People vote for Rockhampton Regional Council and Livingstone Shire Council mayors
The Rockhampton mayor has been decided, along with most councillors, but Livingstone is up in limbo across the board. See the current state of play in our free election blog.
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Despite people congratulating Rockhampton incumbent mayor Tony Williams within hours of the votes closing on Saturday, his challenger Brett Williams remained quiet until late Sunday afternoon.
With just under 80 per cent of the votes counted and the current mayor having racked up more than half the votes, the underdog promised he would be back to “fight harder for the region” but said he hoped council would work together to help everyone.
At the polling booth on Saturday, Tony remained unflappable but not overconfident as he voted and spoke with locals at polling booths, but Brett went largely unseen.
Having sworn off corflutes and remaining uncontactable to media on his second attempt to secure the mayoralty, Brett made one Facebook post on election day, to remind people he and the current mayor were not related.
WILL BE BACK TO ‘FIGHT HARDER’
On Sunday, the re-elected mayor said he was humbled by the community’s support of both himself and the council, which saw four seats go uncontested.
He said it was a great indication the community was happy with the team and work council had undertaken over the past few years.
In the contested divisions, Marika Taylor will replace Donna Kirkland in division 7 after she stepped down to represent the LNP in the battle for the state seat of Rockhampton, deputy mayor Neil Fisher is likely to remain in his division 4 seat despite a close race with Elliot Hilse, and Edward Oram is leading Ellen Smith in division 2.
‘CHANGE’ IN THE AIR
There were no patting of backs on Saturday, or even today, for the Livingstone Shire Council mayoral candidates.
The battle was initially tight between mayor Andy Ireland, deputy mayor Adam Belot and businessmen Grantley Jack and Kelvin Appleton after the polls closed.
However, on Sunday it became a two-horse race between Mr Ireland and Mr Belot on Sunday, with the latter leading the way by just a couple of hundred votes throughout most of the day.
With 80 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Ireland was only 400 votes behind Mr Belot’s 7141 tally as of late Sunday afternoon.
Despite a chorus for change from Livingstone voters, at least three current councillors are likely to be voted back in.
Local pastor Lance Warcon might be the only truly new face at the council table, consistently at the head of the 16-strong pack of locals hoping to fill the six seats.
With 23 per cent of the votes counted, current councillors Glenda Mather, Rhodes Watson and Pat Eastwood look set to be re-elected.
Former mayor Bill Ludwig might join Lance as the only other ‘new’ face at Livingstone.
However, he was only 13 votes ahead of councillor Andrea Friend on 2750 at 6pm.
Journalist Trish Bowman trailed with 2560 votes and former rugby player and former state and federal One Nation candidate Wade Rothery trailed on 2529.
Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes could be in trouble with his challenger, popular councillor Janice Moriarity, maintaining a lead from the close of polls.
Ms Moriarity held 58 per cent of the vote with over half of the vote counted.
POTENTIAL SHOCK UPSET
As of midday on Sunday, 80.64 per cent of the votes had been counted.
Adam Belot has 30.92 per cent of the votes with 7,141 votes and Andrew Ireland is hot on his heels with 29.24 per cent and 6,753 votes.
Grantley Jack is trailing behind with 25.4 per cent of the votes and 5,866 votes.
Fourth candidate Kelvin Appleton has 14.45 per cent and 3,338 votes.
Only 10.49 per cent of the Livingstone councillor votes have been counted.
The current order for those with most to least votes is Lance Warcon, Glenda Mather, Pat Eastwood, Rhodes Watson, Andrea Friend and Bill Ludwig.
In Rockhampton, Division 7 has updated to 48.23 per cent counted with Marika Taylor still in lead at 52.89 per cent and 1,942 votes.
David Bond has 720 votes, Will Field with 606 and Jamie Scott with 404 votes.
Division 2 has had 54.86 per cent counted and standing councillor Neil Fisher has retained 53.63 per cent with 2,238 and new candidate Elliot Hilse has 1,935 votes.
The counting for Division 4 has reached 74 per cent and newcomer Edward Oram is winning so far with 55.36 per cent and 3,629 votes and incumbent councillor Ellen Smith has 2,926 votes.
In the Central Highland, Janice Moriarty is in the lead with 54.96 per cent of the votes (3,989 votes) and the incumbent mayor Kerry Hayes has 3,269 votes.
CLOSE COUNT
In the Rockhampton region on the Sunday morning following election day, 79 per cent of votes had been counted for the mayoral race between Tony Williams and Brett Williams.
Tony is in the lead with 67.68 per cent of the votes and Brett behind with 32.32 per cent.
Tony has been declared as the winner as even with the remaining votes to be counted, he is still in front.
There are three councillor divisions out of the seven in the election.
Marika Taylor has held a strong lead with 53.03 per cent of the votes (1,392) for Division 7 as 34.75 per cent has been counted.
David Bond is coming second with 504 votes, Will Field on 467 votes and Jamie Scott on 262 votes.
In Division 4, it is much tighter with 68 per cent of the votes counted.
Newcomer Edward Oram has 3,382 votes while incumbent councillor Ellen Smith has 2,633 votes.
Division 2 is also close with 41 per cent of the votes counted.
Looking to retain his position, Neil Fisher is in the lead with 1,668 votes and new candidate Elliot Hilse has 1,456.
MAYORAL RACE NECK-AND-NECK
Two and a half hours into counting on election day and it was still a close race in Livingstone Shire.
Incumbent Andrew Ireland held the lead at 8.26pm on 1043 votes, with Adam Belot close behind on 973, Grantley Jack on 931 and Kelvin Appleton on 565.
In the Rockhampton Regional Council early count incumbent Tony Williams was on 10,723 votes with Brett Williams on 5527.
Early results were also available for contested divisions.
At 8.30pm it was a tight race for Division 2 with incumbent Neil Fisher just out in front on 1363 and candidate Elliot Hilse on 1309.
In Division 4 candidate Edward Oram had an early lead with 768 votes with incumbent Ellen Smith on 648.
In the vacant Division 7 Marika Taylor had an early lead with 1146 votes, with Will Field on 417, David Bond on 388 and Jamie Scott on 223.
The four-man race for Livingstone mayor remains tight with Adam Belot in the lead as 80 per cent of the vote has been counted.
Mr Belot has 7,141 votes while Andrew Ireland has 6,753, Grantley Jack has 5,866 and Kelvin Appleton has 3,338.
In Banana Shire just over 50 per cent of Division 1 votes have been counted with Adam Burling in front on 447 votes of the preliminary count, with John Ramsey on 356 and Jason Williams on 169.
In Division 2 Ashley Jensen had an early lead on 577 with Col Nevell on 533.
Meanwhile in Division 6 Terri Boyce had an early lead with 545 votes and Harold Ball had 446.
Further west at the Central Highlands Regional Council Janice Moriarty still had a lead of 237 votes with incumbent mayor Kerry Hayes on 146.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
An hour and a half into the votes being counted on election night is showing a tight race for the mayoral position on Livingstone Shire Council.
At 7pm just there was just a single vote difference between incumbent Mr Ireland and candidate Mr Belot.
In the unofficial preliminary count, about 7pm, Mr Belot had 128 votes with Mr Ireland on 127.
Mr Jack was on 65 votes and Mr Appleton was on 28.
But just half an hour later at 7.30pm that number changed dramatically, with Mr Belot on 567 votes and Mr Jack on 566.
Incumbent Mr Ireland was on 513 votes and Mr Appleton on 267.
Early count numbers also rolled in for Central Highlands Regional Council at 7.30pm.
In the early preliminary count Janice Moriarty was out in front on 178 votes with incumbent mayor Kerry Hayes on 96 votes.
RATES AND WATER COSTS ON VOTERS’ LIPS
Blustery weather and a lack of democracy sausages didn’t keep voters away on the Capricorn Coast, with hundreds of voters heading to polling booths across Livingstone Shire.
An upbeat Livingstone mayor Andy Ireland had yesterday described the contest against his deputy mayor, Adam Belot and local businessmen Grantly Jack and Kelvin Appleton as “exhausting”.
A feeling shared by all men no doubt as they criss-crossed the Capricorn Coast and northern rural area of the local government area, such as The Caves and Glendale, where there is always a split in voter support.
Mr Appleton said the rural areas had suffered in the past several years, particularly from water rates.
Livingstone mayoral candidates and voters willing to share their thoughts agreed “change” has been a word often used.
One of the biggest issues on the minds of voters heading to the polls was rates and water rates.
One voter said they were voting some old and new faces on their councillor ballot paper, saying it was important to move the Capricorn Coast forward.
Voters were also keen to see more for the shire’s youth, hoping the elected candidates would look into more places for young people to go.
Other issues on the minds of voters included sustainable development and making sure they were voting for people who could look “outside the square”.
One couple said they felt the current council didn’t do much for them, as there are a lot of services, such as the Yeppoon Lagoon, that they paid for in their rates but don’t use.
Popular Gladstone Regional Council Mayor Matt Burnett and Banana Shire Council Mayor Nev Ferrier will stay for another term, remaining uncontested.
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