Ousted MP, acting mayor and former One Nation candidate among mayoral hopefuls

An ousted state MP, the acting mayor and a former One Nation candidate previously accused of posting antisemitic content online are among the candidates to become Redlands mayor.

Former mayor Jos Mitchell quit her post last week, citing a culture of bullying at the bayside council, south-east of Brisbane, triggering a byelection.

Five candidates have so far confirmed they will contest the mayoral race but acting mayor Julie Talty and former local Labor MP Don Brown appear to be the most prominent early frontrunners.

Brown launched his campaign on Facebook, vowing to oppose the Olympic whitewater facility planned for the council, while Talty was quoted in the local paper pitching herself as a steady hand following a period of instability.

“I’ve been sitting in the role since May 10, and I’ve done my very best to put the chaos of the Jos era behind us,” Talty is reported as saying to the Redland Bayside News.

Talty was contacted to comment and confirm she will run, but has not responded to this masthead.

With Mitchell on leave since May, Brown has been shaping for a run online for months.

In a video posted on Monday morning, Brown said his experience in government made him best-placed for the job.

“We need to make sure that we are not spending $250 million on a whitewater white elephant, that’s not what Redlands needs,” he said.

While the infrastructure for the whitewater centre would be paid for by the state and federal governments, the council would take ownership after the games.

“We need to stop the infighting, we need to stop the mess, and you don’t do that by rewarding an existing councillor with the top job,” Brown said.

Last week, the council voted to request a postal ballot for the vote, which will likely be held near Christmas, though there is no official date yet for the poll.

Outside of Brown and Talty, councillor Rowanne McKenzie – a council ally of Talty – is the most well-known, while former One Nation and Trumpet of Patriots candidate Gary Williamson, and local lawyer Jasmine Person have also said they will run.

More councillors are expected to enter the race, with some insiders estimating up to five of the remaining 10 could run. Should any of them win, a second byelection would be needed to fill their council seat.

In a lengthy post on Facebook, McKenzie said as mayor she would focus on getting the basics right.

“With a new City Plan being developed, the state government reviewing the SEQ Regional Plan and the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games approaching, the decisions we make now will have lasting consequences,” she said.

McKenzie and Brown have both previously faced backlash for comments made on Facebook.

In 2023, Brown paid his 2020 LNP candidate bev Walters $50,000 to settle a defamation matter after he made remarks about her wanting to open borders during COVID-19 closures “because she owns a travel agency”.

In 2021, then-member for Redlands Kim Richards used parliamentary privilege to reveal McKenzie had been interviewed by police about a Facebook account named Scarlett Rivers, the IP address of which was traced to her house and which had been used to make allegations about Redland councillor Lance Hewlett’s wife Sheena.

“A fake Facebook profile and email account under the name ‘Scarlett Rivers’ was allegedly created to send Mrs Hewlett’s employer, a Gold Coast kindergarten, unfounded and false accusations in messages that asserted Mrs Hewlett was posting unauthorised images of students on social media,” Richards told parliament.

While he has not had great success, Williamson is no stranger to a campaign.