Townsville has voted decisively against its former controversial mayor and instead looks likely to elect a bodybuilding, bull-riding former state MP from the populist right in what has been described as one of the biggest swings in Australian electoral history.
Nick Dametto, 42, who was the deputy leader of Katter’s Australian Party’s and a Queensland parliamentarian before resigning and handing in his membership last month to run as an independent in Saturday’s byelection, had received more than 61% of the vote as of Sunday, with just over 30% counted.
Dametto declared victory on Sunday by thanking “the candidates who have reached out and conceded”, ABC reported.
“I’m proud to thank those Townsville residents who voted for hope; hope for a better city, to build the capital of northern Australia,” he said.
Ann-Maree Greaney, the acting mayor – and who will continue to serve on the city council – posted a concession on social media.
“We all want the best for our amazing city and I look forward to working with Nick to deliver for Townsville,” she wrote.
The byelection was triggered after Troy Thompson resigned as mayor in September after being accused of misleading voters about his army service. Thompson was suspended on full pay last November while the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) conducted an investigation into claims he made prior to his successful 2024 campaign.
Thompson won the 2024 three-horse race, with 46.4% of the primary vote.
On Sunday morning, Thompson was fifth of nine candidates, with nearly 5% of the vote. Greaney was the only candidate other than Dametto polling in double figures, with almost 13%.
The byelection was held as a full postal ballot.
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David Crisafulli, the Queensland premier, said Townsville had “strongly backed Nick Dametto” in a statement on Sunday morning.
“This result will give this proud city the local leadership it needs and deserves,” Crisafulli posted on social media. “Congratulations Nick - our government looks forward to working with you to deliver better outcomes for a great city.”
Dametto has led recent anti-immigration marches in Townsville, has campaigned for the appointment of a minister for men and pushed for Queensland to enact “castle law”, which would allow homeowners to use deadly force against intruders on their property.
Paul Williams, a political analyst, said Dametto was popular, young and very visible in the north of the state, after winning the past three elections in the state seat of Hinchinbrook which encompasses the northern suburbs of Townsville and a strip of coast up towards Tully.
“He was always the strong candidate,” the Griffith University associate professor said. “But I didn’t think he’d win so easily.
“This is one of the biggest swings in any Australian election”.
Townsville, often dubbed the unofficial capital of the north, is a city built on military and mining serves as a gateway to the interior, Williams said, where “rugged, masculine, pioneer economics and political culture” held sway.
Dametto, who hails from the populist right, has been splashed on the front page of the Bulletin taking a selfie, shirtless and flexing, under the headline “Minister for Muscles”.
He has competed at the Ingham Sugar City Rodeo charity bull ride for the past six years.
Despite saying he was “proud to lead” the Townsville March for Australia in August, while campaigning for mayor Dametto posted that he believed there was: “no room for politics in local government”.
Recent social media posts outlining his vision for the city ranged from the vague – making Townsville “open for business” – to the highly specific, including an “aggressive” new flying fox dispersal regime.
Williams said that, unlike many others from the populist right who have a habit of “tripping over their own tongues”, Dametto had managed to avoid damaging controversy.
The political analyst said he was not surprised, though, by Thompson’s poor showing.
“When the history is written, it will be more about the colourful soap opera that was the decline of Troy Thompson,” Williams said.
“You could write a play or a movie about how a man who was elected on the popular vote to become the mayor of one of Queensland’s biggest cities … fell from grace because he allegedly exaggerated his background in his campaign materials.”
Thompson, who had been previously disendorsed by One Nation but won the Townsville mayoralty in 2024 after winning the backing of conspiracy theorists, promised this would not be the closing of curtains.
He took to social media to congratulate Dametto on Saturday night and thank his supporters.
“This chapter may be closing, but the story isn’t over,” he wrote.
A byelection for Hinchinbrook will be held on 29 November in what will be a key test for the Crisafulli government.
