Division 2 councillor Sue Blom won’t contest 2024 Townsville City Council election

Townsville’s independent councillor for Division 2 has announced she won’t contest the upcoming local government election. Find out why.

Cr Sue Blom at Peggy Banfield Park at Bushland Beach. Picture: Evan Morgan

Townsville’s independent councillor for Division 2, Sue Blom, has shocked the city with an announcement that she would not contest the upcoming local government election.

Originally a hairdressing small-business owner, Cr Blom was elected as part of Team Tyrell in 2008, before going on to serve three terms with Townsville City Council, representing the city’s northern suburbs of Burdell, Bushland Beach, Beach Holm, Black River, and Yabulu.

Cr Blom revealed the surprise news to her electorate that she was stepping away from local government politics on March 16, 2024, in a post to her social media account on Sunday morning.

“There is no long service leave in this line of work so four years off it is and if we aren’t looked after by whoever takes my place, (they) may be challenged in 2028.”

Cr Blom told the Townsville Bulletin that she had mulled stepping down from the council over the last six months after her husband of 40 years, Derek, had a health scare.

Cr Sue Blom during a Townsville City Council meeting in 2021. Picture: Shae Beplate

Sue and Derek Blom at the 2014 Theatre Season launch at Riverway. Picture: Michael Chambers

“I wouldn’t be able to do my job correctly for the next four years, my husband needs some time off, and in this job, you don’t get a long service leave option,” she said.

“We’ve got plans that we need to do before we’re too old to do it … there’s lots of Australia we haven’t seen that we’d like to see.

“My thing is to do the correct thing by the community and step down for now.”

With the next election six months away, she said it was “only fair” for the candidates for Division 2 to “run freely.”

Townsville City Council election independents in 2020, Asti Poole, Trevor Roberts, Stephen Duffie, Corey Davis, Sue Blom, Sandra Chesney and mayoral candidate Sam Cox. Picture: Matt Taylor

Cr Sue Blom, Mayor Jenny Hill and Cr Tony Parsons at Peggy Banfield park in 2015, which was to get an upgrade.

While she still hadn’t achieved everything she would have liked, Cr Blom took pride in what she had helped deliver, including the Peggy Banfield Park regeneration easement, the easement at Saunders Beach to protect the community from flooding, the widening of Mount Low Parkway, and the North Shore Boulevard upgrade.

She was hopeful that an independent candidate could continue to represent her division.

“(Being independent) certainly keeps your integrity in place … being the voice of the community,” she said.

“Give it a go … you don’t have to be a scholar, you just have to care about the community.

“I think for us in our community, it’s very loud and clear that they prefer to have somebody that they choose, not that somebody chooses for them.”

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill acknowledged Cr Sue Blom’s many years of service to not only the Northern Beaches area, but to Townsville more broadly.

“While we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, I have never doubted Cr Blom’s dedication to her constituents,” Cr Hill said.

“I wish her and Derek all the best for the next stage of their lives”

Originally published as Division 2 councillor Sue Blom won’t contest 2024 Townsville City Council election