Hinchinbrook, Mareeba and Etheridge mayors step back into office

Current mayors of Hinchinbrook Shire Council, Etheridge Shire Council and Mareeba Shire Council ran unopposed, finalising the mayoral position by default.

Mareeba's mayor Angela Toppin returns to office for her second consecutive term after she was appointed by the Governor-in-Council for a two-year term from May 2018 and was extended for a further four-year term from May 2020.

Etheridge's mayor Barry Hughes returns for his second consecutive term after starting his local government career in 1990.

"It is humbling and pleasing to think people have put their confidence and faith in leadership. We've had a fantastic run over the last four years with a very cohesive council, we have achieved a great deal and I am happy to be part of a team effort," Cr Hughes said.

"I started my first four year term as mayor in 2020 but I started my local government career in 1990 as a young councillor on Etheridge Shire Council. I did three terms and the last one of those terms was as deputy mayor. We bought more property to add to our family business, so I stepped away from council for a while to focus on growing that. After those years of being out of local government it is a great experience to be back in the local government family."

Cr Hughes said his main priority heading into the next term of council was increasing the standard of roads across his shire.

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"Roads are a priority for any of the regional councils and we are no different. We have a great relationship with TMR and we are building on that relationship to ensure we have the Gulf Developmental Road fully widened over the next four years to a nine metre bitumen sealed standard.

"There are still a considerable amount of kilometres that are single bitumen sealed. We have four communities in Etheridge Shire and two of those communities are yet to have a full bitumen access road, that is Einasleigh and Forsayth.

"We need to put more focus on making sure our communities in Etheridge Shire are treated no differently to other communities that have bitumen road access."

Hinchinbrook's mayor Ramon Jayo will return to office for his third consecutive term.

"I am overwhelmed and humbled to be unopposed for a second consecutive term. I am excited that I will be in office to see the work we have put in last eight years starting to come off," Cr Jayo said.

"I haven't changed my focus at all and I want to continue to diversify our economy. Our shire is sugar cane based and we can't have all our eggs in one basket. In the last 30 years there has been no development on diversifying our region, so we are working hard to bring that to life.

"We have been doing this through offering incentives for alternative crop rotation, the likes of soybeans and bana grass and these changes are starting to come to the surface and I am glad to be here to make sure they are implemented."