Portrait of Chris ‘Pineapple’ Hooper, Rockhampton’s almost ‘accidental’ mayor, painted for Archibald Prize

Four months after he was thrust into the spotlight, Chris “Pineapple” Hooper has found himself the subject of attention of a different kind.

Mr Hooper nearly became the accidental mayor of Rockhampton when Margaret Strelow chose to resign after being found guilty of misconduct by the Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

As the runner-up in the March 2020 local elections, Mr Hooper was set to be the by-default mayor as per the Local Government Act.

But a retrospective amendment to the act changed the law so that a…