Hetty Johnston speaks of guilt of leaving mayoral campaign trail

Hetty Johnston has revealed her “bitter disappointment” over the current state of disarray at Logan City Council — a situation she feels she could have prevented.

Child protection crusader and former Logan mayoral candidate Hetty Johnston says mayor Luke Smith should have stood down “immediately”.

• Logan council staffer quits

Hetty Johnston has revealed her “bitter disappointment” over the current state of disarray at Logan City Council — a situation she feels she could have prevented.

The renowned child protection crusader and former Logan mayoral candidate’s comments come as a poll of Albert and Logan News online readers showed people believed embattled mayor Luke Smith should vacate his position immediately.

A resounding 89 per cent of 376 voters said Cr Smith should stand down while he fights charges of corruption and perjury.

Poll results for Logan mayor Luke Smith. Source: Albert Logan News

Ms Johnston feels the full weight of her decision knowing that she may have been able to save Logan from being put “back in the gutter”.
“I feel like I let people down by pulling out because of what’s happened now,” she said.

The Bravehearts founder revealed she had been “bombarded” with emails and calls from people asking her to step up as mayor, in the wake of Cr Smith’s arrest.

“The volume of people contacting me is indicative of the community’s readiness for change – even if the mayor isn’t,” she said.

“I don’t know, we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Hetty Johnston ran against Mayor Luke Smith, pictured, in the 2016 election.

Ms Johnston ran against Cr Smith in the 2016 mayoral election, but withdrew after her mother had a tragic fall that almost killed her.

“I had billboards up and was all systems go and then my mum had an accident, she fell over really badly,” she said.

“It costs a lot of money to run a mayoral campaign and I didn’t have it. And I’m never going to sell my soul for a cheque, ever.”

Hetty Johnson, right, with former Logan Mayor and supporter Pam Parker during the 2017 state election. Picture: Jono Searle

Former Logan mayor Pam Parker said the outcome of the election could have been quite different, if Ms Johnston had not pulled out.

“Had Hetty still been in the race, she definitely would have been the person to receive my full endorsement, in lieu of Luke Smith,” she said.

“I have known Hetty for over 20 years and I would have felt 100 per cent comfortable in her character to undertake the role of mayor and to be a true champion for the people of Logan.”

Meanwhile the pressure continues to mount on Cr Smith to resign.

Rankin MP Jim Chalmers is the latest politician to speak out against Cr Smith.

Last week, Rankin MP Jim Chalmers, along with Logan councillors Darren Power, Laurie Koranski, Jon Raven, Lisa Bradley and Stacey McIntosh, called on Cr Smith to stand down.

This week chief of staff in the office of the CEO Kirby Orr announced she would be resigning. Cr Smith is on personal leave until April 23, but said he had no intention of forgoing his position and would be “vigorously defending” the charges.

But the decision might be taken out of Cr Smith’s hands.
Logan mayor arrested

Last week, Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said he was considering an automatic stand-down as a way to deal with local government representatives facing charges such as official corruption.

“I am giving serious consideration to changing the Local Government Act to require mayors and councillors facing serious criminal charges, to stand aside,” Mr Hinchliffe said.