By Jeremy Cook
Commercial lawyer and water rights advocate Melissa Hamilton is expected to claim victory in Saturday’s mayoral election after several days of uncertainty for Southern Downs voters.
Ms Hamilton held a lead of more than 2200 votes over her next closest opponent, winning 47 per cent of the primary vote ahead of incumbent Vic Pennisi’s 37 per cent at the time of print.
Voters went to the polls on 16 March to choose between Ms Hamilton and two other mayoral candidates, incumbent Mayor Vic Pennisi and farmer Lindsay Goodwin.
With preference votes still to be counted, Ms Hamilton met with council chief executive Dave Burges for a pre-briefing on Tuesday and said she expected the electoral commission to declare a result by Thursday.
“The preference vote is being done now and it looks like it is reflecting the trends in voting,” she said on Tuesday.
“I’m looking forward to getting into the job and starting to work for the region.”
A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission of Queensland said a winner would be declared once the outcome is certain.
“Preference counts commence once all available ballot papers are on hand, including all postal ballots,” the spokeswoman said.
“Counting will continue until all available votes have been counted, noting that postal votes can be accepted up to 10 days after election day.”
Incumbent Vic Pennisi, an elected member of local government since 2004, said he was waiting for preferences to be counted and told Warwick Stanthorpe Today on Tuesday morning he had yet to speak with his opponent.
“It’s not like state and federal politics where people concede. That doesn’t happen in local government,” he said.
“It’s different in local government, but like I say, let’s wait for the preferences and we’ll go from there.”
Ms Hamilton said she was overwhelmed by the support received throughout her campaign.
“If the voting trends continue then I am ready to lead a new council that works together to get things done for all of our wonderful communities,” she said.
Lindsay Goodwin, who spent large parts of the campaign in hospital, had mixed feelings about his polling numbers after collecting just 16 per cent of the primary vote.
“[I’m] disappointed, but I’m happy with how many I got,” Goodwin said.
“I spent the whole time in hospital so it was really hard to get out amongst the people.”
An incumbent mayor has never been returned to office at an election in the Southern Downs Regional Council’s short history. Following amalgamation in 2008, inaugural Mayor Ron Bellingham did not recontest in 2012 when Peter Blundell was elected.
Blundell was later defeated in 2016 by Tracey Dobie who in turn lost to Vic Pennisi four years later.
If 2024 results do indeed remain in favour of Melissa Hamilton, Pennisi will become the third straight incumbent to lose the Southern Downs mayoralty.
“Over the last two weeks the message I’ve heard from voters is that we need change,” Hamilton said.
“People are looking for something different to what they’ve had from the current council.”
Approximately 22,622 first preference votes had been counted by midday on Tuesday.
The state’s electoral commission will continue to publish results online as counts are finalised, an ECQ spokeswoman said.
