The high-profile Bundaberg mayor, Jack Dempsey, has announced he will contest the federal election as an independent, running against the federal resources minister, Keith Pitt.
Dempsey is a former Liberal National party state minister, who held the police and Indigenous affairs portfolios in the Newman government.
He told the Guardian last month the LNP had become “obsessed by coal” and was out of step with regional people, a theme he built on in a statement announcing his candidacy.
“As the minister for coal, Mr Pitt is out of touch with the local community on climate change, the housing crisis, flood mitigation and coal mining,” Dempsey said.
Pitt holds the seat of Hinkler by a comfortable margin of 14.5%.
The electorate stretches from Hervey Bay – an area where the population skews older, and which Labor unexpectedly won at the state election – to the regional city of Bundaberg, where Dempsey has served as mayor since 2016. He was the LNP state member for Bundaberg from 2006 to 2015.
His candidacy has long been rumoured and throws out the form book in a seat the Coalition would have been expecting to hold comfortably.
Dempsey has in recent years taken several progressive positions, including opposition to a cashless welfare trial and issuing a formal apology for the historical practice of “blackbirding”.
In his statement, Dempsey said the region had untapped agriculture potential that could turn around the local economy.
“Hinkler is the food bowl of Australia and with positive change we’ll become the nation’s capital for agricultural technology and bio-energy,” Dempsey said.
“It’s unacceptable that Hinkler continues to be one of the most socially disadvantaged parts of Australia.
“It’s clear that after nine years in office that Keith Pitt has no ideas to boost employment and economic development, or to address inequality.”
Dempsey said he will take leave from the council when the election is called. Pitt released a statement calling on him to resign.
“It’s very clear that he hasn’t been interested in [his constituents] for quite some time,” Pitt said.
“He’s been relentlessly pursuing a federal agenda for many months.
“Who is paying for the mayor’s campaign? Has the mayor handed back his ratepayer-funded car and phone? Are council staff assisting on the mayor’s campaign? Who will his preferences go to? These are all questions ratepayers deserve an answer to.”
