Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate reveals his political future ahead of 2024 council election
Tom Tate has revealed his future amid discontent among his colleagues and growing speculation of challenges from multiple councillors. INSIDE STORY
Council Election
Don't miss out on the headlines from Council Election. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TOM Tate has moved to end speculation about his future, confirming he’s fit and ready to contest the March 2024 election.
Despite discontent among his colleagues and growing speculation of challenges from multiple councillors, Cr Tate is standing firm that he’s the right man to navigate the Gold Coast towards co-hosting the 2032 Olympics.
While laying out his agenda for the final year of his third term, the mayor vowed to be on the ballot in 2024.
“I am 100 per cent committed to contesting the March 2024 election,” he said.
“Gold Coasters know my record, we went through Covid together and I am well-known for keeping budgets low.”
“I am blessed with good health and I am benching 120kg regularly, not many politicians can do that. “I’m in my prime and my slogan will be experience and reliability”.
Cr Tate, who was first elected in 2012, is already the Gold Coast’s longest-serving Mayor.
No other candidates have declared their intention to run, though there has been speculation around councillors Hermann Vorster and Cameron Caldwell.
Deputy Mayor Donna Gates, Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek and business leader Rebecca Frizelle have also been mooted as possible candidates but have ruled out running against Cr Tate at the election.
However, the mayor’s reign has come under sustained criticism from colleagues and community groups in the past year over the Gold Coast missing out on funding from the federal government’s $1bn City Deal and the lack of a seat on the Olympic Games organising committee after the council quit the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors.
He drew fire again last week from colleagues after going on a mayoral mission in Vietnam with real estate agent business associate Roland Evans while he was on holidays.
The Bulletin last week revealed the trip had stunned some councillors with sources saying many are “furious” after only learning of the December trip via a mayoral minute in a council meeting agenda.
Cr Tate defended the visit, saying it was self-funded and aimed at the Coast becoming the first city to benefit from trade opportunities with Vietnam post-Covid.
With 13 months to go until the next election, Cr Tate said he had an ambitious agenda of key issues he wanted to deal with before voters go to the polls.
They included dealing with finding housing for the city’s growing population, resolving outstanding City Plan amendments with the state government, clamping down on cost-of-living pressures and locking in both light rail Stage 4 and the next stage of HOTA.
“Dear to all of our hearts is light rail and we want to see the consultation completed with the aim of getting the tender process ready and signed off so that construction can continue to the border in 2025,” he said.
“As for HOTA, I’ll be asking for an advocacy package to be presented to the state government in the first half of the year (for potential funding) because right now we have less theatre seats per capita than Brisbane, so they should come with us to help complete the precinct and help turn us into an arts and culture destination.
“The big challenges for 2023 are growing population which will cross 700,000 people this year and we need to have planned growth and we can to this by sorting out the City Plan.
“We also need to develop a plan for housing supply and we can look into zoning more land at Upper Coomera for low-cost blocks.”
More Coverage
Investigation into major fraud, GC council suffers $2.7m hit
Investigations are underway into a multi-million dollar fraud that has rocked Gold Coast City Council. Find out the details.
‘They hated me last week’: New councillor on divided city
Forget the light rail or Oceanway, the biggest priority for the Gold Coast’s new and returning councillors is to build bridges after a bruising local election.