General News
19 June, 2026
Mayor frozen out of meeting
CAIRNS Mayor Amy Eden was excluded from a “secret” meeting convened by Deputy-Mayor Brett Olds with the eight other councillors to discuss their budget priorities.
The meeting in February prioritised projects in their divisions over and above major investments in the CBD which the Mayor was pushing for.
At Wednesday’s special budget meeting, the informal meeting was revealed by Cr Kristy Vallely (Division 6) and Cr Anna Middleton (Division 7).
Cr Vallely thanked “Deputy Mayor Brett Olds for your leadership and facilitating some robust and constructive discussions throughout this project”.
“ … I appreciate the way the Deputy Mayor created an environment where councillors could advocate strongly for their divisions, challenge ideas and work together to achieve the best possible outcomes for our region,” she said.
Division 7 councillor Anna Middleton said the Mayor advocated for major CBD upgrades that would have placed huge pressure on ratepayers, which was highlighted on social and mainstream media.
“The Mayor’s recent pre-budget Facebook post and commentary included pictures from the proposed Cairns City Precincts Urban Regeneration Project,” she said.
“Implying that the planning had been done and that this council was somehow impeding the shiny new plan.
“The council recently considered that plan in a pre-budget workshop … the estimated cost of the project was approximately $200 million or an additional $2700 for every ratepayer.”
Cr Middleton said Cr Eden was not aware the costings were shown to councillors before the budget.
“Sadly, the Mayor chose not to attend these pre-budget meetings,” she said.
“Otherwise, she would have been aware of the reasoning behind our decisions to take a more measured approach.”
Cr Eden interjected with a point of order, calling on the councillor to “stick to relevant facts”, but Cr Middleton continued.
“Perhaps the learning here is you need to be at the table to be a part of the decision-making,” Cr Middleton said.
“It is much more effective and professional to advocate for projects within the council by turning up rather than if trying to influence council’s decision via the media.”
Later, at a budget press conference, Cr Eden said she had attended 10 out of 11 organised pre-budget briefings.
“There was one secret meeting that was not organised by council officers that was chaired by the Deputy Mayor that I was not invited to,” she said.
But council CEO Ken Gouldthope said the meeting was not “secret”.
“No, I’ll say it categorically, that that is not the case,” he said.
“There are no secret meetings. The councillors invariably have discussions amongst yourself, as the mayor does individually with councillors on their priorities.”
Mr Gouldthorp said those sorts of informal discussions happened in every environment.
