Councillor Karen May voted Mackay deputy mayor as Belinda Hassan replaced

Belinda Hassan has been replaced as deputy mayor of Mackay Regional Council. See how her replacement plans on ‘steadying the ship’.

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson with newly elected deputy mayor Karen May, August 7, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

Councillor Karen May is putting her deputy mayor boots back on at Mackay Regional Council thanks to her peers choosing her to replace the outgoing Belinda Hassan.

A special meeting on Wednesday morning gave councillors the opportunity to put their hats in the ring, with Ms May, who was the deputy mayor in the previous term of council, emerging victorious.

Challenging her for the position was fellow veteran councillor Alison Jones and first-term councillor Ash-Lee Johnson.

Adding to Ms May’s vote was Mayor Greg Williamson, Ms Jones, Heath Paton and Marty Bella.

Voting against were Ms Johnson, Nathenea MacRae, Peter Sheedy, Namarca Corowa, and George Christensen (who dialled into the meeting remotely and has been overseas in recent weeks).
But the mayor had the deciding vote and so Ms May emerged victorious.

Councillor Alison Jones shortly before giving a speech to her peers about why they should choose her as the new deputy mayor of Mackay Regional Council. Ms Jones said she would exercise due diligence and care if chosen and support her peers to learn the ropes of council while continuing to be a brand ambassador for the region. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Williamson said it was “absolutely sensational” to have three candidates and while he had a proven “great” working relationship with Ms May as his deputy, this time around it was a “new council”.

“We’ve got six new councillors around the table, it requires a whole lot of new governance in terms of managing the councillors around the table and meeting their needs and that’s what the deputy mayor tends to as well,” Mr Williamson said.

“I’m very, very confident that Cr May is up to this challenge and will do very well.”

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson with newly elected deputy mayor Karen May, August 7, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

‘We’ve been through turbulence’: May

Ms May said she was honoured to win the vote and ready to face a different dynamic in her role than before.

“We’ve been through a bit of a turbulent period with the deputy mayor resigning and then running for the state seat so I think we need a bit of safe hands to steady the ship if you like and enable us to get on with council business,” Ms May said.

Ms May said she was privileged to have 20 years of local government and it pleased her to be able to share her accrued knowledge with her peers.

“This time around it’s about making sure we’re cohesive as a team ... I want to be part of the leadership of this council to make sure that all of the voices are heard and foremost be respectful ... I think in the last term of council we might have lost a little bit of that but certainly that is one of my goals for this term of council,” Ms May said.

Bump in position and pay

Her reprisal in the role comes with a pay rise with a Mackay region deputy mayor earning $135,123 per year.

It is an almost $20k pay bump on councillors’ $117,000 salary, with wages set by the Local Government Remuneration Commission.

What happens if Hassan wins or loses in state election

Ms May said Ms Hassan’s bid for state politics was her democratic right and she wished her the best.

But even if Ms Hassan loses to LNP candidate Nigel Dalton or another party’s candidate yet to emerge in October, she cannot take the deputy mayor role back off Ms May.

Megan Scanlon and Julieanne Gilbert stood behind Belinda Hassan as the new candidate for the Mackay seat. Photo: Fergus Gregg

While Ms Hassan was not legally required to immediately relinquish her position once she was an official state government election candidate, she stepped down to “minimise disruption to council”, according to council agenda documents.

Mr Williamson explained on Wednesday that a motion during the special meeting to choose her replacement had locked in Ms Hassan’s irreversible resignation from the role.

He added she could return as a councillor.

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson said in his view, holding a by-election to replace Ms Hassan if she wins at the upcoming state election would be a “huge impost” on the council’s budget. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Williamson said if Ms Hassan did win, councillors could either welcome former councillor Michelle Green into the ranks, who lost out on a seat in the March election by 59 votes, or hold an by-election.

“It’s up to the council to decide but in my view it would be a huge impost on our budget to actually try and find another four-hundred-odd thousand dollars, unbudgeted, to run a by-election,” he said.

Are your rates paying for Ms Hassan during her state election campaign?

Ms Hassan is taking unpaid leave from her councillor duties while she runs for state parliament — with her fellow councillors voting to approve the arrangement.

According to a spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission of Queensland, the Parliament of Queensland Act (section 64) sets out the qualifications and disqualifications for persons wishing to be nominated as a candidate for state parliament.

“Current sitting councillors (including mayors) are not disqualified from nominating as a candidate,” the spokeswoman said.

“If elected, a councillor automatically ceases being a councillor once elected to State Parliament. Under section 155(3) of the Local Government Act 2009, this takes effect from the day of declaration of the outcome of the election.”

The Mackay council notes there is no financial impact to council in replacing Ms Hassan.