Tuesday 19 February 2008

Letter to the Editor

The good folk of Mossman and Port Douglas have just received a Unity team flyer in their letterbox over the weekend. According to the flyer... it seems the Byrne team are focussed on building a great city.

But in doing so, a letter writer believes they have lost sight of what this new regional, with large parts of remote and rural, is representing.

  • Creating Australia’s Most Liveable City

    Unfortunately, I think Mr Byrne and his Unity team have lost sight of what this region is.

    My understanding of what the State Government has attempted in its wisdom called amalgamation is to create “Regions” not large “Cities”.

    The area created through the merger of Cairns City and Douglas Shire is called “Cairns Regional Council” not “Cairns Regional City” as promoted in the latest flyer deposited in my Mossman post box this week.

    I thought the region was to encompass a number of towns, localities and beaches together with Cairns City.

    In all that I have read and the information that has been promoted by the proponents of amalgamation, is that individual communities won’t lose their identities!

    Yet the election flyer released by Mayor Byrne and candidates is littered with references to “Liveable City” and “Cairns Regional City”.

    Where are our communities – Port Douglas, Mossman, Wonga, Cooya, Daintree Village, Cow Bay... ?? These areas aren’t part of Cairns City, although they will reluctantly become part of the Cairns Region after March 15.

    We need a Council to lead our communities without taking away their individual and unique identities. The current Mayor is seemingly not interested in uniqueness as his vision is to create a ‘CITY IN A GARDEN’ not promote a beautiful and unique region.

    Anne-Marie Rodgers
    Mossman Q 4873
    (full address provided)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne-Marie ... like almost every one else on this lop-sided blog, you are mistaken re. this amalgamation.

Kevin Bryne and his Council never wanted to "take over Port Douglas, Mossman and your communities.

If you read Council's submission regarding amalgamation, sent to the Labor dogs in Brisbane, Cairns City Council was against amalgamation with any other shire, including Douglas Shire.

However those Labor dogs in Brisbane gave Cairns City Council no choice when they rejected the submission.

Interestingly, one of the panel that recommended the amalgamation of Douglas and Cairns was the father of Robert Pyne, non other than that old Labor dog, Tom Pyne.

So ... vent your feelings where the blame really lies, namely Beattie, Bligh, Andrews and the slimiest dog of all, O'Brien.

At least KB has accepted the inevitable and is working with sleeves rolled up to achieve an equitable outcome for all.

I shudder to think how Val and her amateur Labor dogs would have dealt with what Brisbane has told Cairns and Douglas what they must do.
And, especially with Berwick as a paid advisor.

Anonymous said...

How right you are Anne-Marie.

But unfortunately the your first point is not quite correct, the Unity Team , simply don't care what this region was. They, and their Developer backers, have a very clear sight of what they want the region to be. Already the local representative of Urban Development Institute of Australia [Qld] has been rubbing his hands at the propect of a Unity Team led Council gaining control of the erstwhile Douglas Shire, and how much easier it will be to gain Development Approval.

I for one don't want to see Wonga, Cooya, and their like, being swallowed up by the developers that are moving like a plague of locusts furher and further north building their million dollar mansions so close to the shore that they eventually need ratepayer provided rock walls to stop them being washed away.

I don't want to see 4 Mile Beach looking like the southern end of Clifton Beach, devoid of vegetation and with sand having to be trucked in to protect the erosion wall.

I don't want to see Craiglie disappearing behind the "urban mess" blighting Clifton Rd and Woree, courtesy Glencorp, and the CCC.

I don't want to see open space swallowed up by subdivisions where 600m blocks are covered by 350m houses, and there is nowhere for kids to play. Where the roads are so narrow that you can't park a car on the side of the street without turning it into one way traffic, and where you cannot turn around without executing a 3 (or even 5) point turn, or without having to use someone's driveway.

In less than 5 years, I have seen Cairns transformed from Australia's most liveable city, into just another cramped example of outmoded urban sprawl planning, based on high density, high coverage, mass living. Much of this has been marketed to southern and overseas "investor/speculators" by suspect Internet marketing techniques.

I have heard those who oppose the current Council view described as "whingers", "ratback troublemakers", and in one case "the enemy". This is the attitude held not only by the Unity Team, but other so called independents, who believe in their given right to control the Resident's destiny.

Shortly I hope to be dropping off one of my leaflets in Mossman. I may not be a "local", but rest assured there is someone here "down south" who is very much on your side

Pete Johnston
Independent Candidate Division 10

Anonymous said...

Well said Anne-Marie, your points are all very valid and that worries me. I mean, look at some of the division 10 candidates, it's a bit like riding in an HR ute with two flat tyres and no bloody spare.

We have three of our ex-douglas elected local government disasters that together achieved absolutely nil-zip-didly no matter what way they try to tease it.

One is sprouting off about having a town planning degree and "I know what you want" whilst in the employ of a certain Palm Cove developer.

Another is so inconspicuous by her absence she should have saved her dough and a pre-requisite to vote for George Pitt is chew’n grass and tork’n with a drawl aye.

PLEASE HELP! In Division 10, we need a well educated, well balanced person who is skilled in the art of Business, Tourism, Agriculture and community.

Division 10 needs someone who is both at home in the community and very experienced within the realms of government. I think my dollars going to be on that Julia Leu.

Anonymous said...

Factman, this blog is no more lop-sided than your own councils policies and principles.

Your beloved unity party is part of a private club alliance that has no regard for anyone but the money within that club. Listen to yourselves, you have been bullshitting for so long your starting to believe your own lies.

I welcome your input Pete Johnston, but what skills do you have to "STOP THE ROT"?

Anonymous said...

Lets see!

I've worked in administrative roles in Insurance & Manufacturing, I've tramped through bush and swamps as a surveyor's chainman, and laboured in drainlayers ditches. I've worked in the laboratories of dairy companies and welding equipment manufacturers. I've even been on the Dole…!

Then I joined the Air Force, (OK it may have the one "over the ditch"), but at the end of a 20 year career I had risen from the ranks to retire as a senior Officer (equivalent rank to our current Mayor, but don't hold that against me). I was trained in Aeronautical Engineering at the RAF College at Cranwell. I worked alongside and exercised with RAAF units, and operated in a wide diversity of areas from the UK to Singapore and Malaysia, various Australian and Pacific Islands, got stranded for a week in Newfoundland, and even did a summer stint in Antarctica.

Subsequently, I worked in management roles on multi-million dollar IT and Telecommunications projects, including the roll out of NZs CDMA Network. A stint in the NZ Tax Office Call centre preceded my move to Cairns in 2002

On return to Australia, I worked in Quality Management with Australian Army Aviation in Townsville, commuting weekly from Cairns. For the past 2 years I have been working in the Health sector in various data management roles.

So its been a very diverse range of experiences, all of which I can draw on as the case requires.

I was a founding member and past president of a community association which the Mayor and Sno Bonneau have good cause to remember. There is no doubt that the community team I led was instrumental in ensuring that nothing in the old Division 11 would ever be "rubber stamped" again.

I have taken the Council and a Developer to the P & E Court and, representing myself, obtained a settlement that I could live with. The Council is under no illusions that should the circumstances arise, I would have no hesitation in repeating the experience.

All of this has required a great deal of study into the Legislation governing the administration of Local Government, so at least I have some clues as to what a Councillor "should" be doing.

I have a deep and abiding sense of Heritage and a very firm belief that once lost these things can never be regained. Even the most trivial of artefacts may one day hold the deepest significance. Even more so the LAND…

But first and foremost is my very strong belief that, if you put me into Council, I will be there to represent YOU, to ensure that YOUR rights are respected and that you are afforded Equality of Rights in any situation that affects your lifestyle and amenity.

We came to Cairns to have a quiet life, for me to play some golf, have jobs that gave us a reason to get out of bed in the morning, and generally just blend into the neighbourhood. What I got was our rights and amenity trampled on, contemptuous treatment from "our elected representative", and the systematic destruction of everything we came here for. That this attitude is endemic in the current Council has caused me to "put up" or "shut up"

Pete Johnston
Independent Candidate Division 10

Anonymous said...

I have heard byrne on many occasions say on talkback radio that it was his dream for Cairns to be like Singapore, shows how much he knows about this area.
He certainly doesn't know anything about Port Douglas.

Anonymous said...

Hi Michael
It would be interesting to see what time Ann-Marie posted her blog.
I ask you to check Julia Leu's website, have a look at the media release for fundraisers and check the properties of this word document. It was done by the Business Manager for the Douglas Shire Multi Purpose Health Service (formerly Mossman Hospital), Ann-Marie Clark. Yes, Ann-Marie Clark and Ann-Marie Rodgers are one and the same.
Note the properties on this word document - it was compiled on Tues 05-02-08 at 10:44am and clearly states the author as Clark and the company as Queensland Health.
So we have Julia's friends working on her political campaign in Queensland Health time. A number of these flyers were printed out there and were handed out to Staff encouraging them to display them in their vehicles.
Misappropriation of scarce health funds? Breaches of the code of conduct for QH employees? YOU BET! Shame on you Julia and shame on you Ann-Marie!!

factwomen said...

Julia Leu is a godess

portmultimedia said...

Hi Daphne,

Thanks for your great detective work, perhaps you have missed your calling?

I have myself been guilty over the years of drafting something at home and subsequently taking it to work on my flash drive to either finish or review the document during my morning tea or lunch break.

I suppose my situation may be a little like the above authors (Anne-Marie) in the fact that I can't always leave the office, so I have my MORNING TEA at my desk!

As for the print resources... Do we know for certain that these were printed in the office of the Mossman Multipurpose Health Clinic?

If they were, was it a whole REAM of paper or perhaps maybe 1 copy made on the PRINTER and 25 copies made on a less expensive photo-copier?

This whole covert printing workshop (as you would imply) may have cost the MMPHS around $5.00 including ink.

To have the author leave her desk (which she is well entitled to) and another to cover her would cost a great deal more to both the MMPHS and the community in general.

SHAME on you Daphne for having nothing better to do with your life than to publicly complain about nothing in particular.

As for wasting health funds… just leave this to the Qld Government, they do it better than most of us. At least Anne-Marie is actively seeking to make a difference in her community by helping a candidate that I know WILL make a difference!

Getting A Life For Daphne? ... $2.00
MMPHS Printing costs whilst manning the phones during Morning Tea? … $5.00
Julia Leu for Division 10? … PRICELESS

Anonymous said...

I've noticed little boy's preoccupation with dogs lately.
Everyone seems to be some kind of dog - Labor dog, union dog, amatuer dog or whatever. And then there is the touret style barking that goes on. Small fry seems to use this to emphasise a point in a mentally handicapped kind of way.
But I think it probably is a sexual thing, I'm sure Factman is taking one for the team, doggy style.....

Anonymous said...

Julia is pretty hot, but i really like Janine. She has got great legs (apparently she used to be a dancer)and I love her warmth and energy. If you are reading this JA, here is a kiss and a hug from me xo

Anonymous said...

Janine sure is more pleasing to the eye than Julia, closer to Jennifer's league, but the most important thing is will she beat Sno for the job? I'd love to know what the polls suggest.

Good luck Janine, be positive and constructive in your approach.

(I'd blow you a kiss too but I think my missus is watching)

Anonymous said...

Well good to see we did not go off topic, just out of the whole division entirely... now, what was I saying?