Deputy Mayor Donna Gates reveals how she went from secretary to leading the Gold Coast
HOW did Donna Gates go from being a personal assistant to deputy mayor? She tells how she overcame everything from a heart attack to a challenge from a seasoned politician to lead the city which has captured her soul
Council
Don't miss out on the headlines from Council. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT was 1964 and, unable to contain herself any longer, eight-year-old Donna Austin bounded on to the stage with the Maori Hakas and began dancing her heart out to the go-go.
So enamoured was the group with the pint-sized Melbourne tourist that they asked her to join them again that night.
“From there they invited me to dance in a cage with them at the Chevron Hotel,” Donna says.
“And my parents actually let me go.”
It was the first time Donna had set foot on the glitter strip and it set the precedent for near annual trips with her older sister Leanne and parents Ken and Jo.
Donna grew up in the North Melbourne suburb of Strathmore.
Her family were well off, having owned the company EA Austin Engineering since 1904, which manufactured munitions for both World Wars.
Despite their privileged upbringing, the Austins were determined neither of their girls would be allowed to sit idle.
When Donna turned 17 and finished high school she considered attending university. Her parents weren’t about to let her spend the summer lollygagging, so it was time to find a temporary job.
Donna had her heart set on working with the Women’s Weekly World Discovery Tour which, as the name suggests, would see her jetting across the globe to facilitate content for the magazine.
As a back up she also applied to be secretary to the station manager at 3UZ.
When she didn’t get a response from the magazine, Donna dutifully took the radio station position.
“I remember my parents were real sticklers for doing the right thing,” Donna says.
“So when I heard back two days later to say I actually did get the job at Women’s Weekly they wouldn’t let me take it because I’d already made the commitment to the station.”
Donna chose to study her Bachelor of Business at night, spending the next 11 years at 3UZ where she worked her way up to publicity and promotions manager.
She was enamoured by the stars she got to meet: Bert Newton, Don Lane, Tony Barber and many more.
It didn’t hurt that she was also quite taken with the man who would become her husband, Bill Gates, who also worked at the station.
The pair married and decided they wanted a change and so bought a motel on the river thinking they would have time to water ski in between managing the rooms.
Instead, Donna became pregnant. When she went into premature labour with her son Matt, now 32, a drama that was literally heart-stopping ensued.
“In those days when they suspected you would have a premature birth they gave you a high dose of Ventolin — a medicine meant to help quickly develop the baby’s lungs,” Donna says.
“I had a heart attack when he was born and that’s why I never was able to have another child.
“That photo of Bill cuddling Matt as a newborn is one of my favourites. I wasn’t able to hold him.
“Sorry, talking about that still hurts.”
And so with her heart heavy from the grief of not being able to expand her family, Donna and Bill moved to the Gold Coast in 1988 when Matt was three years old.
But like so many before them, after a couple of months on the Gold Coast the Gates family soon had sand and saltwater in their blood.
By this stage Bill was bona fide radio royalty, with his achievements including discovering and even naming the Bee Gees — a nickname he coined for the band as a young DJ given both he and Barry Gibbs boasted BG initials.
He pioneered the electronic music playing system used in stations across the country and the Gold Coast was as reluctant to lose him as the Gates were to leave.
Donna set about looking for work in a city where she had a childhood full of memories, but no employment contacts.
“We were only supposed to stay for three months while Bill established the first FM radio station on the Gold Coast for the ABC,” Donna says.
“It was a pretty lonely time for me so I got myself off my rump and I went to work.”
Figuring waitressing couldn’t be too difficult, Donna marched in to Margarita’s, now known as 150 Public House, and asked for a job.
“I had a pretty good suntan after being here for a month,” Donna says.
“He asked me about my experience in waitressing, which was zero. At the end of the interview he told me to go back to my lilo.”
Donna did end up as a waitress in the end, doing a short stint at the University Park Hotel, which later became Bond University student quarters, where she also helped organise conferences and meetings.
She eventually found her groove working at an architectural practice doing the wages, pre-tax accounting and answering phones while Matt was at school.
After six years Donna was looking for a new challenge and so she accepted a relief role working as a support staffer for Gold Coast City Council.
She was soon offered a permanent position and acted as a personal assistant to Councillors Jan Grew and David Power.
After 12 years as a Council employee, Donna has served as a Councillor for an additional 10 including the last five as deputy mayor.
In that time she’s cemented her own name in the city’s history and social scene.
Donna’s son Matt married prominent local Ray White realtor Andrew Bell’s daughter Chelsea in March, further embedding the Gates name in the annals of Gold Coast record.
While she no longer dances to go-go, Donna is still the life of the party.
“I do have a party song. It’s New York New York,” Donna says.
“Bill says if I sing it one more time he’s going to divorce me.”
While she’s been responsible for some big projects, most recently for a planned $56 million sports precinct in Pimpama nestled in her area of Division 1, it’s the little guys that still hold a place in Donna’s heart.
“There was a man who got a fine for having a dog roaming,” Donna says.
“There were extenuating circumstances and he couldn’t afford to pay, so we sorted it out.
“He didn’t have two bob to rub together but he came in with a box of Roses chocolates for me.”
It should come as no surprise that someone who previously worked her way from station secretary to heading the publicity and promotions for one of Melbourne’s hottest radio networks had a similar rise in fortune within Gold Coast City Council.
But it almost never came to be.
When David Power resigned from Council in late 2007 there wasn’t time to hold a by-election and so, as allowed under legislation, the other sitting members voted on who would join them.
Donna, his secretary who knew the ropes, was encouraged to put her hand up and at the last minute it was contested by former mayor Gary Baildon.
“I thought I had no chance,” Donna says.
“I was later told the vote was eight to six. If only one person had changed their mind the mayor Ron Clarke, would have had the casting vote and I knew I didn’t have his support.
“It just shows you doesn’t it how life can change in a heartbeat.”
‘Inflammatory’ report’s dire warning for Coast’s beaches
Up to half of the Gold Coast beaches each year are in danger of losing all the sand due to storms and longer term impact of global warming, a new report warns.
Fresh details revealed about cableway plans
Mayor Tom Tate has revealed fresh details of plans for a cableway to the hinterland, saying he hoped tourists would soon be able to catch a ride to the top of Mt Tamborine. Here’s what we know so far.