New order in Cairns
Written by Jason Wilson   
Saturday, 15 March 2008

Mike from Cairnsblog considers the rise of Cairns' first female mayor, Val Schier.

Although neither Byrne or Schier has conceded or claimed victory, it looks likely that within the next 48 hours, Cairns' will usher in it's first female mayor in 130 years.

Schier holds the lead on 27,509 votes or 47.11%. Incumbent Mayor, Kevin Byrne, gained 25,843 on the election night count, 44.26%.

There was a decisive swing across the region, against the Byrne style of leadership. Unity's massive advertising budget, predicted to be between $300,000-$400,000, appears to not have swayed voters. Exit polling verified that the series of negative advertising probably worked against them in the last week.

"It turned us off," said Sue and Terry Johnson of Edgehill. "We were undecided up until the last week, but the tactics like those advertisements were very aggressive. It made our minds up."

It appears that many voters felt that Cairns city was loosing control of developments and town planning seemed to have little checks and balance.

Developments like False Cape, GlenCorp apartments at Clifton Beach and Woree, the Villa Romana debacle, private certifier approvals, and many 'material change of use' applications have left the community angry at the role of their Council.

Returning Officer Ken Gorton has confirmed that there is still 5,700 pre-poll votes to be counted and an additional 2,000 postal votes. It may well be Tuesday before all the postal votes are counted.
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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.

 
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