# 2008 Townsville City Council election

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

## 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.
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. 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).

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

## Results
### Mayor

2008 Queensland mayoral elections: Townsville :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Team Tyrell | Les Tyrell | 47,956 | 54.64 | +54.64 |
| | Labor | Tony Mooney | 31,524 | 35.91 | −37.65 |
| | Community Voices | Jenny Stirling | 6,343 | 7.23 | |
| | Independent | Rolando Taviani | 1,292 | 1.47 | |
| | Independent | Francis Pauler | 660 | 0.75 | |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 87,775 | 98.71 | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 1,145 | 1.29 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 88,920 | | |
| | Team Tyrell gain from Labor | Team Tyrell gain from Labor | Swing | | |

### Councillors

2008 Queensland local elections: Townsville :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Team Tyrell | David Crisafulli (elected) | 47,040 | 4.87 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Jenny Lane (elected) | 42,716 | 4.42 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Dale Last (elected) | 38,865 | 4.02 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Rob McCahill (elected) | 38,490 | 3.98 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Ray Gartrell (elected) | 37,449 | 3.88 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Deanne Bell (elected) | 37,474 | 3.88 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Sue Blom (elected) | 37,362 | 3.87 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Brian Hewett (elected) | 35,781 | 3.70 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Vern Veitch (elected) | 35,152 | 3.64 | |
| | Labor | Jenny Hill (elected) | 34,544 | 3.58 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Tony Parsons (elected) | 33,951 | 3.51 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Natalie Marr (elected) | 33,538 | 3.47 | |
| | Team Tyrell | Brenda-Anne Parfitt | 30,466 | 3.15 | |
| | Labor | Terry Goldsworthy | 27,494 | 2.85 | |
| | Labor | Jack Wilson | 27,148 | 2.81 | |
| | Labor | Les Walker | 26,423 | 2.74 | |
| | Labor | David Mather | 26,142 | 2.71 | |
| | Labor | Peter Whalley-Thompson | 25,625 | 2.65 | |
| | Labor | Mandy Johnstone | 25,449 | 2.63 | |
| | Labor | John Robertson | 25,409 | 2.63 | |
| | | Sandra Chesney | 23,761 | 2.46 | |
| | | Joanne Keune | 20,041 | 2.07 | |
| | | Jeff Jimmieson | 19,188 | 1.99 | |
| | | David Moyle | 19,093 | 1.98 | |
| | | Ken Turner | 18,248 | 1.89 | |
| | Community Voices | Lindy Collins | 17,095 | 1.77 | |
| | | Doug Kingston | 16,820 | 1.74 | |
| | Community Voices | Gail Hamilton | 14,336 | 1.48 | |
| | Community Voices | Sam Reuben | 13,012 | 1.35 | |
| | | Mark McGregor | 11,521 | 1.19 | |
| | | Jim Gleeson | 11,142 | 1.15 | |
| | | Sue Rush | 10,336 | 1.07 | |
| | | Adrienne Isnard | 9,774 | 1.01 | |
| | | Dianne Rogers | 9,126 | 0.94 | |
| | | Brian Bensley | 7,498 | 0.78 | |
| | | Paul Lynham | 7,096 | 0.73 | |
| | | Peter Hanley | 7,040 | 0.73 | |
| | | Kenneth Stark | 6,743 | 0.70 | |
| | | Gaye Newey | 6,682 | 0.69 | |
| | | David Kault | 6,587 | 0.68 | |
| | | Leeanne Hanna-McGuffie | 6,071 | 0.63 | |
| | | Dave Robinson | 5,981 | 0.62 | |
| | | Norm Petrie | 5,726 | 0.59 | |
| | | Michael Collins | 5,364 | 0.56 | |
| | | John Waszkiewicz | 5,328 | 0.55 | |
| | | Peter Newey | 5,038 | 0.52 | |
| | | Russell Bowe | 4,335 | 0.45 | |
| | | Kevin Cameron | 3,432 | 0.36 | |
| | | Harrison H. Duncan | 3,164 | 0.33 | |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 966,096 | 100.0 | |
| Total formal ballots | Total formal ballots | Total formal ballots | 88,920 | 99.14 | |
| Informal ballots | Informal ballots | Informal ballots | 8,412 | 0.86 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 974,508 | 84.68 | |
| Party total seats | Party total seats | Party total seats | Party total seats | Seats | ± |
| | Team Tyrell | Team Tyrell | Team Tyrell | 11 | 11 |
| | Labor | Labor | Labor | 1 | |
| | Independent | Independent | Independent | 0 | |
| | Community Voices | Community Voices | Community Voices | 0 | |