By Dominique Tassell
Councillor The Honourable Lawrence Springborg, AO has been elected as President of the Queensland Liberal National Party.
He was elected at the state conference, held in Brisbane at the Convention Centre on 23 July.
Mr Springborg was the first ever leader of the joint Liberal National Party when the parties merged in 2008, and is currently the Mayor of Goondiwindi.
He returned to the LNP leadership in 2015, but was ousted in a leadership spill and retired from state politics in 2016.
He told the ABC he was “very, very privileged to have been elected the president of the Liberal National Party of Queensland“.
Member for Southern Downs, James Lister, said he was “just over the moon” to see his “mentor and friend” elected as QLNP Party President.
“It’s a tremendous boost for our party to have Lawrence to unify and energise us.”
“Lawrence was elected by an overwhelming flood of grassroots LNP member support, from all over Queensland, because he is person of outstanding experience and integrity.
“Lawrence is the real deal. He’s the founding father of the Liberal National Party in Queensland and he’ll do a terrific job.
“Lawrence and our Parliamentary LNP Leader David Crisafulli will be a great team as we work hard to offer the policies and leadership that Queenslanders are looking for.”
Other people in the running for presidency included acting QLD LNP president, Cynthia Hardy, who withdrew from the running before voting commenced.
Also in the running was Tim Wright, who was previously involved with the Queensland Young LNP.
The rest of the top positions in the party were elected, with Amanda Cooper elected vice-president of the party and Natalie Marr elected as regional vice-president.
Also on Friday 23 July at the conference, the party voted to abolish the president’s committee, which was comprised of executives and held enormous power.
Reportedly less than 20 members of the party voted not to abolish the committee.
