What stays in Vegas: Gold Coast mayor’s absence as Cyclone Alfred nears

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate is on holidays in the US as the city he leads is about to be hit by Cyclone Alfred.

Ruth and Tom Tate in Las Vegas for the NRL.

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Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate is on holidays in the US as the city he leads is about to be hit by Cyclone Alfred.

The four-term mayor attended the NRL season opener in Las Vegas over the weekend, where he was a guest of Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys.

Mr Tate remained overseas even after the Bureau of Meteorology began warning of the potential threat that Cyclone Alfred would hit southern Queensland on February 25, four days before the first game in Las Vegas.

But Mr Tate stayed in Las Vegas and was photographed with his wife, Ruth, on Friday.

A spokesman for Mr Tate on Friday said the mayor was now in Los Angeles, saying he had been trying to return to Australia.

“He has been on holidays and in Las Vegas,’’ the spokesman said.

“He has tried to get home; one of the flights he booked was cancelled and another flight has been delayed three times.”

The spokesman said Mr Tate was hoping to be back in Australia over the weekend..

His deputy, Donna Gates, has been leading the city’s preparation for the cyclone and fronting news conferences every day. This week, she warned that the city was facing its worst disaster in 70 years.

Last week, Mr Tate boasted to travelling Australian sports media in Las Vegas that he was planning to lobby football officials for the Gold Coast to host the prized NRL Magic Round when Brisbane’s rights for the event expire in 2027.

“I was invited here by Peter (V’landys) and I’ll be one-on-one with him to see if we can do a Magic Round on the Gold Coast,” he said. “I’ll be reminding him that during Covid, we had most of the rugby league (NRL) teams based and playing on the Gold Coast when you couldn’t do it in the southern states.”