# 2024 Ipswich City Council election

The 2024 Ipswich City Council election was held on 16 March 2024 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 re-elected mayor with 57.73% of the vote after preferences, a swing of 5.25% against her.

## Background

At the 2020 election, Teresa Harding was elected mayor, defeating six other candidates. She was the first non-Labor Party aligned Ipswich mayor in 50 years.
Four independents, two Independent Labor candidates and two candidates on the "Your Voice Of Experience" ticket were also elected as councillors.
Division 3 councillor Marnie Doyle joined the Labor Party in March 2023.

## 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.
Optional preferential voting is used for the mayoral election.

## Candidates

In April 2023, former councillor David Martin stated he would again run for mayor after his unsuccessful campaign in 2020.
Division 1 councillor Sheila Ireland announced in December 2023 that she would contest the mayoralty and form Team Sheila Ireland.
Marnie Doyle and Andrew Fechner, the two Division 3 councillors, formed the "Better Brighter Ipswich" ticket in early 2024. Former mayor Andrew Antoniolli, who won the 2017 by-election before the council was dismissed in 2018, also contested Division 3 as an independent, having previously been a Labor member.
On 26 January 2024, Ipswich West MP Jim Madden resigned from the Queensland state parliament to contest Division 4. This triggered a by-election in his seat, held on the same day as the local elections.

## Results
### Mayor

2024 Queensland mayoral elections: Ipswich :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 54,721 | 45.62 | +4.51 |
| | Independent | David Martin | 38,029 | 31.70 | +8.04 |
| | Team Sheila Ireland | Sheila Ireland | 12,857 | 10.72 | +10.72 |
| | Independent | Peter Robinson | 8,338 | 6.95 | +6.95 |
| | Independent | Ken Salter | 3,428 | 2.86 | +2.86 |
| | Independent | Karakan Kochardy | 2,576 | 2.15 | +0.64 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 126,812 | 81.42 | |
| Two-candidate-preferred result ||||||
| | Independent LNP | Teresa Harding | 58,413 | 57.73 | −5.25 |
| | Independent | David Martin | 42,771 | 42.27 | +5.25 |
| | Independent LNP hold | Independent LNP hold | Swing | | |

### Councillors

2024 Queensland local elections: Ipswich :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 83,359 | 37.07 | −3.34 | 4 | 2 |
| | Independent | Independent | 43,406 | 19.30 | +2.81 | 1 | |
| | Your Voice of Experience | Your Voice of Experience | 27,288 | 12.13 | −8.37 | 2 | |
| | Better Brighter Ipswich | Better Brighter Ipswich | 23,613 | 10.50 | +10.50 | 1 | 1 |
| | Working For Our Community | Working For Our Community | 21,621 | 9.61 | +9.61 | 0 | |
| | Greens | Greens | 15,355 | 6.83 | +6.83 | 0 | |
| | Team Sheila Ireland | Team Sheila Ireland | 10,256 | 4.56 | +4.56 | 0 | 1 |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 224,898 | 100.0 | | | |
| Formal ballots | Formal ballots | Formal ballots | 112,449 | 89.32 | +0.58 | | |
| Informal ballots | Informal ballots | Informal ballots | 13,450 | 10.68 | −0.58 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 125,899 | 100.0 | | 8 | |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 155,753 | 80.83 | +2.87 | | |

### Division 1

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent Labor | Jacob Madsen (elected) | 16,520 | 30.17 | +11.35 |
| | Independent Labor | Pye Augustine (elected) | 14,306 | 26.13 | +12.94 |
| | Independent | Simon Ingram | 13,674 | 24.97 | +10.90 |
| | Team Sheila Ireland | Josh Addison | 10,256 | 18.73 | −0.91 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,171 | 80.43 | +2.00 |
| | Independent Labor hold | Independent Labor hold | Swing | +11.35 | |
| | Independent Labor gain from Team Sheila Ireland | Independent Labor gain from Team Sheila Ireland | Swing | N/A | |
* Incumbent councillor Sheila Ireland (Independent, later Team Sheila Ireland) ran for mayor and therefore did not recontest
* Josh Addison compared with Sheila Ireland at the 2020 election

### Division 2

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Your Voice Of Experience | Paul Tully (elected) | 13,953 | 22.68 | +0.81 |
| | Your Voice Of Experience | Nicole Jonic (elected) | 13,335 | 21.68 | +5.58 |
| | Working For Community | Helen Youngberry | 10,980 | 17.85 | +17.85 |
| | Working For Community | Steven Purcell | 10,641 | 17.30 | +7.43 |
| | Independent Labor | Neetu Singh Suhag | 6,476 | 10.53 | +10.53 |
| | Independent Labor | Vincent Do | 6,133 | 9.97 | +9.97 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 33,850 | 81.81 | +2.91 |
| | Your Voice Of Experience hold | Your Voice Of Experience hold | Swing | +0.81 | |
| | Your Voice Of Experience hold | Your Voice Of Experience hold | Swing | +5.58 | |

### Division 3

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 3 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Better Brighter Ipswich | Marnie Doyle (elected) | 12,944 | 22.69 | +1.03 |
| | Independent | Andrew Antoniolli (elected) | 11,387 | 19.96 | +19.96 |
| | Better Brighter Ipswich | Andrew Fechner | 10,669 | 18.70 | +6.74 |
| | Greens | Danielle Mutton | 7,805 | 13.68 | +13.68 |
| | Greens | Tracey Nayler | 7,550 | 13.23 | +13.23 |
| | Independent | David Box | 6,695 | 11.74 | +2.44 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,850 | 79.30 | +3.49 |
| | Better Brighter Ipswich hold | Better Brighter Ipswich hold | Swing | +1.03 | |
| | Independent gain from Better Brighter Ipswich | Independent gain from Better Brighter Ipswich | Swing | N/A | |
* Incumbent councillors Marnie Doyle and Andrew Fechner (both independents) formed Better Brighter Ipswich in 2024

### Division 4

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 4 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent Labor | Jim Madden (elected) | 15,950 | 30.93 | +30.93 |
| | Independent Labor | David Cullen (elected) | 13,378 | 25.94 | +25.94 |
| | Independent | Russell Milligan | 11,650 | 22.59 | +4.49 |
| | Independent Labor | Sue Dunne | 10,596 | 20.55 | +3.05 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 29,028 | 81.87 | +2.98 |
| | Independent Labor hold | Independent Labor hold | Swing | N/A | |
| | Independent Labor gain from Independent | Independent Labor gain from Independent | Swing | N/A | |
* Incumbent councillor Kate Kunzelmann (Independent Labor) did not recontest