Moreton Bay Regional Council mayor Allan Sutherland continues to battle rare illness

ILLNESS forced Moreton Bay Mayor Allan Sutherland to pull back from public duties but he’s on the mend, telling detractors to “put their by-election signs away”.

Moreton Bay Regional Council mayor Allan Sutherland is continuing to battle a rare illness. Picture: Chris Higgins

MORETON BAY Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland says he is feeling better than he has in years and detractors should “put their by-election signs away”.

Cr Sutherland’s comments come seven months after it was revealed he had a rare auto-immune disease which required treatment with chemotherapy drugs.

He has continued in the role, but has avoided big crowds to reduce the chance of infection.

While his condition was not yet in remission, recent test results had shown a marked improvement.

“It’s like I’ve had a full motor reconditioning,” Cr Sutherland said.

He still has to be careful in crowds and confined spaces, and will need to avoid events such as citizenship ceremonies where he would have to shake hands with 150 people.

Vigilance has paid off with no sign of even a cough or cold since June.

“I’ve done what my doctors and specialists have said,” he said.

“I had to do what I was told because it was a pretty scary space that I was in,” he said.

He credited following doctors’ orders, and the support of his family and deputy mayor Mike Charlton, for his recovery.

While Cr Sutherland was still focused on getting his condition into remission, he said his eye was on the work he was elected to do.

“I just want to keep that momentum going,” he said.

“I’ll be serving a full term, there’s no questioning that. But watch out, I might serve another two to three terms if the people will have me,” he said.

Priorities include securing federal funding for the university at Petrie, continuing to build quality infrastructure, delivering services and amenity and building a strong team within council.

He said the council had much to pull together for the university project in a tight timeframe.

This included decommissioning the site, the university build, funding and associated roadworks.

Cr Sutherland said unlike the Redcliffe Peninsula Line project, which the council instigated and handed over to the State Government to deliver with the help of federal funding, the council was “doing all the heavy lifting” on the university project.

“Getting this uni finished is going to make the train look easy,” he said.

He said he was “confident we can deliver as a council but was not 100 per cent sure if other issues are going to affect us”.

“So much of the next four years is out of our control,” he said.

Cr Sutherland said the University of the Sunshine Coast could not spend $10 million on detailed designs for the campus until the Federal Government had signed-off on funding.

As for the much-talked about beard, it will stay until treatment for his illness ends, to reduce the risk of infection caused by shaving cuts.

He said the best indication he was back at 100 per cent would be when the beard was gone.