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

Monday March 19, 2001 6th Edition

It has been a busy week for local police in Cairns with a number of missing people and violent crimes. Whilst Cairns is generally a very safe place to live, as with all other areas around the world, the common occurrences of violent crimes appears to be continually increasing. The main story this week involved a double murder in the sleepy town of Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands - probably the last place one would expect a crime of this sort. There has been considerable debate over the local papers representation of the story by featuring a front page photograph of the two dead men. Some good news as come out for the region with good tourist numbers being predicted for the coming year, the building industry benefiting from a Federal Government initiative and of course, the Barramundi Bikini. One thing is certain, life is never dull in this part of the world.

Double murder on Tablelands
Two men have been shot and killed in an incident on the Atherton Tablelands last Friday, 16th March. A local man has been arrested and whilst details are sketchy at present, it appears that all three men involved knew each other. The shootings occurred at a remote location near Ravenshoe.

There has been a public outcry regarding the press coverage of the story in the Cairns Post. The local paper featured a picture of the murder scene taken from a helicopter. It clearly shows the body of one of the murdered men and the leg of the other murdered man. This grizzly image has sparked outcry from all sectors of the community.

Cairns set to benefit from new air freight carrier
Amongst the concerns being expressed as a number of airlines pull services out of Cairns, there is some good news. Australian owned company, Cityjet Holdings is a specialist air freight operator planning on basing a world wide frieght service out of Cairns. The company is intending to operate one 747 and two 737's to transport freight, specifically North Queensland based produce, to ASIA, GUAM and the USA as well as throughout Australia.

The company is expecting to be operating from June 2001.

Tourism Year off to a good start
Statistics just released have indicated that occupancy levels for Cairns based hotels and motels is up by 6.4% in January 2001 compared to the same time last year. This is good news indeed and it is hoped that it boads well for the tourism season in the coming year. It is worth noting however that the January 2000 was an unusually quite month last year due to people not travelling as a result of concerns about Y2K. All indications from tourism operators are that the 2001 year will be a very strong year with a lot of forward bookings kicking off in May 2001.

World famous Pie Shop on the move
Mockas Pies have been making their own brand of the Aussie icon pie in Port Douglas for over 30 years. The old location is being redeveloped and the owners of Mockas could not negotiate a bakery site in the new premises. As a result of this they have been forced to move to a new location. Mockas have sold millions of pies to tourists and locals alike in their long history.

Rush on new homes
With the announcement of the Federal Governments first home buyers grant of $14,000 on any purchase of a new home or unit, the Cairns building trade has experienced a huge increase in inquiries. As expected the announcement of the grant has apparently kick started the building industry, which has been in serious decline since the introduction of the GST in July 2000. It is expected that the grant will not only give builders a boost but it will also encourage developers who are sitting on development projects to take the them from the drawing board to the marketplace.

New airline to cater for the Torres Straits
A new airline will be operating in the Torres Straits as of March 26. Regional Pacific Airlines will begin its first stage of operation with a 20 seater Twin Otter plane, basing flights out of Horn Island in the Torres Straits. The new airline was hoping to fill the market that was left by the departure of Uzu Air and Flight West Airlines from the region.

Reef Hotel Casino performs well
The Reef Hotel Casino has produced its best result in the company's five year history by doubling proifts in the second half of last year. The Casino has worked hard to increase profits and to reduce costs with the result being that shareholders will receive their second small dividend later this month.

Council says no more money for major works projects
Cairns City Council has announced that there will be no major projects forthcoming in the next budget. This has been blamed on the fact that the current Council has inherited a number of fiscal problems from the previous Council . Mayor Kevin Byrne has stated that the Council will have to issue several tough budgets to get the City back on line financially. Once this is achieved major projects such as the building of a new Civic Entertainment Centre could be addressed.

Foot and mouth disease concerns reach Cairns Airport
Quarantine staff numbers were more than doubled at Cairns Airport in recent days in an attempt to ensure that the risk of foot and mouth disease entering Australia be kept to an absolute minimum. The extra staff will be used ensure that more detailed checks of arriving passengers and their luggage can be carried out whilst keeping delays to a minimum. The threat of foot and mouth disease to the Australian livestock industry is immense and the authorities are taking any steps necessary to ensure that the disease does not enter Australia.

Cruise Ship runs aground whilst leaving Cairns
P&O Cruises Regal Princess ran aground on mud and sand flats as it left Cairns Port on Friday the 16th March. Whilst the incident was not serious and the ship was soon freed there will be an investigation into what caused the incident, especially as the vessel had a marine pilot on board at the time of the incident. No one was injured on the ship which remained anchored for 24 hours after the grounding whilst divers and engineers checked the ship for any damage. Once given the all clear the Regal Princess continued her voyage to Darwin.

Barramundi Bikini a world first
The Queensland Primary Industries Minister Henry Palaszcruk recently revealed a unique product - a swimsuit made from barramundi skin leather. This very popular sports fish is the icon of the Far North and Mr Palaszcruk said that this showcases the diversity of Queensland natural produce as well as the ingenuity of the producers to find innovative uses for their products.

Body of missing Japanese tourist found
The body of a 49 year old Japanese tourist has been found at Murray Falls near Tully. The man was reported missing when the car that he had hired was found unattended in the public carpark at the popular tourist attraction. The falls were in flood as a result of recent heavy rains in the region and it is believed that the man may have fallen and hit his head, resulting in unconsciousness and subsequent drowning.

Taipans clean up
Titans Cairns Radisson Taipans have notched up another win at the Cairns Convention Centre last Saturday night. In a game that followed the now familiar format, it was exciting and it went down to the wire with the Taipans coming out as 90 - 86 victors.