The 2020 Ipswich City Council election was held on 28 March 2020 to elect a mayor and eight councillors to the City of Ipswich. The election was held as part of the statewide local elections in Queensland, Australia.[1]
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| Turnout | 78.64% (mayoral election) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mayor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All 9 members on the City Council (including the Mayor) 5 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Teresa Harding was elected mayor with 62.98% of the vote after preferences, becoming the first non-Labor Party aligned Ipswich mayor in 50 years.[2]
The election saw significant changes to the council's electoral system, and followed its dismissal in August 2018.[3]
Background
edit2017 mayoral by-election
editOn 6 June 2017, mayor Paul Pisasale announced his resignation, citing a decline in his health due to multiple sclerosis. The announcement came one day after his office was searched by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission and police.[4]
Andrew Antoniolli was elected mayor with 54.44% of the vote after preferences.[5]
2018 dismissal
editIn May 2018, Antoniolli was charged with seven counts of corruption forcing him to stand down and administrators to take over Ipswich City Council.[4][6]
In August 2018, the Queensland Government passed legislation to dismiss all Ipswich councillors and replace them with an administrator.[7] The dismissal officially came into effect on 21 August.[8]
Greg Chemello was appointed as administrator to serve for the rest of the term.[9]
Electoral system
editPrior to 2020, Ipswich City Council was composed of a directly elected mayor and 10 single-member wards (or divisions), both using optional preferential voting.[3]
In July 2019, it was announced that the 10 single-member wards would be replaced by four two-member wards, reducing the total amount of councillors to eight.[3] Preferential voting was removed and replaced by plurality block voting (also referred to as first-past-the-post by the Electoral Commission), where voters are only required to mark the same amount of candidates as there are positions to be elected − in the case of Ipswich, two candidates.[10][11]
The electoral system for mayor was unchanged.[3]
Candidates
editTeresa Harding, a government contractor and former two-time Liberal National candidate for Blair, contested the mayoral election without any party endorsement.[2]
Two Labor Party members, Mark Williams and Ursula Monsiegneur, contested the mayoral election as Independent Labor candidates.[12][13]
Pat Walsh was endorsed by the Greens to contest the mayoralty. The Liberal Democrats endorsed two councillor candidates, husband and wife Anthony and Jacinta Bull.[14]
Paul Tully, who served as a councillor for 39 years until its dismissal, led the "Your Voice Of Experience" ticket in Division 2.[15]
Results
editMayor
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 40,026 | 41.11 | +41.11 | |
| Independent | David Martin | 23,037 | 23.66 | +23.66 | |
| Greens | Pat Walsh | 14,411 | 14.80 | +8.07 | |
| Independent Labor | Mark Williams | 7,035 | 7.23 | +7.23 | |
| Independent | Chris Smith | 6,102 | 6.27 | +6.27 | |
| Independent Labor | Ursula Monsiegneur | 5,276 | 5.42 | +5.42 | |
| Independent | Karakan Kochardy | 1,466 | 1.51 | +1.51 | |
| Turnout | 104,879 | 78.64 | |||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 42,542 | 62.98 | +62.98 | |
| Independent | David Martin | 25,003 | 37.02 | +37.02 | |
| Independent LNP gain from Independent Labor | Swing | N/A | |||
- Changes compared with 2017 Ipswich mayoral by-election
Councillors
edit| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Labor | 37,280 | 40.41 | 2 |  4
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| Your Voice of Experience | 18,917 | 20.50 | +20.50 | 2 |  2
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| Independent | 15,212 | 16.49 | 4 | 
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| Team WORK | 7,483 | 8.11 | 0 |
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| Liberal Democrats | 7,433 | 8.06 | 0 |
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| Independent LNP | 5,931 | 6.43 | 0 |
| |||
| Formal votes | 184,512 | 100.0 | |||||
| Formal ballots | 92,256 | 88.73 | |||||
| Informal ballots | 11,720 | 11.27 | |||||
| Total | 103,976 | 100.0 | 8 | 2
| |||
| Registered voters / turnout | 133,368 | 77.96 | |||||
Division 1
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Sheila Ireland (elected) | 8,280 | 19.64 | ||
| Independent Labor | Jacob Madsen (elected) | 7,936 | 18.82 | ||
| Independent LNP | Simon Ingram | 5,931 | 14.07 | ||
| Independent Labor | Pye Augustine | 5,560 | 13.19 | ||
| Independent | Kendal Newman | 4,535 | 10.76 | ||
| Independent | Jim Thompson | 4,155 | 9.85 | ||
| Independent | Conny Turni | 2,970 | 7.04 | ||
| Independent | Will Jankovic | 2,799 | 6.64 | ||
| Turnout | 24,106 | 78.43 | |||
| Independent win | (new ward) | ||||
| Independent Labor win | (new ward) | ||||
Division 2
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your Voice Of Experience | Paul Tully (elected) | 10,896 | 21.87 | ||
| Your Voice Of Experience | Nicole Jonic (elected) | 8,021 | 16.10 | ||
| Independent | Steven Purcell | 4,916 | 9.87 | ||
| Independent | Sarah Knopke | 4,716 | 9.47 | ||
| Independent | Luise Manning | 4,642 | 9.32 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Anthony Bull | 3,830 | 7.69 | ||
| Independent | James Pinnell | 3,216 | 6.46 | ||
| Independent | Paul Modra | 2,666 | 5.35 | ||
| Independent | Andrea Dunn | 2,414 | 4.85 | ||
| Independent | Sirle Adamson | 2,284 | 4.59 | ||
| Independent | Brad Hunt | 2,213 | 4.44 | ||
| Turnout | 27,647 | 78.90 | |||
| Your Voice Of Experience win | (new ward) | ||||
| Your Voice Of Experience win | (new ward) | ||||
Division 3
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Marnie Doyle (elected) | 10,398 | 21.66 | ||
| Independent | Andrew Fechner (elected) | 5,743 | 11.96 | ||
| Independent | Jim Dodrill | 5,041 | 10.50 | ||
| Team WORK | Alyson Lewis | 4,924 | 10.26 | ||
| Independent Labor | Toni Gibbs | 4,877 | 10.16 | ||
| Independent | David Box | 4,466 | 9.30 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Jacinta Bull | 3,603 | 7.50 | ||
| Team WORK | Bill Heck | 2,559 | 5.33 | ||
| Independent | Rochelle Caloon | 1,942 | 4.04 | ||
| Independent | Darren Close | 1,905 | 3.97 | ||
| Independent Labor | Drew Pickwick | 1,762 | 3.67 | ||
| Independent | Kevin Le Grice | 792 | 1.65 | ||
| Turnout | 27,080 | 75.81 | |||
| Independent win | (new ward) | ||||
| Independent win | (new ward) | ||||
Division 4
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Labor | Kate Kunzelmann (elected) | 9,354 | 21.01 | ||
| Independent | Russell Milligan (elected) | 8,057 | 18.10 | ||
| Independent Labor | Susan Dunne | 7,791 | 17.50 | ||
| Independent | Gary Duffy | 7,022 | 15.77 | ||
| Independent | Brian Scott | 6,695 | 15.04 | ||
| Independent | Shane Blake | 5,601 | 12.58 | ||
| Turnout | 25,143 | 78.89 | |||
| Independent Labor win | (new ward) | ||||
| Independent win | (new ward) | ||||
References
edit- ^ "2020 Local Government Elections". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024.
- ^ a b "First non-Labor-aligned mayor in 50 years likely in Ipswich". Brisbane Times.
- ^ a b c d "How Ipswich will be divided after next council election". Brisbane Times. 11 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Pisasale steps down as Ipswich Mayor in hospital gown amid CCC investigation". ABC News. 6 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017.
- ^ "2017 Ipswich City Council Mayoral By-Election - Election Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Results - Division 7 By-Election". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
- ^ Johnson, Hayden (21 August 2018). "UPDATE: MPs sack Ipswich council, appoint administrator". The Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Allegations of corruption related to the Ipswich City Council (Operation Windage)". Crime and Corruption Commission Queensland.
- ^ "Interim administrator appointed for Ipswich City Council". Brisbane Times.
- ^ "First-past-the-post voting". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Qld Local Government". ABC News.
- ^ "MARK THOMAS WILLIAMS". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "URSULA JANE MONSIEGNEUR". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Candidates hold tight to top spots". The Courier Mail.
- ^ "Veteran ex-councillor back with a new team". The Courier Mail. 3 March 2020.
- ^ "Ipswich City Mayor". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Ipswich City Division 1 Councillor". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Ipswich City Division 2 Councillor". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Ipswich City Division 3 Councillor". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Ipswich City Division 4 Councillor". Electoral Commission of Queensland.