🎾 Ash Barty serves up surprise story time in Helensvale
Volume 167: Cross-border drug bust | Secret wave | HMAS Brisbane arrives | $10m for Enhance Games winner | Baking show lands on the GC and heaps more
G’day, GC, and welcome back. It’s May 28.
In today's newsletter
One Big Thing: Tate and Luhrmann seek MAD partner
🍩 Rolling in Dough: Baking’s big trade show lands on the GC
Three charged in a: Cross-border drug bust
Around The Web: HMAS Brisbane III arrives, $10m offered to Enhance Games winner, Weird new wave discovered in WA, Ash Barty at surprise GC library, and heaps more
Trending: Narrowneck yesterday..
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1. Tate and Luhrmann seek MAD partner
By Marshall Hall
What’s Happening: The City of Gold Coast and award-winning international film director Baz Luhrmann are teaming up to find a partner to develop a creative industries hub on a 4ha site in Miami known as MAD (the Miami Arts Depot).
Why It Matters: The project is being pitched as a major creative economy play, designed to pull film, television, digital, gaming, visual effects and innovation work into the Gold Coast’s already-booming screen sector.
By the Numbers:
MAD is estimated to generate total benefits of $2.6 billion and support more than 1000 direct and indirect full-time jobs per year.
Queensland was Australia’s number one state for screen production in 2024-25, achieving a record $925 million in local expenditure ($548m being on the GC).
More than $500 million in film production investment is expected to be attracted to the Gold Coast over five years
Zoom In: The precinct would be built on the council’s Miami depot site, backing onto the Burleigh Bears playing field, and is expected to combine screen production, technology, visual effects, gaming and innovation with residential, retail and commercial uses.
What They Said: Mayor Tom Tate said the Miami Arts Depot project was “a rare and catalytic opportunity” to shape the future of the city’s creative economy.
“It is time to roll out the red carpet and invite Expressions of Interest for one of the most exciting projects in our city’s history,” Mayor Tom Tate said
“This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of the Gold Coast, attract global talent and investment and position our city on the international stage.
“Importantly, the precinct masterplan is a joint vision between the City and acclaimed Australian film director Baz Luhrmann.”
What To Look For Next: The council’s Expressions of Interest campaign runs until July 31, with the city now searching for a partner to turn the MAD masterplan into a real-world creative precinct.
😲 Fun fact: An AI-generated movie just made history at Cannes - A startup has premiered what is being called the world’s first AI-generated feature film, created in just two weeks with a small team but requiring massive computing power, costing about $400,000 in compute alone for a 95-minute movie.
2.
3. Baking Industry Trade Show heads to Gold Coast
What’s Happening: The 2026 Baking Industry Trade Show is heading to the Gold Coast Turf Club from Tuesday, 16 June to Thursday, 18 June, bringing free entry, live demos, tastings, cake decorating workshops and national baking competitions to Carrara.
Why It Matters: It gives Australia’s baking sector a dedicated industry event, bringing bakers, suppliers, food businesses and equipment providers together in one place.
For the Gold Coast, it is another useful notch in the city’s growing events belt, with a little more pastry involved.
By the Numbers:
The first Annual Baking Trade Show was held in Melbourne in 2017.
The 2025 show featured more than 55 exhibitor stands.
Four major competitions headline the 2026 program, including,
donuts
croissants
sausage rolls
pies and pasties.
Registration is free across all three days.
Zoom In: Visitors can expect cheesecake samples, Danish pastries, chocolate products, new bread products, live bakery kitchens, Baker’s Corner, supplier displays, and free cake-decorating workshops, with materials supplied.
Key competition highlights include:
Tuesday 16 June: The National Donut Competition will take place, with Risque Donut Daddy, known as @thedonutdaddy, overseeing the day and helping crown the national winner.
Wednesday 17 June: The National Artisan and Croissant Competition will take place.
Thursday 18 June: The Australia versus New Zealand Sausage Roll Challenge will be held, with the public tasting and judging the baked goods before the official winner is declared.
What To Look For Next: More exhibitor, workshop and competition details are expected as June gets closer, including updated timings for the public tasting and judging sessions.
Visitors can check the official website for registration, courtesy bus stops and updated event information.
Check more updates here: Baking Industry Trade Show Facebook page and Baking Trade Show Instagram
[Ad partner]
4. Around the web
Performance drug-fueled: Enhanced Games organisers are offering $10m to anyone who can break Usain Bolt’s all-time record of 9.58 seconds back in 2009.
Why Google’s own AI is: Have a bit of a hard time spelling ‘Google’
The oldest national history museum in the Americas which was: Destroyed in a 2018 fire, along with 16 million objects (80 per cent of its collections), is about to reopen following a massive effort.
HMAS Brisbane arrived this: Morning at the Port of Brisbane
An analysis of the Pope’s: Magnifica Humanitas where he wrote about the dangers of AI, has found that certain paragraphs were between 40 per cent and 100 per cent written by AI
91-year-old’s home allegedly targeted in a: Gold Coast break-in spree
An exploratory surf mission to the Kimberley Region of Western Australia to a: Tidal rapid that has never been surfed 👇
5. Trending
Recent newsletters
Last week’s top-clicked link was 👇
Weekly dream gig
This week - If turning gym gear into global growth sounds like your kind of heavy lifting, this one’s for you.
VERVE Fitness is chasing a Head of Marketing to help take its Gold Coast-born commercial and home gym equipment brand into the US.
Think Shopify, Meta, Klaviyo, GA4, AI workflows, a team of 3-4 and a very real mandate to get traffic, conversion and cadence back on the move.
The package is serious too, with $140,000-$160,000 on offer, a direct line to the CEO and a front-row seat as VERVE pushes toward a $150m revenue goal.
6. Upcoming events
🏉 Women’s State of Origin Game 3 – Thu 28 May, 7.45 pm; Queensland and NSW bring the Origin heat to Cbus Super Stadium for a big under-lights footy night. Tickets.
🏐 Intermediate Schools Cup – Fri 29–Sun 31 May; young volleyball guns from across Queensland hit the Coast for a packed weekend of school sport. Competition.
🏃 Main Beach parkrun – Sat 30 May, 7 am; start the weekend with a breezy 5km run or walk along the beachfront, coffee reward highly encouraged. Run.
🍜 Palette x MUSO Ramen Pop-Up – Sat 30 May, 11.30 am–4 pm; HOTA gets slurpy with a limited ramen pop-up mixing food, art and Saturday arvo vibes. Pop-up.
🌊 Sessions Surf Festival – until Sat 30 May; surf, music, film and art collide across the Coast for one last salty burst of festival energy. Festival.
💃 Sundaze Sunday Morning Ecstatic Dance – Sun 31 May, 10 am–12 pm; shake off the week with an alcohol-free dance session full of movement, music and feel-good community energy. Tickets.
🎸 Cooly Rocks On Festival – Wed 3–Sun 7 Jun; classic cars, rock ’n’ roll, vintage threads and big retro fun roll into Coolangatta for one of the Coast’s biggest weeks. Festival.