Toowoomba council elections: Gary Gardner closes in on spot amid slow ECQ vote counting

The head of one of Queensland’s biggest companies is closing in on a regional councillor spot, declaring he’s “not there to make friends”.

FKG Group executive chairman and Toowoomba business identity Gary Gardner will run for council at the upcoming local government elections. Picture by Andrew Coates, Salt Studios

Respected Toowoomba businessman Gary Gardner has declared he is not joining council “to make friends”, after polling well from the weekend’s election.

The make-up of the next Toowoomba Regional Council is taking shape despite an extraordinarily slow count as of Monday, with just 22 per cent of ballots processed by the Electoral Commission of Queensland as of Monday afternoon.

The figure is among the lowest in the state.

Mr Gardner, who chairs one of Queensland’s largest private companies in construction and development firm FKG Group, is currently polling fourth behind incumbents Rebecca Vonhoff, Melissa Taylor and James O’Shea.

Promising to be a one-term councillor, the prominent Toowoomba identity reaffirmed his message from the campaign that the council’s leadership needed a shake-up.

“I’m not there to make friends, I’m only going to do one term and that’s no secret either,” Mr Gardner said.

“I’m there to make change — I think council should work closer with business.

“Everyone is complaining about red tape in town, there’s not a business that doesn’t think that it’s not a problem.

“While the people at the top keep saying it’s all fine, nothing will change — my priority is some change, and that starts at the top.”

Mr Gardner also took aim at the council’s handling of the Cressbrook Dam spillway upgrades, which will cost upwards of $270m and must be completed by October next year.

Mayor Geoff McDonald has indicated the council will take on more debt to fund the upgrade if it can’t secure a state government bailout, a situation Mr Gardner found “disgusting”.

“This (is a) dam that we’ve known about for so long (needed upgrades), when both governments have been throwing money hand over fist — I’m surprised we don’t apply for more grants,” he said.

Mr Gardner could be joined on council by real estate agent Trevor Manteufel, who is polling in 10th spot.

But hot on his heels is small business owner and self-proclaimed conservative Mark Orford, who is less than 1000 votes behind.

Candidate Mark Orford speaking at Toowoomba Decides Toowoomba Regional Council candidate forum at Toowoomba Turf Club, Thursday, March 7, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Trevor had a much bigger budget, I had set myself $1000 and I blew $2000 (in the end) and his is five to six times that,” Mr Orford said.

“I’m not holding any great confidence but we’ll see what happens.

“I wouldn’t have a crack unless I thought I had a chance of winning.”

An ECQ spokeswoman said the size of the Toowoomba region and resource-intensive nature of first-past-the-post voting meant counting would take time.

“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,” she 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.”