Council election: Adrian Schrinner, Patrick Condren square off in final weeks

There was a blast to the past this week when one of the men vying to lead Brisbane over the next four years tried to pull a stunt straight from Campbell Newman’s playbook, writes Jack McKay.

THERE was a blast from past council campaigns last week when one of the men vying to lead Brisbane over the next four years tried to pull a stunt straight from the playbook of Campbell Newman.

It wasn’t the LNP’s Adrian Schrinner, though, who tried to put on the show for the cameras.

Instead, it was Labor’s lord mayoral hopeful and former TV news journalist Patrick Condren – who donned a bright fluoro vest while armed with a bag of bitumen.

The only hiccup was that the road that had been picked to fill a nasty looking pothole was simply too busy with passing cars.

Then-Liberal lord mayoral candidate Campbell Newman in July, 2002.

Stating the obvious for 7 News (where he had worked for years as a political reporter), Condren pointed out, “We can’t obviously get out their because of the traffic.”

The point of the announcement was to release a $1 million plan to introduce a pothole rapid response squad.

With local government all too often overlooked by voters, pulling stunts like these can add some colour to what has so far been a pretty stale council election campaign. It can draw attention to your message.

Indeed, Newman tried to do the same (with a bit more success at actually fixing the pothole) when he was running in 2004 to unseat Labor’s Tim Quinn – who had been installed into the lord mayoralty in a very similar fashion to Schrinner.

But (can-do Campbell) Newman had a whole lot more than just stunts up his rolled up sleeves. He had a massive plan to build roads and tunnels and bridges in a bid to tackle Brisbane’s congestion woes.

Labor’s lord mayoral candidate Patrick Condren. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

While some questioned the plan at the time, we now see and enjoy many of these projects when we drive around our city today.

Newman didn’t just trot these projects out in the final weeks of the campaign in a desperate frenzy to get votes.

He rolled them out in July, 2002 – a full 18 months before voters headed to the polls – and he would continue to roll out a series of policies and projects through to election day.

It gave him and his team something to focus and unite behind, as well as point to when they asked voters to get behind them.

What Brisbane’s candidates are promising?

Some would argue that Condren has not had the luxury of time like Newman to draft up the plans and policies needed to woo voters over. (Other would say his team of councillors has.)

Newman became the Liberal Party’s lord mayoral candidate more than 18 months before the 2004 election.

Condren, however, became Labor’s lord mayoral hopeful less than six months ago – and is now leading a team of people he barely knew before he ventured into politics.

In the time since, he has promised to roll out a full suite of policies before voters head to the polls on March 28.

LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner in Brisbane last week.

Last week, he started unveiling some of those pledges – including $1.7 million to bolster bus services, millions of dollars for bikeway projects and a $410 million plan to bust congestion around level crossings.

Those promises have also been accompanied by pledges from Condren to release full costings, including how he would fund them, closer to the election date.

Some of the commitments have attracted suggestions from Schrinner that Condren is using the council to stump up cash for projects that should be the responsibility of the state – something he has denied.

Condren has promised to shave $100 off the annual rates bill of residents who pay on time – and has declared his “intention” to keep rates rises in line with CPI. This is something Schrinner has ruled out, describing Condren’s statement as “weasel-worded” and warning it would impact council’s service delivery.

Much of Condren’s campaign has also focused on the advertising bill of the council, as well as criticising the expense of office allowance that both sides of politics have received for decades.

Asked this week if he had any big ticket items still to be rolled out during the campaign, Condren said he did not want to “spill all of the cookies all at once”.

On the other side, Schrinner has had more time to come up with plans and ideas to take to voters since he unexpectedly became lord mayor last year when his then-boss Graham Quirk called time on his political career.

The vehicles that will service the $944 million Brisbane Metro.

He used his only budget before residents cast their vote to introduce a range of initiatives – including free off peak travel for seniors, fee cuts for small business and a 50 per cent rates discount for first home buyers.

On day one, he announced plans to build five new green bridges across the city. And he has also rolled out plans to turn the Victoria Park Golf Course into a mega park – the biggest the city has seen in 50 years.

But he is yet to put a dollar figure on how much the park will cost, and has suggested he won’t until after voters head to the ballot box – saying they are not in a position to “accurately determine” the investment required for the park because consultation was still underway.

“We will budget responsibly,” he said this week.

Schrinner has also campaigned in recent months on the administration’s $944 million Brisbane Metro, which was actually a project taken to voters at the last election by Quirk.

Whoever wins on March 28 will be responsible for delivering it, with Schrinner insisting that he is best placed to do so. Condren has ruled out scrapping the project.

In the past two weeks, Schrinner has made a range of fresh green-themed commitments, including a $9.1 million pledge to embark on the biggest tree planting drive in the city’s history.

An artist’s impression of the Victoria Park Vision.

A re-elected Schrinner administration will also send tip vouchers to every household in Brisbane in a move that would ensure renters can also access council dumps for free.

A lot of money will need to be spent on Metro over the next council term, which will likely mean that Schrinner and Condren will both have less money to play with during the final weeks of this election campaign.

Outside of Brisbane

Across the state, there will be more than 1500 candidates on ballot papers when voters at all 77 local governments head to the polls in just three weeks.

It is about 200 fewer candidates than the last election – and the Local Government Association of Queensland says that is not surprising.

The LGAQ’s acting chief executive Sarah Buckler acknowledged it had been a “challenging period of much reform” for the sector.

Lawrence Springborg looks certain to become the next mayor of Goondiwindi.

“We need to remember that local government is at its best when good people are encouraged to participate and we have the broadest representation of the community,” she said.

“Many of our existing elected members cited that they felt that despite agreeing with the need for transparency and accountability, the pendulum has swung too far and is now overly onerous and unproductive.

“This has acted as a disincentive for many who seek to serve their community.”

One man who is certain to make a political comeback is former LNP leader and longtime member of the Queensland parliament Lawrence Springborg – who has been the only person to put up his hand to contest the mayoralty of Goondiwindi.

There are expected to be several races across the state where there will be no contest.

Another politician trying to revive his political career is former Ipswich councillor Paul Tully – who lost his job in 2018 when the entire council was dismissed.

In Brisbane, a total of nine candidate have put their hat in the ring to lead the city over the next four years.

Paul Tully will try to revive his council career. Picture: Cordell Richardson

On the Gold Coast, there will be eight candidates on the mayoral ballot paper, as well as five in Moreton Bay, seven in Ipswich, four in Townsville, four on the Sunshine Coast and three in Redland City.

Despite the challenges over the past few years, many of these candidates are certain to face many challenges in the final weeks of this campaign – as they try to win over voters and serve up a vision that can benefit their communities for many years to come.