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

Monday April 23, 2001 11th Edition

This week follows the Easter break so there is the usual sad stories of road fatalities over the holiday period. Speed and drink driving continue to claim lives. Another big problem is driver fatigue, mainly due to the long distances that people drive to get around Australia. Tourism numbers are still strong in the region and there are expected to be a number of boosts with the planned visit by the US Navy next month, There are new inventions, local filmmakers winning awards and Garuda airlines decides to leave Cairns.

US War Ships to visit Cairns
In a prelude to a massive Military exercise involving 27,000 personnel, two American war ships are expected to dock in Cairns harbour sometime in May. The ships are the USS Blue Ridge, a command ship, and the USS Germantown, an amphibious assault ship. The vessels are both expected to dock in Cairns from May 7-15. The exercise is joint venture between the US and the Australian Navy and the Australian Army codenamed Tandem Thrust.

Cairns filmmakers win award
A team of local filmmakers have won the Queensland New Filmmakers Awards for the best film with a reconciliation theme. Greg Singh, who produced and stared in "Bad Luck Blues" was ecstatic with the award. The six minute, 45 second movie was filmed over one weekend at Palmer River on the Cape York Peninsula. The film centres around a man whose car breaks down on an isolated road and he is helped by a group of local aboriginal men.

Tourism boost over Easter
Visitors to Cairns were up over Easter with most tourism operators starting that they had an excellent holiday period. Flights in and out of Cairns were full over the four day, period and many hotels were promoting special offers. Retailers also reported above average trading for the break.

Hanson targets the seat of Mulgrave
The controversial One Nation Party, headed by Pauline Hanson, has decided to host a candidate in Cairns in the coming Federal Election. Popular Federal MP, Warren Entsch currently holds the seat of Leichardt, which he won in the last election with the help of One Nation preference votes.

Atherton invention tipped to be a big success
There has been considerable interest expressed in an agricultural cultivator invented by an Atherton engineering firm. Mr John Wilkinson, inventor and owner of Wilkinson's Blacksmiths and Engineering, spent three years developing the machine with the help of Federal Government grants. The machine can do the work of five standard pieces of machinery (a plough, discs, harrows, rotary hoe and cultivator simultaneously) and orders for the machine are already coming in. A marketing campaign for the machine, called the Rotocult, will launched in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.

Long delays being experienced at Cairns Airport
Increased quarantine checks are delaying arriving passengers coming into Cairns. Stringent inspection criteria have been made even tougher as the foot and mouth threat continues throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. About 350 passengers per day are experiencing delays caused by their country of origin.

Six people die on Queensland roads over Easter
Queensland has had six road fatalities over the Easter period. Wet roads and driver fatigue were blamed for most of the accidents with police stating that extra traffic on the roads over the Easter period always produces more accidents, regardless of the statewide police blitz conducted earlier prior to and during the holiday period. The blitz saw 10,000 motorists booked for traffic offences in the first three days of Easter. Most of these were charged with speeding offences however 348 were charged with drink driving.

Local student invents a new device for monitoring sediment
James Cook University PHD student, Severine Thomas, has invented the device which measures the current level of sediments in suspension. Previously scientists had to take samples from layers that had developed over time. The main benefit of the machine is that it provides a way to determine sediment levels, one of the major threats to the Great Barrier Reef, that can be monitored much like temperature or humidity readings. Any relationships between weather and tides and their effect on sedimentation will then be clearly identified.

Keifer Sutherland heads to Port Douglas
Popular Canadian actor Keifer Sutherland will be heading to Port Douglas next month to star in the film version of French painter Paul Gauguin's life called "Paradise Found". The $9.1 million film is the first of several such projects destined for the region in the next 12 months.

Garuda leaves Cairns
Indonesia's national airline, Garuda, will be stopping its three weekly flights between Cairns and Bali. The airline made the announcement last week, stating low profitability on the route as the reason. This announcement follows Singapore Airlines decision to stop flying into Cairns and both decisions have raised concerns in the tourism industry. All other international airlines flying in Cairns including Malaysian, Cathay Pacific, Air Niugini, JAL, Air New Zealand and QANTAS have stated that they have no intention leaving Cairns.

Cowboys go down as poor crowd attends NRL game
The North Queensland Cowboys Rugby League team has suffered 24-22 loss to the Northern Eagles on Sunday night. Added to this loss was the poor attendance at the game which was held at Bundaberg Park in Cairns. There was considerable public debate about problems with the first NRL game, which was held at the venue last month, following problems with overcrowding and lack of facilities.