Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate committed ‘misconduct’ and unethical behaviour for spending

Mayor Tom Tate’s Gold Coast Titans membership is among several purchases which have led a tribunal to say he has committed misconduct and unethical behaviour. HERE’S HOW

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has committed misconduct and unethical behaviour for claiming back more than $20,000 in expenses on charity donations, Titans memberships and headphones, it’s been found.

The Councillor Conduct Tribunal has ordered the Mayor to pay his own council a $2322 fine, publicly admit wrongdoing and attend a training course for the “misconduct” and unethical behaviour, which occurred between early-2016 and mid-2018.

Some of the donations he made and claimed back from ratepayers were 10-times the amount allowed under the council’s policy and purchases. Some of the expense items involved were previously raised by the Crime and Corruption Commission in its 2020 Operation Yabber Investigation.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate Picture NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Cr Tate said he intended to appeal the decision made in August but made public this week.

“I will be lodging an appeal with QCAT at the earliest opportunity so I cannot comment on a matter that is subject to an appeal,” he said.

According to tribunal documents, the Mayor “breached the trust placed in the councillor” with conduct “inconsistent with the local government principle of ethical and legal behaviour”.

The 11 allegations included:

* Making a $5000 donation to the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation in 2016 and later listed it as an “incidental expense”, breaching council’s $500 limit on donations;

* Spending $2500 on a table of 10 for the 2016 Mayoress’ Charity Foundation Annual Ball and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Spending $2500 on a table of 10 for the 2017 Mayoress’ Charity Foundation Annual Ball and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Spending $2950 on a table of 10 for the 2018 Mayoress’ Charity Foundation Annual Ball and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Spending $72 in October, 2016, on a Gold Coast Titans annual membership and “acquitted it as a mayoral expense”;

* Spending $216 in November 2017 on a Gold Coast Titans annual membership and “acquitted it as a mayoral expense”;

* Making a $1000 donation to the Gold Coast Community Fund White Christmas Appeal in November 2016 and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Donating $5000 to Juice 107.3 Radio Station, a community station, in June 2017 and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Donating $5000 to the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal in June 2017 and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Donating $5000 to the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal in June 2018 and listing it as an incidental expense;

* Spending $734 for a Humax Tuner for TV and MC BPL UHD connection cables in July 2016 and in December the same year spending $534.92 on GHT headphones. Both were listed in August 2017 as being incidental expenses.

Mayor Tom and Ruth Tate at Gold Coast Mayoress Charity Foundation Ball at The Star Gold Coast. Picture: Regina King

Of the 11 allegations, the Tribunal found the mayor had breached council’s expenses policy eight times.

He wasn’t found to have breached the expenses policy by claiming back the $7950 he had spent across three years on the tables for wife Ruth’s Mayoress Charity Foundation ball.

According to the Tribunal decision, Mr Tate “admitted he expended the funds personally in the first instance for all 11 allegations, and he subsequently sought acquittals of those costs from council. However, he denied the act of doing so was misconduct.”

The Tribunal, in its decision, argued it was “not the act of donating or purchasing which could be misconduct. Instead, the misconduct occurs when the councillor seeks to have council reimburse him or her from the funds of local government; that is, ratepayer’s funds. Any misappropriation of ratepayer’s funds is serious,” the Tribunal wrote.

Cr Tom Tate says he will appeal the matter with QCAT Picture: Liam Kidston

“Consistent across all 11 allegations, the respondent has paid an amount of money to another party, then applied to council for reimbursement of that payment. At the point of applying, the respondent’s evidence was that he had read the policy and was satisfied he was entitled to make such an application.”

In its decision, the Tribunal found Mr Tate had not breached the expenses policy over claiming back the table tickets at the Mayoress’ ball.

“Attendance at a dinner is a permissible reason, but there is no exculpatory provision in the policy which indicates the respondent was not permitted to purchase a table of 10 seats,” the Tribunal wrote. “When balancing the potential for a finding of misconduct against the specificity of the wording regarding attendance at dinners in the policy, the Tribunal is not reasonably satisfied, having regard to the nature and consequence of the facts to be proved, that the respondent has breached the Expenses Policy.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate was found to have breached council’s expenses policy over this Titans membership. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Mr Tate was found to have breached council’s expenses policy over his Titans membership, with the Tribunal writing it “cannot be seriously contended the respondent’s role as mayor required him to purchase annual memberships to a local football club.”

On the headphones and AV equipment, the Tribunal said there was “no evidence that suggests the mayor’s office lacked a TV or associated audio/visual equipment to the extent the respondent would have been motivated to purchase that equipment himself” and he was “not authorised to seek reimbursement for the items, and submitted acquittals in breach of the Expenses Policy”.

The tribunal found the mayor’s behaviour was “not ethical” because it “did not conform to accepted standards of conduct applicable to councillors”.

“The Tribunal is not required to find that the respondent acted dishonestly. This is not a criminal trial, and the respondent is not alleged to have engaged in fraud, or to have behaved fraudulently, or to have been dishonest,” it wrote.

“Nor would a conclusion of that kind be open to the Tribunal on the evidence before it.”

Originally published as Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate committed ‘misconduct’ and unethical behaviour for spending