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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
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Paronella to lead the way: New Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Joe Paronella with wife Wendy on Sunday.
Gripping drama on Election Day By Justin Fris
DRAMA filled every inch of last weekend, as all Far North local government elections went down to the wire. Pre polling was extremely popular across both the Mareeba Shire and Tablelands Regional Council regions, with officials commenting that numbers were up on previous elections. Mareeba Shire Council (MSC) voters didn’t
have to worry about casting a vote for a new Mayor – as incumbent Tom Gilmore was reelected unopposed. Councillor positions were confirmed on Sunday afternoon, with three fresh faces – Angela Toppin, Kevin Davies and Lenore Wyatt – elected. Mrs Toppin, Mr Davies and Ms Wyatt will bejoined by current MSC councillors Nipper Brown (6,993 votes), Mary Graham (6,913 votes) and
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Alan Pedersen (6,560 votes), who were all easily re-elected. Ms Wyatt had the toughest battle in the MSC councillor race, holding off a valiant effort from Grace Armenti. It was also a very significant moment down the Kennedy Highway in the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) jurisdiction, with Joe Paronella (5,685 votes, with over half of the vote counted) also claiming victory as Mayor on Sunday, af-
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ter his nearest challenger Rod Marti (with 3,682 votes) called and conceded defeat just before our print deadline. Mr Paronella said he was ‘humbled’ by the announcement and said he was eager to get down to business right away. “I’m absolutely ecstatic about the result,” he said. CONTINUED PAGE 3
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