Meet the Division 5 candidates

The Sunshine Coast Council Elections will be held on Saturday March 16, with early voting starting from Monday March 4. To assist the Division 5 community in choosing their best candidate, Maleny Forums will be holding a ‘Meet the Candidates’ event on Tuesday February 20 at 6pm, at the Maleny Community Centre, 23 Maple Street, Maleny.

There are three known candidates for Division 5 (at the time of writing). This includes the incumbent, Winston Johnston, member of LNP; Tracy Burton, of the Queensland Green Party, and Richard Bruinsma, Independent.

This forum will provide an opportunity to hear how each candidate intends to represent the Division on issues such as affordable housing, development, town planning, protection of the environment, and many more.  

Attendees will have the chance to submit questions for each candidate to address in a Q and A session.  

Make your vote count by making an informed choice. Please arrive from 5.45pm for a prompt at 6pm start. There’s so much to talk about!

Maleny Forums, your hosts for the event, have been running community forums since 2019. 

Local resident Roger Westcott first thought of the idea for the group, and an informal committee was created, including Spencer Shaw, Barry Eastman, Claire Booth, Sheila Bryden, Barry Smith, and Amelia Ross.

Everyone agreed the forum would be about bringing community together, floating ideas and finding helpful ways to move forward with any local issues or concerns.

The group is managed by volunteers and have continued to meet over the last few years when issues arise that need community input and effort to result in positive outcomes for Maleny and the surrounding area.

Updates for the ‘Meet the Candidates’ event and upcoming forums can be found on the ‘Maleny Forums’ Facebook page.