Gold Coast mayor and CEO face backlash over overseas travel amid budget cuts
The Gold Coast Mayor will bill ratepayers to travel to Italy to carry the Winter Olympics torch. But his colleagues are not at all happy. VOTE IN OUR POLL
The mayor of Australia’s most iconic beach playground will bill ratepayers to travel to Italy this summer to carry the Winter Olympics torch.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate will be the only major southeast council mayor to accept an invitation from organisers to travel to the Milano-Cortina Games.
But his colleagues are not at all happy. Upon learning of the trip, one Gold Coast councillor said: “FFS – Winter Olympics.”
Details of Mr Tate’s planned trip in late January and February were leaked as his councillors debated budget cuts, and council staff remained anxious about their jobs following a recent round of redundancies.
An email to councillors from chief executive Tim Baker alerted them that Mr Tate would travel to Milan, Italy from January 31 to February 11.
Mr Baker denied speculation that he would be attending the Winter Olympics alongside Mr Tate, saying another city officer would instead be accompanying the mayor on the trip.
A decision is yet to be made on who the staffer will be.
Mayor Tate said he would provide details of his itinerary once it was finalised.
“It is my intention to travel to the Winter Olympics where I am honoured on behalf of the city to be involved in the torch relay,” Mr Tate said.
“Noting it is still November, and the trip is more than two months away, we don’t have a final itinerary and have not booked flights – though as a member of BOCOG, accommodation is available with other Olympic officials.”
Mr Tate said the city was negotiating with world sporting bodies about bringing major events to the Coast before and after the 2032 Olympics.
“In a number of these cases the presidents and executives of the world sporting bodies have recently visited the Gold Coast and been given a tour of our world-class sporting facilities,” he said.
“Opportunities for major events and training camps will be competitive in the years ahead but there is a great opportunity for the Gold Coast to leverage our position as a co-host of the 2032 Olympic Games.
“In Italy next year I will meet with these officials to progress negotiations and my office is also arranging meetings and tours of facilities including a nearby modular housing factory that I believe is a key element in delivering more affordable housing products.”
Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli said she would not go to Italy due to “local priorities”. She said the Winter Games were “not comparable” to the 2032 Games, so there was little to gain by attending.
Mr Baker has been tasked with finding $75m in savings, and up to 100 staff have been made voluntarily redundant.
But it has also emerged Mr Baker recently billed ratepayers for attending a conference in the United States about artificial intelligence, as part of what he says was professional development.
A council spokesperson said the conference was “part of an approved Mayoral Mission” and that “the insights gained are already being applied”.
But one staffer said: “It should have been one of his (technical) staffers attending.”
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Originally published as Gold Coast mayor and CEO face backlash over overseas travel amid budget cuts
