2008 Townsville City Council election

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2008 Townsville City Council election
Flag of Queensland.svg
 200415 March 2008 (2008-03-15) 2012  
Mayor
 First partySecond party
  LesTyrellcropped.png TonyMooneycropped.png
Candidate Les Tyrell Tony Mooney
Party Team Tyrell Labor
Popular vote47,95631,524
Percentage54.64%35.91%
SwingIncrease2.svg 54.64Decrease2.svg 37.65

Mayor before election

Tony Mooney
Labor

Subsequent Mayor

Les Tyrell
Team Tyrell

Councillors

All 13 members on the City Council (including the Mayor)
7 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
Team Tyrell Les Tyrell 11+11
Labor Tony Mooney 1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 2008 Townsville City Council election was held on 15 March 2008 to elect a mayor and 12 councillors to the City of Townsville. The election was held as part of the statewide local elections in Queensland, Australia. [1]

Contents

The election saw the Australian Labor Party, which had controlled the council for 32 years − the longest-serving Labor administration in Australia − defeated in a landslide by the conservative Team Tyrell, which won all but one of the councillor positions. Incumbent mayor Tony Mooney was among the ALP members defeated. [2]

As of 2024, this was the last time the ALP contested a Townsville City Council election. [3]

Background

Townsville City Council had been controlled by Labor since 1976. Tony Mooney had served as mayor since 1989, when he succeeded Mike Reynolds. At the previous election in 2004, Mooney won 73.56% of the primary vote and 80% of the two-candidate-preferred vote. [4]

In 2007, the Queensland state government engaged in a programme of local government reform, focused on amalgamating local government areas (LGAs) across Queensland. It was recommended that the City of Thuringowa merge with the City of Townsville to form a new, larger council. [5] Although there was some controversy, the merger ultimately took place, with the City of Thuringowa ceasing to exist on 15 March 2008 (the date of the local elections). [6]

Candidates

Les Tyrell, Thuringowa's mayor of 17 years, chose to contest the Townsville mayoral election, leading the Team Tyrell ticket. Incumbent Independent Liberal councillor David Crisafulli ran on the ticket in partnership with Tyrell as a deputy mayoral candidate. [7] [8]

The Greens led a ticket called "Community Voices", although only three out of eight candidates (including mayoral candidate Jenny Stirling) were Greens members. [9] [10]

Results

Mayor

2008 Queensland mayoral elections: Townsville [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Team Tyrell Les Tyrell 47,95654.64+54.64
Labor Tony Mooney 31,52435.91−37.65
Community Voices Jenny Stirling6,3437.23
Independent Rolando Taviani1,2921.47
Independent Francis Pauler6600.75
Total formal votes87,77598.71
Informal votes1,1451.29
Turnout 88,920
Team Tyrell gain from Labor Swing

Councillors

2008 Queensland local elections: Townsville [12] [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Team Tyrell David Crisafulli (elected)47,0404.87
Team Tyrell Jenny Lane (elected)42,7164.42
Team Tyrell Dale Last (elected)38,8654.02
Team Tyrell Rob McCahill (elected)38,4903.98
Team Tyrell Ray Gartrell (elected)37,4493.88
Team Tyrell Deanne Bell (elected)37,4743.88
Team Tyrell Sue Blom (elected)37,3623.87
Team Tyrell Brian Hewett (elected)35,7813.70
Team Tyrell Vern Veitch (elected)35,1523.64
Labor Jenny Hill (elected)34,5443.58
Team Tyrell Tony Parsons (elected)33,9513.51
Team Tyrell Natalie Marr (elected)33,5383.47
Team Tyrell Brenda-Anne Parfitt30,4663.15
Labor Terry Goldsworthy27,4942.85
Labor Jack Wilson27,1482.81
Labor Les Walker26,4232.74
Labor David Mather26,1422.71
Labor Peter Whalley-Thompson25,6252.65
Labor Mandy Johnstone 25,4492.63
Labor John Robertson25,4092.63
Sandra Chesney23,7612.46
Joanne Keune20,0412.07
Jeff Jimmieson19,1881.99
David Moyle19,0931.98
Ken Turner18,2481.89
Community Voices Lindy Collins17,0951.77
Doug Kingston16,8201.74
Community Voices Gail Hamilton14,3361.48
Community Voices Sam Reuben13,0121.35
Mark McGregor11,5211.19
Jim Gleeson11,1421.15
Sue Rush10,3361.07
Adrienne Isnard9,7741.01
Dianne Rogers9,1260.94
Brian Bensley7,4980.78
Paul Lynham7,0960.73
Peter Hanley7,0400.73
Kenneth Stark6,7430.70
Gaye Newey6,6820.69
David Kault6,5870.68
Leeanne Hanna-McGuffie6,0710.63
Dave Robinson5,9810.62
Norm Petrie5,7260.59
Michael Collins5,3640.56
John Waszkiewicz5,3280.55
Peter Newey5,0380.52
Russell Bowe4,3350.45
Kevin Cameron3,4320.36
Harrison H. Duncan3,1640.33
Total formal votes966,096100.0
Total formal ballots88,92099.14
Informal ballots8,4120.86
Turnout 974,50884.68
Party total seatsSeats±
Team Tyrell 11Increase2.svg 11
Labor 1
Independent 0
Community Voices 0Steady2.svg

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References

  1. "2008 Local Government Elections". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023.
  2. "How it happened: a defining moment in politics". Townsville Bulletin. 15 March 2018.
  3. "Labor to run partisan ticket in 2020 Townsville City Council election". Townsville Bulletin. 6 June 2018.
  4. "Candidates cast their votes". Brisbane Times. 15 March 2008.
  5. Queensland Local Government Reform Commission (July 2007). Report of the Local Government Reform Commission (PDF). Vol. 2. pp. 334–339. ISBN   978-1-921057-11-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2011.
  6. "Agency ID 8485, Thuringowa City Council". Queensland State Archives . Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  7. "'Team Tyrell' told to remove election billboard". ABC News. 25 January 2008.
  8. "David Crisafulli elected LNP Leader and David Janetzki Deputy Leader". The North West Star.
  9. "Greens' Stirling makes Townsville mayoral bid". ABC News. 21 December 2007.
  10. "Indigenous support for Tyrell win". ABC News. 20 March 2008.
  11. "2008 Townsville City Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
  12. "2008 Townsville City Council - Councillor Election - Townsville City - Undivided Council Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
  13. "Hill moves closer to securing Townsville council spot". ABC News. 25 March 2008.