12:00a.m. 3rd May 2008

| By Sam Benger

Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot received $101,639 in donations to run his successful election campaign earlier this year.

And despite his opposition to developer gifts, $3000 of the funds inadvertently came from one of the Coast biggest property developers.

The information, to be published on council’s website next week, showed Mr Abbot received $101,639 in campaign donations, while other councillors shared in a total of $73,934.50 in cash, in-kind gifts and services.

Behind Mr Abbot, the biggest donations included Division 1 councillor Anna Grosskreutz ($29,740), Division 11’s Russell Green ($20,000) and Division 12’s Lew Brennan ($11,375). T

hey were followed by Debbie Blumel ($8371.50), Keryn Jones ($2800), and Vivien Griffin ($1648).

Councillors Tim Dwyer, Chris Thompson, Jenny McKay, Christian Dickson, Ted Hungerford and Paul Tatton declared no gifts or donations for their campaigns.

The final figures were still being tallied by the regional council this week, with only interim figures available for the mayor and Ms Grosskreutz.

The mayor’s biggest donation came from former Tourism Queensland head and Friends of Noosa representative Peter Wade in the form of a $10,000 cheque, while commercial developer MCH Corporation donated $3000 and other private individuals and local companies donated between $100 and $5000.

Mr Abbot said he had believed the donation, from Maroochydore-based Maroochy Central Holdings (MCH) Corporation, was from a hotel group, and was not a large sum given the overall costs of running a campaign.

He had instructed his campaign team “not to accept donations directly from large development companies”.

“I decided not to accept any big donations from developers because I think it’s inappropriate,” he said.

“When you’re talking about one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia, you’re getting into dangerous territory (to accept donations from developers) and it’s something I’ve tried to avoid.”

“If that’s one (developer) that got through, then I accept that,” he said.

Businessman Terry Ell, who heads MCH, said he had received a letter from Bob Abbot’s campaign team inviting him to a fundraising luncheon at berardos restaurant in Noosa.

“I rang up and thanked them for the invitation and to apologise for not being able to attend,” Mr Ell said.

“I said I would be happy to make a donation and that’s exactly what we did.”

Mr Ell said he understood Mr Abbot’s confusion.

“We were making wine at Tewantin and I spoke to him about shifting the operation to Maroochydore,’’ he said.

Mr Abbot said his campaign had cost a total of about $150,000, of which $45,000 had to come out of his own pocket.