Mayor of Cairns

Robert "Bob" Charles Manning OAM (born 1945) is the mayor of the Cairns Regional Council, Queensland, Australia.In 2004 Manning was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to the community of the Cairns region through the development and promotion of the tourism, maritime and aviation industries". In 2002 he was awarded Cairns Citizen of the Year.
Manning was born in Cairns, and attended Edge Hill State School, and Cairns State High School. He also received a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from the University of Southern Queensland. Manning served three years in the Australian Army including in Vietnam 1970-1971.

He has had a lengthy involvement with the Airports Council International from 1993-2000 (including president, vice-president and vice-chairman) and was the director/chairman of Tourism Tropical North Queensland (previously Far North Queensland Promotion Bureau) for eleven years from 1986 to 1997.

In 2012, the same year as he was elected Mayor of Cairns along with the "Unity 2012" team,Manning purchased nationally acclaimed company Events NQ. In February 2015, Events NQ was put into liquidation, with staff left without their entitlements and creditors unpaid.

In 2012 Manning announced his intention to run for mayor of the Cairns Regional Council with a team of candidates under the name "Unity 2012". This is not to be confused with Kevin Byrne's former "Cairns Unity Team". Manning considers his team to be apolitical and has publicly stated that Unity 2012 have no political affiliation and most of the candidates have a business background.

Bob is married to Claire Manning and has two grown children (Mark and Belinda). Bob Manning's father founded the iconic local Manning's Pies.

Bob Manning OAM is a Vietnam Veteran and former CEO of the Cairns Port Authority and Longreach Shire Council.

He was awarded Cairns Citizen of the Year in 2002, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004 for his service to the Cairns region community through the development and promotion of the tourism, marine and aviation industries.

Mayor Manning's Profile ( PDF, 0.1 MB )

Contact information

For meetings with the Mayor, requests for the Mayor to speak and/or provide letters of support please contact the Mayor's Personal Assistant by email mayorspa@cairns.qld.gov.au or (07) 4044 3083.

If you would like to invite the Mayor to participate in your event, please complete the request form ( DOCX, 0.05 MB ) and return it by email with a covering note to mayorspa@cairns.qld.gov.au. The Mayor's schedule will be checked and you will be advised of his availability or otherwise within five days.

To contact the Mayor directly please send an email to b.manning@cairns.qld.gov.au


Cairns

Cairns, is a major city on the east coast of Far North Queensland in Australia. The city is the 5th most populous in Queensland and 14th overall in Australia. Cairns was founded in 1876 and named after William Wellington Cairns, Governor of Queensland from 1875-1877. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold and other metals, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland region. The estimated residential population of the Cairns urban area in 2016 was 157,847. The region has experienced an average annual growth rate of 2.8% over the last 10 years.

Cairns is a popular travel destination for tourists because of its tropical climate and access to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.