March 5, 2024
A large crowd packed Taras Hall in Nanango on Sunday afternoon for the final South Burnett candidates forum before the March 16 poll.
The forum was organised by the Nanango Business Alliance and followed similar events held last month in Murgon, Kingaroy and Blackbutt.
All four Mayoral candidates and all but two of the candidates running for Divisions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 attended to outline their reasons for standing (see audio files, below).
Cr Danita Potter – who was re-elected for Division 3 unopposed – was also invited to explain what she hoped to achieve during her next four-year term.
The afternoon began with the four Mayoral candidates who were each given 10 minutes to speak, followed by 15 minutes’ question time.
After this, Divisional candidates were invited to speak for five minutes each, with two intervening Q&A sessions.
There were also two short breaks for refreshments.
The meeting proceeded rapidly, however, it soon became obvious many members of the audience were only interested in the two local election races – Divisions 1 and 2 – because they left before candidates for Divisions 4, 5 and 6 took to the floor.
The Q&A sessions also proceeded fairly smoothly although at one point a person jumped up and demanded to know “who’s the master?” of the council and later earned a mild rebuke from compere Terry Mackrell for interjecting.
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Mayoral Candidates
In the order they spoke:
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Divisional Candidates
In the order they spoke:
