Women emerge as big winners in Far North Queensland’s local government elections

Far North Queensland voters have made history, ushering in five female leaders into top jobs across the region at Saturday’s local government elections.

Saturday has proven to be a strong day for women in local politics in the Far North as four regional councillors are set to make the step up to lead their local councils and another mayor sitting unopposed in the local government elections.

Far North Queensland voters have made history, ushering in five female leaders into top jobs across the region at Saturday’s local government elections.

For the first time, women are all but assured to lead Cairns, the Cassowary Coast, Cook, Douglas and Mareeba Shire Councils at once in a major shake up at the polling booths.

Regional councillors Amy Eden, Teresa Millwood, Robyn Holmes and Lisa Scommazon are all firm favourites to beat their male rivals across the councils, with the quartet leading the vote counts through Sunday.

Mareeba Shire mayor Angela Toppin ran unopposed to round out the group.

Angela Toppin is a walk-up start as Mareeba Shire Council’s mayor. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

On the Tablelands, incumbent Rod Marti bucked the trend, with the mayor boasting a sizeable lead over David Clifton with around 75 percent of the vote tallied.

If successful, Ms Millwood will become the Cassowary Coast council’s inaugural female mayor, after seeing off incumbent Mark Nolan.

The former hairdresser and nurse said a plain-spoken campaign and pledge to repair critical infrastructure won voters over.

“I don’t really have any airs and graces. I’m just going to take it in my stride,” Ms Millwood said of her win.

“I thought the campaign went really well. I didn’t want to count my chickens but I think people appreciated my honesty.

“In my campaign I said I wanted to fix all the broken things — the infrastructure, roads, drainage and Port Hinchinbrook.

“I want to bring back community pride, the morale within the staff.”

Further north, Cook’s likely mayoral-elect Robyn Holmes said she was honoured to follow in the footsteps of outgoing leader, Peter Scott, who served in the role for 16 years.

“At this point we are reasonably confident as we wait for the official results but I am happy with the campaign we have run,” Ms Holmes said.

“We have done what we could in the wet season as we continued to work with the sitting council,”

Ms Holmes said that stability will be important with key projects already underway.

“I don’t plan on changing things too dramatically and look forward to working on continued projects of importance with the council such as the Lakeland dam project, the aged care facility and the hospital.”

Rather than celebrating, Ms Holmes said she was busy preparing for yet another significant weather event.

“We are still dealing with the effects of rain and flooding and with the cyclone forming in the Gulf (of Carpentaria) we could see more rain on the way,” she said.

Lisa Scomazzon is set to become Douglas Shire’s new mayor. PIC: GIZELLE GHIDELLA

In the Douglas Shire, Ms Scomazzon, who couldn’t be reached on Saturday or Sunday, will have a massive task ahead of her with the council decimated by ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, destroying roads and crippling the region’s tourism industry.

She will also have to address the region’s dire water security problems.

The emergence of women in key roles across the Far North was recognition of hard work and well-managed grassroots campaigns, Ms Toppin said.

“It’s special,” she said.

“Each one of those shires have their own issues but from what I’ve seen those women have worked hard in their communities and voters are saying they want people like that to represent them.”

Outgoing Douglas mayor Michael Kerr is likely to chance his arm in state politics, running for the LNP against current Member for Cook Cynthia Lui.

Meet the Far North’s likely mayors

Amy Eden (Cairns)

Teresa Millwood (Cassowary Coast)

Robyn Holmes (Cook)

Lisa Scomazzon (Douglas)

Angela Toppin (Mareeba)

Rod Marti (Tablelands)

Originally published as Women emerge as big winners in Far North Queensland’s local government elections