Councils to have their time cut short

Councils across Queensland will have couple of weeks dropped from the end of their current terms following a decision by the Queensland Cabinet last week.

The Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning and Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympic and Paralympic Games Infrastructure, Dr Stephen Miles, said on the advice of the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ), Cabinet has approved bringing forward the date of the local government election.

The 2024 Local Government election now will be held on Saturday 16 March, 2024.

The election was previously scheduled for Saturday 30 March, 2024, which is Easter Saturday next year and the first weekend of the school holidays.

Dr Miles said during school holiday periods, many Queenslanders take holidays to other parts of Queensland, interstate and overseas.

“This would likely see a significant increase in postal and telephone votes, potentially creating delays to declaring election results,” he said.

A similar situation happened in 2016, and the date was moved to be the week prior.

Dr Miles said the new date will support Queenslanders, councillors and candidates to plan for the campaign and voting day.