LNP confident of majority rule in City Hall, despite potential losses

Re-elected lord mayor Adrian Schrinner is confident he will not have to contend with a hostile council chamber, as the LNP remained on track to win a majority in City Hall.

While still not confirmed, that would mean the next four years would be business as usual for Brisbane City Council, with only a few wards changing hands.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner at the LNP victory party on Saturday night.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

Schrinner had a commanding lead on Sunday morning, with 48 per cent of the primary vote. Labor’s Tracey Price had 26.3 per cent, and the Greens’ Jonathan Sriranganathan 20 per cent – a record for the party.

The Greens built on recent federal successes by claiming former LNP ward Paddington, while they were also confident of claiming neighbouring Walter Taylor ward in the western suburbs.

A Greens victory in Walter Taylor would depend on Labor preferences, with the LNP’s Penny Wolff well ahead on the primary vote.

Labor, meanwhile, is sweating on Wynnum-Manly, which could fall to the LNP.

Former Labor councillor Peter Cumming’s strong personal vote did not transfer to his replacement, Sara Whitmee, who has suffered a 23.2 per cent primary swing against her. The LNP’s Alex Givney was leading the count on Sunday morning.

That loss could be balanced out by Labor’s good showing in Calamvale, where Emily Kim looks poised to defeat Angela Owen. Both wards remained too close to call on Sunday morning.

Labor was also hopeful of gaining Marchant and Northgate, both too close to call. Labor’s Darren Mitchell had a small lead in Marchant after preferences against installed LNP incumbent Danita Parry, while Labor’s Vicki Ryan had a slight lead over the LNP’s Adam Allan.

Schrinner’s celebratory mood on Saturday night was tempered with criticism of the Electoral Commission of Queensland’s handling of the election.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has hit out at the Queensland Electoral Commission over long queues and a shortage of staff and ballot papers at many booths.Credit: Simon Schluter

“Like me, I am sure many residents are disappointed at the slow count as well as the long queues and shortage of staff and ballot papers that occurred at many booths,” he said in a statement late on Saturday night.

“The Electoral Commission of Queensland’s performance will need to be further considered once the counting is finished.”

Schrinner, who was re-elected for a second time after replacing Graham Quirk in the mayor’s office, said he was confident he would have a majority LNP council for what would be his second full term.

“I am humbled residents have chosen me to continue as lord mayor so my team and I can continue to keep Brisbane moving forward,” he said.

While “chuffed” with the election outcome overall, Greens mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan said he was definitely hoping for bigger swings to his party.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

“While we expect to retain a majority in council, unfortunately, many wards remain either too close to call or not enough votes have been counted.”

Greens lord mayoral candidate Sriranganathan said he considered it likely they would end up with three seats – The Gabba, Paddington and Walter Taylor – and were “within striking distance” of two more.

Still, he said it was not the result he had hoped for.

“Right now, I’m feeling relieved that the intensity of campaigning is over, and pretty chuffed with the results, all things considered, although I was definitely hoping for bigger swings to the Greens,” he said.

He might have been disendorsed by the LNP, but Brock Alexander was still outperforming the Greens’ Edward Naus in Deagon.Credit: Nine News

In Deagon, former LNP candidate Brock Alexander, whose disendorsement came too late for his name to be removed from ballot papers, was outperforming the Greens’ Edward Naus by almost six percentage points on Sunday morning.

As for the state and federal implications of Saturday’s vote, Griffith University political scientist Paul Williams said in the lead-up to the election on Thursday that observers should not read too much into it.

“I don’t think it’s going to inform much about what’s going to happen in October,” he said.

“Queensland is pretty good at discriminating between tiers of government and jurisdiction – Queensland voted overwhelmingly for the LNP federally for Scott Morrison in 2019 and within about 18 months, they endorsed Palaszczuk just as equally passionately.

“There are very few parallels, very few lessons, to draw from this election.”

Williams said Labor needed to take Brisbane City Council elections more seriously if it were to challenge the LNP’s 20-year grip on power.

“The question I’ve been asked most times during this campaign has been, what the hell has Labor done since 2004? Why have they surrendered the lord mayoralty so easily to the LNP on a platter?” he said.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say they’ve put up dud candidates, but they haven’t been effective.

“Campbell Newman was a tough candidate to beat, Graham Quirk was a tough candidate to beat, but Adrian Schrinner is beatable, but he’s not being beaten.

“So what the hell is Labor doing? Because this is a Labor town – look at Clem Jones and Roy Harvey, and Tim Quinn, and of course Jim Soorley – complete domination at council for decades since the ’60s.”

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