2028 Queensland local elections
The 2028 Queensland local elections are scheduled to be held on 25 March 2028 to elect the mayors and councils of the 77 local government areas in Queensland, Australia.
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Electoral systems
editMayors and single-member wards
editAll 77 councils use optional preferential voting (OPV) for mayoral elections. Under OPV, voters are only required to vote for one candidates, although they can choose to preference other candidates.[2]
In the 22 councils that use single-member wards (including Brisbane, Gold Coast and Townsville) OPV is also used.[3]
Multi-member wards
editOnly Ipswich uses multi-member wards, with four two-member wards (resulting in eight total councillors).[4]
No form of preferential voting is in place, with plurality block voting (also referred to as first-past-the-post by the Electoral Commission) is instead used, 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.[5][6]
Undivided councils
edit54 councils are undivided, meaning they do not use any forms of wards and all councillors are elected in a single area representing the entire LGA.[7]
Plurality block voting is used for these councils.[5]
Party changes before elections
editA number of councillors joined, left or formed parties before the 2024 elections.
| Council | Ward | Councillor | Former party | New party | Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns | Division 5 | Rob Pyne | Ind. Socialist Alliance | Independent Greens | 29 April 2024 | ||
Political parties
editQueensland councils are largely non-partisan. Most wards are not contested by political parties and are rarely successful when they do. The sole exception to this is Brisbane, which is contested by the Liberal National Party, Labor and the Greens. These parties are all likely to recontest in 2028.[8] There are also a number of councillors and candidates who are members of political parties but ran as independents.
References
edit- ^ "So when is the next federal election? A quick guide". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
Queensland local government elections are held every 4 years on the last Saturday in March, unless changed by regulation.
- ^ Green, Antony (23 February 2024). "Election Preview". ABC News.
- ^ "Is my council a divided, multi-member divided or undivided council?" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "How Ipswich will be divided after next council election". Brisbane Times. 11 July 2019.
- ^ a b "First-past-the-post voting". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Qld Local Government". ABC News.
- ^ "Govt makes new Mackay council undivided". ABC News. 28 September 2007.
- ^ Sriranganathan, Jonathan (10 April 2024). "Solid swings but not many ward wins – unpacking the results of the 2024 Brisbane City Council election". Green Agenda. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
The lower turnout from younger people/renters has hurt our results yet again, and this is one of the major challenges the Greens will have to grapple with next council election in 2028.