Queenslanders head to the polls to decide which councillors will represent them
Greens candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan is hoping he’ll take on the LNP’s hold of Australia’s largest local government.
The Greens have big ambitions to become a driving force on the Brisbane City Council, hoping to win more seats than ever before – and maybe even the Lord Mayor role – at Saturday’s Queensland council elections.
A total of 1191 candidates are running for a council seat across the states 77 local governments, with 231 people putting their hand up to run for the job of mayor in their local councils.
Meanwhile, 21 sitting mayors have decided not to go another term in local government, including Redland City mayor Karen Williams and Noosa Shire mayor Clare Stewart who will run in the state election under the LNP banner in October.
The Battle for Brisbane
However, in Brisbane the race for lord mayor has been an interesting three way battle between incumbent LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, Labor’s Tracey Price and Greens candidate and current councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan.
Brisbane City Council is the largest local government in Australia, with 1.2 million residents, with 850,000 eligible to vote in its 26 wards.
It is also the only council in Queensland where Labor and the LNP run party-endorsed candidates. The Greens also run endorsed candidates in regional councils.
The Courier-Mail reported new polling by DemosAU puts Mr Schrinner’s primary vote at 46.7 per cent, down just 1 per cent from the 2020 result, followed by Ms Price on 25.8 per cent, just ahead of Mr Sriranganathan on 21.6 per cent, up 6.2 per cent.
Political scientist and University of Queensland lecturer Adam Hannah said Saturday’s election will be a real test for all parties, as the Greens makes a move towards securing more wards.
He said the Greens are expecting some success, including in the lord mayoral race, given the swing towards the party at the 2022 federal election, where the party picked up three of its four lower house seats in inner-Brisbane. The Greens also have two state seats in the same areas.
“The Greens are popular in that inner city area and Mr Sriranganathan’s got a history of being able to court publicity and he’s experienced media performer,” Dr Hannah said.
“It’s been interesting as Labor’s candidate doesn’t have big public profile, a lot of attention has been on the LNP and Green candidates.”
However, Dr Hannah said with a lack of polling for local governments, there’s an “unknown factor” of how the changing demographic of voters, especially younger residents in inner city Brisbane, will affect the final outcome.
“In a federal or state election you have a reasonably good idea (of who will win) but basically everyone is trying to extrapolate which seats are winnable for Greens, Labor or LNP,” Dr Hannah said.
“Exactly how that will play out, I think it’s fairly unlikely the Greens will take the mayorship, I don’t think they’re expecting that to happen either.
“But one possibility is that you see them become the second biggest party or in terms of close to Labor in the primary if they start to pick up votes.”
The federal and state arms of the LNP and Labor parties will also be watching the results closely. Queensland’s state election will be held on October 26 and the federal election is due by March next year.
Brisbane voters invested in council
Dr Hannah said Brisbane voters are more interested in its council than elsewhere because of the services it is responsible for, such as the public bus system.
“Brisbane is a really unusual case because it’s a council that has a magnitude bigger than councils elsewhere across the country,” Dr Hannah said.
“Election results have much bigger consequences for transport, infrastructure and housing, which are areas important for voters.
“Plus the debate around Olympics, which has taken up airtime.
“Voters will be paying more attention than you would see in other part of the country.”
Dr Hannah said key issues like cost of living and climate change have been more of a priority for voters in recent years.
“Housing is also really a key driver and the Greens have made housing part of their platform in all levels of their government,” he said.
“We know the Greens do really well with renters, which has crossed over with young people who are more likely renting.”
Candidates trying for a political comeback
Elsewhere in Queensland two former federal politicians have thrown their hat in the political ring once more by nominating for the local government elections.
Former Liberal MP Andrew Laming, who retired from federal politics ahead of the 2022 election, is standing for mayor of Redland City, on Brisbane’s bayside.
He’s now trying to win the votes of Redland City residents to beat out Jos Mitchell and Cindy Corrie for the top job.
Further north, former federal MP George Christensen, who famously defected from the LNP to One Nation, is now running for Mackay Regional Council as part of Steve ‘Jacko’ Jackson’s Mackay First team.
This will be Mr Christensen’s second tilt at local government, having previously been a councillor at Mackay City Council in 2004 before he ran for the federal seat of Dawson in 2010.
Meanwhile, Labor MP Jim Madden announced he was departing state government in January to run for the Ipswich City Council.
His decision triggered a by-election in his seat of Ipswich West, which will also be held on Saturday.
Polling Day
Voting opens at 8am local time on Saturday across the state, before booths close at 6pm and counting starts.
More more than one million votes have been cast early.
At least 1,010,000 Queenslanders have already cast their vote ahead of Saturday’s local government elections, with about 235,000 of the 440,000 postal votes returned as of Wednesday.
Queensland Electoral Commission said 3.65 million people enrolled to vote, equating to 97.6 per cent of the state’s population eligible to vote.
About 45 per cent of Queenslanders were expected to vote early at around 170 early voting centres statewide.
The 21 vacant mayoral seats have opened up the playing field for many people who would like to give leading council a red hot go.
Two by-elections for state seats are also being held on Saturday. Voters in Inala, vacated following the retirement of Annastacia Palaszczuk last year, and Ipswich West where Labor MP Jim Madden has resigned to stand for Ipswich Council.
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