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Cairns Politics on Council
Prior to the March 2024 local government elections the Conservative Cairns Unity Team had held the numbers on Cairns Regional Council for 12 years.
Cairns Council Elections 2024
When Mayor Bob Manning retired, Unity used their numbers to appoint their own man as Mayor, Terry James.
Cairns Election 2024
Amy Eden ran for Mayor with “Team Eden” and was successfully elected Mayor of Cairns at the 2024 local government elections.
The following Divisional Councillors were also elected:
- Division 1. Brett Moller
- Division 2. Matthew Tickner
- Division 3. Cathy Zeiger
- Division 4. Trevor Tim
- Division 5. Rob Pyne
- Division 6. Kristy Vallely
- Division 7. Anna Middleton
- Division 8. Rhonda Coglin
- Division 9. Brett Olds
Cairns Mayor Election
There were a number of candidates running for the position of Cairns Mayor at the 2024 election. They were:
- Denis Walls: Community First Team
- Amy Eden: Team Eden
- Terry James: Cairns Unity
- Paul Taylor (Independent)
- Leah Potter (Independent)
- John Kelly (Common Sense)
Who is Cairns New Mayor 2024
Amy Eden entered Cairns politics as the Councillor for Division 5 in 2020. Amy was well recognised for her leadership and commitment to the community. She won the Australian Institute of Management Cairns Community Leader (2017) award, the Cairns Business Women’s Club Volunteer of the Year (2017) award and was a finalist of Cairns Regional Council’s 2019 Citizen of the Year awards.
Committed to working in the community, Amy has volunteered countless hours to establish and support the Manoora Community Garden and the positive movement project, 3MPride.
Cairns Councillors
There are currently 9 Cairns Councillors.
Three are from the Cairns Unity Team, Councillors Moller, Vallely and Coghlan.
Four Councillors were elected as Independents – Pyne, Zeiger, Tickner and Olds.
Trevor Tim is the sole Team Eden Councillor.
The customer service telephone number for Cairns Regional Council is 1300 692 247.
Cairns Politics and Amy Eden (Team Eden)
Eden fought to ensure residents right to use cash at Council venues and has been referred to as “Our Voice” by frustrated members of the public gallery.
Cairns Mayor Salary
The salary for the Mayor is $183,143 per year. This is the base salary (excluding any car allowance, etc). Clearly Cairns Politics pays well.
The Cairns Regional Council website is https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/
Cairns Council Divisions
The Councillors represent nine divisions, and each Councillor is elected by eligible voters in each division. Their key role is to plan for the future of their local community and put in place the strategies and policies to achieve those plans. In doing so, Councillors must make decisions for the benefit of the entire local government area, not just the interests of the particular division they represent.
The Mayor has the same responsibilities as other councillors plus additional roles including presiding over meetings and representing the Council at ceremonial and civic functions. The Mayoralty is decided on a majority popular vote across the entire local government area which has 117,585 enrolled voters (as at March 2024).
Cairns Council Division Map
At the elected level, Cairns Unity had dominated Cairns Regional Council since 2012. ‘Unity’ is a Conservative team with a loose LNP affiliation.
The Council itself is divided into nine divisions, with each division represented by one Councillor. The Mayor however is elected by the entire Cairns Regional Council area.
Cairns Politicians
Cairns Politics: State Member
Michael Healy was elected as the State Member for Cairns in 2017 and has served as the Member for Cairns since that time. During his first term, Michael was selected on the Small Business/Education Parliamentary Committee and named as the Palaszczuk Government’s first Superyacht Strategy Champion.
Cairns Politics: Federal Member
The Federal member for Cairns (and most of far North Queensland) is Warren Entsch. Warren has dominated Cairns politics at the federal level.
Mr. Entsch has been a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007 and since 2010, representing the Division of Leichhardt. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, and sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.
Cairns Mayors
Cairns Regional Council has had the following Mayors:
Val Schier: April 2008 – 28 April 2012
Bob Manning: 28 April 2012 – 17 November 2023
Terry James: 22 November 2023 – present