Editing Gold Coast, Queensland (section)

==Government==
{{Main|City of Gold Coast|Government of Queensland}}

Administratively, the Gold Coast is a local government area called the [[City of Gold Coast]]. The City of Gold Coast Council has 14 elected councillors, each representing a division of the city. Businessman Tom Tate is the current [[Mayor of the Gold Coast]], first elected in 2012. Former mayors include [[Ron Clarke|Ron Clake]], Gary Baildon, [[Lex Bell]], [[Ray Stevens (politician)|Ray Stevens]], Ern Harley and [[Bruce Small|Sir Bruce Small]], who was responsible for the development of many of the canal estates that are now home to thousands of Gold Coast residents.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

At the state level, the Gold Coast area is represented by eleven members in the [[Legislative Assembly of Queensland]]. The seats they hold are: [[Electoral district of Bonney|Bonney]], [[Electoral district of Broadwater|Broadwater]], [[Electoral district of Burleigh|Burleigh]], [[Electoral district of Coomera|Coomera]], [[Electoral district of Currumbin|Currumbin]], [[Electoral district of Gaven|Gaven]], [[Electoral district of Mermaid Beach|Mermaid Beach]], [[Electoral district of Mudgeeraba|Mudgeeraba]], [[Electoral district of Southport|Southport]], [[Electoral district of Surfers Paradise|Surfers Paradise]] and [[Electoral district of Theodore|Theodore]]. Federally, the Gold Coast area is split between five divisions in the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]: [[Division of Fadden|Fadden]] (northern), [[Division of Moncrieff|Moncrieff]] (central) and [[Division of McPherson|McPherson]] (southern) are located entirely within the Gold Coast, while [[Division of Forde|Forde]] (north-west) and [[Division of Wright|Wright]] (south-west) encompass parts of the Gold Coast and other areas of Southeast Queensland.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
[[File:Southport Courthouse.jpg|thumb|[[Southport Courthouse]]]]
Politically, the Gold Coast has often tilted conservative.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/02/02/4172349.htm|title=Queensland election 2015: LNP retains hold on Gold Coast|work=ABC News|access-date=2 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205190923/http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/02/02/4172349.htm|archive-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> It was a [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]] bastion for most of the first three decades after World War II, but increasing urbanisation has made it a [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]] stronghold. [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] has historically only done well around Labrador and Coolangatta. Only one Labor MP has ever represented a significant portion of the Gold Coast at the federal level since 1949; the three Gold Coast divisions have only returned Liberals since 1984. At the state level, Labor was fairly competitive in the Gold Coast for most of the early part of the 21st century. However, as part of its massive landslide in the [[2012 Queensland state election|2012 state election]], the [[Liberal National Party of Queensland|Liberal National Party]] won every seat there. The LNP repeated its sweep of the Gold Coast seats at the [[2015 Queensland state election|2015 election]], and retained all but one Gold Coast seat at the [[2017 Queensland state election|2017 state election]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

[[Southport Courthouse]] is the city's major courthouse and has jurisdiction to hear petty criminal offences and civil matters up to A$250,000. Indictable offences, criminal sentencing and civil matters above A$250,000 are heard in the higher [[Supreme Court of Queensland]] which is located in Brisbane. There is also a subsidiary Magistrates Court, located at the southern suburb of [[Coolangatta, Queensland|Coolangatta]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In 2013 a brawl between members of [[Outlaw motorcycle gangs in Australia|Outlaw motorcycle gangs]] also called "bikies" who fought each other outside a [[Broadbeach]] restaurant caused mass fear to restaurant patrons and police.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/broadbeach-bikie-brawl-restaurant-patrons-started-screaming/6444926|title=Restaurant patrons started screaming, running away when brawl started, court told|last=Stevenson|first=Ashleigh|date=5 May 2015|website=ABC News|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-08-04|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818061703/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/broadbeach-bikie-brawl-restaurant-patrons-started-screaming/6444926|url-status=live}}</ref> This led to the toughest anti-bikie laws introduced in Australia known as [[Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}