Cairns’ future in safe hands
WHEN MEDIA POSITIONS ELSEWHERE BECKONED, FORMER CAIRNS POST GENERAL MANAGER NICK TROMPF PUT HIS LOVE OF THE REGION AHEAD OF OTHER AMBITIONS. NOW HE’S FOUND A NEW WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
AFTER 34 years in the media, Nick Trompf is certainly not shying away from the challenges of his “second career”.
Since being appointed chief executive of Advance Cairns in December last year, the former
Cairns Post general manager has used all the skills honed during his tenure at the top of NewsCorp’s regional hierarchy to smooth over the Far North lobby group’s very public spat with Cairns Regional Council and take the biggest and most vocal group of business leaders to Canberra to push a range of infrastructure projects.
A decision to stay on in Cairns, eschewing offers of positions down south, ended Mr Trompf’s media career, but a longstanding involvement in the community made the son of a Victorian farmer the best man for the role.
Currently a board member of the James Cook University-affiliated Discover Sport, Mr Trompf served two stints on the Advance Cairns board and was part of the Cairns Amateurs committee, Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal business committee and the Events Cairns and AFL Cairns boards.
“This is a paid community role. It’s a massively different role for me because my last job was working for a multinational with businesses spread from Hobart to Darwin. Now I’m running a small not-for-profit,” he said. “It’s a different world, the quasi-political nature of it, it is very different to the black-and-white nature of commercial world, but I needed a second career and in some ways this is a natural progression.”
Despite pointing out Advance Cairns’ interests lie far beyond the footprint of Cairns Regional Council — the group is lobbying for the Nullinga Dam on the Atherton Tablelands and upgrades to the Hann Highway further south — Mr Trompf said the two organisations’ relationship was “critical for the region”.
Former Advance Cairns’ chief executive Kevin Byrne was forced out and the council sensationally voted to cease its $300,000 financial commitment to the organisation late last year amid a deterioration of the relationship.
“I was concerned to read about the relationship challenges with the council. I didn’t see that as a positive, but from day one I set out to work constructively with them," Mr Trompf said.
The Tablelands farmer also does not hesitate to comment calmly on the impact Mr Byrne’s rival group, Enterprise North, may have on Advance
WHAT I’VE SEEN IN CANBERRA THIS WEEK IS THE COLLECTIVE STRENGTH FROM BIG ORGANISATIONS … IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO WORK. NICK TROMPF
Cairns’ goals.
“I’m frankly not concerned about Enterprise North. I’m not sure what their purpose is but I’m concerned with running the best organisation I can,” Mr Trompf said.
“What I’ve seen in Canberra this week is the collective strength from big organisations — Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Cairns Chamber of Commerce and ourselves — is the most effective way to work. We were commended on our cohesiveness down in Canberra.
“If you have fractures or conflicting views on the region,
LOTS OF PEOPLE SEE AGRICULTURE AS AN OLD AND LEGACY INDUSTRY BUT IT IS ONE OF MOST EXCITING AND INNOVATIVE SECTORS OF OUR ECONOMY NICK TROMPF
nothing can be achieved.”
In fact, such is Mr Trompf’s belief in Advance Cairns he admitted he has a “private ambition” of asking the board to change the constitution to allow greater membership.
“We’ve now got more members than we have ever had and we are getting continued interest,” he said.
“Our constitution caps membership at 100. At the moment we are in the high 80s. (Changing the cap) is a goal I’d like to achieve over the next few years.
“But, we are not after members for the sake of it.
“We aim to have bigger and more influential organisations engaged such as Cairns Airport, JCU, Ports North, the Ireland family. We don’t ever intend to have three, four or 500 members.”
Much of the success of the region, Mr Trompf believes, lies in the potential of the Far North’s growing agricultural sector.
“Lots of people see agriculture as an old and legacy industry but it is one of the most exciting and innovative sectors of our economy,” he explained.
“One of greatest opportunities we have is to draw better links between the agriculture and tourism industries.
“If we can fill up the cargo of aircraft and keep the top part for tourists we will be helping the airlines keep the industries sustainable.”