Gold Coast council election: Mayor Tom Tate’s clean sweep of council divisions

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate handily won all of the council’s 14 seats at the March 28 election - with his lowest backing still above 50 per cent in southern divisions.

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate handily won all of the council’s 14 seats at the March 28 election - with his lowest backing still above 50 per cent in southern divisions.

Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) data shows voters were solidly behind the incumbent at the poll which he won with 55.73 per cent of the primary vote, receiving 151,579 votes and 66.93 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.

Mayor Tom Tate says he is humbled by the support of voters. Picture: Glenn Hampson

According to a breakdown of the two-party preferred vote across the city, Cr Tate performed best in the city’s four most northern divisions, where he scored more than 70 per cent of the primary vote in each.

Between Divisions 5 and 12 he received between 65 per cent and 69 per cent of the vote.

His weakest performance was in the two most-southern council seats – Division 13 and Division 14 which take in the development hotspot of Palm Beach.

There he received 59 per cent and 57 per cent respectively.

Mayoral candidate Mona Hecke. (Photos/Steve Holland)

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Failed mayoral candidate Mona Hecke’s strongest performance was in these seats, where she received 40.34 per cent and 42.93 per cent respectively

Cr Tate said he was humbled by the support of voters.

“It underlines what I have been working on for the past five years is what the majority of people want and appreciate,” he said.

“The people are the ultimate judges and I am humbled to have been returned for a third term by the people of the Gold Coast.

Cr Tate was critical of the ECQ’S handling of the election, which took more than two weeks for counting to reveal the winners of some seats.