Who
am I?
From a small village
on the North East coast of Tasmania, I came to
Cairns in 1982 after having worked in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.I bought a house at Machans Beach
in 1984 and have lived and worked in Far North Queensland for 25 years. My only
son, James, is a teacher in WA and my partner, Peter, is an academic and
researcher at James
Cook University.
I had diverse and challenging work experiences -
motel manager, teacher, breakfast cook and mining treatment plant operator –
before joining the state public service where I held senior managerial
positions.
All my life I have worked in community groups,
being a member or office holder in organisations including the Northern
Territory Arts Council, Scouts, Parent and Friends associations, community
newspaper, theatre groups, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, Cairns
Youth and Recreation Centre, Labor party, Arts Nexus, Friends of Cairns
Regional Gallery.
These experiences have given me the leadership, management,
interpersonal, negotiation and
presentation skills
needed by the Mayor of Cairns:
As a Regional Director in the Department of Families I managed up to
125 staff, multi-million dollar budgets and major change strategies to improve
practice standards.
As NQ Assistant Regional Director Employment I drove $2 million of
employment programs for unemployed people; working with other government
departments and economic development organisations to create jobs.
I established the Business Development Directorate at Far North
Queensland TAFE and grew the business of the institute to reach a revenue
target of $5 million.
I successfully ran my own management, training and consultancy business
in the early 1990's, re-established it in 2006 and have worked in managerial
jobs in the private sector.
As President of the Machans Beach Progress Association
for 10 years, I provided leadership in building the sense of community for
which Machans Beach
is renowned; eg, spearheaded the publication of Certain Friends in Certain
Times: a History of Machans
Beach.
Why
do I think I can be Mayor of Cairns?
I believe that I have the skills and experiences to do
a better job of leading Cairns
than the current Mayor.With residents
in Cairns, I
have developed a vision for our unique tropical city and encouraged
people of diverse skills and backgrounds to run in the various divisions.
I ran for Mayor in 2004 and polled nearly 42% of the
vote as a largely unknown candidate.This time, more people know who I am and what I can do; they know that I
can lead and influence with honour and integrity and make tough decisions when
necessary.
We can work in new ways and together we can create a
Council and a city which are renowned both nationally and internationally.
Contacts:
Ph: 07 4055 0353; (mob) 0407 100 886
val@cairns1st.org.au
151 O'Shea Esplanade, PO Box 2
MACHANS BEACH Q 4878
