‘Time to get on with it’: Schrinner vows to keep rates ‘as low as possible’

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has declared it’s time to “get on with it” as the LNP prepares for another term with a majority council, securing wins in 17 wards.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has declared it’s time to “get on with it” as the LNP prepares for another term with a majority council, securing wins in 17 wards.

The jubilant returned leader reaffirmed his election commitments on the steps of Brisbane City Hall on Sunday saying he would bat for Olympics transport and infrastructure upgrades, reduce congestion by increasing public transport and keep rates “as low as possible”.

The LNP secured early wins in Bracken Ridge, Chandler, Doboy, Hamilton, The Gap, McDowall, Macgregor, Runcorn, Jamboree and Pullenvale, while closer races ran in Marchant and Holland Park after slight swings towards Labor.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner outside Brisbane City Hall. Picture: Richard Walker.

Krista Adams and Adrian Schrinner.

The LNP is also set to win Coorparoo, Central, Walter Taylor and Enoggera, despite significant Green swings.

Northgate was arguably the tightest race for candidate Adam Allan who could lose the ward to Labor’s Vicki Ryan.

The Labor Party has started soul-searching to understand what again went wrong in its lord mayoral campaign.

Defeat on Saturday means Labor has spent more than two decades in the political wilderness without answers about how to recover.

Labor’s primary vote fell 4.4 per cent to 26.6 per cent on Saturday night compared to the 30.9 per cent primary vote recorded in 2020 with mayoral candidate Patrick Condren.

Insiders had privately not expected to defeat Mr Schrinner but instead viewed success as winning several wards.

One person familiar with Labor’s council campaign argued Ms Price was unable to carry the campaign in the same way Mr Condren did in 2020, but said Mr Schrinner’s incumbency was too strong.

“I didn’t think anyone’s campaign cut through – the incumbency won,” they said.

“For Labor, I don’t know if it’s a policy problem or a campaign problem.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner pictured at the official LNP post election function. (Image/Josh Woning)

While the Greens picked up significant swings across seven wards, it was not enough to class as a Greenslide with only a 3-5per cent swing seen in Deagon, Holland Park, Jamboree, MacGregor, Marchant, McDowall, Northgate, Runcorn, Walter Taylor and Paddington.

Mr Schrinner thanked Brisbane voters for throwing their support behind his team, saying the re-elected LNP was appreciative and grateful.

“The Labor Party lost a lot of votes in Greens and there was big swing away from Labor to the Greens, but in terms of our supporters, they backed us and we appreciate that support,” he said.

The LNP campaign was conservative, with Mr Schrinner previously conceding the $400m budget blowout meant the 2024 elections were not the time for big spending promises. His team committed to congestion-busting road projects including the Moggill Rd upgrade and the Beams Rd project, and extending the Brisbane Metro north with a new depot in Fitzgibbon.

Mr Schrinner said the additional depot would help deliver 160,000 extra services by the end of the year.

He also vowed to balance the budget when it came to rates and rents, but wouldn’t commit to keeping rates below Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases, as spruiked by Labor during its campaign.

“Their rate promise should be viewed with a degree of scepticism,” he said.

The Schrinner council will also attempt to crack down on crime by increasing CCTV around the city and increasing street lighting.

Adrian Schrinner and Krista Ward during voting at Holland Park State School. Picture: Richard Walker.

“Most importantly, cost of living, the lever that we have to pull, there is one with rates and we made it very clear that we want to keep rates as low as possible,” Mr Schrinner said.

The Greens celebrated Paddington a little too early on Sunday morning, with a last-minute wave of votes pocketed by the LNP, bringing the ward into doubt.

While the Greens’ managed to keep The Gabba, they also put up a fair fight in Enoggera, Walter Taylor, Central and Coorparoo. Labor retained Deagon, with Jared Cassidy winning comfortably over disendorsed candidate Brock Alexander.

Incumbent Forest Lake councillor Charles Strunk, Morningside’s Lucy Collier and Mooroka’s Steve Griffiths also retained their wards.

Calamvale proved to be a tight race, but a 3.9 per cent swing towards Labor put Emily Kim ahead of LNP’s Angela Owen by Sunday afternoon.

Independent councillor for Tennyson ward Nicole Johnston blitzed her competition to be re-elected for a fourth consecutive term, securing 56 per cent of votes.

Labor’s four-ward victory was well below predictions for the red party, which suffered a huge loss in Wynnum Manly, with LNP’s Alex Givney set to take the ward from Sara Whitmee.

With his council now set for a comfortable majority, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner wasted little time in announcing he would be requesting an “urgent briefing” with independent Olympics infrastructure reviewer Graham Quirk.

Greens candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan, Labor candidate Tracey Price, and incumbent LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner at a debate ahead of the election.

His first message to Brisbane – it’s time to get the city ready for 2032.

“The process has lost its way and become politicised by Labor and the Greens,” he said.

“We don’t want high-price stadiums. We want better transport we want a better outcome for the people of Brisbane and Queensland, so first order of business tomorrow, we’ll be seeking a meeting with Graham Quirk.

“We are now … less than eight and a half years from the Olympics and we don’t have a moment to waste.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, particularly when it comes to transport and infrastructure upgrades but even for some of the facilities that need to be upgraded, we are running out of time.”

Mr Schrinner said the review was an opportunity to hit the reset button on Brisbane’s infrastructure plans but wouldn’t say whether he would support a recommendation for an Olympics hub to be built on Victoria Park, as proposed by some planners.

“The state government knows that we have a policy of no net loss of green space,” he said.

“I’m sure that there will be outcomes out of that review which might be a surprise to some people.

“And I think now we all have a responsibility to depoliticise it and get on with it.”