Advance, without ego
De Lacy weighs in on advocacy body feud
ADVANCE Cairns founding fathers have called for unity following a bitter breakdown in relations between chairman Trent Twomey and Cairns Mayor Bob Manning.
Former Queensland Treasurer and inaugural Advance Cairns chairman, Keith De Lacy, described the feud as “very disappointing”.
“We whinge about politics in Canberra but it seems that disease is contagious,” he said.
The Cairns Post reported on Saturday that the future of Advance Cairns was up in the air amid differing views over the direction of the 16-year-old advocacy body.
The council will vote on Wednesday about stripping $300,000 in funding from Advance Cairns.
Now living in Brisbane, Mr De Lacy said the Far North would be “all the poorer” if Advance Cairns was to fold.
“There is no place, I believe, for individual egos or individual politics,” he said.
“It should all be about the interests of the region and I would call on everybody to go forward on that basis.
“The principles which underwrote Advance Cairns when it was established are just as powerful today as they were then, if not more so.
“That is, speaking with a united voice about the future of the region, instead of a whole range of other voices heading in different directions.”
In a letter obtained by the Cairns Post, Cr Manning said a resource and performance agreement meant it was “nonnegotiable” that Advance Cairns must not promote or view a position “which directly opposes a public position of council.”
In response, Mr Twomey described the letter as a “gag and veto order”.
Founding Advance Cairns board member Clive Skarott, who remains a patron of the organisation, urged all parties to band together.
“It would be a great disappointment – after 16 years of hard work by a lot of really good people – to find us in a position where we no longer have Advance Cairns,” Mr Skarott said.