The Gold Coast City Council waived tens of thousands of dollars in rental fees it previously claimed was owed to it by a property developer, following an internal meeting involving two councillors who had previously received electoral donations from the company involved.
The developer, Villawood Properties, is building a large housing estate at Kingsholme on the northern Gold Coast and has made electoral donations to Deputy Mayor Donna Gates and Councillor William Owen-Jones.
One GCCC officer wrote that while the councillors in question did not give a direct instruction to him at the meeting, both politicians raised the possibility that fees and charges "could be renegotiated” in view of the company’s “good faith”.