By Roy Weavers

The Port Douglas Chamber of Commerce hosted a 'Local Election candidates' Forum at the Sea Temple Golf Club yesterday evening (Tuesday 24th April) with an audience of about 70 local residents in attendance.

The evening was introduced and chaired by Chamber President Ken Dobbs. The evening was made up of two parts, The four Mayoral candidates started the proceedings followed, in the second part, by the four candidates standing for Division 10 Councillor.

The first round of candidates were those standing for Mayor of the Cairns Regional Council namely Cairns residents Bob Manning and Ian Thomas, current Deputy Mayor Margaret Cochrane and current Mayor Val Schier.

Each were given approximately 10/15mins by Chairman Dobbs to introduce themselves and lay out their policies to the assembled gathering in a bid to convert, convince or cement their support.

Margaret Cochrane had drawn the short straw and opened the evening and made it immediately clear that she understood that Port Douglas was the jewel of the crown but that it badly needed some polishing!. 

She confirmed her support for de-amlagamation if viable. She agreed that amalgamation had not been a happy marriage but she had some ideas on how to attempt to solve the many issues. She suggested that regular 'chat sessions', with all the Councillors coming up to Port Douglas to hear the local concerns, would be a good start to heal any rifts and try to alleviate the 'tyranny of distance' that Port undoubtedly suffers from. She was adamant that had this format been in operation, the debacle over the beach front coconut tree demolition would never have occurred. And if she is elected she will immediately replant!

Bob Manning followed the Deputy Mayor by setting out his impressive corporate resume. His corporate experience has surely fashioned his policies and plans should he become Mayor. He is very firm on the matter of spending programs.  There must always be a return on investment and to achieve this he makes five pledges; Run a cash competitive Council, Restore confidence in the Cairns Region by providing a business environment that attracts investment. High priority on creating a safe city in which to live and work. Work closely with the new state government and restore funding levels to maintain council assets.

He was, however, a little reticent to be drawn too far on the maintenance of both TPDD and TTNQ funding from the council. Although a self confessed tourist 'nut', he wanted to discuss further the whole funding issue before committing beyond the existing 2013 agreement.

Ian Thomas proclaimed that tourism was first and foremost in his mind. He conceded that he understood why the business community was looking into diversification and innovation outside the tourism industry but he felt that since the tourism industry had such a well established infrastructure, surely tourism is primarily where the restoraton of confidence for the region should be targeted.

Mr Thomas was very critical of the current senior and middle management  council staff.  He felt there powers had been allowed to grow too strong over the elected body of council and that there should be a reminder to all that they are servants of the rate paying community, not it's masters.

Val Schier confirmed her comments from last week, where she made it very clear that the Douglas region should never have been amalgamated with Cairns and she would support de-amalgamation if affordable. However she is deeply concerned that the costs may be too high to make it a reality. She was very positive on the subject of the diversification and innovation program that she had implemented in her first term. She said that the team tasked with this wide ranging program was punching well above its weight and she made a pledge to continue to support and fund this initiative. She listed her funding achievements for event tourism and confirmed her support for the projects that as she sees it are a vital source of visitors and visitor dollars. Mayor Schier  is very conscious of the need for more air routes into Cairns. There can be no sustained recovery without the capacity to bring visitors to the region and that will be a top priority in her next administration. She also referred to the Melbourne School of Business report which, unlike most of her competitors, she fully endorses and wants to help implement as soon as possible.

And so, after a lively question and answer session, where the fate of the MBS report and the future funding of TPDD took a hammering,  the first part of the evening concluded with all four candidates having staked their claim for the job as 'Head Honcho'.

As UK Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson once rermarked, "a week is a very long time in politics". Well this 'gang of four' now only has half a week left to work their magic on the hustings and convert, persuade, cajole or convince  the voting public that their box on Saturday is the right one put their cross in to help shape the future of Port Douglas and the rest of Division 10.

As it stands after this forum, the faithful seem to be bedding down in two camps with the current Mayor Val Schier putting up a valiant fight trying to ward off a determined challenge from Bob Manning.  How much damage Margaret Cochrane can inflict is probaly the wild card in this election.  It doesn't feel like it's enough to win but it might be enough to draw support away and lose it for one of the others.

Chamber Chairman Ken Dobbs thanked the mayoral candidates for taking the time to come to Port Douglas as they were ushered away to be replaced by another fresh faced bunch ready to take on the world, or at least the Cairns Regional Council Division 10 part.

The four Division 10 candidates are comprised of Terry Melchert (ex CEO of the old Douglas Shire), Pete Smith (25 year local resident), current Division 10 Councilor Julia Leu and Bob Thomas from Palm Cove.

First in the firing line was Terry Melchert who said he was confident of the future since the defeat of the Bligh government, albeit a little 'jittery'.  He is a de-amalgamist and would lobby for the change as quickly as possible with all assets and cash in bank returned on completion. He told the audience that he was concerned about the agricultural side of the region because the central Mossman Sugar Mill was literally teetering on the brink of collapse.  He promised a rates freeze in year one and better fiscal management from day one of the new government. He wants to procure council funding to help implement the MBS report. He would guarantee the TPDD funding if within his power and  the waterfront development is a major priority for him.

Pete Smith, self proclaimed 'new kid on the block' set out his policies which ranged from dealing with the unsavoury symptoms of the existing councils apparent philosophy of 'tell them little until it's too late' to local issues like sorting out the maintenance crews that come from Cairns everyday instead of using local labour, restoring commercial fishing, the waterfront development commitment and improve council consultation. It is essential that this diverse area feels it has the same goal as the central Council and has easy contact with the council and to the councillors. It is vital that Division 10 residents feel that their views are being heard.

An impassioned Julia Leu didn't take any prisoners in her 10 minute allocation of floor space. She rebuffed the suggestion that she was not readily available to listen and contactable by her constituents.  However she did remind the assembly that Division 10 is geographically bigger than all the other nine divisions added together so travelling could sometimes have an affect on personal contact but the thousands of telephone calls she regularly receives were testament to her dealing with any concerns as fast as possible.  This was our first taste of a stirring side of Juia Leu that isn't seen very often but when you get her on the subjects of the Daintree Gateway project, the waterfront development in Port Douglas and funding for TPDD you see that she has a 'terrier' side that perhaps should be unleashed more often! She is an avid campaigner for de-amalgamation but warns that she wants your 'vote for the future not the past'.

Bob Shaw from Palm Cove got the unenviable task of speaking last for the evening. He made it very clear that the reason he had entered the Division 10 race was to deal with, what he saw, as unfair boundary divisions. He said just as Port Douglas felt betrayed by the amalgamation, so Palm Cove and Clifton Beach felt isolated from their natural 'Northern Beaches' habitat.  If elected he will be immediately campaigning for boundary changes even though just last year their submissions were rejected.  He hadn't read the MBS report but thought perhaps there may be some flaws in it when considering the 'massification' subject matter that the students had identified. His view is that the premium market was probably now a thing of the past but he would be looking to maintain the TPDD fundng and possibly even procure some for Palm Cove to help with their issues.

So a heavy evening of discussion and political banter was brought to an end by Chamber Chairman Dobbs after the statutory question and answer session.

Pete Smith seemed to receive the most grilling but then, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors, as the self confessed 'new boy on the block' he was bound to have to 'cut his teeth' on a bit of 'unfriendly fire'. Bob Shaw won't get a lot of support north of his beloved Palm Cove and Terry Melchert may be carrying a few too many bad memories from the final days of the old Douglas Shire to carry the day, although, as a well informed local,  he certainly seemed to have his finger on the pulse of current issues.

No, the fight will be a two horse race, there go those mixed metaphors again.

Julia Leu has a very committed fan base and will be difficult to beat. Pete Smith, whilst talking the talk very eloquently, probably needs a little longer in the political arena and may, therefore, not be able to accumulate enough support for his undoubtedly dedicated commitment this time around.

In summary, well actually there really isn't any summary needed. It's down to you, the voters of Division 10 and who you think can get the job done.

Whether it's to get us de-amalgamated or just a 'fair suck of the sauce bottle', it's going to need a massive effort and one that in every pub, club and dinner table all of us will profess to know how to do better and pontificate on how easy it is to solve the world's problems, but then we are not brave enough to be standing for election are we?


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