Revealed: Cost of Sunshine Coast mayor hopeful’s billboard spend to win election

Some Sunshine Coast mayoral candidates have revealed the cost of election billboards on major roads, as another questions the need for signage in the digital age and the council deals with complaints.

Sunshine Coast mayoral hopefuls have featured on billboards across the region.

Several Sunshine Coast mayoral candidates have splashed out on billboards on the Bruce Hwy and Sunshine Mwy to see their names up in lights, as the cost of their expenditure is revealed.

Four Sunshine Coast mayoral candidates have been spotted on billboards across the region, including two in prominent positions on the Bruce Hwy northbound from Brisbane.

Cr Jason O’Pray features on a billboard on the Bruce Hwy, near the boundary of the Sunshine Coast local government area, while fellow mayoral candidate Ashley Robinson’s face is on a digital billboard near the Red Rd bridge on the Bruce Hwy.

Min Swan’s billboard is on Phil Parker’s land at Storage Choice, Maroochydore, with visibility to the motorway, while Rosanna Natoli has a billboard on the Sunshine Mwy, near the Dixon Rd overpass, at Sippy Downs.

The Bruce Hwy billboards have the potential of being seen by about 70,000 vehicles per day, while the billboards on the Sunshine Motorway have the potential of being seen by about 30,000 vehicles per day.

In terms of cost, Mr O’Pray forked out $11,688 for the fixed billboard on the Bruce Hwy for the duration of the campaign, while Mr Robinson spent $1100 to feature on the digital billboard for three weeks on rotation.

Mr O’Pray said the Bruce Hwy billboard forms part of a strategy to get his name in front of “as many eyeballs as possible”.

Jason O'Pray's billboard on the Bruce Hwy.

“It’s big isn’t it?,” Mr O’Pray said.

“We have a lot of people that leave the Sunshine Coast and travel to Brisbane every day for work, and that’s somewhat of a shame, we have a lot of leakage out of the Sunshine Coast.

“Every mayoral candidate’s got a different approach, I want to try and get in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

“We’ve got to get in front of about 250,000 eyeballs, and that’s one of our strategies.”

Mr Robinson said the Bruce Hwy billboard played a limited role in his wider campaign strategy.

Ashley Robinson had a digital billboard on the Bruce Hwy.

“Our digital billboard ad is more effective than corflutes and also served as a response to the mega billboard down the road,” Mr Robinson said.

“It was also specifically targeted at those living in the southern areas of the Sunshine Coast, particularly at Aura.”

The Sunshine Mwy billboard set Ms Natoli back $5500.

Ms Swan spent $2950 on her billboard, with a $5775 donation made in kind by the Parker Family Trust for the use of the billboard.

Ms Natoli said the billboard is part of a “high-visibility” strategy to get her “message across to the voters”.

“It is important to get our name out there, get our brand out there, get what we stand for out there in front of the people who will be making a very important choice,” Ms Natoli said.

“My billboard is in a high-visibility location on the Sunshine Mwy and I hope that it will help get my message across to the voters.”

Ms Swan said the billboard was a great way to earn “name recognition”.

Min Swan's billboard on the Sunshine Mwy.

“It really is just for name recognition, over 20,000 cars go past that billboard on a daily basis,” she said.

“A large number of voters don’t go to meet the candidate events, so in a lot of cases they just need to have seen somebody and know what all their options are.”

The outlier mayoral candidates Wayne Parcell and Michael Burgess don’t have any billboards.

Mr Burgess said his campaign is environmentally friendly and “nonpolluting”.

Michael Burgess is running a largely online campaign with a focus on “nonpolluting”.

“The relatively low impact of short-term billboards with maybe one vote per 10,000 passers seems like an expensive vote-buying strategy,” Mr Burgess said.

Mr Purcell questioned the need for billboard and election signage in the digital age.

Wayne Parcell believes signage is not needed in a largely digital age.

“There is clearly growing community outrage about signage and other campaign expenses, and how they are being funded,” Mr Parcell said.

“The public is looking for transparency and integrity to be demonstrated, not just preached at them.

“The objective should be candidate visibility, not notoriety.”

The Sunshine Coast Council has received complaints in relation to election signage and a spokesperson said it was addressing them with the relevant candidates.

The 2024 local government election will take place on Saturday, March 16.

Everything you need to know about the election can be found here.