Top job: Bob Manning and his wife Claire go to
vote in Saturday's local government election, which swept Mr Manning to
power in Cairns Regional Council.
Cairns business leaders have given mayor-elect Bob Manning a
warm welcome to the region's top job, but local green groups and arts
figures are anxious to see how their sectors will fare under a
back-to-basics council.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Anthony Mirotsos
said Unity’s promise to tighten the council’s belt does not mean the
region will be without vision and growth. "It will
be the opposite – there’ll be a real confidence developing in business
and that means growth will follow," Mr Mirotsos said.
He was critical of the outgoing council, led by Val Schier, for not doing enough to restore confidence in local businesses. "If
your legacy to council is Zumba on the Esplanade and the Ukulele
Festival, then there can only be a better alternative," he said.
But Advance Cairns chairman Stewart Christie said the outgoing council should be commended for its fiscal innovations. "We
welcome the Unity team’s economic focus and we think they’re starting
from a good spot because of what the last council was able to plan and
implement", Mr Christie said, referring to the economic development unit
and investment attraction fund. KickArts chairwoman Gayleen Todd said
the incoming councillors should not underestimate the economic value of
the former council’s creative initiatives.
She hopes the State Government’s recent cuts to arts budgets are not a sign of things to come in Cairns. "Everyone’s looking to diversify the economy, and arts is an area where there’s tremendous potential," she said. "The
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, for example, has brought in thousands of
visitors and they’re all interested in spending big dollars."
Mrs
Todd said Unity’s promise to downsize the proposed Cairns Entertainment
Precinct would be a "lost opportunity", which is a sentiment echoed by
the local theatre community. "It would be
unfortunate if the desire to save money results in such a significant,
once-in-a-lifetime development being drastically reduced in size and
placed on a second-rate site," JUTE theatre’s bosses Suellen Maunder and
Keith Whenmouth said in a joint statement yesterday.
The
region’s peak environmental lobby group, CAFNEC, wants the new council
to continue the green initiatives of their predecessors, particularly
the climate change strategy. "We encourage the
council to acknowledge that economic prosperity and social cohesion must
also be hand-in-hand with environmental protection," CAFNEC
co-ordinator Sarah Hoyal said.
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