‘Extremely pleased’: Grant Mathers declared Division 3 by-election winner

By first preferences, Mr Mathers received 46.09 per cent of the 4693 votes counted so far.

Grant Mathers and his team of volunteers celebrating after election day.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland declared Grant Mathers the winner of Rockhampton’s Division 3 by-election on Tuesday afternoon.

By first preferences, Mr Mathers received 46.09 per cent of the 4693 votes counted so far, followed by Deanna Beatson’s 30.67 per cent.

“I’m extremely pleased with the result and I just want to get in and get the ball rolling as quickly as quickly as I can,” Mr Mathers said.

“I got a fantastic reaction with everyone I’ve been dealing with. It’s just cemented the idea that I’ve been living in a great community – everyone’s been really accommodating and really supportive.

“The campaign was very hard work and I expected it to be. I’ve driven almost 1000km around Division 3 visiting people.

“There’s been a lot of leg work but it’s been the best benefit.”

Mr Mathers, the brother of Councillor Cherie Rutherford, recently outlined his priorities for his constituency.

ECQ commissioner Pat Vidgen said although there were still about 200 outstanding postal votes, Mr Mathers’ lead of nearly 700 votes meant the outcome was beyond doubt.

“It’s been a busy election 12 months and Rockhampton electors have been to the polls several times during that time,” he said.

“We had the local government elections in March, the state general election in October, followed by a by-election for mayor following Margaret Strelow’s resignation, and most recently, a by-election for Division 3 when Cr Tony Williams was elected mayor.

“That’s a lot of democracy for one community in one year.

“The full distribution of preferences will be finalised following the deadline for receipt of postal votes on March 21, 2021.

“At that time the ECQ website will be updated to show that full preference distribution.”

Originally published as ‘Extremely pleased’: Grant Mathers declared Division 3 by-election winner