Burleigh LNP preselection: Cr Hermann Vorster seeks to replace retiring MP Michael Hart in state parliament
State Transport Minister Mark Bailey has revived his rivalry with Robina councillor Hermann Vorster over the future of the southern Gold Coast.
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State Transport Minister Mark Bailey has revived his rivalry with Robina councillor Hermann Vorster, demanding he reveal his future political plans.
The second-term Robina councillor last week announced he would contest preselection for the state seat of Burleigh following the retirement of long-serving MP Michael Hart.
Mr Bailey and Mr Vorster have been regular verbal sparring partners over transport issues on the southern Gold Coast. With a council election due in March, seven months before the state poll, Mr Bailey called for Mr Vorster to clarify his plans.
“Councillor Vorster owes it to Gold Coast residents to be very clear about what his intentions are and if he is running for a state seat, he should rule out running for council again in March,” Mr Bailey said.
“He is being very slippery about whether he is going to run again for the council and either way, he should tell people what he is doing now because there is an election in just six months.”
Mr Vorster decline to comment when contacted.
He said in a statement to the Bulletin last week announcing his candidacy that he would discuss his future once the preselection process.
“Presently represent much of the Burleigh electorate and will seek preselection because I know youth crime, the infrastructure mess, and environmental protection can only be fixed within the state parliament and in a future Crisafulli Government,” he said.
“(I) will make a further statement about (his) intention to contest the next local government election at the conclusion of the preselection process.”
It comes as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday afternoon issued an ultimatum of her own to her Cabinet colleagues, including Mr Bailey.
“I will be speaking to (cabinet) this afternoon and saying that candidates should be thinking seriously about, with the election coming up, do they plan to recontest (the state election),” she said.
“Let me know by the end of October.”
While Mr Hart will remain in office until the October 2024 election, the LNP is expected to lock-in its next candidate before Christmas.
Several candidates are tipped to throw their hats into the ring for the seat, which the LNP won on a thin 51 per cent share of the vote in 2020.
Mr Vorster, if successful in seeking preselection, is not expected to recontest his council seat in March. If Mr Vorster is chosen by LNP members, he will be the latest vacancy created on the council ahead of next year’s election.
Helensvale councillor William Owen-Jones has already announced his retirement while the future of Division 7 councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden remains unclear after he was suspended from duty following being charged with the murder of his stepfather Robert Lumsden.
Division 4 was recently vacated by Cameron Caldwell following his election to federal parliament, with Shelly Curtis appointed to serve out the unexpired months of his term.
Inside Michael Hart’s years in Burleigh.
Michael Hart last week brought down the curtain on nearly 20 years in public life.
The long-serving Burleigh MP will retire from politics in October 2024 with plans to spend more time with his family.
By the time of his exit, Mr Hart will have represented Burleigh in parliament for more than 12 colourful years of highs and lows from government into Opposition.
Mr Hart first burst onto the Gold Coast political scene in the mid-2000s as head of the Burleigh Chamber of Commerce while also heavily involved in the area’s Rotary Club.
Then a member of the Liberal Party, he unsuccessfully ran for the state seat of Burleigh in 2006 against Labor’s Christine Smith, who he would have two further rematches with.
Despite another electoral loss in 2009, Mr Hart continued to agitate for change in the area as the leader of the Burleigh Action Group.
During this period he played a key role in debates over the controversial expansion of Burleigh Pavilion and the suburb’s long-derelict medical centre which the Gold Coast City Council was powerless to clean up.
He finally secured his long-held dream of entering parliament in March 2012 when the LNP, then led by Campbell Newman won a landslide election victory.
Mr Hart remained on the backbench throughout the Newman Government’s near-three years in office but his time on the treasury benches was hardly boring.
In mid-2013 he called for US-style chain gangs to be used to tackle graffiti as part of a public service requirement for vandals, opposed the Gold Coast Airport’s instrument landing system and Boral’s plans for a new quarry at Reedy Creek and had a long-running dispute with serial Labor candidate Gail Hislop.
Mr Hart found himself at the centre of a major political controversy in April 2014 when he told police that Clive Palmer’s then-ascendant political party had attempted to lure him into defecting from the LNP with an envoy for the billionaire allegedly asking him to “name your price”.
It is illegal to offer incentives to elected politicians.
“What really worried me was the next thing he said was ‘what can I offer you to come across to the Palmer Party?’” Mr Hart said at the time.
“I basically slammed the door in his face then and reported the matter to police.”
Mr Palmer denied any knowledge of the scheme and police ultimately chose to not to pursue the matter any further.
Had Mr Hart defected, it would have allowed the Palmer United Party (PUP) to team up with the Katter Party and other independents to displace Labor as the official Opposition.
Mr Hart later used parliamentary privilege to release a recording of the conversation, sparking an Ethics Committee inquiry which later cleared Mr Palmer’s emissary of wrongdoing.
Mr Hart was re-elected with one of the smallest swings against the ruling party at the January 2015 election which saw voters unexpectedly terminate the LNP’s time in government.
In Opposition, the Burleigh MP remained active on issues including the extension of the light rail, the declaration of Burleigh as a World Surf Reserve and fighting against the watering down of hard-line anti-Bikie laws introduced by the Newman government.
In 2016 he was promoted to the LNP frontbench under party leader Tim Nicholls, with responsibility for energy, biofuels and water supply and was re-elected again in 2017.
Throughout his time in Opposition Mr Hart became embroiled in a long-running social media feud with state Transport Minister Mark Bailey over a range of road issues and the extension of the light rail south through Palm Beach, something he opposed.
Mr Hart’s support for the trams to travel west to Varsity Lakes frequently drew criticism from Mr Bailey and Mayor Tom Tate
In 2018 he strongly denied any claims this support was because it would take the tram past the home of Burleigh Brewing Company’s brewer of which he was a co-owner of.
He also copped criticism the same year for taking an overseas holiday to Canada during a parliamentary sitting week.
Despite these controversies, he remained popular with locals and was re-elected again in 2020 despite Labor bringing in celebrity candidate and former pro-surfer Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew to challenge him.
Mr Hart’s retirement will open the door to a pre-Christmas LNP preselection battle which will be contested by two-term councillor Hermann Vorster.
Revealed: Prominent Gold Coaster to fight for Burleigh seat
Councillor Hermann Vorster will seek preselection for the state seat of Burleigh, following the announcement that Michael Hart is to retire at the next election.
Mr Hart on Wednesday night said he would retire from politics in October 2024 saying it was the right time to step aside and “pursue new interests and spend more time with my family”.
Councillor Vorster who attended a planning committee at council on Thursday, in banter with colleagues, was referred to as “the MP for Burleigh”.
The Bulletin approached him for comment and he ended speculation about his political future.
“I presently represent much of the Burleigh electorate and will seek preselection because I know youth crime, the infrastructure mess, and environmental protection can only be fixed within the state parliament and in a future Crisafulli Government,” he said.
“The current state government has abandoned this community – it’s just not listening. And I want to be the voice that can’t be ignored on these issues.
“Party rules prevent me sharing more during the nomination period. And I want to respect that process and our party members. But most of all I want to thank Michael and (his wife) Sally for their service to our special part of the Gold Coast.
“Whatever the outcome, I value the trust of the community and hope to continue serving the central-southern Gold Coast.”
Councillor Vorster said he would make a further statement about his intention to contest the next local government election at the conclusion of the preselection process, something which is expected to occur before Christmas.
The next council election will be held in March.
Cr Vorster, a long-time LNP figure, was first elected to the Gold Coast City Council in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020.
The LNP holds Burleigh with a razor-thin margin, having secured 51 per cent of the vote in 2020.
Labor sources say the government is expected to mount a serious campaign to win the seat it last held in 2012.
‘It’s only on 51 per cent, which is wafer thing and there’s no incumbent so it will be wide open,” the party source said.
“Hart has lost ground at the past three elections.”
Retired pro-surfer Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew was Labor’s candidate in 2020.
Mr Hart, a long-time local, had previously contested the seat of Burleigh against former Labor MP Christine Smith in 2009 before winning the seat in 2012.
LNP leader David Crisafulli said: “For more than a decade Michael Hart has been an unwavering champion for his community.
“Michael has always fought hard for an area he adores.”
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