A day is a long time in politics

Today I was diverted from interviewing two potential candidates for divisions by an extraordinary email from Cr Paul Freebody who represents division 4. It is almost incomprehensible that an elected representative would state, "I will not rest until I have destroyed you and your grubby little mates! . . . . you have shown you are a low life and I will treat you as such from now on!"

I have passed this on to the media as I think that the general public need to be made aware that this is how a member of the Unity team communicates. This attack seems to have arisen from some mistaken beliefs that he holds.

In addition to this out-of-the-blue threat from Cr Freebody, the Cairns Post ran with some inaccurate and dishonest remarks from Robert Pyne who has chosen to withdraw from my team. Rob knows that Cairns1st is not a Labor team and he knows that there has been no Labor input into any of the policies that we've developed over the past months.

THE new amalgamated Cairns Regional Council will require teamwork, common purpose and effective representation and this is why I am coordinating a team of independent candidates from a broad cross-section of the community.

I value the independence of councillors, but there is a difference between being an independent and being a maverick.

While I am sorry to lose my friend Robert Pyne from my team, I’m afraid there is no room for people who are driven by emotions rather than by what is best for the people of our region.

Yes, it has been a long day but my team are all resilient, positive and focussed and we will be staying that way for the next 4 months.

Having the right people for 15 March '08

It's been great over the past couple of weeks to interview very high calibre people who would like to be candidates in the couple of divisions we haven't yet finalised. It's also good to know that there are people who are motivated to make a difference, have a vision of a different Cairns and are not just out for their own personal gain. Or wanting to push a particular agenda.


At the Industrial Relations forum last week, John McKenzie commented favourably on the commitment of the candidates who have put themselves forward for Leichhardt and the hard work that they are doing.


It's not easy to put yourself in the public eye knowing that there will be people who want to have a go at you, try to bring you down, make incorrect claims or take cheap shots.


Fortunately, I am privileged to be working with people who are really focussed on the vision that we have developed and on winning office in March next year. They know that it won't be easy. We don't have a huge campaign budget but we do have a passion for our region and a belief that we won't have good local government unless we have the very best candidates who are clear that they are there to represent all of us.

GALA ART AUCTION

Deanna Maich's artwork We don't have all the developers' money behind us and need to raise money to be able to counter Kevin Byrne's big spending TV ads, so support us by coming along to our fund-raising art auction. It's a chance to acknowledge the generosity of many of the region's artists, make a substantial donation to the Cairns 1st Campaign and buy that unique Christmas present.

Gala Art Auction

An opportunity to purchase
drawings, photography, textiles, jewellery, ceramics, paintings, sculpture
donated by contemporary Cairns and renowned Australian artists

Friday 16 November 2007
Junior Eisteddfod Hall, Greenslopes St Edge Hill

Viewing from 5.00pm; Auction: 7.00pm

Cash bar and complimentary finger food

For enquiries, please phone Louise on 4041 3322

Starry nights: TNQ Tourism Awards

It was good to be at the TTNQ Awards last night and to see the tourism industry celebrate excellence in such style.

I was sitting with reps from the Daintree Cape Trib Tourist Association who were very pleased to get recognition and to win the award for Visitors Information and Services. Amongst others, I had a chat with Marion from Cow Bay Homestay, Prue Hewitt from Cooper Creek Wilderness Tours and Alison and Digby Gotts from Cape Trib Exotic Tropical Fruit Farm.

Doug Ryan from Port Douglas Daintree Tourism was keen to make sure that Port Douglas Daintree Tourism does not lose out in any way as a result of the amalgamation of the two councils. And Josh got into my ear about the Pink Guide.

Over 500 people attended the event; an indication of the strength of the tourism industry.

Living in the Tropics

We don't think the current council does enough to encourage good tropical design or minimise energy use. Having air conditioners in every room is just not good enough. We need to enhance our outdoor lifestyle by doing what the early settlers did when they created the "old Queenslander": use louvres, balconies, high ceilings and features to keep the heat out and the breezes flowing.

"Boring, Mum"

Yes, that was the response from my son when he checked out the web site!

James is 29 and is visiting from Tom Price in WA where he's teaching media studies to high school students.

He's been telling me to put lots of video online to jazz the site up a bit. So stay tuned for clips of me around our beautiful region.

What are our policies?

We've been holding regular meetings of the candidates who will contest the election, revising the policies from last election and updating them where necessary.
Discussions with candidates are a good way of ensuring that new candidates get their head around the various policy ideas. Candidates will be faced with lots of questions when they doorknock constituents over the next 4 months. They need to know what the Cairns 1st positions are in a variety of areas including arts, the environment, sport, service delivery, business and economy:

• What can we do about getting a new museum?
• How can we better meet the needs of the southern suburbs for more sporting facilities?
• How can we strengthen vegetation protection?
• What are we going to do about Cairns' poor record in recycling?
• What's our position on the inequities in the rates?

We now need to take into account various Douglas Shire matters and have been listening to different residents and taking into account their concerns. We've also been consulting with key industry bodies around the draft policies to ensure that the policy details we announce closer to the election reflect residents' views.