Gold Coast election 2020: Likely council candidates expected to contest poll

Candidates are already lining up to run for council seats, less than a year out from the 2020 local government elections.

THE boundaries for council divisions have been finalised for the poll in March next year. Candidates are suddenly appearing at council meetings. Who is running and where?

Alec Pokarier, former junior chamber of commerce leader and young LNP identity, introduces himself at the Evandale foyer as the gallery is emptied for a closed session. He will be standing in Division 1 in the city’s north.

Council insiders said Division 1 councillor Donna Gates would switch to Division 3. However, that changed late this week with talk the Deputy Mayor was reconsidering about staying in Division One.

WHICH COUNCILLORS WILL RUN WHERE?

Which division will Deputy Mayor Donna Gates run in? Picture: Jerad Williams.

In Division 2 nothing much changes, including the boundaries. William Owen-Jones is yet to hear of an opponent. In Division 3, there are unconfirmed reports of a male resident standing.

Division 4 is the likely stand-off between current Division 3 councillor Cameron Caldwell and Division 4 councillor Kristyn Boulton. Neither are talking about their political future.

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In Nerang and Pacific Pines, Division 5 Councillor Peter Young remains unopposed so far.

But Division 6, belonging to veteran Dawn Crichlow, who will likely retire, will be hotly contested. Financial planner and Benowa State School former P & C leader Brooke Patterson is in campaign mode.

The boundary changes mean most of the homes which she doorknocked last time around in the Division 7 campaign are in this new division.

Gold Coast City Council candidate Brooke Patterson who will be running in the new Division 6.

“It is great to have the boundaries finalised,” Ms Patterson says. “I knew I wanted to serve my community where my family have lived and worked for three generations. Now I can start doorknocking and hearing issues and ideas from as many residents as possible.”

She estimates the new Division 6 is home to about 55 per cent of voters from the old Division 7 area held by veteran Gary Baildon, who will retire.

Cr Baildon’s Division 7 now includes the suburbs of Labrador, Arundel, Parkwood, Molendinar and the Surrounds along with Westfield Helensvale.

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Gold Coast City Council candidate Wendy Coe who is running in Division Seven.

Labrador resident and experienced political and community campaigner Wendy Coe, also at the council chamber, is the only candidate to surface so far in that division.

“I’ve just been appointed Neighbourhood Watch area co-ordinator in Labrador,” he says. “When I was the co-ordinator of Rosies I had a lot to do with many families in the area.”

Bob La Castra has been in Division 8 since bananas wore pyjamas. He is overseas and speculation continues about retirement.

Further south and west across the M1, Cr Glenn Tozer is waiting to learn of any opponent. Several council watchers keep suggesting the mayor’s chief of staff Wayne Moran, a long-term resident will put his hand up. Mischievous bunch, aren’t they?

Who will oppose Hermann “Robocop” Vorster in Robina? They will need a policy platform which extends to abandoned trolleys and drug gangs. Tough gig if you want it.

Will Cr Glenn Tozer face an opponent in Mudgeeraba? Photograph: Jason O'Brien.

In Burleigh, councillor Pauline Young faces the toughest choice — her new Division 12 does not include her much-loved coastal village. To retain it, she must run against Palm Beach’s Daphne McDonald and tram opposition. In Division 14, Gail O’Neill is yet to face an opponent.

Which leaves the main game, the mayoralty, where in Australia’s sixth-biggest city, just seven months out from a poll, businessman Brett Lambert, in black suit and tie, is the only candidate attending every full council meeting wanting Tom Tate’s chair.

The only other likely starter at this point is health writer Mona Hecke, keeping her options open on either council division or the big prize.

Wayne Moran. Will he consider a tilt at politics?

Meanwhile, back out west, is that a shot being fired? What about the campaign slogan “Moran for Mudgeeraba”? Not quite West Wing but hey, helluva lot more entertaining than watching Jed Bartlet and the team on cable TV repeats.