CEO’s report from Council Ordinary Meeting

Council hopes draft legislation to resolve issues of conflicts of interest will be considered at the next State Parliamentary sitting, 3-5 September 2019. Draft legislation was introduced into Parliament on 1 May 2019 and reviewed by the Economics and Governance Committee, which recommended the legislation be adopted. Council has been experiencing difficulties dealing with conflicts of interest due to the unintended consequences of changes to legislation which occurred in May 2018.

Council has engaged an external economic advisory firm to undertake a population forecast. The Queensland Government Statistician’s Office (QGSO) published its latest Queensland population forecasts (through to 2041) in 2018, forecasting an average annual population growth rate for the Cairns LGA to 2041 at 1.5%. However, this forecast is significantly below the historical actual growth rates achieved in the period to the last Census – 2.3% per annum over the 15 years to 2016 and 2.5% per annum over the 30 years to 2016. Importantly, QGSO population forecasts are used by the Queensland Government when making investment decisions for infrastructure.

DJ Phatberg’s Think Before Your Flush rap has received positive online feedback, reaching more than 43,500 people through Council’s Facebook page.Since being launched on 7 August, the post has been shared 140 times and generated 5,874 engagements including likes and comments.

Council’s strategy to activate the Cairns CBD have been well received with the 11-week Sunday on Shields program, which kicked off 4 August, attracting about 1,000 people to each of the event days. Council also recently appointed a CBD Place Manager to be the link between traders in CBD and Council. Meanwhile, Urbis have been appointed to undertake a city centre commercial review considering trading conditions, trends and activation strategies in the city centre with associated recommendations to Council. The review start early September 2019.

My Cains App has been downloaded a further 1000 times since the CEO’s report was finalised. More than 20,000 people have now downloaded the app and almost 3000 items have been logged through the ‘Report a problem’ function.

Targa Great Barrier Reef, from 30 August to 1 September is now the second largest tarmac rally in the world. The number of cars set to take part this year is up by over 40% from 2018 numbers. This year’s course incorporates stages in Cairns, Ravenshoe, Millaa Millaa, Malanda, Yungaburra, Atherton, Mareeba, Kuranda, and Gordonvale.

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