# 2020 Ipswich City Council election

The 2020 Ipswich City Council election was held on 28 March 2020 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.
Teresa Harding was elected mayor with 62.98% of the vote after preferences, becoming the first non-Labor Party aligned Ipswich mayor in 50 years.
The election saw significant changes to the council's electoral system, and followed its dismissal in August 2018.

## Background
### 2017 mayoral by-election

On 6 June 2017, mayor Paul Pisasale announced his resignation, citing a decline in his health due to multiple sclerosis. The announcement came one day after his office was searched by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission and police.
Andrew Antoniolli was elected mayor with 54.44% of the vote after preferences.

### 2018 dismissal

In May 2018, Antoniolli was charged with seven counts of corruption forcing him to stand down and administrators to take over Ipswich City Council.
In August 2018, the Queensland Government passed legislation to dismiss all Ipswich councillors and replace them with an administrator. The dismissal officially came into effect on 21 August.
Greg Chemello was appointed as administrator to serve for the rest of the term.

## Electoral system

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.
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. 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.
The electoral system for mayor was unchanged.

## Candidates

Teresa Harding, a government contractor and former two-time Liberal National candidate for Blair, contested the mayoral election without any party endorsement.
Two Labor Party members, Mark Williams and Ursula Monsiegneur, contested the mayoral election as Independent Labor candidates.
Pat Walsh was endorsed by the Greens to contest the mayoralty. The Liberal Democrats endorsed two councillor candidates, husband and wife Anthony and Jacinta Bull.
Paul Tully, who served as a councillor for 39 years until its dismissal, led the "Your Voice Of Experience" ticket in Division 2.

## Results
### Mayor

2020 Queensland mayoral elections: Ipswich :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 40,026 | 41.11 | +41.11 |
| | Independent | David Martin | 23,037 | 23.66 | +23.66 |
| | Greens | Pat Walsh | 14,411 | 14.80 | +8.07 |
| | Independent Labor | Mark Williams | 7,035 | 7.23 | +7.23 |
| | Independent | Chris Smith | 6,102 | 6.27 | +6.27 |
| | Independent Labor | Ursula Monsiegneur | 5,276 | 5.42 | +5.42 |
| | Independent | Karakan Kochardy | 1,466 | 1.51 | +1.51 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 104,879 | 78.64 | |
| Two-candidate-preferred result ||||||
| | Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 42,542 | 62.98 | +62.98 |
| | Independent | David Martin | 25,003 | 37.02 | +37.02 |
| | Independent LNP gain from Independent Labor | Independent LNP gain from Independent Labor | Swing | N/A | |
* Changes compared with 2017 Ipswich mayoral by-election

### Councillors

2020 Queensland local elections: Ipswich :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 37,280 | 40.41 | | 2 | 4 |
| | Your Voice of Experience | Your Voice of Experience | 18,917 | 20.50 | +20.50 | 2 | 2 |
| | Independent | Independent | 15,212 | 16.49 | | 4 | |
| | Team WORK | Team WORK | 7,483 | 8.11 | | 0 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats | 7,433 | 8.06 | | 0 | |
| | Independent LNP | Independent LNP | 5,931 | 6.43 | | 0 | |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 184,512 | 100.0 | | | |
| Formal ballots | Formal ballots | Formal ballots | 92,256 | 88.73 | | | |
| Informal ballots | Informal ballots | Informal ballots | 11,720 | 11.27 | | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 103,976 | 100.0 | | 8 | 2 |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 133,368 | 77.96 | | | |

### Division 1

2020 Queensland local elections: Division 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Sheila Ireland (elected) | 8,280 | 19.64 | |
| | Independent Labor | Jacob Madsen (elected) | 7,936 | 18.82 | |
| | Independent LNP | Simon Ingram | 5,931 | 14.07 | |
| | Independent Labor | Pye Augustine | 5,560 | 13.19 | |
| | Independent | Kendal Newman | 4,535 | 10.76 | |
| | Independent | Jim Thompson | 4,155 | 9.85 | |
| | Independent | Conny Turni | 2,970 | 7.04 | |
| | Independent | Will Jankovic | 2,799 | 6.64 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 24,106 | 78.43 | |
| | Independent win | Independent win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |
| | Independent Labor win | Independent Labor win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |

### Division 2

2020 Queensland local elections: Division 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Your Voice Of Experience | Paul Tully (elected) | 10,896 | 21.87 | |
| | Your Voice Of Experience | Nicole Jonic (elected) | 8,021 | 16.10 | |
| | Independent | Steven Purcell | 4,916 | 9.87 | |
| | Independent | Sarah Knopke | 4,716 | 9.47 | |
| | Independent | Luise Manning | 4,642 | 9.32 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Anthony Bull | 3,830 | 7.69 | |
| | Independent | James Pinnell | 3,216 | 6.46 | |
| | Independent | Paul Modra | 2,666 | 5.35 | |
| | Independent | Andrea Dunn | 2,414 | 4.85 | |
| | Independent | Sirle Adamson | 2,284 | 4.59 | |
| | Independent | Brad Hunt | 2,213 | 4.44 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 27,647 | 78.90 | |
| | Your Voice Of Experience win | Your Voice Of Experience win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |
| | Your Voice Of Experience win | Your Voice Of Experience win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |

### Division 3

2020 Queensland local elections: Division 3 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Marnie Doyle (elected) | 10,398 | 21.66 | |
| | Independent | Andrew Fechner (elected) | 5,743 | 11.96 | |
| | Independent | Jim Dodrill | 5,041 | 10.50 | |
| | Team WORK | Alyson Lewis | 4,924 | 10.26 | |
| | Independent Labor | Toni Gibbs | 4,877 | 10.16 | |
| | Independent | David Box | 4,466 | 9.30 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jacinta Bull | 3,603 | 7.50 | |
| | Team WORK | Bill Heck | 2,559 | 5.33 | |
| | Independent | Rochelle Caloon | 1,942 | 4.04 | |
| | Independent | Darren Close | 1,905 | 3.97 | |
| | Independent Labor | Drew Pickwick | 1,762 | 3.67 | |
| | Independent | Kevin Le Grice | 792 | 1.65 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 27,080 | 75.81 | |
| | Independent win | Independent win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |
| | Independent win | Independent win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |

### Division 4

2020 Queensland local elections: Division 4 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent Labor | Kate Kunzelmann (elected) | 9,354 | 21.01 | |
| | Independent | Russell Milligan (elected) | 8,057 | 18.10 | |
| | Independent Labor | Susan Dunne | 7,791 | 17.50 | |
| | Independent | Gary Duffy | 7,022 | 15.77 | |
| | Independent | Brian Scott | 6,695 | 15.04 | |
| | Independent | Shane Blake | 5,601 | 12.58 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,143 | 78.89 | |
| | Independent Labor win | Independent Labor win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |
| | Independent win | Independent win | (new ward) | (new ward) | (new ward) |