2024 Cairns Regional Council election

The 2024 Cairns Regional Council election was held on 16 March 2024 to elect a mayor and nine councillors to the Cairns Region. The election was held as part of the statewide local elections in Queensland, Australia.^[1]

2024 Cairns Regional Council election

← 2020 16 March 2024 2028 →

Mayor

First party Second party Third party   EDEN UNI IND Candidate Amy Eden Terry James Paul Taylor Party Team Eden Cairns Unity Independent Popular vote 25,782 20,187 19,532 Percentage 30.70% 24.04% 23.26% Swing 30.70 42.93 23.26 TCP 56.64% 43.36% TCP swing 56.64% 37.89

Mayor before election Terry James Cairns Unity Subsequent Mayor Amy Eden Team Eden

Councillors

All 10 members on the Regional Council (including the mayor) 6 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Cairns Unity Terry James 3 −2 Independent N/A 3 +1 Team Eden Amy Eden 1 0 Independent LNP N/A 1 +1 Ind. Socialist Alliance Rob Pyne 1 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The Cairns Unity Team, which had held a majority on council since 2012, was defeated. Incumbent mayor Terry James was defeated by first-term councillor Amy Eden, who became the second woman to hold the role, after Val Schier.^[2][3]

Background

At the 2020 election, Unity won a third consecutive election with six councillors elected. Incumbent mayor Bob Manning was re-elected with 81.25% of the vote after preferences.^[4][5]

Division 9 councillor Brett Olds, who was elected as Independent LNP, resigned from the Liberal National Party in September 2021 in opposition to the federal Morrison government's COVID-19 vaccination restrictions.^[6][7]

On 6 December 2022, Manning announced his intention not to seek re-election at the end of his third term.^[8] Deputy mayor Terry James confirmed his intention to run and lead Unity.^[9]

In July 2023, Division 5 councillor Amy Eden defected from Unity to form Team Eden, announcing her decision to contest the mayoralty.^[10]

Bob Manning announced his resignation, effective immediately, on 17 November 2023. Terry James was appointed as his replacement until the 2024 election, while Jeremy Neal (also a Unity member) was appointed to replace James in Division 4.^[11][12]

Campaign

During the campaign, James expressed support for the law and order policies of Katter's Australian Party, although stated that Cairns Unity "do[es]n't endorse any party" at a state level.^[13]

Team Eden stated their priorities were creating a "renewed" Cairns with a "commitment to transparency, accountability, and engagement".^[14] In February 2024, During the campaign, Eden was accused of plagiarising a Facebook post from Toowoomba councillor Rebecca Vonhoff.^[15] She later admitted to using passages of Vonhoff's post, and apologised.^[16]

In November 2023, ABC News reported that Division 4 candidate Shane Cuthbert, a former criminal and member of the unregistered Democratic Party of Queensland, had appeared in multiple online videos with a Nazi flag in 2019.^[17][18] Cuthbert stated that it was "not a good look" and he had filmed the videos in a "shop that sold a bunch of old, cool stuff," and thought "the background of the store and the colours and things like that [looked cool]".^[19]

Candidates

A total of 39 candidates ran for election. Incumbents are shown in bold text.

Ward	Held by	Cairns Unity	Team Eden	Community First	Independents	Others
Mayor	Cairns Unity	Terry James	Amy Eden	Denis Walls	Warren Binda John Kel Leah Potter Paul Taylor
Division 1	Cairns Unity	Brett Moller
Division 2	Ind. Socialist Alliance	Nikki Giumelli	Kesa Strieby	Patricia Courtenay	John Schilling	Steve Lippingwell (Ind. ALP) Matthew Tickner (Ind. LNP)
Division 3	Independent	Heidi Healy		Marisa Seden	Cathy Zeiger
Division 4	Cairns Unity	Jeremy Neal	Trevor Tim		Cate Mahoney	Shane Cuthbert (Ind. Dem)
Division 5	Team Eden	Nathan Lee Long	Emma Gelling		James Coll Birgit Ariane Machnitzke	Rob Pyne (Ind. SA)
Division 6	Cairns Unity	Kristy Vallely	Shane Trimby	Nicole Sleeman	Alan Benn
Division 7	Cairns Unity	Matthew Calanna	Ian Moller-Nielsen	Renee Lees	Anna Middleton
Division 8	Cairns Unity	Rhonda Coghlan	Jo Piggott	Phillip Musumeci		Hannah Boon (Ind. LNP)
Division 9	Independent			Carine Visschers	Brett Olds

Cairns Unity

Cairns Unity announced its candidates on 1 September 2023.^[20] Division 7 councillor Max O'Halloran chose not to seek re-election.^[21]

Team Eden

Team Eden announced candidates for six out of nine wards, with Emma Gelling contesting in Division 5, held by Amy Eden.^[22]

Restaurateur Sam Byrd was Team Eden's candidate for Division 7 until August 2023, when he withdrew citing conflict with commitments in his private life.^[23]

Community First

Community First was formed in November 2023 by members of the Greens and Socialist Alliance. The group stated they supported measures to end "conflicts of interest and dodgy deals" on council.^[24]

The group was led by mayoral candidate Denis Wall, a Greens member and former university teacher.^[25]

Others

Paul Taylor, a former Queensland deputy police commissioner who resigned after referring to his friend as a "vagina whisperer" at a policing conference in 2022, contested the mayoralty as an independent candidate.^[26]

Division 2 councillor Rob Pyne, who joined Socialist Alliance following the 2020 election, initially planned to retire but later chose to contest Division 5.^[27]

Results

Mayor

2024 Queensland mayoral elections: Cairns

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Team Eden	Amy Eden	25,782	30.70	+30.70
	Cairns Unity	Terry James	20,187	24.04	−42.93
	Independent	Paul Taylor	19,532	23.26	+23.26
	Community First	Denis Walls	10,745	12.79	+12.79
	Independent	John Kel	3,854	4.59	+4.59
	Independent	Leah Potter	2,747	3.27	+3.27
	Independent	Warren Binda	1,139	1.36	+1.36
Turnout			88,650	75.39	+4.83
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Team Eden	Amy Eden	30,364	56.64	+56.64
	Cairns Unity	Terry James	23,242	43.36	−37.89
	Team Eden gain from Cairns Unity		Swing	N/A

This section is an excerpt from 2024 Queensland mayoral elections § Cairns.[edit]

Councillors

2024 Queensland local elections: Cairns

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Cairns Unity					3	2
	Independent					3	1
	Team Eden					1
	Independent LNP					1	1
	Independent Socialist Alliance					1
	Community First					0
	Independent Labor					0
	Independent Democratic					0

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Queensland local elections § Cairns.[edit]

Division 1

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Cairns Unity	Brett Moller	unopposed
	Cairns Unity hold		Swing

Division 2

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent LNP	Matthew Tickner	3,137	32.44
	Independent	John Schilling	1,702	17.60
	Cairns Unity	Nikki Giumelli	1,541	15.94
	Independent Labor	Steve Lippingwell	1,530	15.82
	Team Eden	Kesa Strieby	1,160	12.00
	Community First	Patricia Courtenay	600	6.20
Turnout			10,212	73.48
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent LNP gain from Ind. Socialist Alliance		Swing

• Incumbent councillor Rob Pyne (Ind. Socialist, later Ind. Socialist Alliance) contested Division 5

Division 3

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Cathy Zeiger	6,467	70.04
	Cairns Unity	Heidi Healy	1,604	17.37
	Community First	Marisa Seden	1,162	12.59
Turnout			9,593	74.80
	Independent hold		Swing

Division 4

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 4

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Cairns Unity	Jeremy Neal	2,750	32.28
	Team Eden	Trevor Tim	2,591	30.41
	Independent	Cate Mahoney	586	19.73
	Independent Democratic	Shane Cuthbert	545	18.35
Turnout			8,949	74.18
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Team Eden gain from Cairns Unity		Swing

Division 5

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 5

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Socialist Alliance	Rob Pyne	2,296	30.01
	Team Eden	Emma Gelling	1,882	24.59
	Cairns Unity	Nathan Lee Long	1,851	24.19
	Independent	Birgit Ariane Machnitzke	948	12.39
	Independent	James Coll	675	8.82
Turnout			8,097	63.93
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Ind. Socialist Alliance gain from Team Eden		Swing

• Incumbent councillor Amy Eden (Independent, later Team Eden) ran for mayor and therefore did not recontest

Division 6

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 6

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Cairns Unity	Kristy Vallely	3,984	39.52
	Team Eden	Shane Trimby	2,609	25.88
	Community First	Nicole Sleeman	1,981	19.65
	Independent	Alan Benn	1,506	14.94
Turnout			10,465	82.25
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Cairns Unity hold		Swing

Division 7

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 7

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Anna Middleton	2,554	29.08
	Cairns Unity	Matthew Calanna	2,395	27.27
	Community First	Renee Lees	2,130	24.25
	Team Eden	Ian Moller-Nielsen	1,703	19.39
Turnout			9,273	73.82
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent gain from Cairns Unity		Swing

Division 8

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 8

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Cairns Unity	Rhonda Coghlan	3,155	33.95
	Team Eden	Jo Piggott	2,532	27.25
	Community First	Phillip Musumeci	1,965	21.95
	Independent LNP	Hannah Boon	1,640	17.65
Turnout			9,942	71.13
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Cairns Unity hold		Swing

Division 9

2024 Queensland local elections: Division 9

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Brett Olds	8,029	76.80
	Community First	Carine Visschers	2,425	23.20
Turnout			10,822	79.45
	Independent hold		Swing

• Incumbent councillor Brett Olds was elected as Independent LNP but left the LNP in September 2021

References

1. "2024 local government elections". Electoral Commission of Queensland. 22 March 2024.
2. "Queensland local government election results show several incumbent mayors face 'kicking' from voters". ABC News. 17 March 2024.
3. "Cairns Regional Mayor". Electoral Commission of Queensland. July 2019.
4. "2020 Local Government Elections". Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024.
5. "Cairns election: Coronavirus work cannot wait for Mayor Bob Manning". Cairns Post. 29 March 2020.
6. "Vocal councillor quits LNP over Covid to be anti-vax 'poster boy'". Cairns Post.
7. "Cairns MP challenges councillor over vaccination status". ABC News. 10 November 2021.
8. "Cairns Mayor Bob Manning will not run in 2024, but questions remain over whether he will go the distance". Cairns Post.
9. "Council elections less than eleven months away as prospective candidates continue low profiles". Cairns Post.
10. "Who is Cairns' likely mayor Amy Eden?". Cairns Post.
11. "Mayor resigns on medical advice". Cairns Local News.
12. "Cairns Unity Team's Jeremy Neal appointed as Division 4 councillor". Cairns Post.
13. "Cairns Regional Council group backs Katters' radical crime idea". Cairns Post.
14. "Our Priorities". Team Eden. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
15. "Queensland could have 24 new mayors including the 'weather girl' who played a witch". The Courier Mail.
16. "Cairns mayoral candidate Amy Eden accused of plagiarising Toowoomba councillor's social media post". Cairns Post.
17. "'I do a lot of good': Former criminal Shane Cuthbert runs for Cairns council". A Current Affair.
18. "6 News: Are they a member of a party? (2024 Queensland local elections)". 6 News Australia. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024.
19. "Cairns council candidate Shane Cuthbert appears in videos with Nazi flag, admits it's 'not a good look'". ABC News.
20. "Unity 2024 announces election candidates". Cairns Local News.
21. "Departing Cairns councillor Max O'Halloran defends young staffer after 'bullying' incident". Cairns Post.
22. "Former Member for Cairns Rob Pyne faces tough fight to claim Division Five". The Chronicle.
23. "Mayoral candidate Amy Eden loses team member and Division 7 council candidate Sam Byrd". Cairns Post.
24. "Community First to contest developers in Cairns Council". Green Left. 30 November 2023.
25. "Community first for team". Cairns Local News. 14 November 2023.
26. "Former police deputy commissioner known for 'vagina whisperer' comment running for Cairns mayor". Guardian Australia. 25 January 2024.
27. "Councillor Rob Pyne makes U-turn on decision to retire, announces a 2024 run for Division 5". Cairns Post.