| Country: | Queensland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Election Date: | 16 March 2024 |
| Previous Election: | 2020 Queensland local elections |
| Previous Year: | 2020 |
| Next Election: | 2028 Queensland local elections |
| Next Year: | 2028 |
| Image1: | IND |
| Leader1: | N/A |
| Party1: | Independents |
| Last Election1: | 424 seats |
| Seats Before1: | 424 |
| Seats1: | 446 |
| Seat Change1: | 22 |
| Leader2: | Adrian Schrinner |
| Party2: | Liberal National Party of Queensland |
| Last Election2: | 19 seats |
| Seats Before2: | 19 |
| Seats2: | 18 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Leader4: | Jared Cassidy |
| Party4: | Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch) |
| Last Election4: | 5 seats |
| Seats Before4: | 5 |
| Seats4: | 5 |
| Leader5: | No leader |
| Party5: | Greens |
| Last Election5: | 1 seat |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats5: | 2 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
The 2024 Queensland local elections were held on 16 March 2024 to elect the mayors and councils of the 77 local government areas in Queensland, Australia.[1] [2]
The original scheduled elections date of 30 March 2024 was moved ahead to 16 March to avoid clashing with Easter holidays.[3]
The elections were held on the same day as the state by-elections in Inala and Ipswich West.
There was a surprisingly large number of candidates elected unopposed in many council elections across Queensland, including some mayoral races. The lack of opposition to these candidates was criticised by experts as being bad for democracy.[4]
Like at state and federal elections, voting at Queensland local elections is compulsory.[5] The elections are conducted by the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ).[6]
All 77 councils use optional preferential voting (OPV) for mayoral elections. Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidates, although they can choose to preference other candidates.[7]
In the 22 councils that use single-member wards (including Brisbane, Gold Coast and Townsville) OPV is also used.[8]
Only Ipswich uses multi-member wards, with four two-member wards (resulting in eight total councillors).[9]
No form of preferential voting is in place, with plurality block voting − also referred to as first-past-the-post by the ECQ − instead used.[10] 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).[11]
54 councils are undivided, meaning they do not use any forms of wards and all councillors are elected to a single area representing the entire council.[12]
Plurality block voting is used for these councils.[10]
1,422 candidates were nominated for the elections at the close of nominations on 14 February 2024.[13]
Steve "Jacko" Jackson, a former rugby league footballer, ran for mayor of Mackay. Former MP George Christensen contested Mackay Regional Council as a candidate for Jackson's Mackay First ticket.[14]
Another former federal MP, Andrew Laming, ran for mayor of Redland. On 25 January 2024, he confirmed he had dropped his Liberal National Party (LNP) membership, saying it had "no place" at a local level".[15] 15 mayoral positions and 46 councillor positions were uncontested, the highest number since 2012.[13]
On 21 February, the LNP disendorsed Brisbane City Council candidate Brock Alexander after comments he allegedly made about the parents of Daniel Morecombe came to light. Alexander was a candidate for Deagon Ward, and his name still appeared on the ballot as he was disendorsed after the close of nominations.[16]
An analysis from the ABC found that over 10% of independents in the elections were members of a political party.[17]
A number of councillors joined, left or formed parties before the 2024 elections.
| Council | Ward | Councillor | Former party | New party | Date | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast | Division 9 | Glenn Tozer | Independent LNP | Independent | June 2020[18] [19] | |||||
| Cairns | Division 2 | Rob Pyne | Independent Socialist | Socialist Alliance | 23 September 2020[20] | |||||
| Redland | Mayor | Karen Williams | Independent | Independent LNP | 17 May 2021[21] | |||||
| Cairns | Division 9 | Brett Olds | Independent LNP | Independent | 20 September 2021[22] | |||||
| Moreton Bay | Division 7 | Yvonne Barlow | Independent LNP | Independent | 2022[23] [24] | |||||
| Scenic Rim | Mayor | Greg Christensen | Independent LNP | Independent | 26 April 2023[25] | |||||
| Cairns | Division 5 | Amy Eden | Cairns Unity | Team Eden | 14 July 2023[26] [27] | |||||
| Mackay | Unsubdivided | Belinda Hassan | Greg Williamson Alliance | Independent Labor | 15 December 2023[28] | |||||
| Mackay | Unsubdivided | Fran Mann | Greg Williamson Alliance | Independent Labor | 15 December 2023 | |||||
| Mackay | Unsubdivided | Justin Englert | Greg Williamson Alliance | Independent | 15 December 2023 | |||||
| Mackay | Unsubdivided | Pauline Townsend | Greg Williamson Alliance | Independent | 15 December 2023 | |||||
See main article: Results of the 2024 Queensland local elections. All changes compared with the 2020 elections.
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Councils | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Change | Number | Change | ||||||
| Liberal National | 329,282 | 18 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Mackay First | 233,137 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Labor | 188,946 | 5 | 0 | ||||||
| Say NO to WOKE | 50,418 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Westgarths | 43,665 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Your Voice Of Experience | 27,288 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Better Brighter Ipswich | 23,613 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Working For Our Community | 21,621 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Independent Federation | 18,801 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Community Centred and Connected | 16,715 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Team Sheila Ireland | 10,256 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Independent Socialist Alliance | 2,296 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Independent United Australia | 2,220 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Independent Democratic | 545 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Independent | 446 | ||||||||
| Independent Liberal National | 40 | 1 | |||||||
| Independent Labor | 29 | 0 | |||||||
| Greens | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Animal Justice | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent Animal Justice | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Team Eden | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Cairns Unity Team | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Jos Mitchell Leading Change | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| Team Jenny Hill | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Team Barwick | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Community First | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| TownsvilleCHANGE | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Team MacRae | 4 | 0 | |||||||
| A Better Lockyer | 1 | 0 | |||||||
| Unity Maranoa | 1 | 0 | |||||||
| Team Greg Williamson | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Locals United - Back to Basics | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent Legalise Cannabis | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent One Nation | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent National | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent Indigenous | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Independent Democrats | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Formal votes | |||||||||
| Informal votes | |||||||||
| Total | |||||||||
| Registered voters / turnout | |||||||||
| LGA | Elected mayor | Council control | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor | Party | 2020 result | 2024 result | ||||||||
| Aurukun | Barbara Bandicootcha | ||||||||||
| Balonne | Samantha O'Toole | ||||||||||
| Banana | Neville Ferrier | ||||||||||
| Barcaldine | Rob Chandler | ||||||||||
| Barcoo | Sally O'Neil | ||||||||||
| Blackall-Tambo | Andrew Martin | ||||||||||
| Boulia | Eric (Rick) Britton | ||||||||||
| Brisbane | Adrian Schrinner | ||||||||||
| Bulloo | John (Tractor) Ferguson | ||||||||||
| Bundaberg | Helen Blackburn | ||||||||||
| Burdekin | Pierina Dalle Cort | ||||||||||
| Burke | Ernie Camp | ||||||||||
| Cairns | Amy Eden | ||||||||||
| Carpentaria | Jack Bawden | ||||||||||
| Cassowary Coast | Teresa Millwood | ||||||||||
| Central Highlands | Janice Moriarty | ||||||||||
| Charters Towers | |||||||||||
| Cherbourg | Bruce Simpson | ||||||||||
| Cloncurry | |||||||||||
| Cook | |||||||||||
| Croydon | |||||||||||
| Diamantina | Francis Murray | ||||||||||
| Doomadgee | |||||||||||
| Douglas | |||||||||||
| Etheridge | Barry Hughes | ||||||||||
| Flinders | |||||||||||
| Fraser Coast | George Seymour | ||||||||||
| Gladstone | Matt Burnett | ||||||||||
| Gold Coast | Tom Tate | ||||||||||
| Goondiwindi | Laurence Springborg | ||||||||||
| Gympie | Glen Hartwig | ||||||||||
| Hinchinbrook | Ramon Jayo | ||||||||||
| Hope Vale | Bruce Gibson | ||||||||||
| Ipswich | Teresa Harding | ||||||||||
| Isaac | Kelly Vea Vea | ||||||||||
| Kowanyama | |||||||||||
| Livingstone | |||||||||||
| Lockhart River | |||||||||||
| Lockyer Valley | |||||||||||
| Logan | Jon Raven | ||||||||||
| Longreach | Tony Rayner | ||||||||||
| Mackay | Greg Williamson | ||||||||||
| Mapoon | Ronaldo Guivarro | ||||||||||
| Maranoa | Wendy Taylor | ||||||||||
| Mareeba | Angela Toppin | ||||||||||
| McKinlay | |||||||||||
| Moreton Bay | Peter Flannery | ||||||||||
| Mornington | |||||||||||
| Mount Isa | Peta MacRae | ||||||||||
| Murweh | Shaun Radnedge | ||||||||||
| Napranum | |||||||||||
| Noosa | Frank Wilkie | ||||||||||
| North Burnett | |||||||||||
| Northern Peninsula | |||||||||||
| Palm Island | |||||||||||
| Paroo | |||||||||||
| Pormpuraaw | |||||||||||
| Quilpie | |||||||||||
| Redland | Jos Mitchell | ||||||||||
| Richmond | John Wharton | ||||||||||
| Rockhampton | Tony Williams | ||||||||||
| Scenic Rim | Tom Sharp | ||||||||||
| Somerset | |||||||||||
| South Burnett | Kathy Duff | ||||||||||
| Southern Downs | |||||||||||
| Sunshine Coast | Rosanna Natoli | ||||||||||
| Tablelands | |||||||||||
| Toowoomba | Geoff McDonald | ||||||||||
| Torres | |||||||||||
| Torres Strait Islands | |||||||||||
| Townsville | Troy Thompson | ||||||||||
| Western Downs | |||||||||||
| Whistunday | |||||||||||
| Winton | Cathy White | ||||||||||
| Woorabinda | |||||||||||
| Wujal Wujal | |||||||||||
| Yarrabah | |||||||||||