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

Monday February 19, 2001 2nd Edition

Well most of the news this week has focused on the state election. As always other issues take a sideline as the media are bombarded with press releases and promises from all of the interested parties. One point of interest is the development of several cyclones in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the last week. Whilst this is very normal at this time of year there is always an air of anticipation when cyclones are about. As a result of this monsoonal activity Cairns has had a very wet week with more on the way. So in short we are in the midst of a political and a monsoonal storm. It should be an interesting week ahead.

Virgin Airlines also announced that they had chosen to fly to Townsville instead of Cairns which has added further fuel to the constant rivalry between the two Far North cities. The discounted airlines have a major impact on the economy of a region, hence the highly competitive atmosphere when trying to attract these airlines.

Election expected to be landslide
The Queensland state election seems to be a foregone conclusion if polls are anything to go by. In Cairns the main seats of Barron River, Cairns and Mulgrave all appear to heading to a Labour landslide victory. Polling has also shown that there are a large proportion of voters who are still undecided and most hardcore campaigning in the past week was targeted at converting these voters. Full coverage of results will be televised during the day (17 Feb 2001) and this column will have an overview on the election results next week.

Virgin Airlines to fly to Townsville
Virgin Airlines has finally announced that Townsville will be the first port of call in regional Queensland. Whilst there was an air of disappointment about the decision in Cairns it is still very likely that the new Australian domestic airline will include Cairns in its Australian routes in the next few months. Cairns economy boomed when the discount airline Compass operated in the early 1990's. Unfortunately when the airline closed down so did cheaper domestic airfares to Cairns.

Cairns Radisson Taipans victory
The Cairns Radisson Taipans NBL team had a major confidence-boosting win last Saturday, 10 Feb by defeating the league champions, The Perth Wildcats. Over 5000 people in the Cairns Convention Centre watched the 116-109 point victory. Whilst it was a close game at every stage there is no doubt that the Taipans simply out played the Wildcats and they showed the potential that this team really has. In a season plagued with injury and a lack of quality imports it has been surprising that they have played so well, losing game after game by a less than 10 points. The Cairns community has rallied behind the team with full houses now becoming the norm at every home game.

Check out the Taipans web site - Click Here

Petrol price inquiry
There has been a call from more than a dozen groups in Far North Queensland to investigate petrol pricing in the state. Petrol prices have fluctuated by up to 40% in the past six months, severely affecting costs associated with freight and transport. One example of the effect that this can have is with the local Blue Nurses, an organisation essential to assisting the elderly and the ill with house calls. Due to the increased fuel costs the Blue Nursing Service has experienced huge budget blowouts forcing it to review its operations and explore the option of putting patients on waitlists for nursing services. There is growing support in the community for a Royal inquiry into petrol pricing to determine if there has been any wrongdoing or misuse of Government funding.

New Bank on the way
With the growing groundswell of people unhappy with the service they receive and the charges applied to all accounts by the large banks, there is good news on the way with the Bendigo Bank announcing that they plan to set up in Cooktown with other Far North areas to follow. This move away from regional areas by the big four banks has been a strongly debated issue with many consumers feeling a degree of betrayal by the banks that they supported for many years.

Tawnys closes doors
Tawnys Seafood Restaurant closed its doors for the last time this week as the waterfront site where it has become a famous icon is due for redevelopment. The Cairns Port Authority is planning a complete overhaul of the waterfront area, which will be known as The Cityport Development. Tawnys had been in receivership for the past twelve months however it had continued to trade in this period.

Young Star on the road to fame Mossman
local Kylie Sackley recently won the Starmaker award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Part of her prize is a new Toyota as well as a national tour with Adam Brand, an internationally acclaimed Country and Western singer songwriter. The tour will cover most of the Australian capitals and it is expected to be the launching pad for a successful career for the talented 18 year old.

Call to ban commercial fishing in Far North rivers
Recreational fisherman have called for a ban on professional fishing in the Endeavour and Annan Rivers in Cooktown. This sentiment has been echoed in all regional Queensland areas where there is concern that professional fishing will ultimately deplete popular fish stocks. The biggest step forward in this area was the banning of commercial fishing in the Cairns Trinity Inlet last year. Many local fishing guides have already noticed the difference saying that tropical waterways recover very fast. Whilst the levels of popular species such as Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and Grunter have always been good the aim of the professional fishing ban is to allow these stocks to grow to the levels they were 20 years ago. Recreational fishing has enormous tourism potential with Cairns and the surround waterways considered some of the best fishing locations in the world. Understandably commercial fishermen do not share the same views.

Damaged reef on the mend
Sudbury Cay, the site where the Malaysian freighter ran aground last year is showing signs of recovery as clean up work continues. It is expected that it will take several years before the Reef will be back to it's pristine state however close environment monitoring will prove beneficial in determining how resilient coral reefs actually to this type of physical damage.