Cairns Council Members Change

I had previously described the Manning Cairns Council elected in 2020 as a moderate council, despite the Conservative views of most Cairns Council Members. However, by the middle of 2023 I felt a change in the air.

The combination of The Voice Referendum and the upcoming Queensland Local Government Elections gave Council a decidedly political feel. In addition, the mayor was retiring and two sitting Councillors were running for his position. It was a recipe for conflict.

Rates Equity

Councils charge rates based on a number of categories. Many councils included a special rate for rental properties, usually referred to as a Non Principal Place of Residence (Non-PPR) category.

The Non-PPR category charges slightly higher rates than the ordinary homeowner of a Principal Place of Residence (PPR) pays. It is a way of giving a break to the ordinary homeowner who is not getting a rental income, but using their property as a home to live in. A roof over their head!

I supported the Non PPR or landlord rate category. This meant the landlord charged a small amount more than normal (non-income receiving) residents. I had always been on the side of the tenant and the homeowner, not the landlord. Much to my disappointment a clear majority of Cairns Council members voted against the new Non PPR category.

Voice Referendum

On the 14th of October 2023 the Voice was held. The referendum recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s First People. It also proposed a permanent advisory body that would give advice to the government about the issues that affect First Nations peoples.

Right wing media outlets misrepresented the referendum proposal. They lied about everything from the question itself to the constitutional implications and the position of First Peoples themselves (who were overwhelmingly supportive of the proposal).

Australians overwhelmingly voted NO. It was a strong vote against including First Nations people in the country’s constitution, rejecting a proposal to set up an Indigenous advisory body to Parliament.

The result was be a setback to reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Australians and a political blow to the center-left Labor government that’s been in office less than 18 months. It exposed division and raised allegations of racism.

“It’s not the Australian people’s fault,” Thomas Mayo, a spokesperson for the ‘yes’ campaign, said in an interview on ABC television. “It’s the people that have lied to us, to the Australian people, they are the ones that we should be blaming.” 

Those of us who had campaigned for the yes vote as an important step in the path to reconciliation were bitterly disappointed by the result.

Cairns Council Members Trash Reconciliation

I am not sure if it was the voice referendum or the upcoming state and local government elections, but I could feel council become more political.

Reconciliation Action Plan

At the meeting on 23 July 2023 there was an item on the agenda to extend Councils Reconciliation Action Plan.

First Peoples Advisory Committee

Council established a First Peoples Advisory Committee (FPAC) as an important way to engage and consult with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The Committee was led by the very well respected David Hudson.

FPAC provides comment, feedback and direction on issues that relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities. It also works to enhance opportunities for participation and collaboration between local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Council.

I could not believe it when all other Councillors voted against adopting the FPAC engagement guidelines.

Aaron Fa’aoso – An FNQ Bio

Torres Strait island TV icon Aaron Fa’aoso was born into a family from Saibai Island in the Torres Strait. He was born into the the Kheodal (Crocodile) and Samu (Emu) clans, growing up in a big Torres Strait Islander community in Bamaga.

Fa’aoso began his acting television career in 2006, playing Eddie Gaibui on RAN, a six-part drama which aired on SBS One. He then appeared in the first series of another SBS drama series, East West 101, playing Detective Sonny Koa. Later that year he had a guest role in Sea Patrol, which aired on Network Nine.

In 2009 he appeared in season two of East West 101 and returned to star in the third and final season of East West 101 on SBS.

He appeared in the last four episodes of the Australian drama TV series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms in 2012. That year he also wrote, produced and starred in the critically acclaimed 10-part drama series The Straits about a North Queensland crime family.

Fa’aoso appeared as a ‘regular’ in the hilarious sketch comedy series, Black Comedy between 2014–2020.

In 2022 Fa’aoso published his memoir with Michelle Scott Tucker. So Far, So Good was the first memoir to be published commercially by a Torres Strait Islander.

I had known Aaron for a number of years and it was an honour to support him n the lead up to the referendum and to witness his good work on the State Governments Truth and Treaty pathway.

Cairns Council Members Deny Climate Emergency

At the meeting on 23 August 2023 I sought to have Council declare a “Climate Emergency”.

That Council declare a Climate Emergency and investigate ways to alert and assist elderly and other vulnerable residents to the dangers of extreme heat in preparation for the upcoming summer months. 

I explained my rationale for the motion to my fellow Councillors on the following basis: 

Across Australia, over 104 local governments have declared a climate emergency. These declarations collectively represent a significant population of over 9.9 million Australians, highlighting the widespread recognition of the urgent need to address the climate crisis at the local level. 

The climate is already dangerous – in Australia and the Antarctic, in Asia and the Pacific – right around the world. The Earth is unacceptably too hot now!

If the climate warms above 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the Great Barrier Reef will likely be lost, sea levels will rise faster and massive global carbon stores such as the Amazon and Greenland, will hit tipping points, releasing millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. 

National security analysts warn at 3C may result in “outright social chaos”, and 4C is considered incompatible with the maintenance of human civilisation. Climate change must be accepted as an overriding threat to national and human security, with the response being the highest priority at national and global levels. 

At the moment the world is heading for a rise in excess of 3C this century. It is a global average covering extreme variations across regions and seasons. According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) there will be more severe and frequent extreme weather events in the near future like floods, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes.

A fraction of a degree in average global warming can have massive consequence. Extreme weather events will get more severe, and more frequent, with rising temperatures. Climate change is urgent and is without doubt the biggest threat to human survival and prosperity. 

This climate emergency is an extraordinary threat that calls for extraordinary measures with potentially far reaching societal, political, and democratic consequences. 

Extreme heat affects older people more than others. Some people aged 65 years and over may be at increased risk of heat-related illness. 

lost with Councillors Manning, Olds, Coghlan, O’Halloran, Vallely, Eden, James, Zeiger and Moller voting against the motion 

I could not believe that other Councillors could still be in denial. Despite record temperatures, unprecedented wildfires and cyclonic storms, my right-wing colleagues could not bring themselves to acknowledge our city was also in the midst of a Climate Emergency.

Even if my fellow councillors could not understand the death and destruction already being caused by the Climate Crisis, how they could not act to protect their own children and future generations from the far worse climate consequences coming over future years was beyond me. 

Around this time I was happy to receive a disability advocacy award at this time and get a positive mention in the Canberra Times for my work for victims of child abuse.

Cairns Council Members get all Conservative!

Philip Adams once said that if you want to know the future of politics in Australia, simply look at what is happening in the United States, because that is where Australia will be in five years.

I could see Australia was becoming as polarised as the US with two warring tribes, the blue states and the red states. Progressives versus Conservatives, each dominating their own part of the Country. 

My greatest concern was that Cairns, like much of regional Queensland, would be part of the Australian equivalent of a red state, where Conservatism, bigotry and racism ruled.

Unity or Not Unity

When it came down to the 2024 election campaign itself, it was simply a matter of ‘Unity versus the rest’.

Cairns Unity had always been a ‘rolled gold’ Conservative team spruiking an LNP agenda. It seemed to me the ‘born to rule’ mentality was well established within the unity crew. It is never hard to tell when people think they are better than you and that was certainly my impression interacting with Unity Councillors’

A ‘fracture’ between Unity and the Independent Councillors took place at the December meeting of 2023. 

I stood with my fellow independents. I may have disagreed with them on many matters, but Independents Olds, Zeiger and Eden didn’t stand on the basis of being part of a political group. They simply asked to be judged on their merits. That seemed fair enough to me.

In any event, all the other Councillors were long way ‘to the right’ of me and I didn’t have the energy to spend the campaign fighting all of them, not to mention some of the extremist non-incumbent candidates running for office. Instead I focused on promoting a green, inclusive vision for Division 5.

The Resistance

I have often spoken with my friends from Socialist Alliance and the Greens about the need to build progressive politics in Cairns inner city. Truly progressive politics has most often found root in inner city locations in Australia, especially in our major cities.

Most recently in Brisbane, the Greens had sequentially won Council, State and Federal electorates, with Jonathan Sri on Council, Amy McMahon in State Parliament (South Brisbane) and then Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith) in Canberra. Obviously, to achieve such progressive change that involves altering long-held voting patterns is more challenging in regional Australia. However, I felt we had to try here in Cairns inner city (Division 5) and it had to start with a local government victory.

A Final Campaign

One day I was talking with a friend about this vision, and she said “why don’t you run for council again.” I had already told Division 2 residents I would not be running again and had said so publicly. However, nothing was stopping me running for Division 5, especially as the incumbent Amy Eden had decided to run for Mayor.

If it Must be – it Must Start with Me 

I was reluctant to run, because I knew I was not physically capable of door-knocking and campaigning through the heat of the tropical summer. My spinal cord injury means I can’t regulate my temperature so I just can’t be on a polling booth or door knocking for extended periods of time. As I had aged this had become eve more of an issue.

On one hand I’ve always believed if you can’t do something properly you shouldn’t do it. I knew I could not campaign as effectively for Council as I had in the past.

However, pulling in the other direction was my belief that you shouldn’t ask someone else to do something if you are not prepared to do it yourself. My support workers encouraged me to have a go, because they all felt I still had something to offer. 

In the end I felt I should use my profile to have a go. Losing held no fear of personal rejection. By 56 I was confident with my politics and my place in the world regardless of any electoral result.  So I would put my name on the ballot for Division 5 at the 2024 council elections. If I lost, well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

I had come along way from the person who ran in 2008, when public endorsement was central to proving my self-worth. I was well known, so I believed I should have a go on reputation. There was no one else was coming forward from the left. If I believed in these issues so passionately, I was honour bound to try and use my well recognised name (and face) to make a difference. I had to try.

The vision of a progressive inclusive inner city that values diversity and celebrates difference was important to me. A place where gay couples could walk hand in hand without judgement, a place where people from different cultures mixed on an equal footing, a place where trans people would not be targeted, a place that valued the environment in the arts, a place with good food and cooling green canopy. That was what I wanted.

I knew this vision would not come about just by me being elected to council, but it had to start with someone, so it might as well be me.

Enter ‘Community First’

Hot Election of Cairns Council Members

My fears about the heat proved correct during the summer of 2024. I could only do a couple hours outside before retreating into the air conditioning. I would take my shirt off put my head under the tap. Put the ceiling fan on. Even then it would take more than an hour to cool down on the inside. It was hard to believe some folks were still denying climate change when the warming of our planet was so apparent.

The 2024 council elections were interesting because of the number of people contesting. It was a Melbourne Cup field and I really enjoyed being part of our local festival of democracy.

I was excited about the prospect of electing new Cairns Council Members and committed to my vision for the inner city which included upgrading much of the aging infrastructure in the area.

All Chapters

1. Far North Queensland
2. Growing up in Australia
3. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
4. Queensland Political Culture
5. Princess Alexandra Hospital Spinal Unit
6. People with Disabilities
7. Cairns Regional Council
8. Conservative Cairns Council
9. ALP Qld
10. Abortion Law Reform
11. Fighting Fossil Fuel
12. Local Government Corruption
13. Losing to Labor
14. My Cairns Council Return
15. Council Mayors Silencing Dissent
16. Socialist Alliance and Fighting Fascism
17. Jenny Pyne, Life and Pain
18. Cairns Council Members Swing Right
19. Fightback and Farewell

Struggle & Resistance in the Far North