Noosa has retained its independence this State Election, returning Sandy Bolton to the seat of Noosa as the only independent MP in Parliament.
“We did it. How proud I am of our beautiful community,” Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said.
“In the spirit which has seen us come through fires, floods and pandemics, Noosa sent a strong message of support for remaining independent and unique, leading the way in Queensland on how politics can and must be done. How excited I am for the coming term.”
Ms Bolton said since she first took office as an independent in 2017 the Noosa community had been “enormously successful” in its achievements which include Stage 1 of Tewantin Bypass completed with $8.5 million to fast-track designs of remaining stages, Six Mile Bridge #7 between Pomona and Cooran completed, $37m for further Kin Kin/ Pomona Road Safety, $71m for Lake Macdonald Dam Upgrade, Noosa District SHS Pomona Hall completed and $300k to upgrade Noosa Tigers lighting.
She said she was honoured to be given the opportunity to finish some of her work including to be at the sod turning for the Sunshine Beach Manufacturing Hub and grand opening of the former TAFE site, and to tackle the next priorities.
“How very humbled I have been with the outpouring of heartfelt love and support during the campaign, with over 200 volunteers coming forward to assist which has been deeply appreciated,” she said.
“My gratitude to everyone who has been along on this journey, the Team Noosa ‘army’ and my very exhausted campaign crew, and all who went to the polls. A special call out to fellow candidates and their volunteers who we had a wonderful time with during pre-poll and on election day, with plenty of laughter and new friends made.”
To be elected again to represent Noosa, in its diversity, passion and at times, opposing viewpoints is the greatest of honours, and a privilege unlike any other, Ms Bolton said.
“Noosa is my forever home and very extended ‘family’. To those who campaigned with respect for our community, thank you and blessings. Your efforts as part of creating elections free of tokenism, poor behaviour and deliberate deceptions have been deeply appreciated,” she said.
“To those who followed a different path, as I have said, our community deserves much better, and I trust that we never again see the ‘’US style politics’’ that crept in via those ‘scratchies.
Ms Bolton has already started work in preparation for a new government and ensuring all election commitments made to our community are honoured.
“Again, thank you Noosa. With incredible memories, as well as a croaky voice from pre poll and election day, I will take a couple of days out whilst we are still in caretaker to catch up on a backlog of work and washing! Then, we are back into full throttle, and I look forward to seeing you online and offline, streetside, and at the many events in preparation for what will be an extremely busy holiday period, with our Noosa MP annual survey opening 1 December 2024. We have much to celebrate and do,” she said.
On Monday the Electoral Commission Queensland had counted about 24,000 of the electorates 38,567 registered voters.
In their first preference count Sandy Bolton (Independent) had received about 45 per cent of the votes, Clare Stewart (LNP) about 37 per cent, Mark Denham (Labor) about 9 per cent, Rhonda Prescott (Greens) about 5 per cent, Darrel Hinson (One Nation) about 4 per cent and Felicity Roser (Family First) about 1 per cent.
The unofficial preference count showed Sandy Bolton gaining over 58 per cent of the vote and Clare Stewart with about 42 per cent of the vote.
Polling booth volunteers at the Saturday election commented on the small numbers of voters compared to previous elections after about 16,000 Noosa voters had opted to cast their vote at early voting centres over the two weeks prior to Election Day.
