Mayor of Gold Coast

Tate was born in Vientiane, the capital Laos in 1959. He speaks three languages:

English, Thai and Laotian.
He attended school at Scots College in Sydney where he was a drummer in the school's pipe band.

A civil engineer by trade, Tate graduated from the University of NSW in the early 1980s.He started his career in the construction industry and later moved into the tourism and hospitality industry.

Tom has been married to his wife, Ruth, for 36 years and together they have four children.

Cr Tate worked across the world before joining his father, Warwick Tate's development company at the age of 35.

In 1992, Tate Sr bought the Islander Resort Hotel in Surfers Paradise, where Tate performed a refit of the building.

In 1993, he took over management of the Islander and turned it into one of the city’s most successful resorts. Notably, during the late 1990s Asian economic downturn, he offered hotel rooms for $1.

Warwick Tate, who was also a civil engineer by profession, died on 19 January 2015 after a long illness. His funeral service was held at the Scots College Chapel.

An independent, Tate had two tilts at the mayoralty before his success in 2012, including as an endorsed Liberal candidate in 2008.

His reelection saw a massive increase in his primary vote from 37% in 2012 to 64% in 2016. He is noted for refusing to accept political donations, self-funding his campaigns.

In June 2015, he sold the Islander Hotel Resort in Surfers Paradise to Brisbane nightclub identity Louis Bickle, to avoid suggestions he has a conflict of interest.

Mayor of Sunshine Coast

First elected in May 2012, Mayor of the Sunshine Coast Mark Jamieson is delivering

on his promise to shape a prosperous future for the Sunshine Coast.

Mark Jamieson was elected to create the right conditions for jobs while protecting the region's enviable lifestyle and environment - and that's what he and the Sunshine Coast Council are doing.

Now in his second term as Mayor, Mark Jamieson can list some extensive achievements by Council under his leadership, including:

A clear 20 year blueprint established for a new economy for the Sunshine Coast - which is already delivering results, with the Sunshine Coast recently ranked the second strongest performing regional economy in Queensland.

A new planning scheme for the Sunshine Coast - one which puts the right settings in place to encourage new investment and provide certainty for the community.

Developing the right conditions for investors and business. The Coast's business confidence levels are the highest in the State and major expansions are underway with companies such as Youi and Budget Direct.

Substantial employment growth with unemployment now lower than the Queensland average and youth unemployment nearly 5% lower than November 2014.

A new development scheme delivered for the Maroochydore city centre, providing greater certainty and confidence for investors in the only green field CBD in Australia at this time.

The completion of the Environmental Impact Statement for the expansion of the Sunshine Coast Airport with the international expertise of the Royal Bank of Canada engaged to develop the best model for securing investment in the airport project.

Investing significantly more funding in community organisations, facilities and programs than any other regional council in Queensland - providing a strong social fabric for communities and the well-being of residents.

The purchase of almost 500 hectares of environmentally significant land to add to council's conservation estate for the enjoyment of current and future generations, coupled with growing some of the most successful and extensive environmental programs in Australia.

Mark Jamieson

Mark Ian Jamieson (born 4 May 1984 in Dandenong) is an Australian professional

racing cyclist. He started competing at the age of 10 in 1994, he first represented his country in the World Junior Track Championships in 2001. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

On 15 February 2010 Jamieson appeared before the South Australian District Court on multiple child sex charges and pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl and one count of indecent assault with a girl aged under 16. The charges related to alleged conduct in Adelaide between November 2008 and January 2009. He received a suspended sentence for the offences.

Jamieson received a two-year suspension from cycling as a result of the sentence. The suspension expired on 27 January 2011, and Jamieson returned to competitive cycling at the Melbourne Madison in March of that year. He joined the Jayco 2XU cycling team, and in October competed as part of the team in the Tour of Tasmania, where he posted a strong performance, winning the first day of the six-day event. Later that month he competed in the Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic, which he won by breaking the previous record time set by Paul Curran.

He changed direction in late 2011, pairing with vision-impaired cyclist Bryce Lindores. After Jamieson relocated to the Gold Coast to train, the two went on to compete at the UCI para-cycling road world cup. Although they did not win, their performance was sufficient to qualify for the paralympics, and in June 2012 it was announced that Jamieson would be piloting for Lindores at the 2012 London Paralympics.

Mayor of Adelaide

Martin Haese is the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide in South Australia and he took

over from Stephen Yarwood in 2014. Haese was the founder of the Youthworks fashion chainand general manager of the Rundle Mall Management Authority from 2010 to 2013.

Martin co-founded the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation in SA and has served on a number of boards including the South Australian Youth Arts Board, the Adelaide Convention Bureau, the Property Council’s Mainstreets Committee and Chairman the Bay to Birdwood. Martin was also the national Chair of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors in 2015.

Martin has also worked as a lecturer for MBA students where he has taught entrepreneurship in Adelaide and interstate. He has travelled widely and done business internationally.

Martin believes that technology will provide many of the solutions for today’s problems and opportunities. As Lord Mayor, Martin is focused on enhancing Adelaide’s reputation as a smart innovative city and being a ‘city where good things happen first’.

Martin’s immediate goal is for the City of Adelaide to become an even greater place to live, learn, work, play, visit and invest. The ultimate goal is to become the world’s most livable city. 

Mayor of Perth

Lisa Scaffidi (née Sanders) (born 12 February 1960) is the first female lord mayor of

Perth, Western Australia. Scaffidi won the seat in the October 2007 council elections following the retirement of her predecessor, Peter Nattrass, after a record twelve years in the position.

Scaffidi was educated at Churchlands Primary School and Methodist Ladies' College after which she graduated as a dental therapist from the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). She served as an air hostess with TAA in 1980, worked in the hospitality industry in a marketing capacity and, in the 1990s, helped to promote export of semi-precious stones. She was the WA state director of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) for over ten years.

She served two terms as a councillor before successfully contesting the lord-mayoralty.

In October 2015, the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia found that Mrs Scaffidi had "signally failed in her duties" as Lord Mayor by accepting and failing to declare a $31,000 travel package to the 2008 Beijing Olympics from BHP, and other gifts from private companies that have dealings with the City of Perth. The Commission's report found that Mrs Scaffidi had committed acts of "serious misconduct."

Graham Quirk

Graham Quirk is an Australian politician and the Lord Mayor of the City of Brisbane,

succeeding former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman when Newman became the Premier of Queensland. Quirk has served as councillor for the ward of MacGregor in Brisbane. Quirk, formerly a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP).

Quirk, an alumnus of St James College, entered Brisbane City Council when elected as Councillor for Rochedale Ward in 1985, aged 27. After three years he was appointed the city's Finance Chairman under Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson and was later appointed Works Chairman. He then served as Opposition Spokesman on Development and Planning, Opposition Spokesman on Finance and Opposition Spokesman on Transport and Traffic

Mayor of Brisbane

He served as Deputy Opposition Leader and was Opposition Leader at the time of

Campbell Newman's election as Lord Mayor in 2004. Quirk was elected as Deputy Liberal Leader to Campbell Newman and was appointed to the role of Chairman of Transport and Major Projects (later known as Roads, TransApex and Traffic). In this role he administered one-third of the Council's total budget expenditure for the implementation of TransApex, the road network and traffic management.[citation needed]

In 2008 the LNP gained a majority of councillors and Quirk took on the roles of Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee. Following Newman's departure from Lord Mayorship to enter state politics, Quirk was appointed the new Lord Mayor of Brisbane City.

On 28 April 2012, Quirk won a four-year term as Mayor in his own right at the Brisbane City Council elections.

Robert Doyle

Robert Keith Bennett Doyle (born 20 May 1953) is an Australian politician and the

103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008. He was previously Member for Malvern in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria from 1992 to 2006 and Leader of the Victorian Opposition from 2002 to 2006, representing the Liberal Party of Australia.

Many of Doyle's policies have been around 'activating' Melbourne as a night time city in conjunction with the Andrews' Government introduction of 24-hour public transport on weekends, extending hours of hospitality operation and continued support of 24-hour arts festivals. 

Some of Doyle's policies as Lord Mayor to make the CBD safer and more family friendly have caused mild controversy. Doyle made an election promise to return private vehicle traffic to Swanston Street, Melbourne, which had for several decades been open to limited but mostly pedestrian traffic. The move attracted opposition from the Public Transport Users Association, Australian Greens and Bicycle Victoria. He also raised the idea of a theme park to attract children to the CBD. Doyle was also quick to vow to rid the Melbourne city centre of "bogans" and "untalented" buskers. Doyle has also openly criticized the state government's handling of Melbourne Docklands, claiming that it lacks 'social glue' and character and wanting more control over the precinct's planning expressing the desire to see more open space in the form of a large park and also Venice style canals.

In September 2010, when asked on radio about a move by suburban councils to ban smoking in some outdoor areas due to the risks of passive smoking, he said "I don't know of a case of cancer that has been caused by passive smoking."