About Us
Cairns South Together
Who We Are
Cairns South Together is a community-led, place-based initiative grounded in the principle of “Nothing About Us, Without Us.”
We bring together over 100 local partners; including residents, schools, services, and organisations, to co-design solutions that create lasting change for children, young people, and families across Cairns South.
Together, we’re transforming the suburbs of Earlville, Bayview Heights, Woree, White Rock, Mount Sheridan, Bentley Park, Edmonton, Wrights Creek, Mount Peter, and Gordonvale through collective action and shared responsibility.
Visit the Cairns South Together website for more information.
Mission & Vision
Mission
By 2030 we will make an incremental localised impact to improve the life of children and their families in Cairns South through:
- Taking a collective approach to strengthening communities and tackling complex systems
- Children are developing well in their first 1,000 days and launch into early learning.
- Young people have the foundations needed as they start adolescence and launch into a thriving future.
- Seeking out and listening to the voices of vulnerable and including them in our decision-making
Vision
Happy and healthy young people contributing to a brighter future in Cairns South.
Our Directors
Chair: Hon Curtis Pitt MP
Served as Queensland Member for Mulgrave from 2009 until his retirement from politics in 2024, representing communities across Cairns’ south. He was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 2018 and held senior portfolio’s including Treasurer, Trade and Investment, Employment and Industrial Relations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Disability Services and was Queensland’s first standalone Minister for Mental Health. Born and raised locally, Curtis holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics) from James Cook University. Founder of the annual “Ride for Isabel,” supporting Cairns Hospital’s Neo -Natal Care Unit, he now serves as Chair of the Cairns South Together Steering Committee and Director of Cairns South Coalition.
Deputy Chair: Mr Keiren O’Brien
Has proudly called Cairns’ home for 27 years and has served as President of Comets Football Club for the past 12. Under his leadership, the club has grown into the largest regional football club in Northern Queensland, delivering more than $1.5 million in community sport infrastructure. He established the region’s highest-rated academy and championed progress toward 50/50 gender parity, embedding strong diversity policies. With a corporate management and engineering background, he has a strong experience in corporate organization and governance. He serves as a Director of Cairns South Coalition and Deputy Chair of Cairns South Together.
Director: Ms Allison Halliday
A traditional owner of the Malanbarra Clan of the Yidinji Tribe, is a community member on the Cairns South Together Steering Committee and Director of Cairns South Coalition. Allison has been involved in the regional Rainforest Aboriginal movement since 1992 and was instrumental in the campaign to have the cultural values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area recognised in the National Heritage list in 2012. Allison’s strong commitment to youth, family, First Nation’s advancement, the environment and policy, support the collective impact focus of the CST.
Our Backbone
Mission Australia – Communities of Focus
In September 2020, Mission Australia (Mission) announced at a national level, that the Cairns South would be the first Mission Australia Communities of Focus site in Australia. This meant that Mission, would collaborate to provide resources to progress and support the activities of Cairns South Together. Mission works as the ‘backbone’ to coordinate activity, develop a common vision, facilitate strategy, and build community capacity across 10 years so that Cairns South Together can continue to sustain independent of Mission Australia in the future.
In Communities of Focus we believe that if we bring together a community experiencing complex place-based challenges and invest for the long-term, we can initiate and accelerate positive change in a sustainable way. By promoting collective action and addressing systematic drivers of disadvantage, we can fill gaps which are not adequately addressed through current programs and service responses.
Communities of Focus is an approach, not a program. It:
- Partners directly with a community through a place-based systems change approach.
- Brings together evidence and experience including from Collective Impact, Social innovation, and Systems Thinking.
- Works across funding and program boundaries to partner with local people, community leaders, services, government, community groups and churches.
- Works as the backbone to coordinate activity, develop a common vision and agenda, build community capacity and stimulate place-based innovation to promote sustainable change.
Our Backbone
Mission Australia – Communities of Focus
In September 2020, Mission Australia (Mission) announced at a national level, that the Cairns South would be the first Mission Australia Communities of Focus site in Australia. This meant that Mission, would collaborate to provide resources to progress and support the activities of Cairns South Together. Mission works as the ‘backbone’ to coordinate activity, develop a common vision, facilitate strategy, and build community capacity across 10 years so that Cairns South Together can continue to sustain independent of Mission Australia in the future.
In Communities of Focus we believe that if we bring together a community experiencing complex place-based challenges and invest for the long-term, we can initiate and accelerate positive change in a sustainable way. By promoting collective action and addressing systematic drivers of disadvantage, we can fill gaps which are not adequately addressed through current programs and service responses.
Communities of Focus is an approach, not a program. It:
- Partners directly with a community through a place-based systems change approach.
- Brings together evidence and experience including from Collective Impact, Social innovation, and Systems Thinking.
- Works across funding and program boundaries to partner with local people, community leaders, services, government, community groups and churches.
- Works as the backbone to coordinate activity, develop a common vision and agenda, build community capacity and stimulate place-based innovation to promote sustainable change.
