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

Monday April 22, 2002 62nd Edition

Cairns residents began readying themselves this week for the annual ANZAC day celebrations. ANZAC day is commemorated each year, to recognise the sacrifices made by the Australian and New Zealand armed forces in many conflicts including World War 1 and 2, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Gulf War and various peace keeping missions.

Rugby sporting coup set to benefit Cairns
Cairns is set to enjoy the benefits of last week's announcement that the 2002 Rugby World Cup will be played exclusively throughout Australia. Australia will be sole host for at least 48 games, and it is expected that at least one game will played in Cairns. Regardless of whether this game happens or not, the economic spin off for the community with increased tourism is very significant. This was noted first hand with supporters travelling to Australia last year to support the Lions Rugby Union tour. Conservative estimates of $6 million have been put forward as the direct windfall that the City can enjoy.

Hydrographic contract awarded to Cairns company
A mulit-million dollar contract has been awarded to Cairns based company, Atlas Hydrographic to supply technology systems aboard Malaysian navy ships. The CEO for Atlas Hydrographic, Mr Gordon Hargreave stated "the contract will require the Cairns office to double its current staff from 6 to 12". Mr Hargeaves felt that the although the initial contract was for a period of 3 years it was very likely that it would be extended for up to 10 years.

Racing Convention set down for August
Cairns will play host for a major country racing conference in August this year. The conference is expected to attract over 1000 delegates and inject approximately $3 million into the local economy. The conference would be held at the Cairns Convention Centre with local touring and sightseeing forming a large part of the schedule of events.

Local Chefs take home medals
A group of Cairns Chefs have won medals at the Food and Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge held in Singapore last week. The team consisted of five Chefs who bought home two silver medals and a bronze at the prestigious event. The awards are of particular significance to the NQ TAFE institution where all members of the team had received training in the past.

Cairns Port Authority CEO quits
The Cairns Port Authority Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bob Manning has resigned after 18 years at the helm of the most significant organisation in North Queensland. In what has often been described as a series of boom and bust cycles Mr Manning has ridden out the airline pilots strike, the collapse of Compass, the Gulf War, September 11th, the collapse of ANSETT and the introduction of VIRGIN Airlines to mention a few milestones in his career.

Mr Manning was also awarded the Citizen of The Year Award for 2001 in recognition for his service to the Cairns Community. At present there is no one set to replace Mr Manning with the job being advertised in national papers in the coming weeks.

Cairns City Council turns around precarious financial position
Cairns City Council has welcomed its nine-month budget result with good news that should prevent the need for any further rate hikes. Cairns Mayor, Kevin Byrne, stated that last year that the Council was only "18 months from technical bankruptcy". The nine-month budget showed that the Council had a cash position of $33.6 million with shrinking debt and growing revenue.