Darren Power next Logan mayor after three-week vote count
Whistleblower Darren Power will be sworn in on Tuesday as Logan’s new mayor, alongside his new council including seven women and the state’s youngest councillor.
Logan
Don't miss out on the headlines from Logan. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Whistleblower Darren Power will be Logan’s next mayor after the Electoral Commission of Queensland released final results three weeks after the March 28 poll.
Logan was one of the last 20 of the state’s 77 councils to be declared.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland blamed the slow result on the council area operating under optional preferential voting, which allows recounts to ensure accurate preference distributions.
Mr Power took the mayoralty after a hotly contested race with seven others, including Sherry Heath, a woman who was late to join the contest.
Of the 141,213 votes cast, Mr Power pulled in 36 per cent of the vote or 47,496, beating his closest rival Brett Raguse, a former federal Labor MP for Forde.
Mr Raguse declared defeat two days after the election, but the final results were not made official until Monday, April 20, 23 days after the poll.
Mr Power is expected to be sworn in at a ceremony at the Logan Entertainment Centre which will exclude the public because of the coronavirus.
He will be joined by former councillors Lisa Bradley (Division 1), Laurie Koranski (Division 4), and Jon Raven (Division 5) who backed him and supported former chief executive Sharon Kelsey during one of the most volatile periods in the city’s history.
Also on the new council will be project manager Jacob Heremaia, who at 20 is the state’s youngest councillor and youngest to be elected in Logan.
There will be seven women on the council including former Chamber of Commerce president Karen Murphy; teacher Natalie Willcocks; childcare centre manager Mindy Russell; the electorate officer for Jim Chalmers Teresa Lane; mother Miriam Stemp and the two former councillors Lisa Bradley and Laurie Koranski.
Also on the new council will be former Hells Angel member and martial arts expert Scott Bannan; real estate agent Tony Hall; and social services worker Tim Frazer.
Mr Power, former Division 10 councillor will take up the post after defeating seven other candidates.
The only woman in the race, Ms Heath, came third with a strong showing of 11 per cent of the vote.
“It just goes to show what can be achieved with a cost-effective, modern and environmentally friendly campaign,” she said.
Mr Raguse congratulated Mr Power and said the city must now move forward and urged all new councillors to work together under Mr Power’s leadership.
“We now all need to come together behind our new mayor and councillors to support them in creating our preferred future,” he said.
“I’m sure all the candidates who collectively professed some great ideas for our future, during the campaign, will stay involved.”
ANGER OVER ECQ WEBSITE RESULTS
Mr Power said his biggest challenge will be to guide the city through the coronavirus but was also aware of having to draft a budget within weeks and help the council select a new CEO.
“This is going to be a tough job, and in many ways it is a poisoned chalice but right now we need leadership to get us through this coronavirus crisis,” he said.
“I served as the chairman of council’s Environmental Health committee for seven years so I have a lot of experience in public health but I will be immediately briefed by council’s Environmental Health Officers.
“I will also call for briefings from experts at the state and federal levels.
“The campaign was tough especially after we paid for how-to-vote cards and then weren’t allowed to use them.
“The coronavirus also deterred some but on the whole, most people did the right thing.”
The known whistleblower decided to run for the position after the former mayor Luke Smith and seven councillors were charged by the Crime and Corruption Commission with fraud in April last year.
The charges were related to the sacking of the former chief executive Ms Kelsey and led to the entire council being dissolved before Mr Power and three other councillors were then selected to serve on a committee to guide an administrator installed by the state government.
On Friday, the seven former councillors and mayor were unsuccessful in their appeal to halt an unfair dismissal case brought by Ms Kelsey and were ordered to pay Ms Kelsey’s costs.
FAB 7 LOSE SUPREME COURT APPEAL
Mr Power served as a councillor for 22 years in Division 10, which used to cover Shailer Park, Cornubia, Carbrook, Loganholme and Tanah Merah.
That seat was one of the last to be decided with the winner Miriam Stemp.
In Division 2, Teresa Lane had 46 per cent of the primary vote in a race with five others.
Dinosaur mascots may have got Mindy Russell across the line in Division 3, beating long-time campaigner Kerry Nielsen, who narrowly missed out winning at the 2016 election.
Seven candidates ran in Division 6, which was split down the middle after the boundaries were redrawn last year.
Tony Hall won the seat beating former Liberal State MP Mike Latter and the Greens Kirsty Petersen.
In Division 7, Tim Frazer had a quarter of the votes with less than a third of the votes counted.
The angst-ridden seat of Division 8, which covers Park Ridge, Regents Park, Logan Reserve and Chambers Flat, was won by the city’s youngest candidate Jacob Heremaia.
Division 9 councillor Scott Bannan was a former One Nation member and Jimboomba concreter who won three world Muay Thai titles fighting under the nickname “The Cannon”.
Division 11 was won by high school teacher Natalie Willcocks, who has lived in Greenbank for 15 years and in New Beith.
Beenleigh Yatala Chamber of Commerce president Karen Murphy won the battle for Beenleigh played out against five candidates.
Police bust illicit firearm operation south of Brisbane, man in custody
Police have seized a number of illegal firearms after a raid south of Brisbane, arresting a man on 11 charges as part of a statewide crackdown on gun-related crime.
Mayor’s ultimatum: Pay more or lose services despite $211m net result
A southside mayor has triggered calls to abolish elected councillors after giving ratepayers a stark choice: pay more or lose services, despite his council forecasting a $211 million net result.