Cairns Entertainment Precinct a 'one trick pony', says Bob Manning
BOB Manning has criticised Mayor Val Schier for blaming the
region's languishing economy on external factors such as the Global
Financial Crisis, saying the current council is "making excuses".
am’s campaign launch yesterday to take the firmest
swipe yet at the incumbent council, insisting Cairns had lost its
"shining crown" as a safe and beautiful place to visit. But
his campaign promises have been blasted by Cr Schier, who says Mr
Manning and his team of candidates are trying to take credit for
initiatives her council came up with.
Among Unity’s key policies is a commitment to manage a cost-competitive council that gets the most value for ratepayer dollars. The
team, which has a candidate in all 10 divisions and the mayoral race,
also promises to encourage investment in the region and improve safety
in the CBD and local communities. "Like Anna Bligh
and the former Labor state Government, Val Schier and her council would
have us believe that all the setbacks of the past four years can be
easily explained – we’ll blame it on the GFC and swine flu," Mr Manning
said.
"Well I reject that explanation … this city
could have been far more robust to weather these storms if we’d have had
strong leadership." He said the current council
was relying on a "one trick pony" by investing $57.3 million of its
money in the proposed Cairns Entertainment Precinct.
Instead,
the Unity team wants a smaller and cheaper performing arts complex
built away from the waterfront on the corner of Lake and Hartley
streets. "Cairns needs a fully diversified and balanced economy that has more strings to its bow than a CEP,’’ Mr Manning said.
But
Cr Schier said Mr Manning and the Unity team have copied many of the
policies she has implemented at the council since the last election."He’s
pilfered the policies that we already have in place and is trying to
pass them off as his own," Cr Schier said. "The suburban enhancement
program, the cycleways strategy, the investment attraction fund, the
economic development unit – we’ve heard nothing new from Unity. "I’m
not blaming the Global Financial Crisis, but acknowledging that the
whole world has had to deal with the GFC and that’s completely out of
our control."
Cr Schier said Unity’s alternative vision for the entertainment precinct was inadequate.
"He wants to pull the CEP apart and yet he has no plans of his own – his plan is one sentence long."
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nothing new to see here move along
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