Mayor Tom Tate's spiritual adviser once told followers at a religious function that he supported a template to transform the Gold Coast "to look like the Kingdom of God".
In the 35-minute video posted on YouTube in July 2019, Sue Baynes, who was hired as city pastoral advisor last month, said she was passionate about the Seven Mountain Mandate and "how we could bring that to our city and to our nation".
The Seven Mountain Mandate is a dominionist Christian movement that originated in the United States.
A 2013 publication outlining its belief system asserts that followers should seek to gain authority or influence in seven spheres of public life, including government.
"What I believe we need is more Christian thinking in government, more Christian mindsets in government, much more of a biblical worldview in government," Ms Baynes said in the video.
'Under the radar'
Ms Baynes said she met with Mr Tate after hearing about the Seven Mountains Mandate in 2007.
In the video, Ms Baynes said that as she prepared to meet him, before he was elected as Mayor, she asked God for advice.
"I heard the Lord say to me, 'Proverbs, chapter 29, verse two' … 'When the righteous rule the city rejoices, but when the wicked are in power, the people groan,'" she said.
"For the next hour I outlined for him, on a piece of A4 paper, the Seven Mountain Mandate.
"I drew it out and I said, 'This can be a template for how we can see our city transformed by the power of God to look like the Kingdom of God.'"
Ms Baynes said Cr Tate's "chin dropped" and "hit the desk".
"He said, 'I want this, I want you to help me do this,'" she said.
Ms Baynes said she then began providing informal counsel to Mr Tate.
"When you have an assignment from the king, that assignment might be covert or it might be overt," she said in the video.
"Other times God leads you to something that's quite covert — it's kind of under the radar, it's a little bit hidden, and for me that's been my story with Tom."
Concerns over separation of powers
Meredith Doig is the President of the Rationalist Society of Australia, which provided the video to the ABC.
She says the Seven Mountains Mandate is "a fundamentalist Christian movement that seeks to place people in control of seven of society's major institutions".
"They are education, religion, family, business, government, entertainment and the media," she said.
"We think this is really crossing the line between the separation of religion and the state."
She said the group had "no problem with the Mayor's personal faith" but that the appointment of Ms Baynes was inappropriate.
"We are concerned about using [ratepayer] money to fund this appointment," she said.
"We are concerned with the particular ideology of this particular spiritual adviser."
Tate declines interview
Mr Tate declined to be interviewed, but said in a statement that council employees were entitled to their own beliefs.
"All council employees, whether casual or permanent, are entitled to their personal views but must ensure, when expressing those views online or in social media, that they make it clear their views are personal," he said.
"I have every confidence that will be the case with this officer, who is employed on a casual basis.
Mr Tate said a prayer room, which was recently opened at council chambers, was open to the public.
"Importantly, the prayer room, which was a disused storage room at chamber, is open to any member of the public and any group, through the normal booking protocols," he said.
"I am delighted that groups are already utilising it, including an organisation this week that is actively assisting people with addiction issues.''
