Des Houghton: Don’t make us livein a crime scene

Clare Jenkinson is determined to stop the Greens in the battle for City Hall, especially Jonathan Sriranganathan, writes Des Houghton.

Will Clare Jenkinson, a former hairdresser and international marketing guru, be able to hold back the green tide in Paddington, expected to be the most fiercely contested ward in the battle for City Hall?

The 52-year-old mother of two believes the fallout over the State Government mishandling of youth crime has spilled over into the civic political arena.

Council election voters are lining up to cast a protest vote against Labor, she said.

Jenkinson, the daughter of a London cabbie, holds the ward of Paddington for the LNP in the city council even though she has not faced an election.

She filled the vacancy by long-time councillor Peter Matic who stepped down this year after 16 years.

Jenkinson has organised “coffee with a cop” mornings for years to promote community safety.

Police at the informal get-togethers offer advice on home and personal security, and practical advice such as fitting antitheft number plates.

Clare Jenkinson Picture: Des Houghton

Wherever she goes Jenkinson hears stories from people whose homes have been broken into. And people don’t want to live in a crime scene.

Only recently two women told her they woke to find strangers in their homes.

Families and people living alone are frightened, she said.

And it could be worse than we are told, with some people reluctant to report crimes for fear of retribution.

The fear factor in Paddington is mirrored in many pockets of Brisbane and many regional cities.

Paddington Ward is an interesting political petri dish that takes in Paddington, Auchenflower, Milton, Kelvin Grove, Red Hill, Petrie Terrace, Bardon, Herston, and parts of Bowen Hills and Toowong.

It is a mixed bag of conservatives, small businesspeople and new age “progressives”.

Hundreds of people gathered in Brisbane to protest against youth crime and a voice for the victims on November 5. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Youth crime became a burning issue across the political landscape, with violent home invasions including murders and stabbings.

State Labor government whip, Don Brown, the Member for Capalaba, poured petrol on the embers of discontent when he said youth crime was just a media beat-up.

And I don’t think Brown has rowed back from that position. I can’t find where he has fully retracted his outlandish statement.

And although admonished by the ALP, Brown kept his job as chief government whip, and the $90,000 extra that goes with it, courtesy of public support from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her deputy Steven Miles.

This week the news got worse for Brown when he lost a defamation case.

Capalaba MP Don Brown. Picture: Richard Walker

Jenkinson is aware of the challenge in retaining the Paddington ward for the LNP because the Greens and ALP hold all federal and state seats that traverse it.

At the last civic poll in 2020, Matic won by just 311 votes, a margin of less than 1 per cent.

Jenkinson, who worked for McDonald’s in Brisbane, Sydney and Singapore for 25 years, remains undaunted.

In Singapore she worked in Maccas Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa division for four years training people from 37 countries in local store marketing.

From there she ran sessions in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dubai the Philippines.

“I learned from the best. McDonalds has always prided itself on the way they train their staff and I believe I was given some of the best training in marketing.”

Paddington is a diverse ward made up of a mixture of conservatives, small business owners and new age “progressives”, writes Des Houghton. Picture: David Clark

She said marketing textbooks frequently hail the McDonald’s model. The experience abroad gave her a sharper appreciation of small business.

“I am aligned to the LNP values of family and working hard and being rewarded for your efforts,” she said.

She didn’t trust people who sat back and “just rely on the government to give them handouts”.

Macca’s taught her that business also had to do its part.

“Businesses really need to give back to their communities,” she said.

“They can’t just rely on sales and profits; they need to make sure they are part of that community.’’

The Greens’ Lord Mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan. Picture: Richard Walker

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is meanwhile facing a spirited challenge from Jonathan Sriranganathan, the idiosyncratic spiritual leader of Brisbane’s Green movement.

The LNP administration holds 19 seats in the 26-seat council chamber. Labor holds five.

The Greens hold one seat while independent councillor Nicole Johnston represents the Tennyson Ward.

With the vote fragmented by the Greens, Labor may never hold outright power at City Hall again.

The Greens have endorsed Seal Chong Wah, a singer who plays violin and piano, to challenge Jenkinson.

“I am Eurasian, a proud woman of colour, and I was adopted at six weeks old,” she says on her online profile.

“I was fortunate to be raised with a mix of European/Australian and Chinese cultures by two loving parents.”

The Greens’ Central Ward Wendy Aghdam, Walter Taylor Ward candidate Michaela Sargent and Paddington Ward candidate Seal Chong Wah. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The mother of two has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts majoring in illustration from Queensland College of Art.

Chong Wah said her frustration with the government’s lack of action on the climate crisis led her to the Greens.

The Labor candidate is Sún Etheridge, a digital communications officer with the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union who lists climate change as her main concern.

The Greens believe they will hold The Gabba ward. where Trina Massey was appointed to replace Sriranganathan
in May.

She is described on the Australian Greens website as “a proud queer woman and immigrant of Filipino and African-American ethnicity with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science and History”.

She previously worked in the arts industry.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The Greens also believe they can win the wards of Morningside held by Labor’s Lucy Collier, Coorparoo held by Fiona Cunningham, the LNP council chair for finance and city governance and Central, held for the LNP by Vicki Howard, the chair of council’s community, arts and night-time economy committee.

Jenkinson said one of her motivations in running was to stop the Greens, especially Sriranganathan

“Sri is a self-declared anarchist, not an environmentalist and I am really worried about him,” she said.

“If he gets into power he will want to change Brisbane’s lifestyle as we know it. He could potentially be our next Lord Mayor.”

Jenkinson says her keenest supporters are her daughters Poppy, 18, on a gap year, Aspen, 16, in Grade 11 at The Gap State High School and her husband Adrian, an accountant, who works as chief revenue officer for a software company.