Tom Tate in shock move reduces legal fee request from council to $100
Mayor Tom Tate in a shock twist will be asking for councillors to provide him with $100 reimbursement rather than $450,000 for legal costs from a defamation case.
Mayor Tom Tate in a shock twist will be asking for councillors to provide him with $100 reimbursement rather than $450,000 for legal costs from a defamation case.
The Bulletin in an exclusive report had revealed the Mayor, at a full council meeting on Tuesday, would ask councillors to vote on a recommendation that the City compensates him more than $400,000.
The reimbursement relates to defamation action Mr Tate launched against Councillor Peter Young in late 2017 following the ABC program All That Glitters.
The Mayor, if successful, with the request, indicated he would give the money to charity.
But on Friday, councillors were advised he was now seeking only $100.
In an email from the Mayor’s lawyers to all councillors, it was confirmed the request was for $100.
“Mayor Tom Tate has resolved to reduce the request for reimbursement of his legal expenses down to $100,” the email said.
“Mayor Tom Tate wants to ensure that the focus of his request is the importance of a person in the Mayor’s role to take the important and necessary steps to protect the reputation of the city, councillors, senior management and City employees.”
The email has stunned councillors, some who say they are still grappling with the notion of a councillor seeking a retrospective reimbursement.
The debate will be held in closed session on Tuesday but the vote will be in open.
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Mayor Tom Tate is requesting that council reimburse more than $400,000 in legal costs after he launched a defamation case against a fellow councillor.
Councillors were stunned after being sent an email and confidential report late on Wednesday alerting them to a “councillor request for reimbursement of legal costs”.
Their vote at a full council meeting next Tuesday will determine if Mr Tate gets the money — understood to be between $410,000 and $450,000 — but councillors privately say they doubt he will have majority support from his colleagues.
The reimbursement relates to defamation action Mr Tate launched against Councillor Peter Young in late 2017 following the ABC Four Corners program All That Glitters.
In a surprise twist, the Mayor, if successful, will give the money to a charity.
“A key role for any Mayor is to fiercely protect the city’s reputation which is precisely what I did, at significant personal expense, after this story ran in 2017,” he said.
“I confirm that any money council sees fit to reimburse will be donated to local Gold Coast charities.”
The debate at council chambers will be in a closed session, while the vote will take place in an open session.
The only details on public record confirm the matter relates to “legal costs incurred in relation to defamation proceedings instituted by Mayor Tate in December 2017”.
Council sources suggest Mr Tate and Mr Young would be asked to leave the Evandale Chamber due to conflicts of interest.
Deputy Mayor Mark Hammel would chair the session and vote behind closed doors.
“Peter will have to excuse himself. Tom will have to excuse himself. Mark will have to chair it. I don’t know why you (the Mayor) would do this. It’s a gamble,” a City source said.
In documents first lodged in the Federal Court eight years ago by Mr Tate, he accused the ABC and Mr Young of defamation.
Mr Tate alleged in his statement of claim that 10 different defamatory imputations were conveyed by the program.
These included that the ABC and Mr Young implied Mr Tate was “corrupt” in relation to political donations and developers, and had “swindled the members of the Surfers Paradise Bowls Club out of their clubhouse and bowling greens to profit from a $300m development deal”.
Mr Tate claimed the 10 imputations were false and had damaged his reputation.
“(Mr Tate) has been greatly injured in his character, credit and reputation, and has been brought into public hatred, ridicule and contempt, and has suffered and will continue to suffer loss and damage,’’ the documents claimed.
Mr Young later claimed in his documents he believed the information he gave the ABC during his interview was true.
“The matters said by (Mr Young) during the interview were reasonable because they were substantially true and it was in the public interest that they be published,” Mr Young’s defence said.
In November 2019, Mr Tate dropped the defamation case against Mr Young, with both parties agreeing to walk away and cover their own legal costs.
“I recently discovered that ratepayers were funding the defence case for Peter Young as approved by the CEO,” Mr Tate said, at the time.
“Once I discovered that I decided I didn’t want to burden ratepayers any further and discontinued the proceedings. No apology was asked for, I just did it.”
Mr Young said it was not uncommon for council to pay a councillor’s legal fees.
“My legal fees were met by council’s insurance which is the same case for numerous other councillors accused of wrongdoing. As far as I am concerned the matter should never have been commenced,” he said, in a response.
In August 2021, the marathon legal row between Mr Tate and the national broadcaster ended – with the Mayor withdrawing his defamation action.
It’s understood the vast majority of legal costs were incurred during the ABC legal action because proceedings against Mr Young ceased much earlier.
Federal Court documents said the case had been “resolved/finalised” — but resolution details were not made public.
