A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Monday June 4, 2001 17th Edition

The main news locally around the Cairns area has been the public outcry relating to increases in parking fees and fines. Like many regional cities Cairns struggles to attract people to the inner city area, with visitors and local residents preferring to congregate on the waterfront. The latest move has been condemned by business groups as the final blow for inner city traders. Apart from this there is hope that Cairns will be announced as the city that will be chosen for a $500 million defence force contract to build a new fleet of Navy Patrol vessels. As always a week of extremes in the city of Cairns.

International tree planting project to attract 25,000 extra tourists
About 25,000 Japanese tourists are expected to participate in a unique tree planting project at the Mareeba Wetlands over the next four years. The Conservation Volunteers Project for the Mareeba Wetlands is being run in conjunction with the Nature Trust Japan. The aim is to bring the tourists to the site where they will plant trees and learn about the local ecosystem. It is expected that the tourists will plant over 75,000 trees in the four year project. This type of holiday is growing in popularity as Japan undergoes a period of environmental awareness.

Public outcry as Council plans to increase parking fines
Cairns City Council has announced that parking fines will triple as of July 1st 2001. Parking fees will also increase from 40 cents to 50 cents per hour. The Council has announced the increases in an attempt to free up inner city parking spaces and ultimately to encourage more people into the city heart. The Council felt the majority of parking spaces were used by local business owners and staff who parked in the one spot all day and fed the meters. There have been strong objections to the increases from various parties who feel that the increases and risks of higher fines will encourage people to shop at suburban centres where parking is free and unlimited.

Cairns pushed for Navy ship building deal
The Minister of Defence was presented with a plan to award a ship building contract worth over $500 million to Cairns based ship builder, NQEA. Part of this contract was a plan to extend the current naval base to almost double in size. Cairns is one of the main ports for Fremantle Class Patrol Boats, used to police illegal immigrants and illegal fishing activity in North Australia. Local Member of Parliament, Warren Entsch has argued that Cairns is a strategic location that is frequently visited by international navy vessels and it makes senses to extend facilities in the area. The contract is due to be awarded early next year.

Cairns may host the Australian Tourism Exchange in 2007
The largest tourism trade show in the southern hemisphere, The Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) may be hosted in Cairns in 2007. The show, which is organised by the Australian Tourist Commission, invites over 1000 international travel planners and buyers to Australia to meet and negotiate rates with local tourism operators. Cairns would be the first regional city to host the event, which is normally run in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Many journalists from around Australia and the world travel to the show to report on industry trends and innovations.

Tableland woman wins lotto (twice)
An Atherton woman (west of Cairns) has won $4 million in lotto, her second win in eight years. The newsagency that sold both winning tickets has been declared one of the luckiest newsagencies in Queensland. The fortunate lady, who wanted to remain anonymous, could not believe her luck, especially after winning $1 million about eight years ago.

Far North popular with the gay and lesbian tourism markets
The Director of Consumer Marketing for the Australian Tourist Commission, Ms Catriona Fraser, has made the announcement the gay and lesbian travellers are flocking to Australia in greater numbers than ever before. Cairns and Port Douglas are prime destinations within Australia, with the Turtle Cove Resort north of Cairns, being named as a prime destination. The actual size of the market is unknown however the number of gay and lesbian specific travel companies has grown with the market in the past 8 years. Australia is also considered a gay friendly destination.

Virgin puts Cairns route on hold
With the collapse and absorption of Impulse Airlines, a new domestic carrier in Australia, the future expansion of Virgin Airlines into Cairns is now uncertain. The aviation industry is in a state of change with discussions being held between all major airlines to look at rationalising routes and possible mergers. Industry experts foreshadowed that the cheap prices being promoted by the new carriers were not sustainable and it appears that they were right.

No rewards for dobbing in vandals
The Cairns City Council has decided not to introduce the payment of rewards for people who report vandals. The concept has been introduced in other cities around Australia where vandalism has a huge annual cost. Although Cairns spends up to $500,000 per annum on repairing damage caused by vandalism this is considered reasonable for a city of its size.

Umbrella Festival goes off - with no rain
Babinda (70 km south of Cairns) is officially the wettest town in Australia. In a festival to celebrate the International Year of the Volunteer, hundreds of people lined the streets of this small country town for mass umbrella twirling and to everyone's surprise, the sun shone through the entire event.

Another US Navy visitor
The USS Stethem will arrive in Cairns this Saturday for some rest and recreation for the crew following Operation Tandem Thrust. The 154 metre guided missile carrier with a crew of over 300, will spend five days in Cairns. The USS Stethem is normally based in San Diego, California.

Sydney Tri-athelete wins Cairns Half Ironman Marathon
In a gruelling race that includes a 90 km cycle, 1.9 km swim and a 21 km run, over 230 competitors battled it out on Sunday the 3rd of June, all trying to win the annual Cairns Half Ironman Triathalon Event. In less than perfect conditions, with strong winds and heavy rain at times, Sydney based athlete, Craig Alexander took out the event in 4 hours, eight minutes and 25 seconds.

May weather record
Cairns has recorded the driest and coldest May on record. The Bureau of Meteorology announced that only 3.2 mm of rain fell during May, whereas the monthly average is 96 mm. Records have been kept for approximately 60 years.