Congratulations to the winners and commiserations to those candidates who didn’t get the numbers required in the council election.
Last week Inside Ipswich predicted it would be a close run for mayor, in Divisions 3 and 4, and Paul Tully and Nicole Jonic would be safely returned in Division 2.
It wasn’t quite as close as I thought for mayor with Teresa Harding and nearest rival David Martin both increasing their first preference vote compared to 2020.
In the unofficial preliminary count with 76 per cent of votes counted Harding is sitting comfortably with 45 percent with Martin on 32 per cent.
Martin will naturally be very disappointed with his second tilt for mayor after being in campaign mode for the last four years while still holding down a fulltime job. It will be a bitter pill to swallow after a highly visible campaign.
At the time of this column going to print Division 3 is on a knife edge with former mayor Andrew Antoniolli just ahead of Andrew Fechner after see-sawing numbers early in the count. Marnie Doyle is assured of a second term as one of two councillors in this Division.
Meanwhile in Division 4 former Ipswich West MP Jim Madden has been triumphant in his bid to run for council and after 54 per cent of the vote counted it is likely he will be joined by newcomer David Cullen at the expense of Russell Milligan.
In Division 1 after 52 per cent of the vote counted Jacob Madsen will be safely returned. The numbers for the second councillor position are also close but favouring Pye Augustine over Simon Ingram. Both ran in this Division in 2020 so with Sheila Ireland out of the picture either Augustine or Ingram will fill the second councillor spot.
As a community we should thank all candidates, regardless of political flavour, for putting themselves forward for public office.
Democracy can offer some cruel outcomes and is certainly character building for candidates. I’m sure we’ll see some of the 2024 names on ballot papers in the future.
Got something to share? Contact Inside Ipswich [email protected]
