Results of Bundaberg council report card as scored by readers

Hundreds of NewsMail readers have scored the Bundaberg mayor, councillors and most powerful bureaucrat based on their performance - and the results are not pretty. Read the full results:

Bundaberg Council - a NewsMail readers poll conducted in January 2024 scored the mayor, the CEO and every councillor bar two, a fail.

On March 16, 2024, voters will head to the polls to have their final say on the performance of the incumbent Bundaberg Regional Council and elect the council that will lead this region through the next four years.

With the local government election costing Bundaberg ratepayers almost $600,000, and many new candidates already announcing their intention to run, the election promises to deliver a robust campaign.

The council’s next term may include some new faces, but it guarantees a shake-up of divisional boundaries and responsibilities.

A poll launched on January 2, asked NewsMail readers to score each of the 10 councillors, mayor Jack Dempsey and CEO Stephen Johnston, based on their performance individually and as a whole in 2023.

Click here to see the poll and the full results, which are not pretty.

The Mayor's report card, based on the scores given by hundreds of NewsMail readers, was not good.

All but two councillors scored an E; one of those was Wayne Honor, who will retire in March, and who scored an average of C.

Twenty seven per cent of the 200+ readers who scored Mr Honor gave him a C, 24 per cent gave him a B and 23 per cent gave him an E.

Greg Barnes fared slightly better, with 52 per cent of readers grading him higher than a C, the votes equally distributed between an A and a B.

The rest of the councillors averaged an E, including the council as a whole, and the mayor and the CEO.

CEOs are not voted in to council, but the NewsMail gave readers a chance to have their say on Mr Johnston as he is the highest paid person in the council, earning well over $400,000 a year, and has the most power and authority.

More than 70 per cent of the 307 people who scored Mr Johnston gave him an E.

The Bundaberg Council Report Card January 2024, as scored by hundreds of NewsMail readers, was not pretty.

For the first time, the NewsMail encouraged readers to have their say on what they would like to see more of from the council in 2024, giving candidates and incumbent councillors an insight into what ratepayers are looking for from their council.

With more than 10 options, including waste, roads, parking and cultural events almost half of votes backed the need for council to focus on “transparency”, an issue that continues to raise its head.

Keep an eye out for tomorrow’s follow-up article on the poll, on how Mr Johnston, Mr Dempsey and the council responded to the poll results.

See all the results here.

Originally published as Results of Bundaberg council report card as scored by readers