Townsville City Council could be ending the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Appeal
Charities supporting domestic violence victims could be the biggest losers if Townsville City Council follow through with a proposal to scrap a long-running fundraiser.
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Charities supporting domestic violence victims could be the biggest losers if Townsville City Council follow through with a proposal to scrap the Mayor’s Christmas tree appeal.
A proposal brought to this week’s Townsville City Council meeting has called on the councillors to wrap up the Mayor’s Christmas tree Appeal, which has been running in some form for decades, with no suggestion for a replacement.
While councillors have opted to take the decision back to a workshop to see what they can do, the proposal has drawn the ire of the community.
One former Townsville mayor described the move as a “bad look”, while another said it would be “unfortunate”.
The review, which was tabled at Wednesday’s council meeting, recommends council formally cease the Mayor’s Christmas tree Appeal and distribute the remainder of undistributed funds equally between the recipients from 2023.
In recent years, charities who support domestic violence victims and their children have been major recipients, with instances of family violence rising over the holidays.
The council still has $12,887 worth of undistributed appeal funds as of March 18, 2025, with the Community Environment and Lifestyle department suggesting the money should be distributed to charities and close the bank account.
The last appeal ran in 2023 with former Mayor Jenny Hill, but the council report reveals suspended Mayor Troy Thompson opted not to go ahead with the fundraiser in 2024.
Former Mayor Tony Mooney said he was “terribly disappointed” to see the council consider eliminating the appeal, and that the organisation must be the glue holding the community together.
“It’s a bad look,” he said.
“Rather than letting it die, the council, in my opinion, should be trying to find ways to double down on reinventing it.”
Councillor Liam Mooney said he “cannot support” rescinding the appeal, and agrees it should instead be reworked.
“Being Tony’s son, I grew up with the Christmas tree Appeal,” he said.
“I’ve seen first hand how much this does help, how much the community has been crying out for it, and at a time when cost of living is as high, of course council needs to be doing what it can to help.”
Another former mayor, Les Tyrell said in his time at council they set a goal to raise $100,000 each year and it would be “unfortunate” for it to end.
In the 2023 Appeal, more than $90,000 was raised and distributed between ten community groups, including Family Emergency Accommodation Townsville, NQ Domestic Violence Resource Service, and Yumba-Meta.
“The focus was particularly on family and domestic violence, so most of the recipients were organisations that would provide funds for families who were impacted by domestic violence,” acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said.
Despite the appeal’s previous success, the report indicates that community donations over the past few years have decreased, and the number of community-led Christmas based appeals has risen.
Councillor Brady Ellis said it may be more beneficial for locals to support alternative appeals, due to high operational costs.
“I would love people to donate money at Christmas,” he said.
“I just don’t think the way we’ve been doing it in the past is good bang for buck, residents will get better results for the community by donating to other Christmas appeals.”
The review will be brought to a workshop, before a decision is made.
Originally published as Townsville City Council could be ending the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Appeal
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