{"id":521265,"date":"2026-03-05T23:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521265\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:26:11","slug":"gold-coast-mayor-tom-tate-says-ratepayers-did-not-fund-trump-family-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521265\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate says ratepayers did not fund Trump family visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gold Coast mayor has revealed he was a guest of the Trump Organisation at the luxurious Mar-a-lago estate, before an Australian developer signed a deal to build a Trump-branded tower at Surfers Paradise.<\/p>\n

Tom Tate met US President Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump on the Valentine’s Day weekend in Florida, as part of a broader month-long overseas trip to Italy, the UAE and the USA.<\/p>\n

Cr Tate told ABC News that ratepayers did not fund his Mar-a-lago visit.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Tom Tate visted Mar-a-Lago between February 12 and 14 this year.\u00a0 (AP Photo: Steve Helber)<\/p>\n

“Some part of the trip I pay and some other parts was an invitation as mayor of the city to be there, by the Trump Organisation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I was there as mayor of the city; that’s a gift to the city, not to me.<\/p>\n

“I’m pretty sure Tom Tate wouldn’t have gotten an invite, mayor of the Gold Coast got an invite.”<\/p>\n

His office said he arrived at Mar-a-lago on Thursday, February 12, and departed on Saturday, February 14, and that “all hospitality received during the mayoral mission will be reported in accordance with legislative requirements”.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom Tate says ratepayers did not fund his Mar-a-lago visit. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n

State legislation requires councillors to declare, within 30 days, gifts of $500 or more, along with any sponsored travel or accommodation benefits.<\/p>\n

How did the meeting come about?<\/p>\n

Cr Tate said he first wrote a letter to the US president to congratulate him on his election last year, and to express concerns about US tariffs on the film and screen industry.<\/p>\n

Then came the prospect of business opportunities for the Trump Organisation.<\/p>\n

“They wanted to invest first in Australia, and of course Queensland is the go-to part of Australia,” Cr Tate said.<\/p>\n

“The Gold Coast, if you analyse the data, it’s one of the best investments when it comes to property.”<\/p>\n

It turned into an invitation to dinner, just before the signing of a $1.5 billion deal between Australian property developer Altus CEO David Young and the Trump Organisation’s executive vice president Eric Trump.<\/p>\n

\"Altus<\/p>\n

Australian developer David Young with Eric Trump. (Supplied: Altus Property Group)<\/p>\n

“The Gold Coast got a guernsey to meet the leader of the free world,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He [Donald Trump] was well briefed; he knew who I was.<\/p>\n

“He came up and called me Mr Mayor and I said, ‘just call me Tom’.<\/p>\n

“We were drinking expensive wine and a couple of tomahawks there, and I thought I’ll just go slow at pulling out my wallet, and they beat me to it,” he told radio station Triple-M last week.<\/p>\n

Cr Tate told ABC News he was not asked for any assurances that he or the council would approve the Trump Tower building application when it is lodged.<\/p>\n

“They’re professional,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They know that councillors have to have an open mind.”<\/p>\n

The proposal for a six-star 91-storey resort hotel and luxury apartments<\/a> has already stirred controversy, with tens of thousands signing online petitions opposing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“From what I see, it fits the character of Surfers Paradise,” Cr Tate said.<\/p>\n

“They’re going for top of the range. I think they’ll spend the extra dollars to overcome any concerns we may have.”<\/p>\n

The ABC has revealed that the developer, David Young, has previously gone bankrupt twice.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cr Tate said that does not worry him, as the “team” around Mr Young has the capability to do the project.<\/p>\n

\"vacant<\/p>\n

The Surfers Paradise site for the proposed Trump Tower has passed through several owners.\u00a0 (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)<\/p>\n

The address of the proposed high-rise is at Trickett Street, on a lot that has been vacant for more than a decade, passing through several owners.<\/p>\n

The site has existing approval for an 89-storey high-rise.<\/p>\n

The Trump Organisation is hoping to turn the first sod in August, if the project is given the green light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Gold Coast mayor has revealed he was a guest of the Trump Organisation at the luxurious Mar-a-lago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,2490,2485,152982,260009,201866,72772,35147,86535],"class_list":["post-521265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-mayor","tag-gold-coast-trump-tower","tag-mar-a-lago","tag-tom-tate","tag-trip","tag-trump-tower"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}