MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Welcome to Four Corners, I'm Michael Brissenden.

And that was Gold Coast mayor, Tom Tate. A man who's come to personify Australia's famous glitter strip - bold, brassy, and in your face.

Once just a scattering of seaside villages, the Gold Coast is now Australia's sixth largest city, and its second biggest local government area, with an annual budget of one-point-five billion dollars, and billions more in development underway, including a proposed cruise ship terminal, a casino resort, and some of Australia's tallest high rises.

But, you know what they say about all that glitters.

Mayor Tom Tate and his council are accused of pushing through developments despite community opposition, keeping crucial information secret from the public, and supporting projects by developers who've made donations, where there is a real or perceived conflict of interest.

An inquiry by the Queensland corruption watchdog is investigating whether council decisions have been unlawfully influenced by developer donations and there are growing calls for developer funding of council elections to be banned.

Mark Willacy has our investigation.

NORM RIX, DEVELOPER: I am the first to admit the Gold Coast has been very kind to me.

It's a pretty special place.

MARK WILLACY: From a service station bowser boy to a Bentley-driving developer.

Norm Rix embodies the ethos and opportunity of the Gold Coast.

NORMA RIX: There's so much development going on.

You get the development through you can make a lot of money.

MARK WILLACY: Norm Rix has certainly done that. The high school drop-out is reportedly worth 200-million dollars.

At 82, he's still subdividing and developing everything from shopping centres to housing estates.

NORM RIX: I've been a continuous developer on the Gold Coast for nearly 60 years I probably have knocked down more trees and pushed over more trees than anyone else on the entire Gold Coast during that 60 years.

MARK WILLACY: Don't ever call Norm Rix a member of the infamous 'white shoe brigade', he prefers the term 'old guard' when it comes to describing him and his generation of fellow developers.

Now these warriors of the old guard have joined forces with business and green groups to do battle against rampant development.

NORM RIX: Not all developments are good developments.

This particular development of ASF is a bad development.

We are going to have to fight this one and we are going to have to fight hard because the people we are running up against is one of the biggest Chinese companies in the world.

MARK WILLACY: At a swish restaurant on Main Beach these proud and passionate Gold Coasters are rallying to save one of this city's last undeveloped stretches of land, a sandy peninsula known as the Spit.

NORM RIX: The Spit's terribly important because it's 140 hectares of prime land.

It has ocean frontage on one side and the Broadwater on the other side.

The Spit means so much to me because it's basically breathing space in between all of these high-rise buildings.

MARK WILLACY: Unlike the Gold Coast's old guard, the developers wanting to build on the Spit are a Chinese consortium called ASF and it's partnered with the communist state's largest construction company.

One of the biggest supporters of ASF's three-billion-dollar mega-resort proposal is the city's mayor Tom Tate

TOM TATE: It has style, it has speed, cheekiness.

MARK WILLACY: Tom Tate isn't shy at defending himself or his pro-development agenda.

He's clashed with journalists and his own councillors...and he's notorious for his blunt language, like this piece of advice for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games boss and former Premier Peter Beattie.

TOM TATE, GOLD COAST MAYOR: And I would say to him is that mate you've got a great job to do, deliver it, and shut your mouth about politics.

Move on.

CHRIS NYST, LAWYER: What you see is what you get with Tom.

He has his critics, but the one thing about Tom is he'll speak his mind and if you don't like it, then you go your own way.

NORM RIX: He doesn't cop criticism too well, I can tell you that, and I've spoken out on a number of occasions and he calls me that old developer.

Now, how disrespectful is that? How disrespectful is that?

MARK WILLACY: A man who can proudly bench press 130 kilograms, Tom Tate has pumped in hundreds of thousands of his own money to win the mayoralty...twice.

He mixes with some high fliers... even skydiving with the crown prince of Dubai.

The Ferrari-driving engineer turned politician is a proud promoter of big development... and is even in the game himself.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: Mr Tate, you're the current mayor of Gold Coast City Council?

TOM TATE: Yes, I am.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: You were first elected to that position in 2012?

TOM TATE: That's correct.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: And re-elected in 2016?

TOM TATE: Yes I am.

MARK WILLACY: This year, Tom Tate was called to give evidence at a Crime and Corruption Commission inquiry.

CRIME AND CORRUPTON LAWYER: How was your campaign funded Mr Tate?

TOM TATE: Well, it's fully self-funded by my wife Ruth and myself.

Out of our own bank account, it's a little bit over $182,000.

MARK WILLACY: One of the terms of reference of the Crime and Corruption Commission's inquiry is an investigation into donations...particularly developer donations.

The mayor told the hearing he doesn't need other developer's money.

TOM TATE: I can't speak for other candidates, what's in their heads.

But for me, we budgeted for it.

We can afford it. And it's just one less complicated matter to have to deal with .

We're not arrogant to go 'I don't want help.'

When a develop wants to help I normally said, 'Well you can.

Come out and hand out for me, like the 850-plus volunteers.

That's how you can help.'

PETER YOUNG: He's a very bullish man and very confident, now. If you're not on Tom's team, look out.

MARK WILLACY: Are you on Tom's team?

PETER YOUNG: No, I'm not.

MARK WILLACY: Peter Young has been a Gold Coast City councillor on and off for 13 years...serving under three mayors.

Tonight, he's speaking out about how council business is being done on the glitter strip.

PETER YOUNG: I think, superficially, it's running great.

The story, or the image is that it's a united council, that it's achieving great thing.

But I believe that most things are manipulated to the point whereby, by the time something comes to council, the decision is already known and made and we are just there to, basically, rubber stamp.

MARK WILLACY: A lifetime member of the Liberal National Party, Tom Tate, came to the Gold Coast from Sydney 20 years ago...becoming a prominent city businessman.

If there's one deal that defines Tom Tate's take no prisoners approach, it's the story of the Surfers Paradise bowls club.

VINCE MEE, FORMER SURFERS PARADISE BOWLER: It was very popular, it was well used.

And we were just starting off bowling in those days.

And we fitted in quite nicely and we were made welcome, and all we ever did, all I ever did at Surfers Paradise Bowls Club was go along and play bowls, really.

And enjoyed it.

MARK WILLACY: Ken Jamieson and Vince Mee love their bowls. But in 2005 their beloved club was in deep financial strife.

KEN JAMIESON: FORMER SURFERS PARADISE BOWLER: It was an excellent club and one of the highlights of the club was the actual clubhouse itself.

It was probably the best clubhouse on the coast.

The facilities were excellent unfortunately ... Unfortunately, it dwindled away through poor management.

MARK WILLACY: With the club sinking deeper into debt, its management committee decided to sell up and relocate...that sparked two expressions of interest from developers.

KEN JAMIESON: One was for $7-million from superannuation fund in Brisbane and another was from Sunland, which is a public company, for $7.5 million.

MARK WILLLACY: But a company called Crestden came to the rescue.

Tom Tate and business partner Kelvin Gersbach are directors and part owners of Crestden. Their company offered to help them trade their way out of debt.

VINCE MEE: This was the answer to all our prayers, that this management group were going to take over, and they were going to get us up and into a profitable situation again.

MARK WILLACY: Under the deal, Crestden purchased the clubhouse for one-point-four million dollars and rented it back to the bowlers.

KEN JAMIESON: When the announcement was made that Crestden had taken over the club, our premises, everyone seemed quite happy with that idea.

We're free of debt.

MARK WILLACY: But the club continued to languish and debts continued to mount.

In 2007, with the agreement of the club board, Crestden exercised its option to buy the bowling greens...for a fraction of what the members believed they were worth.

KEN JAMIESON: They paid, in inverted commas - by the way, because no money changed hands.

770,000 was the price shown on the transfer and that was the sale price. $770,00.

MARK WILLACY: So about 10 per cent of what you'd already been offered?

KEN JAMIESON: Yer. Yer.

We were disgusted and couldn't believe it, that somehow an asset that was so valuable can be taken away from you, for virtually nothing.

No money changed hands.

The expenses incurred by Crestden offset the amount, the purchase price, so the bowlers ended up with absolutely nothing.

MARK WILLACY: When did you realise something was up?

VINCE MEE: After they kicked us out, out on the footpath where we held the meetings of the bowls club.

MARK WILLACY: For Vince Mee, the takeover of the bowls club was a classic Gold Coast deal.

VINCE MEE: Three-quarters of an acre in the heart of Surfers Paradise, yeah, wouldn't you love it? You'd find the money yourself.

MARK WILLACY: Ever since then the bowls club's been left deserted and derelict.

Tom Tate has long said he played no role in the deal.

Crestden's lawyer told Four Corners the amount paid by the company for the greens reflected true market value.

But the takeover was just the beginning of Crestden's much grander plan for the site.

KEN JAMIESON: It's absolutely prime real estate and I think that's born out by the fact that Crestden, or whichever company is now lodging the, have lodged the development application, they've lodged a development application to build a 60-storey tower.

MARK WILLACY: The development on the old bowls site includes units, a motel, shops, restaurants and a sky garden.

It's been conditionally approved by council and the project is reportedly worth 300-million-dollars.

Its value could be further enhanced by the development of this car park across the road.

PETER YOUNG, GOLD COAST COUNCILLOR: Bruce Bishop car park and the public park land above it are probably the most significant assets that this council owns in the Surfers Paradise precinct.

MARK WILLACY: the site was gifted to the city 80 years ago.

Mayor Tate says he wants to sell it to fund a cultural precinct.

PHILIP FOLLENT: It was a gift to the city for the purposes of open space.

Some councillors I realise are more concerned about the loss of car parking that's needed in the city, however, we have very few soft green spaces in central Surfers Paradise.

In fact, we don't have any.

PETER YOUNG: In my opinion, the Mayor is certainly a potential financial beneficiary of that outcome.

I believe he has a material, personal interest in the matter, whereby the decision to sell or not to sell can impact upon his financial gains or losses on an adjacent site.

MARK WILLACY: That's the bowls club site?

PETER YOUNG: Yes.

MARK WILLACY: During the vote to sell the park, the mayor, Tom Tate, declared a real or perceived conflict of interest...because of his links to the proposed development at the bowls club...right across the road.

But he stayed in the chamber to vote for the sell-off...something he's allowed to do under Queensland law.

Tom Tate refused to talk to Four Corners... instead he hit back inside the council chamber.

TOM TATE, GOLD COAST MAYOR: For the stupid Four Corners who asked me the question about one of the items that why did I declare my perceived conflict of interest and remain in the room, it's because I am firmly of the opinion that I could participate in debate and vote on this matter in the public interest.

Right, quote me on that you idiots.

PHILLIP FOLLENT: My own belief is that perceived conflicts of interest need to be taken seriously, and I would say that the responsible thing to do there is to say that we know that the community might see that my close connections with whatever it might be, it's grounds for me to step out of the room.

MARK WILLACY: Philip Follent was the Gold Coast Council's first city architect.

He's concerned by the number of developments pushed through by what's called delegated authority...where a decision is not required to go before the full council for approval.

MARK WILLACY: So, to put it bluntly, it's open slather at the moment?

PHILIP FOLLENT: It certainly feels like that.

There's no doubt that the development fraternity have an expectation that their developments will be approved.

MARK WILLACY: He says the most prominent example of this was the initial approval for what will be the Gold Coast's tallest tower, the one-point-two-billion dollar development being built by the China-based Forise Holdings.

PHILIP FOLLENT: In this instance, I think it was inappropriate.

There was opportunity to wait for the whole planning committee to be available within probably a fortnight.

In fact, we read how councillors were surprised that this had been approved.

MARK WILLACY: They didn't know about it?

PHILIP FOLLENT: They didn't know about it at that stage, no. They were not consulted.

MARK WILLACY: The public face of the Forise mega-tower and one of the people driving a lot of the Chinese development on the Gold Coast is Tony Hickey.

TONY HICKEY: I've been able to develop, and members of our firm have been able to take the benefit of a vast network of important relationships.

MARK WILLACY: Tony Hickey's law practice represents almost every major developer that's done business on the Gold Coast...and his firm has represented his friend Tom Tate.

TONY HICKEY: It is a great time to develop a project in Queensland.

In the 1990s, a Hickey company bought this property near Surfers Paradise for one million dollars.

In 2011, his company lodged a development application for an apartment tower at the site.

STEVE GRATION, SAVE OUR SPIT: The Mayor stayed to vote to approve that and said, 'I have a potential conflict of interest, Tony Hickey is the developer, however in the public interest I'm going to stay and vote.

MARK WILLACY: So the mayor stayed in the room to vote on a development application by his friend?

STEVE GRATION: Yes.

MARK WILLACY: A search by Four Corners revealed that after the development application was approved, the block was sold to a Chinese company for 11-and-a-half million.

PHILIP FOLLENT: This is a fantastic time for developers on the Gold Coast, but are we really talking about developers or speculators?

MARK WILLACY: During a 2005 inquiry by the corruption watchdog, Mr Hickey's firm was found to have operated a trust fund.

It was used to funnel tens of thousands of dollars from Gold Coast developers to a bloc of council election candidates.

Twelve years on from the earlier inquiry, the Crime and Corruption Commission is once again investigating.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSIONER: The Commission resolved on 20 March this year to hold public hearings in relation to Operation Belcarra.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION LAWYER: Some candidates received a substantial amount of their campaign funding from property and construction companies, giving rise to concerns about real or perceived conflicts of interest for councillors.

STEVE GRATION: The Gold Coast is the epicentre of political donations by developers to local councillors, because that's where the approvals come from initially in terms of high rise developments and other developments.

It's at epidemic proportions at the moment, I believe.

MARK WILLACY: In Queensland accepting donations from developers is not illegal.

But the Crime and Corruption Commission is concerned that these donations are unlawfully influencing council decisions.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: Is it better to not accept donations from developers, to ban that?

TOM TATE: I only speak for me, Mr Rice. It's better for me not to ask for donation.

MARK WILLACY: Appearing at the hearings, Mayor Tom Tate insisted he funded his own campaigns.

But he acknowledged he'd broken the rules by failing to operate a dedicated campaign account at the last election.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: It shouldn't have happened that way, do you accept?

TOM TATE: I accept that.

MARK WILLACY: Also called to give evidence was his deputy, Donna Gates, who was asked about taking tens of thousands of dollars in developer donations.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: I think you may have said on that occasion that making a donation can open the window for an appointment with you?

TOM GATES: I think I recall suggesting that I would work a little longer hour in order to meet with someone if necessary.

PETER YOUNG, GOLD COAST COUNCILLO: There's been lots of incidents where a councillor has received significant financial benefit from parties associated with a development shall we say.

And they'll stay in the room.

Those things do perturb me.

MARK WILLACY: Gold Coast Deputy mayor, Donna Gates, raised 174-thousand dollars for her re-election campaign last year even though it turned out she was unopposed.

Among her donors was the old guard's Norm Rix.

NORM RIX: Donna's a great candidate.

You can ring Donna up any time of the day or night and she's there.

MARK WILLACY: Pro-development?

NORM RIX: Yes, I'd say so and I think you're on the Gold Coast there you know.

Pro-development is what it's all about.

That's what's built the Gold Coast.

MARK WILLACY: The deputy mayor Donna Gates has declared a real or perceived conflict of interest more than 30 times since she was re-elected in March last year...all because she's accepted donations from firms linked with developments.

Despite this, she's never left the room.

DONNA GATES: I have, in the main, stayed in the room to vote in the public interest because I firmly believe that that's what I need to do.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION: Well what criterion do you apply between occasions when you stay in the room, which I think you said is what you do in the main and when you excuse yourself what is the criterion?

DONNA GATES: I have not excluded yourself from any decision based around a property application that I can recall in the term you refer to.

I would exclude myself on the basis of any conflict of interest that I may have in terms of my membership of a board.

BOB LA CASTRA, GOLD COAST COUNCILLOR: I think there's a public perception, rightly or wrongly, that if someone is taking a donation from someone, and then staying in the council chamber to vote on an issue, that that shouldn't actually happen, and my view is the same, that you shouldn't be doing that.

MARK WILLACY: Do you accept donations from developers?

BOB LA CASTRA: I don't.

No.

MARK WILLACY: Much of Donna Gates' political fundraising was done here...at the Gold Coast Turf Club...where the deputy mayor is an honorary member, and now also on the board.

The mayor and six other councillors are also members.

PETER YOUNG, GOLD COAST COUNCILLOR: Most of the councillors will have received, over the years, hospitality from the Turf Club.

We're not talking about the local footy club here.

We're talking about a multi-million-dollar organisation.

MARK WILLACY: And thanks to the Gold Coast council, the turf club is being handed control - through a free ten-year licence - of this slice of public land.

This is what locals dub Black Swan Lake...a nearly three-hectare site on the edge of the turf club.

A former pit used for construction fill, it's transformed over the decades into a lake, home to dozens of species of birds and aquatic life.

PETER YOUNG: Black Swan Lake, it encapsulates everything that's wrong in this city in my opinion.

It's public land.

It's a reserve and it will be granted to the turf club for their exclusive use as a car park and for exercising horses.

MARK WILLACY: The mayor and his supporters argue the lake is toxic...but conservationists say water quality is fine, and that wildlife here is thriving.

But the pumps are now in place...after council voted to drain the lake, remove the animals and fill it with earth.

During the vote, seven councillors stood up and declared their membership of the turf club.

PETER YOUNG: Despite the conflict, they voted in favour of this becoming a car park, seemingly in the public interest and that's a big question, in my opinion, as to whether or not the public interest rally has been delivered through this decision.

MARK WILLACY: Four Corners has been trying repeatedly to get an interview with the mayor, Tom Tate.

But, he's declined, and surprisingly since then, the ABC bureau here on the Gold Coast has not been getting the daily media alerts from the mayor's office.

We've heard that the mayor is - right now - at an event - so we're going to go and try to talk to him.

Mr Mayor, Mark Willacy from 4 Corners, how are you?

TOM TATE: Good.

MARK WILLACY: I'm just wondering if you had time to sit down and talk with us some time.

We've obviously been told that you haven't.

TOM TATE: Right now I don't.

Thank you.

MARK WILLACY: Could I just ask you a couple of quick questions?

TOM TATE: Mate as I told you our city is such a wonderful city we're flat out.

I just came out of an emergency state meeting and now I'm on my way to the next meeting.

MARK WILLACY: Are you worried about developer donations in council, with some of your councillors not excusing themselves from the room in what are votes that involve big developments involving developers that they may have received donations from?

TOM TATE: I dare say, the best I can tell you is that on my side I don't receive any donation, I'm self-funded.

MARK WILLACY: What about your deputy though, for example, does that make you uncomfortable when she votes on developments, development applications from developers she's received donations from?

TOM TATE: The best thing is that you make sure you comply with the law of the land, the law of the state and I'm very comfortable with people complying with the law.

MARK WILLACY: One of the biggest drivers of construction and development on the Gold Coast is Chinese investment and Chinese investors have a big supporter in Tom Tate.

As Mayor, he's made many trips to China.

He says he self-funds by paying his own airfares.

STEVE GRATION: I did write to the chief of staff to ask how much of his trips were for private business, how much was for ratepayer business.

Are there meetings, dates, and times, of who he met with that are available? And is there a breakdown on how much he spent on his own money and how much was spent of ratepayers' money?

I was blocked at the door there basically, 'Go to the annual reports and you can find out there.'

MARK WILLACY: Council reports list six official visits to China but they don't reveal how many private trips the mayor has taken.

Last month he was off again.

The Mayor's office told us his visit to Beijing was another private trip.

But Four Corners has discovered that during his visit Tom Tate spoke at the launch of Forise Holding's Gold Coast mega-tower - the development promoted by his friend Tony Hickey.

Mr Tate may have been there privately, but the sign behind him promoted him as the Gold Coast mayor.

PETER YOUNG: I've heard of multiple trips whilst he's been the Mayor.

The purpose of them I don't know.

I've deal with China a lot, both as a councillor and as a private businessman, and they do have enormous regard for political figures.

Enormous.

And no one more so than a Mayor.

MARK WILLACY: The biggest battle over development is here - the Gold Coast's most valuable remaining piece of beachfront land and it involves a prominent Chinese player.

PHILIP FOLLENT, FORMER GOLD COAST CITY ARCHITECT: One developer has already described The Spit as the greatest fillet of real estate in the city, and so it's unfortunate that we actually do have a mentality in this city that doesn't value the open space particularly, unless it's manicured.

PETER YOUNG: It's a majestic location.

It is worth a very significant amount of money.

MARK WILLACY: Billions of dollars?

PETER YOUNG: I'd say billions.

MARK WILLACY: Nothing has divided the Gold Coast like a proposal to erect massive high rises on The Spit.

The Chinese consortium ASF proposed building five shimmering towers of up to 45 storeys high.

This so-called integrated resort development - complete with casino - has been on the drawing board for more than three years.

LOUIS CHIEN, ASF DIRECTOR: The casino footprint is about 5-percent of the integrated resort.

The rest of it are all the amenities and the hotels, the restaurants and so forth, the entertainment aspects of that resort.

LOUIS CHIEN: So, this is the site.

We're standing on the edge of the five-and-a-half hectares the state designated as the site for this integrated resort.

MARK WILLACY: The crown land set aside by the state for the consortium's three-billion-dollar development is on the southern end of the Spit which is home to Sea World and low-rise luxury hotels.

ASF's five towers of up to 45-storeys would cast a long shadow over the Spit.

Thankfully for the Chinese consortium, it has an enthusiastic supporter in the Mayor, Tom Tate who has lobbied hard for a project ASF says will create 13-thousand jobs.

LOUIS CHIEN: He is a very progressive mayor.

He would like to do the coast right by bringing in businesses, bringing growth, bringing jobs.

Again, we support those that support businesses, support jobs and support the economy.

MARK WILLACY: Mayor Tate does that?

LOUIS CHIEN: Yes.

NORM RIX, GOLD COAST DEVELOPER: They're talking about this ASF proposal and all that job creation, which is, forgive me for saying so, all bullshit anyhow.

13,000 that's ridiculous.

MARK WILLACY: The opposition to ASF's casino and resort is led by Save our Spit... a community group spearheaded by actor and playwright Steven Gration.

STEVE GRATION: What's at stake on the Spit is that the current commercial developments are restricted to three stories and the parklands are not to be built on.

If one high rise tower gets built on the Spit, it's game over.

You do not put a casino on coastal land that is currently used for outdoor recreational and tourism activities, that are economic drivers for the Gold Coast.

A casino is a windowless room usually, that entraps its people who go there so they don't know whether it's night or day.

MARK WILLACY: ASF markets itself as a global player with partners in developments like this mega-resort in the Bahamas.

But this year it was revealed that the proponent of the three-billion-dollar Spit development had only six-million dollars in assets.

STEVE GRATION: Very little capital, a penny-share company.

So we thought they are basically a broker, searching for potential projects that they then on sell.

MARK WILLACY: How are you going to bank roll what is essentially, as you say, three-billion-dollar project?

LOUIS CHIEN, ASF DIRECTOR: We're a public company and our books are open to everyone to see. Having said that, these types of projects are done by consortiums.

That's one. Second, we keep a lean balance sheet in our public company and we call on capital when we need it We have a spotless record of raising capital when we need it.

MARK WILLACY: You're like a broker essentially? Would that be an accurate description?

LOUIS CHIEN: We're an investment incubator.

MARK WILLACY: Walkley Award winning journalist Alice Gorman wrote about the ASF proposal in her weekly column in the Gold Coast Bulletin...questioning its financial viability.

Her scepticism about this and other developments saw Tom Tate return fire on Facebook.

ALICE GORMAN: It was a really personal attack on me and where I live and how I'm at home on the farm with my husband, and what are my credentials for writing about this?

MARK WILLACY: Alice Gorman believes that in Tom Tate's Gold Coast speaking out is not encouraged.

ALICE GORMAN: I think ultimately the guy's got a glass jaw and doesn't like any form of criticism.

But sorry, we're not living you know in North Korea.

We're in a democracy and if people are not allowed to ask questions then where are we all headed?

MARK WILLACY: This year Alice Gorman was told she would no longer be a regular columnist after 12 years.

The paper's editor says it was part of budget cost-cutting.

ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QLD PREMIER: Nowhere else in the world do you have an area like this that should be preserved for future generations.

MARK WILLACY: Last month the Queensland government unexpectedly torpedoed the SF proposal, saying it could not be built on the Spit.

ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QLD PREMIER: There is a bright future here on the Gold Coast but that bright future also involves keeping this area and this area is probably equivalent to what Central Park is to New York.

MARK WILLACY: How did the Premier break it to you?

TOM TATE, GOLD COAST MAYOR: Gently

MARK WILLACY: Disappointed?

TOM TATE: No comment.

Well the Premier and the Cabinet have made their decision.

It's State Government land.

MARK WILLACY: Unbowed, Mayor Tate is now proposing the casino and resort be built on state and council land across the water from the Spit at Southport.

But the battle to build towers on this valuable strip may not be over.

Last month the Gold Coast City Council released a report it commissioned into building heights...but sections were blacked out.

PETER YOUNG, GOLD COAST COUNCILLOR: The fact that it's been redacted is a mystery to me.

I thought that report would have been made public.

The reality is people should be concerned about what's in those closed pages.

MARK WILLACY: What wasn't released publicly was this.

Four Corners has obtained a secret blueprint proposing high rises of up to 25 storeys on the southern end of the Spit...where there's currently a three-storey limit.

PHILIP FOLLENT, FORMER GOLD COAST CITY ARCHITECT: I would be hopeful that the council aren't intending to use this as a means of saying to the state government, "Well, we have a report that says it should be 25 stories on The Spit.

MARK WILLACY: There's another controversial project on The Spit the mayor is passionate about.

It's a cruise ship terminal jutting out into the Pacific - project that's been floated a couple of times before...but Tom Tate has a new plan.

TOM TATE, GOLD COAST MAYOR: It's a game changing project.

It is up to us whether we are going forward and show the world we are going be a world cruising destination.

MARK WILLACY: It's project worth hundreds of millions of dollars and it's also one that's divided the community and council.

GLENN TOZER, GOLD COAST CITY COUNCILLOR: The council has resolved to move forward with the cruise ship terminal proposal and I was one of a few people who have opposed it.

There's a couple of reasons for that, I actually don't think it's viable or reasonable or feasible to build a 700-metre jetty out into the open ocean.

PETER YOUNG, GOLD COAST COUNCILLOR: I think it's almost a ridiculous proposal.

MARK WILLACY: What's so ridiculous about it?

PETER YOUNG: Well, from the information that I've seen, and not all of that's been made public, it's just an unviable, incredibly expensive exercise.

MARK WILLACY: When Four Corners questioned the mayor Tom Tate in a car park he defended his cruise ship terminal idea.

Is it a safe project given how far it will stick out into the ocean?

TOM TATE: Very safe.

Engineering wise it's very safe and the best thing about it is that it's an opportunity for us to enter the cruise ship industry.

Its great infrastructure and the best thing is that it will create further jobs for the next generation.

MARK WILLACY: And the public has all the information it needs to make the decision about its safety, about its financials?

TOM TATE: Absolutely.

If at the end of it, if it doesn't tick all the safety box or the environment box, I'll be the first to vote it down.

MARK WILLACY: Okay.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

MARK WILLACY: This year the council released a report into the cruise ship terminal-56 pages of it were blacked out.

PETER YOUNG: I've served in the council for 13 years, under three Mayors, under three Chief Executive Officers.

In my opinion, this is the most secretive council.

There are decisions made about things that even councillors don't know about.

MARK WILLACY: Four Corners has obtained the full report into the cruise ship terminal that the council didn't want the public to see.

It contains important and concerning information.

This unredacted document reveals both the financial and safety concerns of a terminal that juts hundreds of metres out into the open ocean.

It warns that should a cruise ship encounter problems wind and waves could push it right onto the shore.

NORM RIX: If you're looking for a tourist attraction, well that will be the first cyclone that comes along and washes the cruise ship onto the middle of Main Beach.

Now that is a tourist attraction and that's what could possibly happen.

MARK WILLACY: Synonymous with sunshine and sandy beaches, the Gold Coast is also a glitter strip of towering buildings, soaring egos and even loftier ambitions and many here love it just the way it is.

CHRIS NYST, GOLD COAST LAWYER: I think of it as like a boom town.

It's beautiful, physically beautiful, but it's exciting. It's a little bit trashy at times.

I think that's part of its charm.

MARK WILLACY: The Gold Coast has always gone its own way.

But what's happening with development here is well within the law...and to many, that's the problem.

The push is now on for change to tighten the rules...and to unblur the lines between developers, donations and big decisions.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: 4 Corners understands powerful members of the Queensland Labor Cabinet will soon move to ban developer donations, at both state and local level.

Next week, we take you into the murky world of international kidnapping and hostage negotiation. See you then