The wash up.

Well the Maranoa has spoken for the next 4 years and it would appear very little has changed. It looks like all of the sitting councillors, with the exception on Jeff Watson have been returned with Ree Price in a battle with Peter Keegan for the last place.
 

It would also appear that David Schefe and Peter Flynn have made a successful return to local government with the only newcomer to local government being Cameron O’Niel.

 

I must say, I have been surprised by the outcome, as throughout my travels, I have heard what I thought was an overwhelming call for change in council. This has not occurred. It seems that in spite of the rhetoric, once the voters have been faced with the cold reality of who to choose, they have elected to retain the existing council instead of choosing a new one. Better the devil you know, I guess...

 

I am disappointed that I was not successful in my campaign, but I am not about to go and throw myself off a bridge over it. I guess I didn’t do a good enough job at selling myself to the electorate. Either that or they did not like what they saw. I feel that I can hold my head up as having run a clean and honest campaign. No-one can take that away from me.

 

Am I going to try again? Well, that’s 4 years away, a lot can happen so let’s just wait and see. The immediate challenge is seeing what the mood of the new council is like and how it functions. The complete dynamic has changed as a result of 3 different councillors being elected.

 

We must ensure that we hold them to their promises. Promises for open and accountable government, promises to implement portfolios, promises to decentralise some operations and promises to better engage with the community.

 

In closing, I wish to thank those people who decided to vote for me as your candidate on council. I am humbled and grateful for every vote I received. To those who did not vote for me, I’m sorry that I did not convince you of my merits as your chosen candidate. To my fellow candidates who did not get elected, thankyou for the competition and to those new councillors elected, congratulations on your success.

 

I’ll probably wind the blog down a bit now, maybe a name change? Maybe a change in focus? Maybe I might run a commentary on council? We’ll see what the future brings.

To all my loyal blog readers over the campaign, I thank you for giving me your time and reading what I had to say.