The votes are in and the count is underway in the 2024 Queensland local government elections, which will determine the make-up of the Sunshine Coast and Noosa councils.
Both those local councils will have new mayors, with Mark Jamieson and Clare Stewart respectively stepping down.
As of 5.57pm on Sunday and with 79.56 per cent of the vote counted, Rosanna Natoli had 27.31 per cent of the vote on the Sunshine Coast, ahead of Ashley Robinson with 24.51 per cent and Jason O’Pray with 21.65 per cent. Min Swan had 16.24 per cent, Wayne Parcell had 6.42 per cent and Michael Burgess had 3.86 per cent.
In Noosa, with 78.55 per cent of the vote counted, Frank Wilkie had 40.07 per cent of the vote for mayor, ahead of Ingrid Jackson, with 23.45 per cent. Nick Hluszko had 21.04 per cent and John Morrall had 15.44 per cent.
In the race for Sunshine Coast councillor roles, Jenny Broderick, Terry Landsberg, Tim Burns, Joe Natoli, Ted Hungerford, Taylor Bunnag and Maria Suarez held strong leads in their respective divisions, with between 54 and 80 per cent of the vote counted.
The vote is much closer in two divisions: current councillor Winston Johnston led Tracy Burton by just six votes in Division 5 (Sunshine Coast hinterland), while policeman Peter Walsh had 103 more votes than incumbent David Law in Division 10 (Nambour, Yandina and hinterland).
Division 6 incumbent Christian Dickson was essentially declared the winner of his electorate (Mountain Creek, Sippy Downs and part of Buderim) on Monday, in the absence of other candidates.
In the race for Noosa councillor roles, with 19.28 per cent counted, Nicola Wilson, Tom Wegener, Amelia Lorentsen, Brian Stockwell, Jess Phillips and Alecia Staines led the way.
Related story: Who’s in: nominations for council elections finalised
Mayors and councillors are up for election across Queensland’s 77 local governments, with about 3.5 million people voting.
About 1.4 million electors had already voted before election day, the Queensland Electoral Commission said.
“This number represents over 40 per cent of eligible voters,” it said.
The local council elections took place on Saturday alongside two state government by-elections.
The by-elections were in Inala and Ipswich West after respective members, former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Jim Madden, resigned.
According to the Electoral Commission of Queensland website, after the close of polls at 6pm on Saturday a preliminary count will be conducted in polling booths and the results progressively published on its website.
The official count will commence from Sunday. The results website will be updated as counting progresses with the completion of official counts and addition of returned postal votes.
The ECQ cannot declare any results until the outcome is mathematically certain and it may not be possible for it to declare a result until after the final cut-off for the return of postal votes on Tuesday, March 26.
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