The Cairns Unity Team, also known as Cairns Unity, the Unity Team or simply Unity, is an

Australian political party The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 16 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...

that competes in

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

for

Cairns Regional Council The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave ...

. Until the 2024 election, Unity had a majority on council and held the mayoralty. Kevin Byrne, a former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

who was defeated in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, had previously run his team under the name of " Cairns Unity Team".

History

In January 2012, Bob Manning announced his intention to run for

mayor of Cairns This is a list of mayors of the Far North Queensland city of Cairns. Cairns was originally established as a Borough with a Chairman from 1885 until 1903, when the ''Local Authorities Act 1902'' transformed it into a Town with a Mayor. The Town ...

at the

local government elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

with a team of candidates under the name "Unity 2012". Manning considered the team to be

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased p ...

. He was elected mayor with 55.61% of the vote, and six Unity councillors were successful. Manning was re-elected in 2016, with Unity running in seven of nine wards. In

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, Manning was elected to a third term with 81.25% of the vote after preferences. Six Unity councillors were elected, giving the party a majority on the council. Manning resigned as mayor in November 2023. Unity councillor Terry James was appointed as his replacement until the 2024 election, while Jeremy Neal (also a Unity member) was appointed to replace James in

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success ...

Electoral history

Mayor

Councillors

References

{{reflist Local government political parties in Australia Political parties established in 2012 2012 establishments in Australia Cairns, Queensland