Monday 2 November 2026An invoice for a three-day stay at Mar-a-Lago is held privately by the mayor, and council says it has no copy.
Featured image: Photo by Donaldytong (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of the Surfers Paradise skyline on the Gold Coast.
Key facts
- Mayor Tom Tate stayed three days at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in February.
- Council says it has no copy of the accommodation invoice in its systems, emails or physical records.
- The mayor said the invoice is private and belongs to him, not to council.
- Ratepayers paid the airfares, and council says Mr Tate personally paid more than $13,000 to upgrade the flights.
- Mr Tate has not said how much the accommodation cost.
The trip and the invoice
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate stayed for three days at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort owned by the Trump Organization, in February. He initially declared the accommodation as a gift from the Trump Organization, then said he had paid for it himself. Mr Tate has said he always intended to pay and that the invoice was not received promptly.
The ABC reported that the City of Gold Coast twice rejected right-to-information requests for the invoice. A council officer said no copy exists in council systems, emails or physical records, and that council has no present legal right or practical ability to require a privately held copy.
The mayor’s position
At a press conference on Monday, Mr Tate described the invoice as private, saying it belongs to him rather than to council. His office told the ABC the mayor brought a paper copy into the office once and kept it, and that no staff member copied or saved it. His office also said it had met all right-to-information requirements.
Mr Tate has declined to say how much the accommodation cost, saying he did not receive a friend’s rate. He has said he was invited by the Trump Organization rather than by a property developer, and his office said the invitation was verbal.
Flights and wider context
Ratepayers paid the airfares for the Florida trip, and council says Mr Tate personally paid more than $13,000 to upgrade his flights. The trip came while a developer’s proposal for a $1.5 billion tower at Surfers Paradise was before the city, a project that has since been shelved.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore told the ABC that some record of the invoice should have been kept.
What happens next
The reports describe no further formal step. Council says it cannot compel the production of a privately held document, and the mayor has said he will not hand it over.
More from this day: News Today: 2 November 2026, Australia and World Headlines
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