Senator Andrew Bartlett gives his take on the local elections in Brisbane.

Local government elections were held around Queensland yesterday. As with most elections over the last 20 years, I spent a large chunk of the day at a polling booth.

However, this time I spent it helping to staff the fundraising stall for my daughter’s school, selling cakes and coffee and sausages to all the voters walking past.

It was a nice change trying to sell people coffee rather than hassle them with a how to vote - (I thought I’d leave others to sizzle the sausages, as my vegan proselytising might have dampened sales a bit). 

There seemed to be far fewer people than there were at the federal election, with only a steady trickle compared to the long queues in evidence last year. It seems from the results that voter turnout was quite low.  My booth was in the ward of Central, and according to the ABC website only just over 60 per cent of enrolled voters turned out on the day.

No doubt there were a fair few postal and pre-poll votes, but I’d be surprised if that came to more than another 5 per cent or so. 

The page showing the results for every ward in Brisbane City Council has Central as the lowest of any of the 26, but even the highest is just 76 per cent, which I suppose is a reflection of a fairly lacklustre campaign (perhaps in part due to lacklustre mainstream media interest.)