Date: 20th June 2026

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Amy Eden has been found to have committed misconduct on two separate occasions, after the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal ruled she released confidential council information to a journalist while serving as a first-term councillor in 2023.

In a decision published this week, Independent Assessor v Eden [2026] CCT 3, Tribunal President Russell Hood found Mayor Eden breached section 171(3) of the Local Government Act 2009 by disclosing information she knew, or ought reasonably to have known, was confidential to council.

The first allegation related to an email Mayor Eden sent a journalist on 20 January 2023, responding to questions about funding arrangements for a proposed public art installation on the Cairns Esplanade. Her reply included extracts of legal advice the council’s then chief executive had obtained regarding councillors’ use of discretionary funds for the project.

The second allegation concerned an email exchange Mayor Eden forwarded to the same journalist in May 2023, disclosing details of a confidential councillor workshop discussion about council funding legal costs for a former councillor.

Mayor Eden admitted both allegations early in the process, which the Tribunal found avoided the cost of a contested hearing. It noted she had no prior disciplinary history and had not undertaken training specifically addressing confidentiality obligations, despite having completed general councillor induction training.

The Independent Assessor had sought a pecuniary penalty in addition to other sanctions, but the Tribunal declined to impose one, finding that financial penalties had previously been reserved for councillors with a prior history of misconduct. Mayor Eden has instead been ordered to make a public admission of the conduct at an open council meeting within 60 days, and to attend training addressing her confidentiality obligations. An ordinary meeting of Cairns Regional Council is scheduled for next Wednesday.

The Tribunal treated the disclosures to a journalist as an aggravating factor, noting that releasing confidential material to “a class of person with the capacity to widely disseminate information” carries heightened risk to council and to individuals.

According to the Cairns Post, Mayor Eden did not respond to a request for comment on the findings.