Chaos the only winner in council elections fiasco

Labor must urgently clear up the chaos its botched local government changes are causing in Rockhampton and Townsville, the LNP said today.

Rockhampton’s mayoral election runner-up Chris ‘Pineapple’ Hooper is set to be installed as Mayor for a matter of weeks before being ousted by new emergency legislation, while a candidate who secured only 18 per cent of votes in the 2020 Townsville local government elections is set to be offered the vacant Division 10 council seat.

Shadow Local Government Minister Ann Leahy said Labor’s electoral laws should never have been introduced and were delivering farcical outcomes for Queensland.

“It would be a complete debacle and embarrassment if Chris ‘Pineapple’ Hooper was able to be the Mayor for a week or two and had to be sacked because of Labor’s laws,” Ms Leahy said.

“I have nothing against Chris, but as an ‘accidental’ mayor he is the victim of Labor’s manipulation of the system – as are the people of Rockhampton who deserve certainty about their region’s leadership.

“Labor’s election reforms could have seen a mayor elected with just one vote – all they needed to do was come second in a two-horse race.

“The LNP has been warning about this situation for months.

“The new Local Government Minister Steven Miles needs to come out immediately and tell the people of Rockhampton and Townsville how Labor plans to fix its mess.

“Voters must be told what the process will be and when it will happen.

“Labor is solely responsible for this mess.

“They need to be up front about how they will clean it up.”