Jon Raven kicks off race for mayor but no word on Darren Power recontesting

The race for the top job in Queensland’s fifth largest council has kicked off with a sitting councillor collecting thousands in donations as he prepares to take on the role of his boss.

Logan councillor Jon Raven will have a tilt at the big job in 2024.

The race for the top job in Queensland’s fifth largest council has kicked off with a sitting councillor collecting thousands in donations as he prepares to take on the role of his boss.

Multicultural groups and businesses with real estate links are some of the first donors to the mayoral campaign for Logan Councillor Jon Raven.

Mr Raven has already started raising cash in his push for the city’s top job at the next election on March 30, 2024.

If successful, he will replace his current boss, the sitting mayor Darren Power, who courted controversy as a whistleblower, which effectively led to the sacking of the previous mayor Luke Smith in 2018.

It is still unknown if Mr Power, a one-term mayor, will recontest his role.

Although the next election is more than 12 months away, Mr Raven has already racked up $21,000 in donations, with six “gifts” registered with the Electoral Commission of Queensland.

Jon Raven’s electoral commission donation statement showing he has collected $21,000 in donations for his mayoral campaign.

Three of the donations for Mr Raven, amounting to $7000, are classified as “unreconciled”.

Under Electoral Commission of Queensland laws, spending for mayoral candidates in Logan is capped at $175,000 with candidates eligible to spend an extra 25 cents per voter for every elector over 200,000.

Based on 2021 ABS population data, Logan has approximately 271,036 voters which would allow mayoral candidates to spend a total of $199,010.

Mr Raven, a paid-up member of the Queensland Labor Party, who was first elected to the southside council in 2016, also has Labor Party support.

The party has a strong base across Logan, with federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who played a role in getting the city a late-announced indoor Olympic boxing venue this month, and state treasurer Cameron Dick, who shares an office building with the federal treasurer.

Top donor for Mr Raven so far is Munster Services Group, which boosted Mr Raven’s campaign coffers with $10,000 in January.

The construction company is based at Slacks Creek in Logan and has been linked to large council contracts for water and wastewater projects along with state government contracts.

Munster’s donation exposed Mr Raven’s bid for the city’s top job by listing its donations as “to help his mayor campaign”.

Other funds are from the Australian Youth Welfare Trust which reports receiving 91 per cent of its revenue, or $152,115, from donations and bequests. The charity lists its “other revenue” as more than $14,000.

The site which fronts Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd.

The charity had registered its address as a site on Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd, Cornubia, where a development application for groundwork, water run-off and a new road was submitted in September 2020.

Civil engineering plans were lodged with Logan council in December 2021 and the council granted tree clearing approval in 2020.

The site currently has plans with council for owners Vicki and Benjamin Holmes to subdivide it into 16 residential lots and build a new road.

AYWT lists its beneficiaries as people at risk of homelessness, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and unemployed.

Another donor is Parnam Singh Heir, real estate principal of Red Rocket Realty in Springwood, one of the development hot spots in Logan, which is represented by long-serving councillor Lisa Bradley.

Parnam Singh Heir is the real estate principal of Red Rocket Realty in Springwood.

Ms Bradley and Mr Raven had a stoush over who would be Mr Power’s first deputy mayor and pocket the extra salary in 2020.

Mr Raven won the heated battle but missed out on a second stint as deputy mayor after holding the post for 18 months.

Other donors on Mr Raven’s list are BNH Financial services, which is also in Springwood, Lighthouse Education Trust; and Islamic College of Brisbane.

Mr Raven, Ms Bradley and Mr Power were in a group of five sitting councillors in the previous council who were not charged with fraud and who were not forced to step down during that term. All fraud charges were dropped in 2021.

They all got paid roles with the interim management committee after the previous council was dissolved.

Mr Raven was alleged to have had a romantic liaison with another councillor during this term. At the time, he declined to answer questions about the issue.

Logan Ratepayer Association president Rod Shaw welcomed Mr Raven’s early disclosure and called on other mayoral candidates to do likewise.

“This will provide the Association with the opportunity to invite them to public meetings where they can be asked the relevant questions by the voters of their intended policies if elected,” Mr Shaw said.