Author, journalist and former politician, Gavin King, will be offering our Newsport readers a broader perspective on the upcoming 19 March Douglas Shire election, as an independent political correspondent.

Widely known for his hard-hitting, direct journalism, King has worked in senior positions for various publications such as The Centralian Advocate, The Cairns Post and The Sunday Mail.

By the age of 21, he had worked his way up to become the editor of weekly magazine Revolver, one of the largest weekly publications in Sydney.

During the years that followed, his various roles have included political reporter, business editor, North Queensland correspondent, chief of staff and finally editor-at-large at the Cairns Post, where he became the face of the newspaper with regular appearances on TV and radio segments.

In 2000 King took a two year sojourn with aid agency World Vision located in the remote community of Papunya, west of Alice Springs.

Working closely with Aboriginal people addicted to petrol sniffing, King took on the role of project manager to facilitate the building of a recording studio that is still operating today, to help people recover from the scourge of addition.

During his political career, King’s focus as the Member for Cairns and Assistant Minister of Tourism from 2012 to 2015 was getting the tropical city back on track after years of tough economic times, high crime rates and substandard health and hospital services.

King calls Cairns home with wife Leah and their two children Saskia and Percy.