“I might sound like sour grapes because I am a publican, but they don’t use the accommodation we supply or that Dajarra supplies. 

“They drive backwards and forwards to town, five hours in the car.” 

Duchess is part of the Cloncurry Shire but the town is 130 kilometres away. 

Mr Johnston said he wanted to see an improvement of communication between council management and ratepayers. He said he had difficulty reaching council management with concerns he had. 

He has run the Duchess Hotel with his wife Rhoda for 16 years. They supply the alcohol for nearby mine sites such as Phosphate Hill and Osborne Mine. 

The candidate describes himself as a “Jack of trades” who also does the postie run for the Duchess area. 

Mr Johnston said before that he managed Delta Downs Station in the gulf. 

“I’ve been on the land all my life except for here,” he said. He wanted more representation in the council for Dajarra and Duchess and he believed living at the pub was an advantage so he could be close to the issues in the remote part of the shire. 

“You’ve got to get something from our end into the council.

“But you’ve got to represent the whole shire, not just Duchess or Dajarra, the whole lot,” Mr Johnston acknowledged. 

“See, they used to have divisions, there was always one from each end, the north and the south, but they don’t have that now so you get the votes in the town.” 

Mr Johnston said the council also needed to focus more on contracting local businesses. 

There were 13 councillor candidates – not including the five mayoral choices – and Mr Johnston saw the number of nominations to be in his favour. 

“It’s going to spread the vote and that’s probably a good thing for me too because being out of town I’m not as well known in town as other people,” he said. 

A council spokesperson was sought for comment.