Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate's spiritual adviser told a religious service in November that a "demonic stronghold" had been established at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) and that a "spiritual battle" had begun.
Sue Baynes, who was hired as the city's pastoral adviser last month, has spoken publicly about her close relationship with Mr Tate — who was elected Mayor in 2012 — on multiple podcasts and in speeches, describing herself as his spiritual adviser.
She has also publicly stated her support and advocacy for the Seven Mountains Mandate.
The Seven Mountains Mandate is a dominionist Christian movement from the United States that aims to assert influence over seven public spheres — family, education, government, media, arts or entertainment, church and business.
"The principal point of that is that we need to have people of kingdom influence positioned well in all of those areas," Ms Baynes said in a 2019 podcast.
"So that we start to think kingdom ways and bring kingdom mentality, values, principles, lifestyle, into those areas, so that good decisions are made based on biblical principles and not based on humanism or other ungodly ways."
Views personal, Mayor says
The mandate opposes same-sex marriage and has advocated for the inclusion of biblical values in public institutions such as schools and universities.
In a speech to the 2020 Coalition of Apostolic Leaders that was posted online, Ms Baynes said she was "looking at how we position kingdom people in influence in all of those sectors across our city to change it with sustained societal transformation".
In a video posted online in July 2019, Ms Baynes said Mr Tate expressed support for a template to create a "kingdom of God" on the Gold Coast.
Ms Baynes also baptised Mr Tate at Evandale Lake in 2018.
Mr Tate declined to be interviewed but said in a statement that his "personal views are just that — personal" when he was asked whether he supported the Seven Mountains Mandate.
"Similar to the views a journalist may have on a subject, the journalist must ensure their views do not influence their reporting," he said.
"I apply the same values and principles to my role as Mayor.
"That is, to keep my personal views private and to make decisions in the best interest of the majority of residents."
A council spokesperson said as a rule council employees like Ms Baynes did not do interviews.
HOTA and 'spiritual warfare'
In a recording of a religious service in November which Mr Tate spoke at, Ms Baynes said HOTA had become "increasingly resistant" to holding the Easter United event at its amphitheatre in 2019.
Ms Baynes said she read on Google that the area around HOTA had been the "original gateway to Surfers Paradise", making it "a place of control".
"Those of you who know about spiritual warfare understand about gateways," Ms Baynes said.
"I knew from that moment the enemy had a stronghold on that land and had been controlling the traffic flow, if you like, in the spirit to and forwards from Surfers Paradise and that's where it was sitting.
"No wonder they didn't want Easter United again at that place.
Ms Baynes said that in a meeting with Mr Tate about the event, she told him there was "a demonic stronghold at HOTA and we need to pray about that and we need to shift it".
"He said, 'We're building a new bridge to Surfers Paradise, to Chevron Island, and it's actually going to be built from HOTA and go over the river'," she said.
Ms Baynes said she had blessed the HOTA Green Bridge at its opening in February 2020.
A HOTA spokesperson said the precinct "welcomes people of all beliefs and values".
"We are proud of the diversity of our programs and visitors, and we will continue to be a gathering place for all of our community to connect, celebrate and enjoy."
All employees hold views, Mayor says
Mr Tate said the council had about 3,700 employees and that "every one of these employees would hold a view on certain aspects of society".
"Thousands of council employees have their own social media platforms and I expect many of these employees publicly express their views on subjects like elections, fuel prices, religion, racism and discrimination," he said in a statement.
"The same rule applies to the position of councillor adviser."
Mr Tate said council policy made it clear "that a person’s personal views must not impact their employment".
"The councillor adviser position is to assist to improve the interface between community groups working in areas such as homelessness and addiction with my office," he said.
"It is on a casual basis, backfilling a current vacancy and is engaged at a mid-tier administration level."
'It's time to tread'
Ms Baynes said at the November event that the Mayor told her the city was "being awakened to God".
"I heard the Lord say to me in preparation for this, 'It's time to tread'," she said.
"Tread is actually a military term — tread means to bend the bow, it means to get out your spiritual weapons.
"I believe that God is saying it's time for the church to do some treading, it's time for us to start claiming some things that are rightfully ours.
"We have to bend our bow, we have to get out our spiritual weapons and we have to be deliberate about what God has given us to do."
Ms Baynes said she and others "did some treading at HOTA and around the Gold Coast City Council" and that it was "still happening today".
"So a spiritual battle began," she said.
'Take some territory'
Ms Baynes said "we started to displace the powers of darkness" with the "treading".
The Mayor's Christian prayer breakfast was held at HOTA in October.
"Can you see how God is working?" she said. "Three years earlier, [HOTA] wouldn't have a bar of us.
"Few years down the track, we've done some treading, we've done some declaring, we've used our faith, we've done some claiming.
"Now, you can't tell me that God doesn't want us to do some treading in this city, that He doesn't want us to take some territory in this city."
Mr Tate said throughout his private life and in his role as Mayor he had taken "advice off a wide range of people, organisations and groups".
"I always have," he said. "Taking advice from many quarters assists me in forming a view that I believe represents the majority of residents.
