Rangers are new leaders in Treaty Villages

I recently attended the graduation of 52 trainees from the Treaty Village Rangers Program at an event at Mabaduan Village on the South Fly coastline, just a few kilometres from Australia’s northernmost border. The program is a key element of the Building Resilience in Treaty Villages, Western Province PNG initiative driven by the Cairns-based Reef…

Out and about

Helped open the Cooktown Discovery Festival and launch of ‘48 Days- A Shared History' mural project, ably supported by my beautiful daughter Mackenzie, Cooktown Spoke at the 2015 Suicide & Self Harm Prevention Conference in recognition of the Dr Edward Koch Foundation’s 20 Years of activities, Cairns Launched the ‘Our North, Our Future’ White Paper…

Ice scourge on our streets

Ice poses the highest risk of all illegal drugs to our community because of the violent, menacing and irrational way people behave under its influence.  At a recent community forum with the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Fiona Nash, we heard that while ice use is not yet widespread in our region, it’s increasing at…

Aged Care in focus

Supporting the mental and physical health and wellbeing of our elderly residents is vital.  In recent months there has been a lot of discussion around the lack of aged care beds in the Cairns region in particular. It is a complex issue and one that is often misrepresented by media headlines unfortunately. Nevertheless, reducing the…

Milestones

50th Wedding Anniversary Graham & Janet Goodall, 19th June 2015 Frederick & Valerie Mellick, 3rd July 2015 Edgar & Ute Haring, 11th August 2015 Ian & Lyle Cunningham, 21st August 2015 Rodney & Beverlee Tayler, 11th September 2015   60th Wedding Anniversary Donald & Violet Rutherberg, 2nd July 2015 Leslie & Gloria Pickering, 6th August…

90 Second Statement – Tangaroa Blue

Around eight million tonnes of plastic rubbish, the equivalent of 16 full plastic shopping bags per metre on the world's coastline, finds its way into the world's oceans each year. It is an issue that all of us should be alarmed about and desperate to fix. That is why I was recently pleased to meet…

PM takes part in historic visit to our region

The northernmost part of Australia – comprising the Torres Strait Islands and tip of Cape York – is a remarkable area with diverse and culturally-distinct communities, fascinating history, abundant marine resources, stunning azure waters and white sand beaches. In August, the Prime Minister and other senior ministers visited a number of communities as part of…

Fast broadband in sight for Leichhardt

FEDERAL MP Warren Entsch has welcomed news that superfast broadband is coming to 53,930 homes and businesses in Leichhardt under an accelerated three-year rollout of the nbn.  “Across Australia the nbn is powering ahead with the release today of a comprehensive construction plan to network 9.5 million premises nationwide,” Mr Entsch explained.  “This release of…

#CairnsForTheWin – support local Patrol Boat bid

THE campaign to promote Cairns’ $2B bid to build 21 replacement Pacific Patrol Boats has ramped up, with the consortium members meeting with senior Ministers in Canberra today. Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch helped host the group, which included representatives from the prime contractor TeeKay Shipping (Australia), vessel designer and builder Damen Shipyards Group,…