2024 Ipswich City Council 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2024 Ipswich City Council election was held on 16 March 2024 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]
Teresa Harding was re-elected mayor with 57.73% of the vote after preferences, a swing of 5.25% against her.[2]
Background[edit]
At the 2020 election, Teresa Harding was elected mayor, defeating six other candidates. She was the first non-Labor Party aligned Ipswich mayor in 50 years.[3]
Four independents, two Independent Labor candidates and two candidates on the "Your Voice Of Experience" ticket were also elected as councillors.[4]
Division 3 councillor Marnie Doyle joined the Labor Party in March 2023.[5]
Electoral system[edit]
Prior to 2020, Ipswich City Council was composed of a directly elected mayor and 10 single-member wards (or divisions), both using optional preferential voting.[6]
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.[6] 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.[7][8]
Optional preferential voting is used for the mayoral election.[6]
Candidates[edit]
In April 2023, former councillor David Martin stated he would again run for mayor after his unsuccessful campaign in 2020.[9]
Division 1 councillor Sheila Ireland announced in December 2023 that she would contest the mayoralty and form Team Sheila Ireland.[10]
Marnie Doyle and Andrew Fechner, the two Division 3 councillors, formed the "Better Brighter Ipswich" ticket in early 2024.[11] Former mayor Andrew Antoniolli, who won the 2017 by-election before the council was dismissed in 2018, also contested Division 3 as an independent, having previously been a Labor member.[12]
On 26 January 2024, Ipswich West MP Jim Madden resigned from the Queensland state parliament to contest Division 4. This triggered a by-election in his seat, held on the same day as the local elections.[13]
Results[edit]
Mayor[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 54,721 | 45.62 | +4.51 | |
| Independent | David Martin | 38,029 | 31.70 | +8.04 | |
| Team Sheila Ireland | Sheila Ireland | 12,857 | 10.72 | +10.72 | |
| Independent | Peter Robinson | 8,338 | 6.95 | +6.95 | |
| Independent | Ken Salter | 3,428 | 2.86 | +2.86 | |
| Independent | Karakan Kochardy | 2,576 | 2.15 | +0.64 | |
| Turnout | 126,812 | 81.42 | |||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 58,413 | 57.73 | −5.25 | |
| Independent | David Martin | 42,771 | 42.27 | +5.25 | |
| Independent LNP hold | Swing | ||||
Councillors[edit]
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Labor | 83,359 | 37.07 | −3.34 | 4 |  2
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| Independent | 43,406 | 19.30 | +2.81 | 1 | 
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| Your Voice of Experience | 27,288 | 12.13 | −8.37 | 2 |
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| Better Brighter Ipswich | 23,613 | 10.50 | +10.50 | 1 |  1
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| Working For Oor Community | 21,621 | 9.61 | +9.61 | 0 |
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| Greens | 15,355 | 6.83 | +6.83 | 0 |
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| Team Sheila Ireland | 10,256 | 4.56 | +4.56 | 0 | 1
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| Formal votes | 224,898 | 100.0 | |||||
| Formal ballots | 112,449 | 89.32 | +0.58 | ||||
| Informal ballots | 13,450 | 10.68 | −0.58 | ||||
| Total | 125,899 | 100.0 | 8 | ||||
| Registered voters / turnout | 155,753 | 80.83 | +2.87 | ||||
Division 1[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Labor | Jacob Madsen (elected) | 16,520 | 30.17 | +11.35 | |
| Independent Labor | Pye Augustine (elected) | 14,306 | 26.13 | +12.94 | |
| Independent | Simon Ingram | 13,674 | 24.97 | +10.90 | |
| Team Sheila Ireland | Josh Addison | 10,256 | 18.73 | −0.91 | |
| Turnout | 31,171 | 80.43 | +2.00 | ||
| Independent Labor hold | Swing | +11.35 | |||
| Independent Labor gain from Team Sheila Ireland | Swing | N/A | |||
- Incumbent councillor Sheila Ireland (Independent, later Team Sheila Ireland) ran for mayor and therefore did not recontest
- Josh Addison compared with Sheila Ireland at the 2020 election
Division 2[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your Voice Of Experience | Paul Tully (elected) | 13,953 | 22.68 | +0.81 | |
| Your Voice Of Experience | Nicole Jonic (elected) | 13,335 | 21.68 | +5.58 | |
| Working For Community | Helen Youngberry | 10,980 | 17.85 | +17.85 | |
| Working For Community | Steven Purcell | 10,641 | 17.30 | +7.43 | |
| Independent Labor | Neetu Singh Suhag | 6,476 | 10.53 | +10.53 | |
| Independent Labor | Vincent Do | 6,133 | 9.97 | +9.97 | |
| Turnout | 33,850 | 81.81 | +2.91 | ||
| Your Voice Of Experience hold | Swing | +0.81 | |||
| Your Voice Of Experience hold | Swing | +5.58 | |||
Division 3[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Brighter Ipswich | Marnie Doyle (elected) | 12,944 | 22.69 | +1.03 | |
| Independent | Andrew Antoniolli (elected) | 11,387 | 19.96 | +19.96 | |
| Better Brighter Ipswich | Andrew Fechner | 10,669 | 18.70 | +6.74 | |
| Greens | Danielle Mutton | 7,805 | 13.68 | +13.68 | |
| Greens | Tracey Nayler | 7,550 | 13.23 | +13.23 | |
| Independent | David Box | 6,695 | 11.74 | +2.44 | |
| Turnout | 31,850 | 79.30 | +3.49 | ||
| Better Brighter Ipswich hold | Swing | +1.03 | |||
| Independent gain from Better Brighter Ipswich | Swing | N/A | |||
- Incumbent councillors Marnie Doyle and Andrew Fechner (both independents) formed Better Brighter Ipswich in 2024
Division 4[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Labor | Jim Madden (elected) | 15,950 | 30.93 | +30.93 | |
| Independent Labor | David Cullen (elected) | 13,378 | 25.94 | +25.94 | |
| Independent | Russell Milligan | 11,650 | 22.59 | +4.49 | |
| Independent Labor | Sue Dunne | 10,596 | 20.55 | +3.05 | |
| Turnout | 29,028 | 81.87 | +2.98 | ||
| Independent Labor hold | Swing | N/A | |||
| Independent Labor gain from Independent | Swing | N/A | |||
- Incumbent councillor Kate Kunzelmann (Independent Labor) did not recontest[18]
References[edit]
- ^ "2024 local government elections". Electoral Commission of Queensland. 22 March 2024.
- ^ "New Council reflects modern community". Local Ipswich News. 8 April 2024.
- ^ "First non-Labor-aligned mayor in 50 years likely in Ipswich". Brisbane Times.
- ^ "Veteran ex-councillor back with a new team". The Courier Mail. 3 March 2020.
- ^ "MARNIE LOUISE DOYLE". Electoral Commission of Queensland. 16 March 2024.
- ^ a b c "How Ipswich will be divided after next council election". Brisbane Times. 11 July 2019.
- ^ "First-past-the-post voting". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
- ^ "Qld Local Government". ABC News.
- ^ "Martin bids to become mayor". Local Ipswich News. 18 April 2023.
- ^ "Sheila runs for mayor". The Ipswich Tribune. 20 December 2023.
- ^ "Ipswich City Council election mayoral, division candidates, policies". The Courier Mail. 15 March 2024.
- ^ "Former mayor eyes council return". Local Ipswich News. 1 February 2024.
- ^ Johnson, Hayden (27 January 2024). "Labor MP Jim Madden resigns to run for Ipswich City Council". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: News Corp Australia. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Kunzelmann quits". Local Ipswich News. 7 December 2023.