by Janine Hill
DIVISION 10 candidate Peter Walsh appeared to have snared division 10 from councillor David Law in the primary vote but did not like his chance of hanging on after the allocation of preferences.
Mr Walsh said he might still “jag it” but believed preferences from Greens candidate Sue Etheridge would favour Cr Law.
Mr Walsh was sitting on 35.98% versus Cr Law on 33.64% as of yesterday.
Ms Etheridge achieved 16.70% of the vote while retired medic and homeless advocate Camillo Primavera had won 13.68%.
Although he was ahead in the primary vote, Mr Walsh believed he would be “rolled” by Cr Law in the distribution of preferences.
“I might pick up some second preferences but not as many as David is going to get,” he said.
Cr Law was not ready to jump to conclusions.
‘Community’ versus ‘back to basics’
“The result is too close to call at the moment,” said Cr Law. “This will now come down to preferences.
“I’m very grateful to my incredible team of volunteers who spread their positivity and kindness across this election process.”
Cr Law painted the contest for Division 10 as a clear choice between “creating community”, with himself, or going “back to basics” with Mr Walsh.
“From the conversations I’ve been having, I know that my work over the past four years has resonated with many people,” he said.
Cr Law said people appreciated his community focus, positive attitude, determination, support and guidance and strength when needed.
“Most importantly, (they) appreciate my honesty, even when the truth is hard to hear.
“I would very much like to continue representing the people of Division 10 on the next Sunshine Coast Council. There is more important work to be done.”
Mr Walsh made a point of saying that he believed candidates should be upfront about their political alignments and affinities so that voters understood who they were really supporting.
“Local government should be about representation, not politics,” he said.
He said campaigning had been a great experience.
“I met a lot of great people along the journey, people I’ll probably now call friends,” he said.
“I met all kinds of people of different persuasions and different politics.
“One guy did 10 hours for me at the Kenilworth polling booth who I only met eight weeks ago at the Average Joes and we just clicked.
“I’ll probably still go to the Average Joes at Kenilworth because they’re a great bunch of people.”
A police officer and army reservist, Mr Walsh had to leave for a defence force training course collecting his corflutes from the roadsides on Sunday and will monitor the results from Newcastle.