Cairns Mayor Amy Eden doubles down on council airport pitch

Mayor Amy Eden says those critical of her unexpected pitch to buy a stake in Cairns Airport need to get used to her “big ideas” while responding to early feedback.

Cairns Mayor Amy Eden expressed her interest to consider purchasing a stake in North Queensland Airports Group.

Mayor Amy Eden says she will not be deterred from floating big ideas following concerns her pitch to purchase a stake in a $3bn aviation portfolio would impact the city’s fiscal reputation when seeking government grants.

With the deadline for non-binding indicative offers for North Queensland Airports Group extended to just before Easter, Ms Eden doubled down on her push to “continue having the conversation” about a council bid to part-own the assets, which are up for 100 per cent sale.

Ms Eden first floated the idea on January 31, stating ideally the council would form part of a consortium, potentially giving the organisation a new source of income and a say in “our city’s most important economic asset.”

While the “blue sky” idea drew mixed reviews on social media, a number of fellow councillors said they were surprised by the sudden announcement and were critical of the bid.

They claimed purchasing a stake in a $3bn asset would impact the city’s bargaining power when going“hat in hand” for state and federal government grants.

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Amy Eden wants councillors to continue expecting her big and small ideas. Picture: Brendan Radke

“As Mayor, I’m going to float ideas big and small from time to time, and I have conversations with a lot of people … and that’s something that’s probably not going to change,” Ms Eden said in response to the criticism.

“I would just remind councillors that we’re coming up to our 12-month anniversary, and we’ve had a really good run.

“If they’re thinking that we’re going to be deterred, well, we’ve got $87.5m from the state in water funding, we got another $87.5m from the federal government for the water funding.”

Both of those commitments were made prior to Ms Eden’s public NQAG pitch.

There was some positive appraisal for Ms Eden’s idea, with respondents asking for greater detail on how a possible acquisition would play out.

Cairns councillors were concerned a bid for a $3bn airport would deter state and federal governments from investing the city’s more immediate priorities such as replacing the bedminster at the Portsmith waste facility. Picture: Brendan Radke

“It’s refreshing that people are really interested in the detail and the numbers,” Ms Eden said.

“We haven’t gone into the detail, we’re not down in the weeds yet.

“Obviously, we don’t have a spare $3bn, or we can’t borrow $3bn, but local governments do borrow money for investment, and that doesn’t prevent state and federal government from delivering the core essential infrastructure that they’re required to deliver for those communities.”

Asked if she had considered what stake of the $3bn sale she would be interested in, Ms Eden said she “had considered a lot of things.”

“But right now I’ve considered that it’s early days, not getting in the weeds of the detail of it, it’s really about that conversation and exploring opportunities,” she said.

Originally published as Cairns Mayor Amy Eden doubles down on council airport pitch