Please read my post in the context of the previous post, to which it was a response. Perhaps I should have quoted but I thought the context should be clear.
Saw it reported elsewhere that the Australian company would be the owners and they'd be licensing the Trump name.
Seriously, even in QL, Trump brand has positive equity?
Also, it would be 6-star hotels and luxury apartments which start at 5 million AUD.
Is the Gold Coast a luxury destination? I thought the appeal was surfing so it skews younger and maybe not very affluent?
Seriously, even in QL, Trump brand has positive equity?
Also, it would be 6-star hotels and luxury apartments which start at 5 million AUD.
Is the Gold Coast a luxury destination? I thought the appeal was surfing so it skews younger and maybe not very affluent?
The GC has a bit of everything, but for residential purposes it definitely skews wealthy. There's luxury hotels as well as backpacker accommodation, cheap(ish) pubs and takeaway shops next to upmarket restaurants.
However, if I was looking to spend $5m for a place to live at the GC, I would definitely not be aiming for an apartment in a highrise... But that's just me.
However, if I was looking to spend $5m for a place to live at the GC, I would definitely not be aiming for an apartment in a highrise... But that's just me.
The Gold Coast was developed into a luxury destination by Russ Hinze on behalf of the Bjelke-Petersen government in the 70s. There was a lot of money sunk into developing premium real estate, high rise apartment blocks, etc. They attracted a lot of investment and foreign capital, forcing real estate prices up.
Oh, and surfing doesn't necessarily skew that much younger these days.
Oh, and surfing doesn't necessarily skew that much younger these days.
The good thing about the gold coast is it concentrates all the tacky glitz in one place.
NSW / Qld has masses of great surf beaches.
Oh wow, Russ Hinze, as honest as he was beautiful. There's a name that takes me back to the old days, but makes me think twice about calling them good.
As an aside on a whole other topic, I thought Bob Breunig, the director of the ANU’s tax and transfer institute had some insightful things to say about where we're going as a society due to wealth concentration:
We knew that, but it continues:
Yes. The intergenerational thing can function as a dodge, a smokescreen.
Some important facts, as pointed out by the ABC today:
1. The Trump org & the developer Altus corp have made the announcement about the deal between the two of them: GCCC has stated that they haven't received a development application so this is just an announcement of a concept of a plan.
2. The CEO and sole director of Altus has run a building company into the ground once before and has been personally bankrupt twice.
3. Altus has 4 projects underway - well, one is actually building the rest are just proposed. It appears to be a shoestring operation - and it only started operations in 2023.
4. "The funding model Mr Young described steers away from traditional banks, saying the "project is entirely funded by private investors who come from Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and the United States. They have contributed a mix of debt and equity (in the form of convertible notes)."
So this sounds like nothing but pure grift & bullshit. Most building industry figures haven't even heard of Altus. Me, I'm not holding my breath that anything will come of this - this Altus haven't ever done any hotel work at all from what I can find, and the entire fit-out of the "Trump Hotel" will be done by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altus.
Also - Hi, Gold Coaster here! However, we live half-way to Brisbane and it's still Gold Coast - here and the Hinterlands are lovely and not like Surfers at all. We haven't been to Surfers since before COVID and have no intentions of ever heading there again.
It's not all like Surfers, thank Bog.
It's not all like Surfers, thank Bog.
Give it 20 years.
When I was a lad, in the 70s, we always went to the Sunshine Coast, mainly because it wasn't the Gold Coast. The Hinze development blitz was already underway, and it was rapidly becoming over developed, and expensive. We had friends who went there, and occasionally visited them down there, but for the most part we went North instead.
By the time I left Queensland, Noosa was starting to go the same way. I still don't think it's as bad as the Gold Coast, but it's slowly been shifting that way. So, I'm wary of any beach township in SEQ, as they all seem to be heading in the same direction.
Russ Hinze was the man that ran the Queensland Police at a profit for years.
It's kind of mystifying that his daughter was a fashion model. I mean, she was actually attractive and everything. Must have got her mother's looks.
Kind of like Liv Tyler. When our son saw The Two Towers (he was 10) we mentioned that the father of that actress was a famous rock 'n roll musician. We showed him a pic of Steve Tyler and his innocent reaction was "Her mum must be beautiful!"
We've been here just over 20 years and to be honest, aside from some new malls & a hospital the area hasn't really changed. Fingers, toes & eyes crossed it stays that way!
I wonder if Mr Young's business model is that the Trump org is brimming with ill-gotten money that it is looking to park and if there are any questions about the project he thinks he can depend on Trump using his power corruptly to strong arm Australia over it. (A few years ago that would have been an absurd idea.)
It makes me wonder how Australia stands in terms of anti-corruption laws WRT foreign investment. Do we have a robust ban on corrupt organizations, those who show a pattern of flouting laws, etc?
Here we know Trump for who he is. More widely in Australia, not everyone does. This is old, but I think indicative:
The problems of contemporary Australia run deep, as does various strains of conservatism.
Welp, pollsters are now talking about an electoral wipeout for the SA Liberal party. Senior Libs are refusing to discuss potential preference deals with ON, and there are more and more rumours around SA Liberal far right senator Alex Antic potentially defecting, with him being spotted sharing drinks at an Adelaide pub with Cory Bernardi.
Exactly. Trump's 'business model' in terms of construction was not paying his contractors and transferring all the assets into a different company and letting the business entity that owed everyone fold.
These days he just takes a bag full of money to put his name on the building based on what I've read.
Tis a brave contractor that would deal with his businesses directly.
Only positive if it is built; it will identify all the pedo-simp investors.
Anyone who would live in a Trump named building should be on a watch list on principle.
The thing about Liv Tyler is that she has a lot of her father's features, most notably the lips, but on her it looks attractive. Which is creepy in its own way.
If there's one thing Queensland property developers and the State Government know about, it's passing around big brown paper bags full of money with no questions asked...
I was going to say, I thought Bernardi defected to One Nation years ago... but no, my mistake, he actually defected in 2017 to create his own crazy right wing party, the Australian Conservatives. Which lasted a grand total of 2 years before he de-registered it.
What a tosser.
What a tosser.
Don't you worry about that!
Yeah Qld was a world leader in hillbilly corrupt governance for some time there, but the pesky liberals have let our ranking slide!
MCGA - make corruption great again!
This is what I don't get. Every time someone tries to establish a radically more right wing party than the Liberals, it fails spectacularly and disintegrates within minutes. Even when they get people elected to the Senate, the party often doesn't last to the next election. One Nation is kind of an exception, and even then it hasn't always had people in parliament for most of its existence.
So why the Feck do these idiots think that the problem is that they aren't right wing enough? Anytime they go to the electorate with their nutbag agenda, they get flattened, but still they go back for more. When will they realise that it's them that is the problem?
Yeah, yeah, Principal Skinner meme, etc. That's not the point. Reality has to hit these people at some point. Preferably with a large mallet.
So why the Feck do these idiots think that the problem is that they aren't right wing enough? Anytime they go to the electorate with their nutbag agenda, they get flattened, but still they go back for more. When will they realise that it's them that is the problem?
Yeah, yeah, Principal Skinner meme, etc. That's not the point. Reality has to hit these people at some point. Preferably with a large mallet.
I remember when there were progressives in the Queensland Liberal Party. They didn't last long after Fitzgerald, though. And they weren't really that progressive. They just seemed so in comparison.
I've never seen a single quote of his words that wasn't hard right nonsense. Maybe hey says occasional sensible things that dont get reported, I doubt it though. If you leave the LNP to go further right its not a good sign...
I had to look up Bernardi, because I couldn't remember if he was one of the people who had to quit the Libs because of sexual misconduct allegations.
He isn't, it really is just about not being right wing enough for him.
He isn't, it really is just about not being right wing enough for him.
Ahh, the good old Fitzgerald days. When I started working for QLD State gov't back in 2004 part of the onboarding was going over the Fitzgerald findings with a very strong air of "we are not having this shit again!". I think it was particularly pointed at me as I was starting as an auditor.
Yeah, unfortunately, in the long term, not a lot changed in Queensland. They got rid of Joh, but as with all bad things in the past, the corruption and government malfeasance has come back again.
There's no proportionate upper house in Qld. You win the election you can do shit as dumb/corrupt/whatever as you dare. A functional senate has some advantages...
ETA - speeling
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The upper house was abolished in 1922. Probably require quite some work to bring it back.
Still, as a great man once said: "Gimme bi-cameral legislature"
Yeah it wont always prevent fuckery, but is better than the current 'one poor choice' away from instant Trump style politics.
Oh wait, here's Crisafulli as we speak....
Yeah, I'm so glad I got out of public service just after the LNP got back into power. Talking with former co-workers some of the shit going on is just insane.
They only ever destroy shit the LNP, unless you're big business.
DOGE style 'efficiency' cuts then outsource the service that was delivered to a contractor at much higher cost. Normally to a mates business.
I mean, you can't make this stuff up...
The biggest risk here is complacency by Labor since the opposition keeps doubling down on pure stupid.
The biggest risk here is complacency by Labor since the opposition keeps doubling down on pure stupid.
The coalition is such a unified group, 100% loyal to the leader of the week, they'll never leak for individual advantage...
... sorry, my sarcasm meter is in the red zone and smoking.
If ever there was an opportunity for some ethical hacking lol...