The Gold Coast Bulletin

FIRED UP

The 2026 Gold Coast Marathon has been declared a huge success which is set to inject up to $90m into the economy. Organisers are turning their attention to how to make it bigger and better after the weekend saw Haftu Strintzos become the first...

RACE READY

They’re the true blue cowboys and cowgirls doing it for Dolly at this weekend’s Gold Coast Marathon. A group of farm workers from across the country have united for a special cause in the big race, raising money for the Dolly’s Dream charity to...

RUN AWAY WITH THE CIRCUS

Australia’s longest-running performing arts dynasty has pitched its big top on the Gold Coast once again. The Great Australian Circus has returned to Broadwater Parklands, transforming it into a world of acrobatics, comedy and high-octane stunts...

ACT OF VIOLENCE

Chantay Logan, Chelsea Bunting and Andrew Potts Police believe a man deliberately lit a fire inside a locked room in his ex-partner’s home, killing himself, severely burning two others, and forcing another two to jump from a balcony to safety.

A MODEL SOLUTION

Gold Coast Deputy Mayor Mark Hammel has thrown his support behind creating a modular housing industry, warning there is “no other way” for the city to rapidly increase its supply. Factory-built modular housing has been a standard building practice in...

BALLERINA’S BIG LEAP

A 13-year-old Palm Beach girl has become one of a handful of dancers from around the globe selected for a full scholarship to one of the world’s most elite ballet academies. Palm Beach Currumbin High School student Lani Gehling has been accepted into...

FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

BLOCKBUSTER CLAIMS

A former Village Roadshow staffer allegedly stole and sold a truck used in the movie Aquaman, while he and a colleague colluded with a contractor to funnel company funds into private mansion renovations and traded thousands of Sea World tickets for...

DINO-MITE TIME

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is going back to the prehistoric era these school holidays, giving kids a Jurassic experience on the Gold Coast. Dinomania will bring life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, roaming dinosaurs characters and a conservation trail...

HOMELESS CATCH-22

A relentless game of cat-and-mouse is playing out across the parks, dunes and main roads of the Gold Coast. As the housing crisis deepens, Southport’s rough sleepers said they were caught in a bureaucratic trap: ordered to move by authorities, but...

BATMAN & MORRIN

Titans forward Kurtis Morrin has extended his time on the Gold Coast until the end of the 2029 season after signing a new deal following a stellar campaign. The 26-year-old joined the Titans from the Bulldogs this season and has quickly made an impact...

REAL FAKE

The Gold Coast’s most prestigious art award has been rocked by copying claims after a winning entry (above) sat undetected for more than a year before organisers exposed it as an ‘imitation’. The ‘imitation’, painted by Lennox Head artist Jane Allan,...

RAPID BUS NETWORK

Metro-style buses will run to the Gold Coast Airport every 10 minutes and trams will travel from the university hospital to Harbour Town shopping centre under a new state government transport plan. A controversial call to quash extension of the light...

MY MUM’S FINAL WISH

Gold Coast teacher’s aide Nat Woods’ selfless last act was the culmination of a life devoted to caring for others. Now her brave teenage daughter Molly, below, is ensuring her legacy doesn’t stop there. The 19-year-old is taking part in Dry July to...

DEVIL IN DISGUISE

The Gold Coast theme park where a Tasmanian devil leapt over a 1.4m fence to go on a two-week adventure is making alterations to its exhibits. Mary the Tasmanian devil was found by wildlife keepers on Tuesday at 8.30pm in bushland 2km from Paradise...

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

A Gold Coast village is celebrating its booming food and arts scene in the most charming way possible. The Mudgeeraba Food and Art Trail, a not-for-profit concept to support local businesses, will run Letterbox Love from the Artists from June 19 to...

TAKE A CHANCE

A Tallebudgera woman is set for a major full-circle moment when she takes the stage as Sophie Sheridan in the upcoming production of Mamma Mia! at The Star Gold Coast this September. Emily Monsma recently returned home to the Gold Coast following an...

NURSE CHARGED

A Gold Coast pediatric mental health nurse who allegedly stalked and abused six young eating disorder patients, had a foot fetish, a sexual interest in “slender young girls,” and continued to work for more than a year after complaints were first made...

DRAWN TO THE COAST

Artist Chris Riley moved down the M1 to the Gold Coast for the sunshine – and stayed for the energy. The former automotive spray painter has replaced workshop panels with luxury canvases. Riley’s transition from tradie to internationally sought-after...

WALKING MIRACLE

A Gold Coast mum whose baby underwent major surgery while inutero has just watched the little girl she thought would never walk take her first steps. When Jenaya Ward (pictured) was four months pregnant, doctors told her baby Lucinda had spina...

PULLING ON THE HARP STRINGS

The Gold Coast Chamber Orchestra is set to celebrate a 15-year milestone with its upcoming recital, echoing a massive growth in the city’s appetite for classical music. On July 5 at Bond University’s Abedian School of Architecture, French Connection...

BUDGET BRAWL

Gold Coast councillor Brooke Patterson, above, has questioned the “value for money” of four council-controlled entities after it was revealed they will cost ratepayers $190 million in 2026-27. But Mayor Tom Tate says they deliver, do not duplicate...

MUSCLE MEMORY

From rock’n’roll and classic cars to vintage fashion and Elvis impersonators, the Gold Coast travelled back in time on the weekend for the Cooly Rocks On Festival. Tens of thousands descended on Coolangatta from around Australia and the globe for the...

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

AI-generated pictures and pranks calls are hurting the search for a Tasmanian devil that escaped a Gold Coast wildlife park earlier this week, authorities say. Mary, 2, escaped her enclosure at Village Roadshow’s Paradise Country with some credible...

RATES HIKE SLASHED

Gold Coast City councillors have backed down on a record rate hike, settling on a 4.7 per cent general rate increase that will save ratepayers at least $13m. The Bulletin earlier revealed council had planned a 5.7 per cent increase — which would have...

DAREDEVIL ESCAPES

A theme park remains closed after a Tasmanian devil staged a daring escape, taking an “abnormally large leap” to get out of her enclosure, and sparking a suburb-wide hunt. Staff at Village Roadshow’s Paradise Country have spent almost two days...

DON’T BE SILLY BILLY FORMER ORIGIN STARS URGE SLATER TO CHOOSE WALSH

Queensland coach Billy Slater has been urged to axe Ezra Mam in favour of his Broncos teammate Reece Walsh to help the Maroons save the series in Origin II. Former Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk and legendary NSW pivot Matty Johns have questioned Mam’s...

BUSH MATTERS

The largest conversation between the bush and powerbrokers starts today, as News Corp Australia launches its 2026 Bush Summit campaign. Regional Australians can have their say on issues that matter most in a new poll, which will help frame debate at...

BARRELS OF FUN

The Gold Coast’s coolest week-long party, the Sessions Surf Festival, has wrapped up its 2026 edition with a Burleigh Heads blowout featuring live music, a beach bar, and a USA versus Australia showdown that saw an impeccable Kelly Slater monster our...

ART OF THE MATTER

Every successful film franchise deserves a sequel. Which is why, after decades spent attracting Hollywood productions and blockbuster budgets, the Gold Coast’s film and television industry is about to debut its new chapter: The Rise of the Local...

A FEAST FOR THE SENSES

The Scenic Rim Eat Local Month launches this weekend, Friday to Sunday, turning the Gold Coast’s stunning hinterland backyard into a premier food and wine playground. Focusing on the eastern subregion – Tamborine Mountain, Canungra and Beechmont – the...

‘FULL OF JOY’

The Gold Coast’s premier contemporary arts celebration is set for a major shake-up as a “spring awakening” this year. Under new artistic director Felix Preval, Bleach Festival will be predominantly hosted by HOTA from October 1 to 11. Mr Preval, a...

WILD NIGHT OUT

Gold Coast glamour and crucial wildlife conservation will collide Saturday night as Dreamworld hosts its highly anticipated second annual Give for the Wild: Gatsby Soiree. The immersive, afterhours event will transform the park’s Rivertown precinct...

MAGIC TITANS PARTNERSHIP

Seven in 10 Australian parents say they are concerned about their children’s financial future. Crucially, half (49 per cent) say costof-living concerns have influenced their decision to limit their family size or not have children at all, Sharesies...

A SWELL TIME AT THE BEACH

A hazardous surf warning is expected to be in place until Tuesday, with a low-pressure system over New Caledonia sending powerful waves thousands of kilometres away. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said on Sunday southeast...

OMEROS SON SUED

Veteran Gold Coast restaurateur Nick Omeros, co-founder of the Omeros Bros seafood empire, has lodged a bombshell lawsuit to prevent his son operating a new restaurant amid allegations he had been brutally cut out of the picture. Nick Omeros, 83,...

CULTURAL STATEMENT

More than $600,000 has been spent to form a “unifying cultural expression” to help Gold Coast tell a “shared story” describing a yes culture that “is more than a city — it is a mindset,” a new report reveals.

TITANS FANS READY FOR LAS VEGAS

A founding member of the Gold Coast Titans’ dreams have come true, jumping at the chance to watch his team play in the NRL’s 2027 Las Vegas season opener. The Titans will tackle the Parramatta Eels, alongside Melbourne Storm and Wests Tigers, at...

VEGAS, BABY!

The Gold Coast Titans are going to Sin City. The Titans have trumped the Dolphins in the Queensland battle for a spot in the NRL’s 2027 Las Vegas season-opener. Josh Hannay’s Titans will take on the Parramatta Eels.

REUNITED AT LAST

It was the call Amanda Walczak never expected to get. The Oxenford mother-oftwo was on a work call earlier this month when she received a message that her cat was at a pound in Melbourne. This was a surprise to Ms Walczak, who had been forced to give...

MILES AHEAD

Sunshine and blue skies made for perfect conditions for runners to hit a PB at the GC30 event at Main Beach. Event director Adam Goodger said the sold-out race had 4000 participants run from Seaworld Drive to Doug Jennings Park and around to the...

HOONS TERRORISE SENIORS

A gang of e-bike hoons are terrorising an over-60s soccer club, alongside separate reports they have been throwing rocks at cars and targeting drivers with laser pointers. Angelo Raguz, 58, said his soccer team have been terrorised for the past month.

ON A NEW NOTE...

They are the festival first-timers ready to shine at the Blues on Broadbeach this weekend. Despite predictions of continued dreary weather, Brunswick Heads’ Ally Palmer and Gold Coast local Jodie-Joy Smith are excited to make their festival...

TRUMP DUMPS COAST

The Trump family has pulled out of a controversial planned $1.2bn supertower development on the Gold Coast.

SPIT’S $120M REVIVAL

The first all-residential development on The Spit is one step closer as the transformation of the precinct ramps up. Ignite Projects has lodged plans with Gold Coast City Council for the $120m, threestorey The Isles complex, earmarked for the site...

MUM OF 7 KILLED

A single mum of seven who died in a three-car crash on the Gold Coast was on her way home from a Mother’s Day market. Coomera mum Rebecca Hayes (inset), 41, died at Maudsland on Sunday. Police said three vehicles, a Mitsubishi ASX station wagon, a...

ETSU’S SIBLING TO OPEN

The owner behind one of the Gold Coast’s most highly rated Japanese restaurants is a month away from rolling out the welcome mat at their new venue in Burleigh Heads. Etsu Izakaya owner Nathan Horwood will open his new restaurant Shoto Dining along...

MY KIDS SAVED ME

Gold Coast mum Anna Wilkinson says she owes this Mother’s Day to her two children – for saving her life, and for stepping up when she needed them the most.

LITTLE OLIVIA’S BRAVE FIGHT

A young Gold Coast mum received devastating news her three-year-old daughter had stage four cancer on her 20th birthday. Now the inseparable pair are facing the fight of their lives. Jazmine Spring was told her blonde and bubbly little girl Olivia...

ALEXA’S SECOND CHANCE

Australia knows Alexa Leary as the bright and bubbly swim star who won the nation’s hearts with two swimming golds at the Paris Paralympics. Her tear-jerking and inspirational heroics came after doctors gave her little chance of surviving a...

MARGOT STUNS AT MET GALA

Some of the world’s biggest stars, including Gold Coast’s Margot Robbie, stunned on the red carpet in what was possibly the raciest Met Gala yet. Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and girlfriend Sutton Foster led the Aussie charge on the steps of...

A FIGHT ON THE BEACHES

Plans to fast track a radical beachside dining trial on the Gold Coast are facing a setback ahead of a crucial vote as councillors call for more details after strong opposition from residents. Surfers Paradise-based councillor Darren Taylor (pictured)...

OUR KIDS, OUR FUTURE

Top doctors have warned the future of Australian children is at a critical crossroads and in dire need of worldleading medical research to reverse a situation where an entire generation’s health is now, for the first time, worse than their...

FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW

The Gold Coast Titans have reinforced their support of junior rugby league in the region with Rugby League Gold Coast’s junior competitions now set to be named the Gold Coast Titans Junior Rugby League. Rugby League Gold Coast chairman Wayne Court...

STAR’S BLOODY GOOD MOVE

A former Home and Away star says his risky move from LA to the Gold Coast has delivered his “best case scenario”. Martin Dingle-Wall will walk the red carpet for the first Australian screening of his film This Bloody Country at HOTA on Wednesday at...

RAIN ON OUR PARADE

The Gold Coast’s soggy spell is set to continue, with forecasters predicting another week of rain. Meteorologist Harry Clark said the region would be seeing “more of the same” after the city was drenched over the Anzac Day weekend. From 9am on Sunday...

PUSHED OUTTA PALMY

Palm Beach’s highrise push might be driving up density in the suburb, but it’s also driving out existing businesses. A Palm Beach Thai restaurant is closing, a hairdressers has moved and six other stores face having to shut up shop after twin tower...

‘HIGH LIFE’ ARREST

An unemployed Gold Coast panelbeater living the ‘high-end life’ in one of Clear Island Waters’ ‘most iconic homes’ was detained at an airport and charged with coke trafficking after a tip-off from the state’s bikie-busting squad. The arrest of Clear...

PIG OUT ON EAT LOCAL

There’s never been a better excuse to pig out. Scenic Rim Eat Local Month has released its biggest program in 15 years, with an appetising array of adventures supporting our rural neighbours. Growers, farmers, makers and chefs will open their gates...

‘GOD BLESS BRS’ War hero defends Ben Roberts-Smith

A Gold Coast Vietnam veteran has said the case against accused war criminal Ben RobertsSmith “really bloody stinks” and “God bless (him)” while receiving a long-overdue medal for his courage under fire. Mermaid Beach resident Garry John Chad was...

PILATES HITS THE SAND

When Matilda McKinnon and Frankie White hosted their first free pilates class at Mermaid Beach, nobody showed up. Twelve months later, She’s Spicy has grown to about 200 women rolling out their pilates mats every week for a sunrise class on the...

BALI BAIL JAUNT

The parents of a Gold Coast teen killed in an ebike crash are fuming that the boy charged over the tragedy had his sentencing delayed multiple times before flying straight to Bali on a family holiday – while on bail. Hudson Gagg, 17, died last...

WHIPPING UP A STORM

From Coolangatta to Coomera, cafe lines are stretching around the block. Cost-of-living crisis? Apparently it’s no matcha for cold-foam coffee. The refreshment revolution was born with the Mont Blanc – cold brew capped with cream and orange zest...

SKYE HIGH

Gold Coast’s Skye Nicholson will be fighting for her two brothers when she headlines a Victorian event next week.

REOPEN SURFERS

State MP John-Paul Langbroek has demanded the Gold Coast City Council dump its Surfers Paradise beachfront plaza and reopen The Esplanade to traffic. The controversial closure of the road in mid-2025 has divided business owners and residents, with...

POINT TO PROVE

Nearly 1000 movers and shakers from across Australia are descending on the Gold Coast for the Aussie Dance Tour. In its third year, the four-day event, kicking off on Wednesday at Carrara’s Gold Coast Indoor Sports Complex, brings together...

JUST A BAD DAY

It’s never clinical like it was for Tiger when you’re riding the Rory rollercoaster. Despite breaking his 17-year Masters hoodoo 12 months ago, and racing to a record sixshot halfway lead, Rory McIlroy put himself through hell again before capturing...

BRIGHT DAY FOR DARK KNIGHT

The streets of Broadbeach popped with colour and costumes across the weekend for one of the Gold Coast’s biggest annual events. Crowds of up to 30,000 people descended on the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre for the annual twoday Supanova...

EVERY DAY IS A BATTLE

Gold Coast Paralympic queen Alexa Leary and her family are for the first time sharing their ongoing battle with her traumatic brain injury.

INFLUENCER CAPITAL

Visit Burleigh or Nobby Beach and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into a photo-shoot. Gorgeous twentysomethings in model-off-duty activewear clutch matcha lattes and cold-foam coffees, MacBooks open, hair blown out. This is the new Gold...

VILLAGE TAKEN FOR A RIDE

A senior executive accused of embezzling more than $1m of funds from theme parks operator Village Roadshow had been with the company for 15-20 years, it can be revealed. The man was a widely respected executive and the allegations have rocked the...

REUNITED WITH MY HEROES

Inspirational Paralympic champion Alexa Leary has had a teary reunion with the two Sunshine Coast doctors who gave her a second chance at life. After 111 days in hospital, and daily rehabilitation to learn to walk and talk again, Ms Leary is doing...