Mayor of the Gold Coast

The Mayor of the City of the Gold Coast is presiding officer and public face of the Gold Coast City Council, the local government body of the Gold Coast, Queensland. The current Mayor is Tom Tate.

The mayor is charged with representing the city council and is popularly elected by residents of the City of Gold Coast local government area in local elections held every 4 years. The mayor presides over all council meetings; is the only councillor to not represent a specific Gold Coast electoral district; and is the foremost representative of the Gold Coast City Council and its policies.

The Gold Coast City Council reportedly maintains a budget of an estimated $1.2 billion annually, among the highest of municipal governments in Australia. The mayor's office is located in the Southport Town Hall building in Southport, Queensland.

Under the Local Government Act 2009 (Qld), Chapter 2, Part 1, the mayor of any city in Queensland, including the Gold Coast and except for Brisbane, has the following responsibilities in addition to their duty as a councillor:

The Act further stipulates that "a councillor who is not the mayor may perform the mayor's extra responsibilities only if the mayor delegates the responsibility to the councillor," while also stating that "when performing a responsibility, a councillor must serve the overall public interest of the whole local government area."

The former mayor Cr. Ron Clarke resigned as mayor on 27 February 2012, after announcing his nomination as an independent candidate for the seat of Broadwater in the 2012 Queensland state election. Clarke's bid for the State seat of Broadwater failed, securing only 4% of the vote. Clarke was originally elected as an independent in 2004 and re-elected in 2008.Ron Clarke was preceded by Gary Baildon (1997-2004) and Ray Stevens (1995-1997) who was the first post-amalgamation Mayor of City of Gold Coast.