General News
31 October, 2026
Return to Country fails
CAIRNS regional councillor Matthew Tickner is calling for a “serious overhaul” of a failed return to Country scheme that has become a blight on the streets and parks of the city.
The program involves residents of Aboriginal communities travelling to Cairns for medical treatment or other appointments, who then don’t return home and get involved in drunkenness, drugs and violence throughout the city.
Cr Tickner told this week’s ordinary council meeting that the subsidised fare scheme lacked accountability and the result was “a real headache” for residents throughout the city.
He said Cape residents could access up to 24 flights a year at a subsidised cost of $99 each.
“You can access up to 24 of these flights a year, and what we see is another issue with the scheme, is that there’s one there’s no link to a specific purpose of coming down into Cairns, so there’s no need to provide evidence as to why you’ve got to come down, but also there’s no requirement to return when you book your fare to come to Cairns,” Cr Tickner said.
“There’s no requirement to show that you’ve got a return flight,” he said.
“Now, it’s no surprise to anyone in the community, and particularly myself, we had a lot of issues at Ravizza Park (at Edmonton) over a long period of time and a big issue was obviously this fare scheme was bringing people down to Cairns.
“They didn’t have a place to stay. They’d find themselves wound up in the park.
“Ravizza Park, at some point, had 30 or 40 people there, and it was a real headache for the community in the area.”
Cr Tickner said there were a lot of issues with drugs and alcohol etc … “which significantly impact the community”.
“We had a number of deaths as well. One directly related to the Ravizza Park grouping as well,” he said.
“The return to Country program, look, it doesn’t work at the end of the day.
“It’s a good initiative, but it needs serious overhaul. It’s complex. It’s not resourced properly.
“Our officers do their best, basically stepping into the role of the police in many cases to try and facilitate these return to Country.”
A community safety priority plan was unanimously adopted at the meeting.
The community safety priorities include calls for a more visible police presence in the Cairns CBD, as well as improved support for remote communities and people leaving jail who end up on the streets of Cairns.
Cr Eden said “people deserve to feel safe in their homes, on our streets and in our city centre”. “Community safety is fundamental to Cairns’ liveability, economic confidence and future growth,” she said.
