Fourteen years, one mayor and a very expensive detour to end a political career.
When Tom Tate swept into Gold Coast City Hall in 2012, the script looked straightforward enough: businessman becomes mayor, promises fiscal discipline and sets about restraining rates and expenditure.
What followed was a bewildering story of plot twists laden with allegations and of misconduct worthy of a Hollywood script.
This week, we have witnessed the Tate's political journey that has travelled through booming development, light rail hambles, $1.2 billion council debt, repeated misconduct controversies and findings, international travel and an increasingly flamboyant public persona.
An, inevitably a low born Lao road to the leader of the free world, POTUS (president of the US).
Welcome to the Road to Mar-a-Lago, from dirt poor beginnings to rate-cutter to tomahawk-steak cutter, from obscurity to the House of Trump, Tate cultivated the image of the businessman-mayor dealmaker, salesman and relentless promoter of the Gold Coast.
But by 2026 the mayor's international ambitions had acquired an extraordinary new destination: Mar-a-Lago.
Tate travelled to Florida as a proposed $1.5 billion Trump-branded tower was being pursued for Surfers Paradise.
It had everything required for the ultimate Gold Coast blockbuster that included billionaires, beachfront real estate, a 340-metre skyscraper, Donald Trump, expensive travel and accommodation and, according to Tate's subsequent account, tomahawk steaks and drinks with the Don.
Tomahawk Tom's excellent adventure
After returning home, Tate was asked on radio whether he had dined with President Trump.
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, with his typical grace.
He then talked about Trump's son Eric and his wife Lara Trump, boasting about drinking “expensive wine, with the President”, as well as ordering “a couple of tomahawks[steaks]” He also boasted about having conversations with the President and his First Lady, Melania Trump.
For a Mayor who had spent years promoting the Gold Coast internationally, but on rather a smaller stage, it was a tall order for some to swallow. And more so as the public became apprised of some awkward details challenging his claims.
Such as: red wine with the President?
But... Trump is a lifelong teetotaller.
Maybe he misspoke? But no, the road was only to become bumpier — when at a press conference on Tuesday, Tate's comments drove the affair right off the road.
Questions began to emerge after RTI requests were denied by Tate’s office about who had actually paid for what as this apparently official Gold Coast Mayor dinner with the U.S. President.
Tate initially maintained that Gold Coast ratepayers had not paid for his Mar-a-Lago visit. His Mayoral register of interests initially recorded accommodation, meals and transfers as hospitality provided by Trump Organization.
That was subsequently amended in the Register.
Under sustained scrutiny and questions from the press, Tate's finally stated he had always intended to pay personally, that an invoice subsequently arrived and that he paid it.
But council records obtained through RTI showed ratepayers had paid almost $33,000 for the broader international flights covering Australia, Italy, Dubai, Florida, Los Angeles and home.
Suddenly Tom Tate's Excellent Adventure had acquired a rather significant subplot.
Who paid the toll for Mar-a-Lago: The Mayor, the millions or the missing guest?
To top it off, then came the explosive revelation.
The proposed Trump Tower collapsed.
The spectacular development that had provided the business backdrop to Tate's Mar-a-Lago appearance was scrapped in a spectacular revelation.
And months later came an even bigger problem.
The White House vehementlty repudiated Tate's claim of dining with the President, saying in an official statement [IA emphasis]:
'The President and the First Lady did not have dinner with that group.'
Another account supplied to the ABC placed Trump briefly approaching Tate's group before dining elsewhere.
The Trump Organization subsequently disputed Tate's version as well.
Tate stood by his recollection, albeit shakily.
Long time associate and real-estate gate keeper for the Tate fortune, China-expert Roland Evans also attended the big ticket event, dutifully corroborating The Mayor's account.
And thus began perhaps the strangest chapters of Tate's mayoralty.
From obscurity to the President's other table
Somewhere inside Mar-a-Lago are two irreconcilable versions of one evening.
Tate says he remembers Trump being part of the dinner encounter.
The White House says the President and First Lady did not dine with Tate's group.
The Trump Organization disputes Tate's account.
Evans backs Tate.
And somewhere between the competing recollections sit those famous tomahawk steaks and red wine.
It became the Dinner That Became a Dog's Breakfast.
Tate's long and winding road to Trump's table — or not?
What might otherwise have remained an amusing argument over dinner became more serious because the disagreement sat alongside questions concerning official travel, hospitality declarations, subsequent amendments and documentation.
- What did Tate personally pay?
- What did ratepayers pay?
- What hospitality was originally offered?
- When was the invoice issued?
- Why was the register amended?
- And precisely what happened at Mar-a-Lago?
These are questions capable of being answered by records rather than political theatre.
Then came the Florida face-plant.
On September 15 2026 when asked by media about receipts Tate looking drawn and clearly overwhelmed went from fight to flight – standing with closed fists he snapped in arguably his most famous and spectacular face-plant.
Pressed by an ABC journalist over the disputed Trump dinner and the cost of the trip, Tate's composure cracked. He asked whether the reporter was from the ABC, stormed away and fired back:“Fuck off … I've had enough of that.”
The mayor later apologised (after a fashion).
And that is where Road to Mar-a-Lago should end — not with a punchline, but with the receipts:
- Who paid for what?
- What hospitality was provided?
- When was it invoiced?
- Why were declarations amended?
Questions of who did what and when with whom pale next to transparency and the public right to know where public funds are being used and how.
The receipts establish the truth. As always, follow the money.
Tate will now always be remembered for his Mar-qa-lago face plant.
The quiter story that will remain until all the records are released for scrutiny are the allegations of misconduct or corrupt conduct.
And if the available information gives the council CEO a reasonable suspicion that corrupt conduct may be involved, Queensland law imposes a statutory obligation under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (s38) to notify the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).
After the tomahawks, Trump Tower and tantrum, the appropriate destination for unresolved allegations is no longer Mar-a-Lago.
It is independent scrutiny.
You can follow Darren on Twitter @Darrencanplay.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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