RUN TO BE MAYOR
A VOLUNTEER army has rallied behind one independent mayoral contender as she begins her march towards Cairns Regional Council’s top seat.
Independent candidate Georgia Babatsikos drew a crowd of about 50 supporters to her campaign launch at Slap and Pickle Sandwich and Tapas Bar on Saturday.
The Cairns Urban Walking Tours operator fielded questions, flagged a future where Cairns had mini festivals celebrating everything from migratory birds to the wet season, and promised a new style of inclusive leadership.
She urged her supporters to slap on a campaign bumper sticker and, most importantly, come out on March 28 to help spread the word at the booths.
Ms Babatsikos said she believed in loosening restrictions on CBD retailers to allow them to plug their wares on the footpath – anything to liven up the town and let visitors know shops are open.
The possibility of installing misting fans along busy walkways to keep shoppers cool was flagged, and she agreed to declare a climate emergency.
Everything was on the table, with concrete policies to roll out over the coming weeks.
Ms Babatsikos told the Cairns Post the city’s rising crime rate would be one of the most important issues she could tackle.
“The cutback on so many of the programs in council over the past eight years, such as the mentoring program, affects and hurts the city . . . especially on the wellbeing of youth and the need for positive role models and opportunities outside of the home,” she said.
“I have worked professionally on prevention programs for the past 30 years – that’s my speciality, and I know they work.
“They just require planning with community involvement.
“State-funded programs such as Project Booyah are very effective but they also rely on local government support to be implemented.”
Ms Babatsikos, who has lived in Cairns for 16 years, said she grew up in a “pretty rough” inner-Melbourne neighbourhood to migrant parents who did not have time or money to take her many places.
“The opportunities I had while in high school to work on community radio, play tennis, paint murals, and take part in research projects, were all free and changed the direction of my life,” she said.
“Three university degrees later and being the first in my family to go onto higher education, all of those programs impacted me in such positive ways. I will do the same for our Cairns youth.”