Daniel Kingston: Accountability top priority for new and youngest ever Joondalup mayor

Newly elected Joondalup mayor Daniel Kingston says he wants to bring greater accountability and transparency to the City of Joondalup as he begins his four-year term. Mr Kingston was officially declared the winner of the mayoral race of seven by the WA Electoral Commission on Monday, edging out former Moore MP Ian Goodenough after preference votes were distributed. He is only the fifth person to serve as mayor in the city’s 27-year history and at 32 is the youngest to hold the position. For the past four years, he has served as a councillor for Joondalup’s North Central ward. He grew up locally and attended the same school as his predecessor, Albert Jacob, at Kingsway Christian College. Speaking to PerthNow, Mr Kingston said he was “deeply grateful” for the trust the community had placed in him and it reflected the grassroots campaign he ran, supported by local residents. “It was local community members. It was the average person on the street who came out to letterbox for me and to help me, and that’s because I believe in listening first to our community,” he said. “Now that I’m mayor, I don’t intend to change that approach. I intend to try and listen to our community first. “I’ll be out in our community, at our community events, meeting residents and making sure everyone’s voice is heard.” Mr Kingston received 13,530 votes after preferences from a total of 33,701 valid votes returned, narrowly edging out former Moore MP Ian Goodenough, who actually received more first-preference votes, 8266, compared to Mr Kingston’s 7357 votes. As with most local government elections, voter turnout in the City of Joondalup was low, with just 28 per cent of the city’s 120,420 eligible electors casting a vote. Given that he is the city’s youngest mayor and one of the youngest in the State’s history, some questions had been raised in the community about his experience, but Mr Kingston does not believe his age will be a barrier to serving effectively. “I welcome that sort of scrutiny and that concern. It’s part of public life, but what I bring is accountability,” he said. “What I bring is four years of experience as a councillor and a strong understanding of what our community’s needs are, and the operations of the city.” Mr Kingston said balancing the city’s budget was a top focus and future projects should be guided by community needs, which he said he had already begun discussing with councillors. He believes Joondalup residents all have different expectations of the city depending on where they live across the district, but generally everybody wanted rates to be reasonable. “From what I’ve found from speaking to people on the street, out doorknocking, is that fundamentally people want to make sure that the finances for the city are affordable,” he said. “There’s also a group of people as well which feel that Joondalup needs to make sure that we have leadership that’s accountable and is transparent with the community on the issues that come through every year. “That’s something I’d like to lead, and I’m very excited about working with the other councils with projects going forward.” After narrowly missing out on the mayoral role, speaking to PerthNow Mr Goodenough wished the new mayor and council well and hoped they remain engaged with the community and worked together for its benefit. Mr Goodenough received the most first-preference votes, which would have seen him elected mayor prior to 2023 reforms, and believed the outcome might have been different if the 8729 exhausted votes from people who did not allocate a preference among all seven candidates had been counted. “The fact that it was optional made it a bit interesting, because 8000-odd people didn’t bother to put any preferences,” he said. “So had they all put preferences, we can only imagine what the outcome might have been. But that’s the way the system works. “It’s been a great privilege serving the community in local government and Federal Parliament for nearly 30 years.” Mr Kingston’s former fellow councillor, Christine Hamilton-Prime, who had served on the council for the past 16 years, received the third-highest number of first-preference votes with 5860. The distribution of her preferences ultimately helped Mr Kingston overtake Mr Goodenough to become mayor. Albert Jacob, who served as mayor from 2017 to 2025 and chose not to run for re-election this year, wished his successor well and encouraged all councillors to stay connected to the community. “I congratulate all of the newly elected council; they are talented and diverse people who each have much to offer around the council table,” Mr Jacob said. “My advice is to stay close to our community — walk the streets, know the people, prioritise long-term impact and always work toward outcomes.” In the Joondalup councillor elections, Christopher May narrowly retained his Central ward seat by 65 votes over Suzanne Apps, while Adrian Hill was re-elected in North ward after defeating two challengers. Russ Fishwick secured another term in South ward, extending his council tenure beyond 20 years, and John Chester was returned to South-East ward. With Ms Hamilton-Prime and Mr Kingston not contesting their council ward seats, the city will have two new faces on council. Matthew Count was elected to the South-West ward, succeeding Ms Hamilton-Prime, and Denise Mercer was elected to the North Central ward, taking over from Mr Kingston. Mr Kingston believes there will be good will among the newly elected council and looked forward to working with them for the betterment of the community. “I congratulate the four members of the council who were successfully re-elected, and welcome Denise and Matthew as new faces on the council,” he said. “I also extend sincere thanks and appreciation to outgoing mayor Albert Jacob and to Christine Hamilton-Prime for their years of dedicated service and contribution to Joondalup’s growth and prosperity.” The new mayor and council were officially sworn in at the Joondalup Civic Centre on Wednesday, October 22.