The Gold Coast mayor is pleading for electricity and water services to remain open to residents of an island off the Queensland city amid an ongoing dispute.
Residents at Couran Cove, a development on South Stradbroke Island, have been involved in an ongoing legal battle with service providers over claims millions of dollars are owed.
Now they fear they will be locked out of the island in the coming days with a long-time home owner claiming the local council is doing nothing to help.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the city had no power over the service providers and body corporates that were involved in ongoing private legal disputes.
However, Cr Tate said he hoped essential services remained open to residents until the dispute was finalised.
"Pleading as a citizen of the Gold Coast, I would say, while things are being adjudicated on, don't turn off the essential services such as electricity and water," Cr Tate said.
"Continue on with that and the metre keeps ticking in regards to the debt and let the court sort out who owes what."
Situation 'incredibly complex'
Couran Cove is home to a mixture of permanent residents and holiday home owners who are obliged to pay levies to their body corporate so they can access services that are otherwise not available.
Cr Tate said it was a mistake to set up a development with such a complicated ownership structure.
"It's a mistake to have intertwined body corporate layers upon layers, and you've got five bodies fighting among each other," Cr Tate said.
He said he felt for those caught up in the dispute.
"My heart bleeds for those people who are caught in the middle."
As a result of the dispute, the state government has been shipping in water for residents and providing financial counselling and disability support.
"I'd encourage anyone who needs support from the Queensland government to please come forward," Environment Minister and Gold Coast MP Meaghan Scanlon said.
"We're doing everything we can to support you — but this is an incredibly complex, private dispute and the matter is before the court."
Ms Scanlon said the government was exploring all its options to resolve the dispute.
"Unfortunately it is incredibly complex, it really is a private dispute, so we're continuing to explore what we can do and in the interim to provide the support that people need right now," she said.
'They're going to lock us out'
Mick Torley has owned a home on the island for the past 21 years, but feared he would be locked out of the island from this weekend by the service providers.
"South Straddie is such a jewel, but we've got these people destroying our lives over there," Mr Torley said.
"They're going to lock us out from our own properties."
The community is holding a meeting on the island on Sunday and police are on stand-by to deploy resources to the island if needed.
