Southern Qld council elections: Lockyer Valley mayoral, councillors races in balance as Toowoomba count continues

Preferences could potentially decide who will be the Lockyer Valley’s next mayor, while there is also nearly nothing separating two candidates for the final councillor spot. Our election wrap for southern Queensland here:

Lockyer’s mayoral race could come right down to the wire, as incumbent Tanya Milligan hopes to stave off a serious challenge from small business owner Kyle Burnett for the top job.

With 82 per cent of the votes counted and just postal votes to come by March 26, Ms Milligan holds a 44-29 lead over Mr Burnett on first preferences.

While that seems like a big margin, Mr Burnett is banking on securing thousands of extra votes from third-place candidate Maree Rosier (26 per cent).

The pair designed their how-to-vote cards to put Ms Milligan last, something that was reportedly co-ordinated during the campaign.

Lockyer Valley mayoral candidate Kyle Burnett.

However, Mr Burnett would need to not only ensure most of Ms Rosier’s votes had preference, but that upwards of 60-70 per cent flowed to him.

Ms Milligan has seen a huge drop in her primary vote from the last contested election in 2016 (she was uncontested in 2020), down from 68 per cent eight years ago.

Mr Burnett said this showed the Lockyer Valley was ready for a change in leadership.

“If you add Maree’s total and mine together, 53 per cent have said they’re after change,” he said.

“A lot of the Maree voters and her supporters wanted to see her take office, but if not her, would support me in that venture.

“I ran a strong campaign, I was out there in the public eye, I was getting out and about — I played in a different field (of the electorate) and maybe captured more of the audience.”

Mr Burnett went after the council’s maintenance of the local road network, arguing the LVRC’s entire delivery system for infrastructure was “broken”.

Ironically, Mr Burnett didn’t win a plurality in any of the 17 booths, but was the consistently the second-place candidate.

Ms Milligan won all but three booths, with Ms Rosier securing the highest vote in Ma Ma Creek, Helidon and Grantham.

A six-term local government veteran and two-term mayor, Ms Milligan said the result meant there was work to do if she reclaimed the role.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor Tanya Milligan. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It tells me that we need to work harder,” she said.

“It was no secret that I went into the election nervous, and that’s because I’ve been around for a while.

“This is my seventh election, I’ve been in council since 2000 and when you look at other mayors across Queensland, mayors in a similar situation, many aren’t going to survive.

“Communities are looking for some change.”

Ms Milligan acknowledged the main issues of the election were the state of the road network, as well as communication issues between the community and council.

She pledged to focus on them, while also defending the council’s decision to focus on paying down debt in the previous term.

“What I certainly heard loud and clear is our roads, efficiency of our organisation and communication, how we deliver our message — we’ve seen that in this election,” Ms Milligan said.

“I do think it was the right thing (to pay down debt), because that would’ve still cost the community millions of dollars.

“You have these flood events, they affect our roads and then (council) has to go through the process to get the money, and we think we’re getting the message out about the processes (required), but it’s tough because I don’t know if people understand the process.

“Even the community’s misunderstanding of state and local roads (was present at the election), which is the communication issues we need to do better at.”

Ms Milligan also didn’t agree with the co-ordination of how-to-vote cards between Mr Burnett and Ms Rosier, saying “I don’t operate like that”.

Ms Rosier was contacted for comment.

Just 25 votes in race for final Lockyer councillor spot

Lockyer Valley Regional Council candidate Chris Payne.

Lockyer Valley candidate Julie Reck.

The final spot on the Lockyer Valley council could take some time to finalise, with Chris Payne and Julie Reck neck-and-neck after more than 70 per cent of the vote has been counted.

Just two of the six councillors from the previous term will be returning, after the retirement of Jason Cook, Janice Holstein and Rick Vela and Brett Qualischefski’s loss at the election.

Joining incumbents Chris Wilson and Michael Hagan on the council are Mr Wilson’s brother Anthony, former fast food franchisee Cheryl Steinhardt and Lilydale farmer David Neuendorf.

It leaves former Somerset council chief executive Mr Payne and community advocate Ms Reck to battle it out for the final spot, with just seven votes separating them as of 1.30pm on Tuesday.

The key booths of Laidley and Murphys Creek have yet to be counted, with each one expected to favour the other.

“As of last night, there are four reasonably significant booths still to play out, so I’m thinking Murphys Creek and Glenore Grove will favour her and Laidley will favour me,” Mr Payne said.

“The extent of those favours will determine the outcome.”

Toowoomba council makeup firms as count remains slow

Candidate Edwina Farquhar observes the vote counting process in the Toowoomba Regional Council local government 2024 election, Sunday, March 17, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Eight of the 10 incumbents of the previous Toowoomba Regional Council look set to earn their spots back in 2024.

With just 28 per cent of the vote counted by the Electoral Commission of Queensland, sitting councillors Rebecca Vonhoff, Melissa Taylor, Kerry Shine, Bill Cahill, James O’Shea, Carol Taylor, Tim McMahon and Edwina Farquhar have all polled strongly and are expected to be returned for the next four years.

With sitting mayor Geoff McDonald winning his race easily, it means the only changes to the council makeup will be those forced by the retirements of Megan O’Hara Sullivan and Nancy Sommerfield.

Toowoomba magnate Gary Gardner is in the box seat to claim one of the spots, with real estate agent Trevor Manteufel in 10th and widening his gap against nearest challenger Mark Orford.

In a remarkable case of voter homogeneity across the region, there is very little change to the top 10 candidates from booth to booth even in smaller townships.

Just eight of more than 50 booths have seen counting start, but early voting results have shown a minimal difference between residents’ preferences in Toowoomba, Pittsworth, Oakey and Crows Nest.

One of the only exceptions is Millmerran, where Crows Nest police officer Chris Brameld is in 10th place.

In Cecil Plains, disability advocate Paul Wilson is beating out Mr Manteufel slightly for the final spot.

The slow vote count by the ECQ is reportedly due to the size of the Toowoomba region.

“In the Toowoomba Regional Council area, which is one of the state’s biggest undivided councils, the first-past-the-post voting method is used,” as spokeswoman said.

“Counting for these elections is a complex process that is resource and time intensive.

“In consultation with the Toowoomba Regional Council, and with all candidates advised, this extremely large and complex count was commenced on the Sunday after election day to reduce the complexity in moving partially completed counts from booths to the returning officer.”