Head to head with KB

I went head to head with KB at the Institute of Engineers lunch yesterday.

For Kev it was more of the same that we've come to expect: we've got to have growth, there's nothing wrong with the high-rise buildings and housing estates; we don't have to be worried about climate change as the sea-levels are actually going down; there's nothing wrong with building on hillslopes; don't you all worry about how we would evacuate Cairns in the event of a tidal surge or direct hit by a cyclone.

Cairns 1st knows that the region will grow as people move north to the tropics and we know that we need higher density building. But we differ from the Unity team in that we want to grow as a remarkable tropical city. Not into a city that looks like everywhere else with buildings not designed for the tropics, our natural environment destroyed and infrastructure not planned well to cope with population growth.

And we don't believe that the city has planned well enough to cope with the increased turbulent weather, tidal and storm surges and flooding that is being forecast to occur in the future.

There was good coverage on TV and in the Cairns Post today; coverage that I did not attract last time when the media saw me as being an unknown quantity who would struggle against an incumbent. Bring on the Chamber of Commerce and Cairns Business Women's Club debate tomorrow!