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Cairns News Archive

Local News Review
A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Monday November 5, 2001 39th Edition

On the eve of the Federal Election, Cairns has received a lot of very positive news in the past week. Virgin Blue has finally announced that flights will commence into Cairns within weeks, rival QANTAS is closer to making an announcement regarding using Cairns as a major hub for their new discount arm, Australian Airlines and the Federal Government has provided funding to ensure the Cairns Esplanade Project can continue to the next stages.

Cairns gears up for Federal election
Cairns residents, along with over 12 million other Australians go the polls this Saturday to determine whether current Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, will stay in power or if the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kim Beasley, will take control. Whilst the election campaign started with the existing Collation Government in a very strong position, the gap has rapidly closed in what is now being described as a cliff-hanger election that is too tight to call.

Media Award for Web Designer
Andrew Burman, of Cairns Connect Pty Ltd, has been named the winner of the 2001 North Queensland Media Awards Best Web Site Design category for the design of Tropos Nightclub web site (www.troposnightclub.com). Andrew is a leading web designer in North Queensland and his company has completed many high profile web development projects both nationally and internationally. Including the development of web sites for DMG Radio Australia (www.hotfm.com.au and www.starfm.net.au), and Cairns Connect.

The award has reinforced the fact that Cairns is providing professional services to compete on a national and international level. For More information on the services Andrew's company, Andromeda Interactive provides, check out www.andromeda.net.au

Virgin announces flights to Cairns to start in within weeks
The long awaited announcement that Virgin Blue Airlines will start flights into Cairns has finally been made. The news has been greeted with enthusiasm from all business sectors in Cairns. Virgin Blue released the news that the company would start daily flights between Cairns and Brisbane on the 27th of November. It is expected that the one daily flight would be increased to three flights within months. The introduction of Virgin Blue to the Cairns sector will provide over 1000 extra seats per week, particularly targeted at the budget traveller market.

Federal Government to fund next stage of Esplanade Project
In a pre-election promise the Federal Government has announced that it will provide funding to the tune of $9 million for the next stage of the Cairns Esplanade Redevelopment Project. This ensures that the project will continue to move forward at the planned rate. Funding for the project had been uncertain and the announcement by the Federal Government has been well received.

As the project starts to take shape excitement is building in anticipation of the finished project. The Esplanade Redevelopment will see a large landscaped garden on the Cairns foreshore with a swimming lagoon, boardwalks, picnic areas and general recreation facilities.

Expectation builds regarding QANTAS announcement
The Cairns business community is expecting QANTAS to make an announcement regarding the new Australian Airlines in the next few weeks. General discussions have indicated that the new discount airline could provide up to 50 international flights per week for Cairns. QANTAS is expected to make an announcement regarding using Cairns as a hub for the airlines in early December.

Property sales on the increase
House and unit sales in Cairns have reached their highest levels in more than a year. Herriots property valuers stated that Cairns was following a trend set in South East Queensland earlier this year. This trend included rising property values and general sales activity. The Real Estate industry in Cairns has been faced with an oversupply of properties for the past five to six years and based on industry sources it appears that this oversupply is now drying up. This is supported by the announcement of a number of major residential property developments commencing in the near future.

Australia voted the second safest holiday destination
Australia has been voted the second safest holiday destination by British Travel Magazine "Wanderlust". New Zealand has taken the top position as the safest destination in the world. The Australian Tourist Commission European Director, Mr Andrew Richards, said that "Australia was universally regarded as safe". "Wanderlust" magazine has 35,000 readers, mostly adventure travellers.

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