Wednesday 25 April 2012

Schier wins Chamber vote of support

Just over 70 per cent of the 200 people at the Cairns Chamber of Commerce’s Mayoral debate completed a five question survey on the day, to provide information on the profile of the audience, their voting intentions and how they thought the candidates performed.

The first question asked audience members about their voting intentions was Val Schier who scored the highest with 32%, Margaret Cochrane and Bob Manning each had 21%.   The remaining undecided accounted for 24%.  Ian Thomas scored 1%.

The audience were polled to rate the quality of each candidate’s presentation.  Val Schier scored the highest.  

Of the 136 respondents, 2.2% changed their vote as a result of listening to the four candidates.   One switched from Margaret Cochrane to Bob Manning; another went from Bob Manning to undecided and the third went from Val Schier to undecided.

The audience were also asked to highlight each candidate’s main strengths:-

Margaret Cochrane
- Local government experience and knowledge.

Bob Manning
- Business experience, knowledge.   His suit impressed with some commenting that he looked the part of a smart businessman.

Val Schier
- Track record, passion, presentation skills and vision.

Ian Thomas
- No single strength stood out; rather there was a range of strengths mentioned including his passion, his interesting take on things, and his desire to improve Council operations.

The Chamber survey also asked opinion on the main weaknesses of each candidate.

Margaret Cochrane’s lack of vision and lack of leadership skills were the most common responses.  Bob Manning did not impress with his speaking / presentation skills and Val Schier’s track record was the most common response as her main weakness, along with talking too loudly. Ian Thomas was perceived to be ill-prepared, and off topic a number of times, and without a clear plan.

1 comment:

Michael Weitzmann said...

I feel that Margaret Cochrane has a great vision for Cairns, you just have to hear her speak about issues such as the law and order problem in this town, her vision for a cruise ship hub, for new sporting facilities (especially utilising the wateland opposite the hockey grounds), an affordable and vibrant cultural precinct, an extra route into the city from the airport and fixing the McLeod St mess. As well, she supports a back to basics principle which resonates with many people who are unhappy at seeing their rates diverted to grandiose or fringe issues, whilst everyday public ammenities decay around them. Margaret also has an an excellent 12 year track record as a councillor in achieving outcomes for local residents and is always willing to listen to the people (look at the Pt. Douglas coconut palm issue, where Margaret intervened immediately and met with concerned residents). Beyond this, Margaret has the very important additional ability to work productively with the new Newman state government, which Val Schier has, via her confrontationalist approach over the CEP funding, already demostrated that she is unable to do. Val's track record is poor, her public consultation record is poor and other polls are showing she is tracking to be a one term mayor. Cr Margaret Cochrane has the experience, vision and ability to take on the mayoral role and also has a very strong team of Community Alliance candidates, drawn from a variety of backgrounds and all outstanding and successful in their fields, to support and contribute to her vision for Cairns in council. I will be supporting Margaret Cochrane and her Community Alliance team this Saturday.