses to identify which traders were interviewed) as opposed to 39 central Surfers Paradise verified and identified traders who took part in a comprehensive written survey commissioned by Surfers Beach Radio, all of whom were in support of the return of the service. At no stage did Ms. McCool meet with representatives of Surfers Beach Radio or supporters of the service before making her decision.

An official complaint was made about this to acting GCCC CEO Joe McCabe, who promised to make an unbiased independent investigation, but simply repeated Ms. McCool's findings. Surfers Beach Radio group also questioned how Mr. McCabe could possibly be independent when he was investigating his current superior, CEO Dale Dickson.

We are shocked that a democratic process (a committee report by the Parks and Beaches committee) can so easily be prevented from happening and being put before a full council vote.

This has denied the chance for Gold Coast City Councillors, (the elected representatives of the ratepayers) of whom at least three are supportive of the return of Surfers Beach Radio - a chance to vote on the issue after all the facts have been properly considered and input received from all key players, including supporters and representatives of Surfers Beach Radio, not just those who are negative towards the idea.

The Gold Coast City Council, via its CEO Dale Dickson and an unelected public servant, Ms. McCool, has decided to prevent millions of visitors to Surfers Paradise beach from receiving vital beach safety information, details of upcoming events, great music and a host of other important information.

Beach safety messages are crucial, especially for overseas visitors who have no knowledge of how our beaches operate and Surfers Beach Radio is positioned to deliver this.

Surfers Beach Radio group will now be making a complaint to the Minister for Local Government in Queensland regarding how this whole matter has been handled by GCCC.

For more information, please contact:

Geoff Harrison,
Owner,
Surfers Beach Radio
[email protected]