Brisbane Council election 2024 LIVE updates: LNP’s Schrinner returned as Brisbane lord mayor, Greens set to pick up Paddington ward

LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says he is “humbled” Brisbane residents have chosen him to continue as Lord Mayor.

But Schrinner has questioned the Electoral Commission of Queensland’s performance, noting the “disappointing” slow count and long queues at booths.

“While we expect to retain a majority in Council, unfortunately many wards remain either too close to call or not enough votes have been counted,” he said in a statement.

“Like me, I am sure many residents are disappointed at the slow count as well as the long queues and shortage of staff and ballot papers that occurred at many booths.

“The Electoral Commission of Queensland’s performance will need to be further considered once the counting is finished.”

Schrinner is expected to meet with the party faithful at an election night party within moments, but is not expected to deliver an official speech.

That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage of the Brisbane City Council election tonight.

Thanks for joining us and following along, as Adrian Schrinner held onto his role as the city’s lord mayor and the Greens picked up at least one seat from the LNP.

With several wards still in doubt, we’ll have to wait and see what the final make-up of council chambers will look like – although Schrinner is confident he has the numbers that matter.

We’ll have further news and analysis from a big weekend of political news from Sunday morning, and our daily live blog will return on Monday.

LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has taken aim at the Greens’ claims they could win 10 wards in the Brisbane City Council election.

Schrinner said it was clear the 2024 local government election would be like no other.

“For the very first time, in almost 100 years of Brisbane City Council, it has been a three-horse race when it comes to the mayoralty and also so many of the wards across Brisbane – that has never happened before,” he said, speaking to the party faithful at an election night party in the inner-city.

Adrian Schrinner speaks to journalists at the LNP campaign party.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

“But having said that, I want to point out that when Jonathan Sri [now Sriranganathan] launched his campaign, he said, he could win 10 to 12 seats. That obviously hasn’t happened.

“And it’s important that people realise that this is not just a case of the administration retaining its majority, what this means is that the people of Brisbane have chosen stability over chaos.”

The Greens will retain The Gabba ward and pick up Paddington, while the party is ahead in Walter Taylor.

Schrinner said it was clear the LNP would have a majority in council chambers, which meant his party could keep “Brisbane moving”.

LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner was greeted with chants of “four more years” by the party faithful at an election night party in the inner-city on Saturday night about 11pm.

A triumphant Schrinner arrives at the LNP’s election night function.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

Speaking briefly to media, Schrinner said he felt a great sense of relief.

“But there’s still counting to be done,” he said. “The Electoral Commission process has unfortunately been very, very slow.”

Asked if he could work with more Greens councillors in City Hall, Schrinner said the question was whether they were “prepared to work with the administration”.

“Because it’s important that we keep Brisbane moving forward and their record so far has just been opposing things, so hopefully they take a different approach,” he said.

Ahead of today’s election, Brisbane Times sat down with LNP lord mayoral candidate Adrian Schrinner to ask him a series of questions about his policies, preferences and personal opinions.

We also asked, in advance, if he had a message to share with Brisbane voters, were he to be voted back in.

At the time, he simply said his message would be one of “gratefulness”.

“[My message to voters] will always be one of gratefulness.

“It’s a great responsibility to do this job, it’s a great honour, but it’s one that anyone doing this job, and me in particular, takes very seriously.”

LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says he is “humbled” Brisbane residents have chosen him to continue as Lord Mayor.

But Schrinner has questioned the Electoral Commission of Queensland’s performance, noting the “disappointing” slow count and long queues at booths.

“While we expect to retain a majority in Council, unfortunately many wards remain either too close to call or not enough votes have been counted,” he said in a statement.

“Like me, I am sure many residents are disappointed at the slow count as well as the long queues and shortage of staff and ballot papers that occurred at many booths.

“The Electoral Commission of Queensland’s performance will need to be further considered once the counting is finished.”

Schrinner is expected to meet with the party faithful at an election night party within moments, but is not expected to deliver an official speech.

The LNP faithful - and the cheese plates - are waiting for Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to get the party started.

At the election night function on Caxton Street, about 60 people are waiting in a room where a screen is displaying the two-party result in the lord mayoral race.

Cheese and fruit plates at the LNP campaign party.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

The mood is upbeat and the party faithful are enjoying a beer, wine or champagne while waiting for Schrinner to arrive and deliver a speech.

The Greens’ Jonathan Sriranganathan was the first to make a speech on election night, followed by Labor’s Tracey Price. Neither officially conceded defeat.

Tracey Price has thanked her supporters for their help during the “wild ride” of Labor’s council campaign, but stopped short of conceding defeat to Adrian Schrinner.

“We don’t have a final result yet and it’s unlikely that we will get this tonight,” she told people gathered at Labor headquarters on Peel Street in South Brisbane.

“I am so proud of my campaign and our campaign ... the people of Brisbane have spoken and they’ve had a lot to say.

“I am so pleased to acknowledge tonight we’ve really closed in on a lot of wards. I know that we have already made a huge difference.”

At about 10:15pm, Price had a first preference vote of 26 per cent, with the LNP’s Adrian Schrinner on 47 per cent, and the Greens’ Jonathan Sriranganathan on 21 per cent.

Labor appeared to have made gains in Calamvale and Northgate, but it’s unclear whether they would be enough to take the wards off the LNP.

In the two state by-elections of the night, Labor is having mixed results.

The government of new premier Steven Miles is likely to lose Ipswich West to the LNP. With more than half of the votes counted, the LNP’s Darren Zanow had 39 per cent, and was 838 votes ahead of Labor’s Wendy Bourne (35 per cent).

The longtime safe seat of Inala, formerly held by premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, is expected to stay in Labor hands, with candidate Margie Nightingale leading the LNP’s Trang Yen and the Greens’ Navdeep Singh Sidhu a distant third.

Opposition leader David Crisafulli has welcomed the swing against Labor and will be hoping for a stronger result in the October state election.

Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden, the Gold Coast councillor accused of murdering his step-father in August, looks certain to lose his job.

In 2020, he won division seven with 61 per cent of the first preference vote. This time around, he’s tracking to end up in second place with just over 20 per cent of the first-preference vote – and with all the candidates preferencing against him, he will lose the seat.

Bayldon-Lumsden has been charged with the murder of his step-father Robert and is on bail. His lawyers say he intends to plead not guilty.

Meanwhile, in the ward of Deagon on Brisbane’s northside, where Brock Alexander is listed as an LNP candidate despite being disendorsed, Labor’s Jared Cassidy looks set to hold on.

With about a third of votes counted, Alexander – a twice jailed convicted criminal who fell out with the LNP after ballot papers were printed – was a few hundred votes ahead of Edward Naus from the Greens.

Brisbane voters have backed Adrian Schrinner to remain as lord mayor, and appear set to give the LNP a majority in City Hall, so we should probably give a recap of their key promises.

Having announced budget cuts before the campaign started, Schrinner has promised to “keep the lowest rates in south-east Queensland,” without committing to keep any increases at or below the rate of inflation.

The LNP administration will complete the Brisbane Metro project, add bus jump lanes on Ipswich and Beaudesert roads, and have promised to extend CityCat services to Howard Smith Wharves. Safer Schools Precincts will also be extended to Mansfield, Kedron, Wynnum-Manly and Indooroopilly.

Roads around the Inner City Bypass will be upgraded, along with intersections on Milton Road, and $15 million will go towards an overhaul of the traffic light system in Brisbane.

The LNP has also promised to expand the CCTV camera network and allow more coffee carts in parks.