Cairns mayor goes missing for a week during the federal election
The search to find a Far North mayor this federal election has been likened to a popular children’s book series with baffled councillors at a loss as to where the civic leader has been for a series of major announcements for the region. HAVE YOUR SAY.
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The search to find a Far North mayor this federal election has been likened to a popular children’s book series with baffled councillors at a loss as to where the civic leader has been for a series of major announcements for the region.
Cairns mayor Amy Eden went M.I.A last week with councillors and chief executive Ken Gouldthorp scrambling to attend announcements held by the LNP’s candidate Jeremy Neal and Labor rival Matt Smith.
Division One councillor Brett Moller and Division Two’s Matthew Tickner stepped in last Friday, with the duo calling for$300m from the state and Commonwealth to partner in developing the city’s southern growth corridor.
On Monday, Cairns Regional Council confirmed Ms Eden was in Brisbane at a training course run by the Australian Institute of Company Directors last week.
She is believed to be on leave for the duration of the school holidays, with the election less than a month away.
“Cairns Regional Council has in excess of 1300 staff an operating budget of $400 million and assets of $5 billion,” a spokesman said.
“It is essential that its leaders remain up to date with best practice governance – AICD is a leader in this field.”
Division Seven councillor Anna Middleton said she reached out to Ms Eden last week but hadn’t received a response to her emails regarding council matters for more than a month.
“What’s disappointing is having people ask us, ‘Where’s Amy?’ and not being able to do anything but shrug our shoulders,” Division Seven councillor Anna Middleton said.
“It was a busy week. But I’ve never seen a group of councillors so aligned and excited about investment in the region and in Cairns.”
Communication was critical at a time when the council was lobbying for major projects while also preparing to hand down the second budget of Ms Eden’s tenure, the first term councillor said.
“It makes it difficult when we’re working as nine councillors for the best for the community and we have the sound of crickets from the mayor,” Ms Middleton said.
“It’s not really an option just to refuse to communicate. Most of the information we hear about the mayor comes second-hand and she’s very selective who she shares information with.
“As a leader, you need to be aligned with your team. Good communication skills aren’t Facebook posts.”
Division Eight councillor Rhonda Coghlan said she supported Ms Eden seeking to further her skillset but added councillors should have been notified beforehand.
“It would’ve been nice to discuss the timing and what other options were available to us,” she said.
“We didn’t know she was out of town until Tuesday. We hadn’t been notified by the mayor that she was away.
“It’s a very intense course and three of the most important components are governance, finance and communication. I commend her for doing the course. But it’s the lack of communication that disappoints me.
“We do have an allocation in the budget for development and training but I don’t believe that it would cover that.”
Multiple political observers have compared Ms Eden’s week-long absence to the English series of children’s puzzle books ‘Where’s Wally?’.
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