The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 31

mi- cept me, re a By JOE PAYNE who works as a public relations officer at the Gold Coast council, and her family are not upset by Mr Shepherd's hard words. He is widely known around the Gold Coast as "the -M: Some say he makes Mohammed Ali sound like the Quiet Man. Shepherd arrived on the Gold Coast in 1975 after a heart attack, a nervous breakdown and two 'I'm the late Sir Bruce born again can't get beaten 9 bankruptcy actions. LIKE a dauntless fairytale hero Surfers Paradise character Brian Shepherd knows he is destined to be mayor of the Gold Coast City Council. He doesn't need a Dick Whittington's cat to help because the ghost of the late legendary Sir Bruce Small the former mayor who put Surfers on the map is with him all the way, he says.

"Shep, you're a rough diamond, but just polish up your act and you're the next mayor for sure," Sir Bruce told him before he died four years ago, Mr Shepherd explains. Now as smooth as a month-old claret, in his pink satin and Terylene pants, $150 kid leather belt, gold bangle and patent leather shoes (with gold buckles of course), adds: Tm the late Sir Bruce born again I can't get beaten. "Even the stuffed shirts need me get things moving, they see me as a bit of a saviour. "The present mayor, Denis O'Connell, is a cross between an undertaker and a politician a lovely man, but dull, dull." But Mr Shepherd graciously retracts his remark from a previous interview that "The mayor's wife Lorraine is. dull too, dull as a doughnut And his lovely daughter Suzanne, she's dull as well." "I shouldn't say that about the beautiful ladies," he says, Suzanne, a pretty blonde professional pop-singer Over the past year, he has been campaigning feverishly for the election next March driving around in a 9ct gold-plated, bullet proof Rambler- kohs nyond said to be worth $250,000 and making speeches at countless service and sporting club luncnons.

To make ends meet be hires out the unique car. driven by his 20-stone, karate black-belt, guitar- Jtl i nnn picun Maori bodyguard, while Mrs Shepherd works as a housekeeper in the Golden Gate apartment skyscraper where they live. Even on the Gold Coast, where odd characters are as frequent as concrete skyscrapers. Shepherd stands out, already answering the phone with, "Mayor Shepherd His election slogan: "I'm the mayor with flair. I may be a lair but believe me I care." He believes his business experience in a failed butchery and a put out fire extinguisher venture will benefit the Coast citizens.

Talking rubbish bins shaped like koalas and kookaburras will say "thank you" and golden parking meter effigies of lovely meter maids will be among his early edicts as mayor. Parking police will be replaced by meter maid inspectors who won't issue tickets "They'll look so good motorists will offer to pay double the fine," says Shepherd. And two giant smiling gold faces will soar across the coast highway so motorists will drive through their gleaming teeth when he takes office. Dumping truck loads of Gold Coast sand containing holiday vouchers in the heart of Sydney and Melbourne for a treasure hunt led by more meter maids is also a great idea, he says. "Up here they say I'm a yobbo but I'm dynamic, with a heart big enough to get the Gold Coast moving again," he said.

"When I'm elected they will see the other Shep the serious father of five and eight grand children, who is well mannered and can mix with anyone." Many locals are sceptical of Shep's chances but on the Coast they say anything can happen and does. otuu mm mm bofflta (mm When you invest with Australian Fixed Trusts, your money is safer because you're nut just making one investment, you're making many. Investments that have grown through sound planning to become one billion dollars. That's how A.F.T. has become Australia's largest Unit Trust Company.

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