“At the last election,whilst it improved its share of the mayoralty vote,it lost a further two divisions bringing it to its lowest level of local representation for decades.”
Across Brisbane’s 26 council wards,independent Nicole Johnston (Tennyson) has the highest two-party preferred margin of more than 26 per cent.
The LNP administration holds 19 wards,while Labor holds just five. Cr Johnston holds Tennyson in Brisbane's south-east and Greens councillor Jonathan Sri holds inner-city ward of The Gabba.
Ryan Murphy’s swift exit from his ward of Doboy,where he faced a fight with just a 4 per cent margin,means he now sits in lord mayor Adrian Schrinner’s former ward of Chandler with the LNP’s highest margin of 24 per cent.
Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding,who contested the 2016 election against Cr Quirk and is running again next year,said Professor Mickel's comments showed the LNP was focused on its own interests.
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"Mayor Schrinner helped Cr Murphy abandon the people of Doboy for self interest. Cr Owen abandoned the people of Calamvale to try and enter Federal Parliament and of course we have seen this LNP administration abandon the suburbs for the last 15 years,"he said.
"It is only by electing a Labor team that will put a stop to the LNP's massive waste and shine a light on their secrecy and lack of transparency of the LNP."
Professor Mickel said the LNP’s smooth transition showed long-term planning would make it harder for Labor to oust sitting councillors.
“The result for Labor from 2016 was that they lost the two wards with retiring councillors serving their full terms,” he said.
"Labor holds just five of the 26 wards,one of which is Jared Cassidy’s,now the only Labor member on the northside of Brisbane.
“Since the 2016 election,Labor’s only new face is in Morningside where former leader Shayne Sutton resigned with Labor’s replacement Kara Cook winning the by-election in January 2018.
“The question for 2020 is whether Labor has learnt from the past and is taking notice of the stealth-like tactics of the LNP.”
City planning chairman Matthew Bourke has a comfortable 19 per cent margin in his ward of Jamboree,while new councillor (and former LNP state MP) Tracy Davis has a 15 per cent margin in her new ward of McDowall.
Two of the LNP’s newest councillors,however,have more of a fight on their hands with Lisa Atwood to contest the seat of Doboy on a 4 per cent margin and Fiona Cunningham in Coorparoo on a 2 per cent margin.
The LNP’s Northgate ward councillor and finance chairman Adam Allan has the slimmest margin of the administration on just 1.71 per cent,after wresting Northgate from Labor in the 2016 election.
Deputy Labor leader Jared Cassidy (Deagon) will also have a fight in 2020 after winning his ward on preferences with a margin of just under 4 per cent.
Labor’s Charles Strunk in Forest Lake Ward and Kara Cook in Morningside are both on margins of under 6 per cent,while opposition leader Peter Cumming holds Wynnum Manly on 11.5 per cent.