Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio has been Mayor of the region
since 2012. Bringing more than 30 years of local government experience to the role, Paul was previously the Deputy Mayor of the Toowoomba Regional Council in its first amalgamated term, and Mayor of Millmerran Shire Council for eight years, having served continuously on Council from 1982-2008.
As Mayor of one of Australia's most family friendly cities, Paul leads the region at a time of intense growth and development. The current and projected spend in the broader region is estimated at more than $11 billion dollars which includes the construction of the much anticipated Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, one of Australia's largest ever inland road projects.
Paul is the founding Chair of the Darling Downs South West Queensland Council of Mayors and a director of the Council of Mayors South East Queensland which collectively represents in in seven Australians.
Mayor Antonio continues to advocate for Toowoomba's place on the planned Brisbane to Melbourne Inland Rail Line and is an executive member of the alliance of Local Governments likely to be impacted by the project.
Paul is also leading the business community to position Toowoomba as the transport and logistics hub of Queensland and Australia.
Other significant initiatives delivered under Paul's leadership include an extensive flood recovery and mitigation program for Toowoomba following the devastating floods of 2011 and 2013; declaration of the region a Refugee Welcome Zone; and hosting one of Queensland's largest White Ribbon Day events promoting peace particularly in families and homes.
Paul holds a Diploma of Agriculture, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has held of number of board positions.
Serving as patron of a number of local associations, Paul is also a White Ribbon Ambassador.
In his time away from Council the Mayor continues his interest in the family farming operation west of Millmerran concentrating on the production of Angus beef and grain.
Katrina was born in 1961 in Darwin; the fourth daughter of respected local couple
Alec and Norma Fong Lim. Alec was a businessman who eventually became a very popular Lord Mayor in the 1980s. Katrina completed her primary and secondary education in Darwin, matriculating from Darwin High School in 1979. She was an AFS Exchange Student to the USA for the 1978-79 school year.
Katrina worked for thirteen years with the Commonwealth Public Service, undertaking a variety of jobs in a range of government departments. She then left the Public Service to work in the not for profit sector where she worked for 20 years including time at the YWCA, Crafts Council, NT Centenary of Federation and most recently as the Executive Director of Australia Day Council NT.
Katrina completed both a Bachelor of Business with a double major plus a Master of Professional Accounting from the University of Southern Queensland by external studies. She has also operated a small business initially delivering Financial Management Training to builders through the Master Builders Association NT.
Katrina was voted Lord Mayor of Darwin in April 2012, and together with twelve elected Aldermen, will lead the 21st Council of Darwin for a period of four years.
Katrina lives with her husband Tony Waite in Nightcliff. She names her five sisters and mother as her strongest supporters and influencers, with the values and ethics instilled by her late father Alec Fong Lim still guiding her today.
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.
Manning's first major position was as CEO of the Longreach Shire Council for eight years. In 1984 he returned to Cairns and became Secretary and then CEO of the Cairns Port Authority (including the Cairns Airport) for eighteen years from 1984 to 2002. After resigning his role at the port as a stand against "bullying tactics" by the Queensland Government, Manning began consulting work in Jordan and South Korea. In 2004 Manning became the General Manager of NQEA Australia Pty Ltd before heading overseas again to take up the role of CEO of Hermes Airports Ltd (including Larnaca International Airport and Paphos International Airport) in Cyprus until 2008.
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.
Jenny Hill is an Australian politician, currently serving as the Mayor of Townsville,
which is the 18th largest local government area in Australia. She was elected to the position during the Queensland Local Government elections held 28 April 2012. Prior to serving as Mayor, Jenny was a city councillor and previously held the position of Deputy Mayor, under the previous pre-amalgamation Townsville City Council in the Labor administration of Tony Mooney between 2007 and 2008.
Hill came to Townsville as the wife of a soldier in 1982, expecting to stay only briefly. She worked as a microbiologist, and later received a Master's degree in Public health. She was first elected to the Townsville City Council in 1997. She is a member of the Labor Party.
Hill also ran as the Labor Party candidate for the federal seat of Herbert in the 2001 federal election. She was defeated by the then incumbent Liberal member, Peter Lindsay.
Darryn Lyons (born 19 August 1965) is an Australian media personality, entrepreneur
and politician, who rose to prominence in Australia and the United Kingdom as a paparazzo. He held the position of Mayor of Geelong from 2013 to 2016.
Lyons has frequently appeared on radio and television programmes, including the Sky News Sunrise programme, LK Today, Australian radio shows Kyle and Jackie O Show and Hughsey and Kate, and a role as a weekly commentator on ITV1’s Alan Titchmarsh Show. Lyons has also written for the Geelong Advertiser newspaper and NW magazine.
He was one of the five venture capitalists on the 2005 Australian version of the reality television programme Dragons' Den, which ended after one season after poor ratings.
In 2007, Lyons appeared on the British reality television shows Tycoon, and Deadline, as a picture editor and camera instructor. Lyons also appeared on the British panel show Through the Keyhole.
In 2011, he appeared in the British Top Gear television show, representing Australia in a double-decker car race in the theme of The Ashes.
He also became a housemate in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5, entering the house in August 2011. Within a few days of entering the Big Brother house, Lyons unveiled his cosmetic "six-pack", which caused a high volume of media coverage for being a "sculpted six pack seemingly implanted atop his generous gut". He eventually finished in sixth place.
In 2012, Lyons was a contestant in the Australian show Excess Baggage. The show was transferred to digital channel GO! shortly after its premiere due to poor ratings. Following the show's completion, it was deemed a failure, with numerous people identifying the contestants as the reason for the lack of success.
Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia on 19 August 1965, Lyons grew up the youngest of three children in the suburb of Herne Hill, and later Leopold. His father was an architect and the choirmaster of the Aberdeen Street Baptist Church, and designed the family's "cathedral-like" house. Lyons's passion for photography started at a young age, and he attended Geelong East Technical School, where he was regularly dux of school.
After completing his schooling, Lyons began work as a professional photographer at the Geelong News and Geelong Advertiser. At the age of 22, he moved to London, where he gained a job at the News of the World after a chance meeting with Rupert Murdoch. Two years later, he left to take a position with the Daily Mail, for whom he provided coverage of the Bosnian War.
In 1993, Lyons founded the picture company Big Pictures, which supplied paparazzi-style photography for news organisations. Big Pictures was run by his wife Melanie Lyons and Kevin Anstey, while Lyons worked as a photographer for the Daily Mail newspaper. During 1996, Darryn Lyons left the Daily Mail to work full-time at Big Pictures alongside Melanie Lyons.
He gained widespread media attention when his company sold a photograph to the News of the World, which was used to support a claim that football star David Beckham was having an affair with his personal assistant Rebecca Loos.
On the night of the fatal car crash involving Princess Diana in 1997, Big Pictures received photographs from its Paris agent Laurent Sola of Diana's final moments. Lyons still own these photos which have never been published, and has stated that he never would sell them. Lyons gave evidence at the 2007 inquest into Diana's death.
In 2013, Lyons announced his candidacy for the City of Greater Geelong 2013
mayoral election. At the start of the election he was quoted as saying "As I have learnt from my time in the UK every election needs a comedy candidate and also as I've seen from Tony Abbott's example the electorate respects a man with great abs". Despite this he then campaigned heavily for the position with a "presidential-style mayoral campaign", including having a plane tow a banner across the sky in the city. He was declared elected after the distribution of preferences on 25 November 2013; Lyons garnered almost 30 per cent of the first preference votes, more than double the primary votes than the second-placed candidate. Lyons was sworn into office on 26 November 2013.
As mayor, Lyons has focussed on lobbying for the city, creating publicity and lifting the city's profile in order to attract tourism and investment.
Lyons has advocated for building a cruise ship pier on the Geelong waterfront in order to boost the city's economy with tourism. The pier would also incorporate a convention centre and cultural centre.
Other initiatives introduced by Lyons include improving the city centre by making street parking free on weekends and planting plants in the streets.
On 16 April 2016, the Victorian Government dismissed Lyons along with the rest of the Greater Geelong City Council, following a Commission of Inquiry which found that the council is riven with conflict, unable to manage Geelong's economic challenges, has dysfunctional leadership and has a culture of bullying. The government appointed administrators to run the council until council elections are held in 2017.
Lyons is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and resides in the Western Beach area of Geelong. His fiancee is Elissa Friday, a former model and a student. He was formerly married to Melanie Whitehead, who left him in 2000. Lyons is a personal friend of Melbourne mayor Robert Doyle, who supported Lyons during his 2013 electoral campaign. Lyons has acknowledged drug abuse, binge drinking and heavy gambling during his life abroad.
Hobart is a city of opportunity and in recent years has been in a state of renewal with
significant public and private investment in the form of quality ‘signature’ developments.
We feel very proud and privileged for the natural assets we have in our state. The remarkable beauty of kunanyi/Mount Wellington with its 360 degrees views of the City and surrounds is as much an icon internationally as it is in Tasmania.
The City is known for the preservation of our heritage and has a great number of heritage buildings dating back to 1808-1810 and is linked to a fabulous maritime history and is Australia’s gateway to the Antarctic.
In recent years the City has blossomed into a culture Capital, holding significant festivals such as The Taste of Tasmania, The Australian Wooden Boat Festival, Regatta Day, Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Dark Mofo, Festival of Voices just to name a few. Our vibrancy continues with the world renown Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the walking trails and bike tracks, the many antique shops and art and craft galleries across the City.
Tasmania is especially recognised for its thriving agriculture, aquaculture and artisan industries where we grow and develop the finest produce in an environment that has clear and pristine waters and the cleanest air. A visit to Hobart would not be complete without sampling the many delicacies that are on offer at our very popular Salamanca and Farm Gate Markets, restaurants and patisseries.
Sue Hickey FAICD (born c. 1958) is the Lord Mayor of Hobart. She defeated sitting
Lord Mayor Damon Thomas at the 2014 Tasmanian local government elections.
Hickey first entered public life when she won the Miss Tasmania quest 1979. She later worked in a number of retail and service positions, before starting a career in marketing. In 1991 she established her own marketing business, Slick Promotions. Hickey won the Tasmanian Businesswoman of the Year award in 2007. Hickey obtained an MBA from the University of Tasmania in 2012.
She intended to stand as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the 2010 state election, but was unable to do so due to a conflict of interest with her business. She was a successful candidate for the Hobart City Council in the 2011 Tasmanian local government elections.
since 2012. Bringing more than 30 years of local government experience to the role, Paul was previously the Deputy Mayor of the Toowoomba Regional Council in its first amalgamated term, and Mayor of Millmerran Shire Council for eight years, having served continuously on Council from 1982-2008.
