THE first debate between mayoral candidates Kevin Byrne and Val Schier began with a song and slide show.

The pair went head-to-head over planning and infrastructure issues under the scrutiny of a crowd of engineers at Cairns Colonial Club yesterday afternoon.

While incumbent Mayor Byrne gave a speech and a simple slide show, Ms Schier chose to begin her presentation with a rendition of We are the Engineers, a song she said she learnt at an engineering party in her youth.

The Cairns 1st leader was also accompanied on stage by Division 6 candidate Mark Buttrose, who spoke about sustainable housing and natural beauty, taking up about half of Ms Schier's allocated time.

"By nature, I am a collaborator," she told the audience.

The main points of Ms Schier’s presentation included designing housing for the tropics, managing growth, sustainable transport and protecting the environment.

"We are not against units, high density developments or smaller lots," she said.

"What we are against is housing not designed for the tropics."

Cr Byrne said the challenge for the new Cairns Regional Council would be managing growth.

"I fit into the position of supporting growth and supporting opportunity in a managed and controlled way, despite what people may have told you," he said.

"A lot of people want to come and pitch their tent here.

"There are no indicators that we will get below 3 per cent growth ever again."

Cr Byrne adamantly denied Cairns was "turning into a Gold Coast" because of high-rise developments.

The debate heated up during question time, when the candidates were asked about their plans to deal with rising sea levels.

While Cr Byrne said there was evidence to say sea levels around Cairns were actually falling, Ms Schier said the council would need to stop approving developments in flood-prone areas.

"Cairns is actually built on a swamp," she said.

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