Mayoral candidate Terry James reveals new-look Unity Team ahead of 2024 council elections
Mayoral candidate and 2024 Unity Team leader Terry James has revealed the candidates he will bring to next year’s council elections. See who’s running in your division.
Cairns
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Mayoral candidate Terry James has unveiled his team, which includes some recognisable Far North surnames, ahead of the 2024 Cairns Region Council elections.
Nikki Giumelli (Division 2), Heidi Healy (Division 3), Jeremy Neal (Division 4), Nathan Lee Long (Division 5) and Matthew Calanna (Division 7) will join incumbents Brett Moller (Division 1), Kristy Vallely (Division 6) and Rhonda Coghlan (Division 8) - as well as Mr James, currently the deputy mayor - on the Unity ticket.
The 2024 team does not include mayor Bob Manning or Division 7 councillor Max O’Halloran due their announced retirement.
Mr James, a 22-year Cairns councillor, said the line-up was the “best” in the team’s history.
“We have a diverse field of expertise among our group,” Mr James said.
“There’re a lot of old Cairns names here – pioneering families.
“We’ll run on our existing record … we’ve got lots to crow about.”
Mr James said cost of living, strong advocacy to state and federal governments and crime prevention would dominate his team’s campaign focus.
“The days of rates, roads and rubbish, that’s what it used to be when I started in local government, but the world’s evolved … we’ve all got to get more involved,” Mr James said.
“(Crime) is a problem that needs a solution from everybody.”
An anti-team sentimenthas begun to waft through the Cairns community; as the elections inch closer, more people have said they’re tired of council teams and are eager for a collection of independents to sit in the chamber.
Mr James pointed to past local councils that were dominated by independents and said they invariably formed factions, which, he said, ground council business to a halt.
He insisted, however, prospective Unity councillors would remain independent thinkers when deciding council matters.
“It’s very important to field a team. That’s where you can get things done,” he said.
“We’ve got five new faces here. It’s not about following a party line … there’s no such thing as a ‘Unity bloc’.”
Mr James has chosen to run a candidate against independent Division 3 councillor Cathy Zeiger, but not independent Division 9 councillor Brett Olds.
Mr James said this was because he felt confident of Mr Olds’ “support” of his mayoral candidacy, but Ms Zeiger had chosen to remain neutral.
Mr Olds said any suggestion he was publicly supporting Mr James’ candidacy was “100 per cent inaccurate”.
“I never said I’d support Terry as mayor … I’m not going to publicly support anyone because I’m an independent,” Mr Olds said.
“I think he’s made a mistake running someone against Cathy. She’s a popular councillor.”
The Cairns Regional Council elections are scheduled for March 16.
Division 5 councillor Amy Eden, a former Unity Team member, has also declared her candidacy for Cairns’ mayor.
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Originally published as Mayoral candidate Terry James reveals new-look Unity Team ahead of 2024 council elections
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