Saturday 25 August 2007

The Cairns 1st Team

Last night, the candidates that comprise Cairns 1st were presented to a supporter's gathering in Edgehill.



L-R Richie Bates, Dianne Forsyth, Val Schier, Robert Pyne, Paul Matthews, Kirsten Lesina, Mark Buttrose



Val Schier introduced her candidates that have been selected to date.

Val also introduced Richie Bates, who will represent the northern beaches division.

Richie was born in Melbourne in 1965, and first came to work in Cairns 20 years ago. He has been a resident of Yorkeys Knob for 17 years. Richie manages telecommunications technology at Queensland Rail, where he has worked since 1988. He has a son 13, and daughter aged 7.

Over the next few months, and as the new Council divisional boundaries are announced, Val will announce additional candidates to represent her Alliance to contest the local body elections in March 2008.


VAL SCHIER
From a small village on the North East coast of Tasmania, Val came to Cairns in 1982 after having worked in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. She bought a house at Machans Beach in 1984 and has lived and worked in Far North Queensland for 25 years. Her son, James, is a teacher in WA and partner, Peter, is an academic and researcher at James Cook University.
Val has had diverse and challenging work experiences - motel manager, teacher, breakfast cook and mining treatment plant operator – before joining the state public service where she held senior managerial positions.

KIRSTEN LESINA
Kirsten was born in Cairns in 1986, making her the fourth generation of the Lesina family to live in the city.She attended St Gerard Majella Primary School and St Mary's Catholic College in Woree. Kirsten is currently in her final year of a law degree at James Cook University Cairns Campus.

ROBERT PYNE
Born in Gordonvale and raised in Edmonton, Rob is certainly a local. He's worked in various professions until a dramatic accident in 1991 that broke his neck. He then embarked on study to re-enter the work force and completed a Bachelor of Arts in History and Politics at JCU and a Law Degree at QUT. Robert has volunteered for a number of community groups before gaining employment at JCU in 2002.

MARK BUTTROSE
Born in South Australia, Mark moved to Cairns in 1995 with wife, Maryke and two children. He lives in Whitfield and is the manager of a major architectural practice with over 30 years experience in the industry. Since moving to Cairns Mark has been responsible for the design of many landmark buildings in Cairns including the Cairns Centre of Contemporary Arts, St Andrew's Catholic College, Fogarty Park Sound Shell, the sail-like Esplanade Information nodes.

DIANNE FORSYTH
Dianne contested the 2004 Council elections and gained 34% against Kathy Plath's 39% of the vote in Division 5. Dianne runs the Adiction Health Agency, offering Positive-Life-Changes, and was a first for Cairns, when initiated 30 years ago in 1973. Citizens concerned for the welfare of local disadvantaged youth set it up and was originally registered as a Charitable Trust, the Cairns Drug Advisory and Referral Centre, was managed and funded by the FNQ Youth Assistance Fund.

PAUL MATTHEWS
Paul first came to Cairns in a battered EH Holden in 1973 with some Uni mates , but it wasn't until 1987, after graduating from Veterinary School in Brisbane, followed by several Australian and overseas work stints, that he would eventually fulfil his dream to return, with his then partner, Kay. With the birth of Marnie and Sam and the acquisition of the Balaclava Veterinary Surgery, Cairns became home. In 2004, he ran with Val and herTeam 4 Cairns in Division 9, polling 44% of the vote. Since then he has been working on all areas of policy as well as his ongoing passions for humane urban animal management and the environment.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must be honest and state I do not think Val Schier will have much chance of becoming mayor in the 2008 election,to much money available to Byrne to assist in his re-election.Bear in mind I did vote for Val in the last election.
However I suggest if Mike Berwick could become interested in standing
in conjuction with Val Schier,it would be possible for these two people to ensure Byrne and his team
would be defeated.
Both these people have a strong following,working together as a team may give them the numbers to succeed,whereas operating against each other(allowing Berwick stands)
would ensure a win for Bryne,due to their votes being split.
The next question would be who of the two would stand for mayor and who would stand for council,I personally would vote for Berwick who has the immediate experience to handle the position,Val Schier would have to be prepared to wait in the wings until the next election when Berwick may be prepared to stand down to give Val a chance to run for mayor.This may appear to be tough on Val however the important matter at hand is to get rid of Byrne and his crew.
The old saying united they stand,divided they fall,applies here.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree, Mike's got lots of experience and Val has lots of energy so it would be good if they can work together. I don't reckon they are silly enough to split the vote so hopefully they'll work something out.

Anonymous said...

Kev and Mike have had their day.. I'm looking for a fresh face with fresh ideas. I want to see more affordable housing, less high-rise development, a proper evacuation plan for the people, and to have my rates stabilised. Those are some of the issues important to me.
Lastly, I would like more OPEN council meetings, and would like to see more of the public invited to meetings.

Anonymous said...

Hi anonymous, I can guarantee you that the public will be encouraged and welcomed to every meeting and you won't have to put in a request to get the mayor's permission to speak at a council meeting!! Watch out for policy details soon; you'll be pleased to know that disaster planning and affordable housing up there with our planning.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the previous anonymous
contributors.
Val scheir and Mike Berwick combined would make a formidable team.Someone needs to bring these two groups together.Advise them the main object is to get rid of Byrne and his team,the only way to achieve this is to combine forces.
With the two groups independantly, it would leave it would leave little hope of either one being elected.

Anonymous said...

To Val,
I would be pleased to see you win the 2008 council election,however some of the factors which may count against you are as follows.
1.Many new residents arriving since the last election four years ago,would not have any knowledge of you personally.
2.You will not be in a position to match the money Byrne and his crew will have available,for public relations and advertising etc.
3.Big money end of town will be supporting Byrne.
4.Getting your policies across to all residents will be difficult.
A clear indication would be for you to check the bookmakers odds for the mayoral election between yourself and Byrne.Also if you did a survey or poll on the election,I would suggest Byrne would be ahead.
If you are not successful in the 2008 elections,this would possibly end your aspirations of standing for mayor.
I mention these facts for you to consider,to give yourself a chance,you may need to forge an alliance with Mike Berwick,or at least publicly obtain his support if he is not going to stand for mayor.
I wish you every success.

Anonymous said...

G'day.
I agree it will be a formidable task to knock off Byrne and his team. I know of many people who cannot stand him, yet voted for him last time because he has experience and they didn't know enough about Val. It is these people who need to be persuaded to vote for change. They certainly want to, but come the crunch are hesitant to actually do it on election day. Byrne's misgivings, and we all know there are many of them, need to be exposed in a big way. There are many people who deep down don't want to vote for Byrne, they just need to be given a reason why. This amalgamation issue will have done wonders for Vals cause. Good luck, I believe it can, and will be done.

Anonymous said...

To Val,
Congratulations and great news in todays Cairns Post,Schier and Berwick possibly working together will bring a great deal of experience,humanity and compassion to the new Cairns Regional Council,something that has been sadly lacking in our present council.
You will both have a lot of support and assistance from the residents of the new area.
Best of luck to you both.

Anonymous said...

No way, will I vote for Byrne, he is digusting, a liar and you do have to ask the question, does he really give a rats about anything other than himself. I didn't vote for him last time and wont this time.
Just a pity Val has Paul Mathews on her team. Pretends to be MR Nice guy but really a foul mouthed pig clearly on his own agenda

Anonymous said...

After being stuck behind Val and her driver yesterday in her decorated car from town to Machans in the right hand lane sitting under the speed limit all the way andholding up traffic
Thats illegal in the 100 zone and discurteous in the 80 zone
Not good PR work !