The 2024 Cairns Regional Council election was held on 16 March 2024 to elect a mayor and nine councillors to the Cairns Region. The election was held as part of the statewide local elections in Queensland, Australia.
The Cairns Unity Team, which had held a majority on council since 2012, was defeated. Incumbent mayor Terry James was defeated by first-term councillor Amy Eden, who became the second woman to hold the role, after Val Schier.
Background.
At the 2020 election, Unity won a third consecutive election with six councillors elected. Incumbent mayor Bob Manning was re-elected with 81.25% of the vote after preferences.
Division 9 councillor Brett Olds, who was elected as Independent LNP, resigned from the Liberal National Party in September 2021 in opposition to the federal Morrison government's COVID-19 vaccination restrictions.
On 6 December 2022, Manning announced his intention not to seek re-election at the end of his third term. Deputy mayor Terry James confirmed his intention to run and lead Unity.
In July 2023, Division 5 councillor Amy Eden defected from Unity to form Team Eden, announcing her decision to contest the mayoralty.
Bob Manning announced his resignation, effective immediately, on 17 November 2023. Terry James was appointed as his replacement until the 2024 election, while Jeremy Neal (also a Unity member) was appointed to replace James in Division 4.
Campaign.
During the campaign, James expressed support for the law and order policies of Katter's Australian Party, although stated that Cairns Unity "do[es]n't endorse any party" at a state level.
Team Eden stated their priorities were creating a "renewed" Cairns with a "commitment to transparency, accountability, and engagement". In February 2024, During the campaign, Eden was accused of plagiarising a Facebook post from Toowoomba councillor Rebecca Vonhoff. She later admitted to using passages of Vonhoff's post, and apologised.
In November 2023, "ABC News" reported that Division 4 candidate Shane Cuthbert, a former criminal and member of the unregistered Democratic Party of Queensland, had appeared in multiple online videos with a Nazi flag in 2019. Cuthbert stated that it was "not a good look" and he had filmed the videos in a "shop that sold a bunch of old, cool stuff," and thought "the background of the store and the colours and things like that [looked cool]".
Candidates.
A total of 39 candidates ran for election. Incumbents are shown in bold text.
Cairns Unity.
Cairns Unity announced its candidates on 1 September 2023. Division 7 councillor Max O'Halloran chose not to seek re-election.
Team Eden.
Team Eden announced candidates for six out of nine wards, with Emma Gelling contesting in Division 5, held by Amy Eden.
Restaurateur Sam Byrd was Team Eden's candidate for Division 7 until August 2023, when he withdrew citing conflict with commitments in his private life.
Community First.
Community First was formed in November 2023 by members of the Greens and Socialist Alliance. The group stated they supported measures to end "conflicts of interest and dodgy deals" on council.
The group was led by mayoral candidate Denis Wall, a Greens member and former university teacher.
Others.
Paul Taylor, a former Queensland deputy police commissioner who resigned after referring to his friend as a "vagina whisperer" at a policing conference in 2022, contested the mayoralty as an independent candidate.
Division 2 councillor Rob Pyne, who joined Socialist Alliance following the 2020 election, initially planned to retire but later chose to contest Division 5.
References.
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