Bill Shannon was voted in as mayor of the Cassowary Coast Council by an overwhelming majority. JULIE LIGHTFOOT speaks to him as he gears up for the tough challenges ahead for the embattled council 

If you had of asked several years ago how he would spend his 60th year, Bill Shannon would have rattled off holidays, beach walks, days on his Tully farm and a few committee leadership roles to keep his hand in.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s first mayor was at long last ready to embrace retirement from his company secretary and chartered accountant positions, and to perhaps even indulge in some overseas trips.

That all changed four months ago.

The former Sydneysider, who has lived in the Mission Beach-Tully district for 14 years, saw a gap in his region’s local government election campaigning and decided to step up.

"It was time for new and strong leadership. In life nothing’s ever handed to you, so where there’s a gap sometimes you’ve got to go out there and make your own case," Bill said.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Cassowary Coast’s only mayoral candidate who was a complete newcomer to local government romped it in on election day, winning every division in the new amalgamated shire.

The traditional tortuous wait was over before it began.

Former Johnstone Shire mayor Neil Clarke managed 22.7 per cent of the first preference votes while Cardwell Shire mayor Joe Galeano mustered up 19.86 per cent to Bill’s 49.68 per cent.

The mayor-elect saw it as a "mandate from the people" in arguably one of the state’s most challenging new regional shires.

With a $184.6 million bill hanging over ratepayers for upcoming basic infrastructure upgrades, a background scarred with chief executive officer sackings in both the north and the south and a recent all-of-council sacking by state Government in the Johnstone shire, Mr Shannon was warmly welcomed by a full gallery at his first council meeting but was firmly told “we are watching you”.

The past company secretary of Wormald International Limited and Tully Sugar Limited said he was raring to go.

And the already long hours of work have in no way put him off.

“I’m enjoying it. My life has changed enormously and I’m not walking the dog on the beach as often, but I like being busy,” Bill, a longtime multiple committee office holder, said.

He plans to fight hard for financial assistance from the state Government, not for the daily running of council, which he says is manageable, but for the shire’s ageing infrastructure.

A new financial report, taking in both the embattled former Johnstone Shire and the former Cardwell Shire, is before Local Government Minister Warren Pitt along with a recently finalised Queensland Treasury Corporation assessment of the amalgamated shire.

“We’re pushing for a one-off unconditional assistance grant but if there’s no special treatment (from state Government) we’ll have to rely on existing subsidy schemes and push for upper-end subsidies,” Bill said.

He envisages a “growth and grants” recovery.

“We don’t want to be a Noosa or a Gold Coast (but) development could be our saviour from Ella Bay at Innisfail to light industrial land, more housing and the interest in retail commercial development,” he said.

“We don’t want a blanket sale of assets or massive rates rises (but) there’s going to have to be tough decisions made and not everyone will be happy with them. But hopefully if we have an open and transparent process of dealing with things residents will see exactly why those decisions are being made.”

 

 

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