Qld 2024 state election guide for Cook including candidate profiles, policy ideas and issues
Meet the candidates running for Cook, including their policy ideas and their vision for the economy and safety of Queensland’s northernmost seat.
Cairns
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The state Opposition has pledged to further investigate the impacts of listing parts of Cape York on the World Heritage Register before settling on its support for the move, as another Cook candidate criticises the lack of consultation.
In June, seven Cape York areas were nominated to UNSECO’s World Heritage tentative list, in what is expected to be a “years-long” process to determine their status.
World Heritage sites are landmarks with cultural and natural significance which receive legal protection overseen by the international body UNESCO.
While the status can help sites attract funding for management, there are often fears the land becomes “locked” from traditional uses.
When making the announcement in June, Queensland Environment Minister Leanne Linard said grazing properties would not be listed on the register without landowner approval and that the seven sites listed were identified by Traditional Owners, with the ruling of the exact boundaries to be “part of the process as we move forward.”
But during a recent visit to Cairns, Opposition environment spokesman Sam O’Connor said the list was “a bit of a surprise” when it came up and he “wasn’t too happy” about the feedback he had heard in relation to the consultation that had occurred.
“I’m very aware of the hampering of economic production that this could lead to, we need to make sure that we have opportunities for the Cape and I’d be very cautious around anything that could unnecessarily lock up land without having proper management funding to deliver those environmental outcomes we need,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We want to make sure any decision on that is supported by the people on the ground who would be impacted by that, I’m not interested in making a decision that’ll sound good in the capital cities, I want to make sure that it’s something that has local buy in and that has been consulted widely up here with the people it will impact.”
Incumbent Cook MP Cynthia Lui said she was “open to having conversations” right across the board when asked about her own consultation with landowners.
“Look I just think the conversation over the years has always been about creating opportunities for traditional landowners,” Ms Lui said.
“It’s always been about economic empowerment from (the) Traditional Owners’ perspective, but also acknowledging graziers’ concerns.
“I guess I’m open to having conversations right across the board to be able to strike a good balance between everyone that has a vested interest … to ensure transparency in that, we’re all of the same understanding moving forward.”
Katter’s Australian Party Cook candidate Duane Amos said he had attended an information session regarding the listing at the Cairns Convention Centre in May and challenged a Department of Environment officer on consultation and economic opportunities.
“I asked the lady there meeting for minutes and attendance sheets from the consultation they’d done, and nothing, crickets, apparently it was subcontracted to another company,” Mr Amos said.
“My concern is that for far too long I’ve seen what these agencies call consultation, and what I consider community consultation – you walk and you talk.
“I asked what jobs and economic benefits will there be for locals from World Heritage and the first thing she told me was ‘Indigenous tourism’.
“I said ‘lady, unless there’s an Ayers Rock up there, what are you going to do to drive 80,000 people up there. If the government has had to bail out Tjapukai as an Indigenous tourism venture 10 minutes from an international airport, what hope do you think we’ve got up there?’.”
COOK CANDIDATES – 2024 STATE ELECTION
(Listed as per the ECQ ballot)
Duane Amos – Katter’s Australian Party
The high-profile police officer who’s worked in remote communities including Aurukun, Weipa and Kowanyama was announced as the KAP candidate for Cook in May.
In June he commissioned a petition calling the state to urgently repair and restore the Barron River Bridge to its full capacity and progress to fast track a new inland highway from the Tablelands to Cairns, which amassed 3564 signatures.
Mr Amos began his campaign calling out transport funding disparities between remote roads in Cook and the south east as well as a lack of political action on the Mossman Mill.
During his policing career he helped displaced residents return to country following 2020’s Aurukun riots, and said better practices were needed to ease the burden on communities.
First Private Members’ Bill: What is lacking is leadership that translates local priorities into state government outcomes. This includes water security for Port Douglas, economic diversity for Mossman with the mill closure and local government support to deliver immediate outcomes for communities affected by TC Jasper.
Vision for Cook economy: Mossman needs biodiversity with agriculture to support the transition economically for cane farmers, Port Douglas needs sustainable tourism growth matched with critical infrastructure in water security to sustain a balanced growth that does not impact local quality of life. To the north we need to manage agriculture, mining, remote employment and this is a staged approach with Peninsula Development Rd bridge upgrades to open mines and create employment whilst protecting Mareeba with a bypass and a hospital that meets its current population service area.
Vision for Cook safety: I have a proven record of delivering coordinated responses for government over many years. Now I have the experience and opportunity to work directly for Cook as their member and reach into government to advocate directly on legislative changes necessary to provide safer communities. This includes the Penalties and Sentences Act amendments necessary so magistrates can enforce mandatory remote sentencing and remand of recidivist offenders.
David Kempton – Liberal National Party
Former chair of Regional Development Australia Far North Queensland and Torres Strait David Kempton grew up on a cattle station at Mudgee in New South Wales, before a holiday brought him to the Far North, where he opened Cooktown’s first law firm since 1935.
He’s part-owned and managed a station in the 1990s on the Cape and Mr Kempton also served as Member for Cook from 2012-2015 under the Campbell Newman government.
He believes Labor has gone missing in the last decade on issues such as the Barron River Bridge, the inadequate response to Cyclone Jasper, and the future of the Mossman Mill.
In 2022, as chair of RDA, Mr Kempton said widening the Kuranda Range Rd to B-double standard could be the most cost-effective solution to the troubled road.
First Private Members’ Bill: If a significant issue arose within my electorate requiring legislation I would proceed through the party and parliamentary process to have that matter dealt with. I cannot envisage the need for a Private Members’ Bill whilst serving as an elected member of an LNP parliament.
Vision for Cook economy: The first challenge is to rebuild the failed road network. We must then construct the necessary infrastructure to support economic development in agriculture, mining, fishing, tourism, timber and the associated opportunities involving carbon, alternate energy and indigenous participation. The Lakeland Irrigation scheme and the deep water port at Weipa offer enormous potential.
Vision for Cook safety: The LNP Plan for a safer Queensland including Adult Crime Adult time. I envisage young offenders being given clear choices between becoming a valued and respected member of society with all the appropriate support, education, guidance, training and opportunity or pursuing a life of crime that will involve harsher penalties and consequences. We simply cannot keep making the same mistakes of the last decade expecting our homes and streets to be safer.
Cynthia Lui – Australian Labor Party
Hailing from Yam Island, current Cook MP Cynthia Lui was elected to parliament in 2017.
As the incumbent member, Ms Lui has pledged $20m towards upgrading the Mareeba Hospital and $200m to build a new Cooktown Hospital. She has endured criticism for relocating her electorate office from Mareeba to Cairns, which she has defended on multiple occasions and more recently was criticised for a lack of communication with southern Cape communities after the December 2023 floods. Ms Lui has overseen the $55m redevelopment of the Thursday Island Hospital and the delivery of two new rescue helicopters for the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.
First Private Members’ Bill: I’ve been so pleased to be part of the Miles Labor Government that has been able to deliver cost of living relief to the people of Cook. Earlier this year we changed the law to ensure Queenslands progressive coal royalties remain protected so the people of Queensland can keep this important cost of living relief.
Vision for Cook economy: I have been able to deliver work opportunities to the Cook region through more housing, hospital beds, classrooms, roads rail and energy projects. We’ve employed more doctors and nurses, more teachers, more police and more firefighters. And we’re making sure people getting a good education with free kindy and over 5000 fee free TAFE courses underway in the region.
Vision for Cook safety: Building stronger communities means building safer communities. I was so pleased to deliver a child development service - a family-centred service includes a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, and psychologist to deliver these essential services in the most remote areas of Cook. The $1.28bn Community Safety Plan is already starting to work and I’m confident, given time it will make a real difference to the safety of our communities. In the first quarter of 2024, there was a 10.7 per cent drop in offences committed by young people in Queensland compared to the same time last year.
Peter Campion – One Nation
Peter Campion previously contested the federal seat of Kennedy for United Australia Party and the seat of Hill at the last state election in 2020. The former firefighter often writes letters published in the Cairns Post, and had previously described himself as a “realist, not a politician”. Earlier this year Mr Campion spoke of his alignment with the Freedom Movement – “a stand against a secret group of globalists who are running the world”. Mr Campion believes Cook produces much of Queensland’s wealth but is hindered by excessive regulations and feels cost of living pressures are driven by climate policies.
First Private Members’ Bill: A Private Members’ Bill to automatically apply sunset clauses to all existing and future legislation, regulations, and government bodies. We are afflicted with an overload of unneeded and unwanted red tape that is choking our prosperity, so parliaments must be required to review it continually and to only keep what’s essential.
Vision for Cook economy: One Nation’s policies will make Cook safer by reducing crime by removing criminals from our communities, and by developing our primary industries so we can afford to build roads to modern safety standards. We can’t have the things we need unless we have the money to pay for them, which means we need to prioritise wealth creation.
Vision for Cook safety: The only way to fix our economy is to create new wealth using the only three mechanisms that have ever created new wealth: farming, fishing and forestry; mining, and manufacturing. All of these are being strangled by unneeded and unwanted regulations imposed on them by the Labor-Liberal UNiparty on behalf of the globalist United Nations, and only One Nation’s policies will save them.
Troy Miller – Greens
Over the past 20 years, Troy Miller has worked in hospitality, as a licensed plumber and most recently as a nurse and paramedic throughout the Cape including Cooktown and Thursday Island, as well as Port Douglas, Mareeba and Mossman. Mr Miller believes nurses and paramedics are among the most trusted professions and his candidate bio points towards the need for trust in a member of parliament. He pledges to “not be sitting behind a desk” and rather holding a hose if there’s a fire, a spanner if something needs fixing or a hammer if something needs building. Mr Miller will be advocating for more funding of arts, music festivals and children’s access to sport across the Cape.
First Private Members’ Bill: A bill to set up Queensland’s public housing developer tasked with doing whatever it takes to build 100,000 well-designed and affordable homes for Queenslanders by 2030. We’ll invest $60bn in building these homes all across Queensland, saving renters $9000 per year and saving first home buyers $225,000 off the purchase price of an average home.
Vision for Cook economy: My plan for our local economy is built on three pillars: boosting tourism by treasuring our stunning natural beauty, delivering a just transition for workers impacted by the closure of sugar mills and mines, and setting up a public mining company to deliver the minerals we need for our energy transition while making sure the profits stay in Queensland, not lining the pockets of offshore billionaires.
Vision for Cook safety:
Both Labor and the LNP have turned crime, especially youth offending, into a political football – but the truth is our towns are wonderful, safe communities where crime has consistently dropped for the last four years. To help kids stay in school, I’ll make sure every single public school kid gets two nutritious free meals every day, proven to decrease truancy, bad behaviour and boost learning, and I’ll make sure kids have something productive and fun to do with their mates after school by providing a free season of club sport and equipment vouchers to everyone under 18.
TORRES CAPE INDIGENOUS COUNCIL ALLIANCE ELECTION PRIORITIES
The Torres Cape Indigenous Council Alliance chief executive says his organisation could become a centralised service provider for its 16 members if the next state government realised longstanding funding appeals by the not-for-profit.
TCICA boss Mike Miller said the organisation was the premier body advocating on behalf of the country’s northernmost councils, and deserved funding similar to region of council bodies.
Mr Miller said the organisation was seeking about $10m to establish a shared services hub – which would initially be located in Cairns, and provide universal assistance to the member councils such as financial management.
“So that’s around centralising accountancy services, purchasing services, infrastructure assessments, HR and IR support for the councils,” Mr Miller said.
“Not every council has accountancy and they’re paying quarter of a million dollars to a firm, we can pool all that together and do it in house.”
Mr Miller also wants to see the establishment of a $6.5m waste strategy – which would be a joint initiative between the member councils to target items such as abandoned cars, plaguing the Cape, and convert them into reusable scrap metal through a centralised facility.
2020 STATE ELECTION RESULTS – COOK
Cynthia Lui – ALP – 40.02 per cent
Ed Brown – LNP – 24.10 per cent
Tanika Parker – KAP – 17.22 per cent
Brett Neal – One Nation – 6.63 per cent
Deby Ruddell – Greens – 5.04 per cent
Yodie Batzke – IND – 3.86 per cent
Desmond Tayley – NQ First – 2.41 per cent
Stephen Goulmy – UAP – 0.71 per cent.
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Originally published as Qld 2024 state election guide for Cook including candidate profiles, policy ideas and issues
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