South Burnett Council election 2024: Duff leads race for mayor

As more numbers slowly trickled in following the South Burnett Council election, Kathy Duff maintained her lead in the race for mayor, and a rematch in Division 6 is heating up.

Mayoral candidates for the South Burnett Council election 2024 (from left) Kirstie Schumacher, Tom Wilson, Kathy Duff and Gavin Jones.

The voters of the South Burnett lined up to have their say at polling booths across the region on Saturday, and the big question on everybody’s lips was, who would be the region’s new mayor.

With the former mayor Brett Otto leaving on extended leave in August 2023, and not recontesting the position, it was up for grabs.

Click here for a profile on each of the candidates who ran.

As the results continue to trickle in for the mayor count, Kathy Duff at 4.30pm on Sunday had 7937 votes representing 41.35 per cent of the vote, Kirstie Schumacher had 4614 votes for 24.04 per cent, Gavin Jones had 4449 votes for 23.18 per cent and Tom Wilson had 2196 votes for with 11.44 per cent.

Although Ms Duff has a significant lead, she said it is too early to start declaring results

“One thing is abundantly clear, our region has voted for positivity and change,” Ms Duff said.

“Congratulations to the candidates who have espoused community-focused messages, your vision for our region appears to have been rewarded by the electorate.”

Results for Divisions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are slowly coming in with the latest results shown below.

These are the latest numbers, according to the ECQ website: These are the latest numbers, according to the ECQ website:

Mayoral Vote South Burnett Council election

Kathy Duff 41.35 per cent

Kirstie Schumacher 24.04 per cent

Gavin Jones 23.18 per cent

Tom Wilson 11.44 per cent

Mayoral candidates for the South Burnett Council election 2024 (from left) Kirstie Schumacher, Tom Wilson, Kathy Duff and Gavin Jones.

Only Division 6 numbers had been released by 9pm Saturday.

Division 1 Vote

Jane Erkens 52.67 per cent

Tom De Weers 47.33 per cent

Division 2 Vote

Linda Little 50.25 per cent

Douglas Grant 28.38 per cent

Wendy Hazelton 21.37 per cent

Division 3

Danita Potter – Incumbent councillor for Division 3 Danita Potter ran unopposed in the election and will now serve her third term on the council.

Division 4

Seth Schuback 7.24 per cent

Debbie Denien 42.31 per cent

Heidi Westbrook 31.90 per cent

Dan Andersson 11.31 per cent

Gerald Daly 7.24 per cent

Division 5

Heath Sander 47.18 per cent

Allan Walters 20.98 per cent

Stuart Battese 31.84 per cent

Division 6

Ros Heit 74.55 per cent

Scott Henschen 25.45 per cent