Gympie Qld election 2024 results: Mayor Glen Hartwig re-elected

Returning Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig has revealed his first priorities after winning a second term at the head of council, and reflected on the lessons learned over the past four years. Watch the video:

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig says a long-demanded sports stadium was a “high priority” for the new council he will lead after securing a second term in the council’s top elected job.

Mr Hartwig was re-elected on the back of 54 per cent first vote support from Gympies voters, almost double the amount received by his next closest competitor Naomi Wilson.

His biggest support came from north of the city around Curra, where Mr Hartwig previously served as a councillor, and in the region’s west.

He was the top mayoral choice for three out of every five voters in these areas.

Mr Hartwig’s lowest support was to be found on the Cooloola Coast, where only two in every five voters (42 per cent) preferred him.

Returning Mayor Glen Hartwig has spoken about his priorities and goals after winning a second term in the region’s top elected council job, and the lessons learned from the past four years.

Mystery remains over who will join him with only a returning Dolly Jensen in Division 2, and newcomers Warren McEwan and Gordon Maudsley in Divisions 6 and 8 so far declared.

On Wednesday, Mr Hartwig, who is still recovering from injuries he received in a serious car crash during the campaign, said the first priority was to bring (new councillors) up to speed, not only on local government rules but the history of the last four-to-eight years and why the council is where it’s at.

“We’ve also got a budget to roll out before August,” he said.

On the subject of a sports stadium, Mr Hartwig said doing so was “very much a high priority”.

“I would love it to come all from external sources so... it isn’t an impost on the ratepayer other than the day-to-day maintenance,” he said.

“In reality the ratepayer will have to chip some money in.

“We do desperately need an indoor stadium and I’m hopeful the group of councillors understand we can’t take a step back financially.

Mayor Glen Hartwig, who is still recovering from injuries suffered in a serious crash during the election campaign, said ratepayers would likely need to pay some of the cost of building a long-demanded sports stadium but he hoped to secure funding help from other levels of government.

He hoped the eventual reopening of the Civic Centre would bring an end to a sore point for the council.

The venue has been shut for four years, a prolonged closure which became a political weapon for some candidates during the election.

Mr Hartwig said there had been a litany of issues with the building, starting with the state’s call to transform it into an emergency Covid vaccine hub during the height of the pandemic.

“Qld Health wouldn’t allow us to talk to the community,” he said.

“We copped a lot of stick over that.

“They wouldn’t let us rent it out but they also wouldn’t sign the lease.”

He said design flaws led to its inundation during the 2022 floods, which then led to mould issues throughout the building.

“We’ve had issues with the insurer... getting them to cough up the money they should.

“We have learned a lot from that, I don’t think it will happen again.”

It was not the only lesson he hoped would not be repeated.

“We really tried to walk the line of how much do we tell the community about where the organisation is at, and how much do you just get on with it,” Mr Hartwig said.

“We were so far behind in so many areas... I think we could have done a much better job of explaining this is where we’re at, this is the road ahead.

“Where we started and where we are is very, very different.”