Time to have your say in massive Cairns Regional Council survey

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Would you like to see one-lane streets in the CBD?

Should people be allowed to drink alcohol on the Esplanade and should Council start doing suburban security patrols?

Do you think there needs to be more high-density development, and where should it go?

Cairns residents now have the opportunity to voice their opinion on a host of issues as part of the new Our Cairns community survey


 


Launched earlier this month, the multi-faceted survey enables residents to tell the council their views on a plethora of subject matters, including topical issues such as whether Cairns needs more police on its streets or whether dogs should be allowed in the CBD.

Other questions of interest include public safety, traffic congestion, disaster resilience, liveability, diversifying the economy, public transport, whether Cairns should host a Schoolies Week, and what the community perceives the health of the Great Barrier Reef to be.

Mayor Bob Manning said the broad community survey – last conducted in 2016 with 6400 respondents – was a critical exercise for the council.

“The Our Cairns survey seeks to garner the views of our residents on a variety of topical issues as well as questions about liveability, the economy and council’s performance in relation to the delivery of services and facilities,” he said.

“We will soon be developing our new corporate plan, which guides council in its decision-making over the next four years and the Our Cairns survey provides us with a lot of information that feeds into this document.

“Since we did the last survey, our officers and management refer to the views and opinions gathered from the thousands of people who did the survey to guide us in how we consider new facilities and services because it gives us a clear indication of what’s important to our community and their main concerns as well.”

For the first time, a special Our Cairns Youth Survey has been developed to enable young people to tell the council about the sort of city they want to live in and the facilities and services they need and want.

“Youth of this city are so important because they are the future leaders – it is critical to ensure we hear from our young people on a range of issues like public transport and safety, and how that affects their lives so we can provide the things they need to stay in Cairns, raise a family and pursue a career here,” Cr Manning said.

Smithfield State High School student Maddie Canteri was enthusiastic about young people being given the chance to be heard.

“There are a lot of issues that affect youth, yet we rarely get the opportunity to tell levels of government how we feel about things such as public transport, the availability of events for people our age and how we feel about issues like public safety,” she said.

Cr Manning said a major concern for the city was losing the region’s young talent to larger urban cities in the south.

“We want our young people to be able to study at university here, be able to access the courses they want and be able to pursue the career of their choice without leaving Cairns,” he said. “We need to know what prompts them to leave Cairns for higher education so we can retain this wonderful local talent.”

Both surveys can be done online here with the overall survey also available in printed version at council libraries and the customer service centre at 119-145 Spence St, Cairns. The survey will be available to complete until October 16.