Who we are

Tropic Now is an independent, locally-owned news publication covering Cairns and Tropical North Queensland. We launched in 2016 with a simple conviction: a region this big, this beautiful and this fast-moving deserves a newsroom of its own — one that lives here, knows the place, and turns up every day.

From the cane country and the Tablelands to Port Douglas, the northern beaches and the reef beyond, the far north generates real news. Council decisions that shape a city. Businesses that back themselves and grow. An environment that is both an asset and a responsibility. The festivals, markets and quiet local wins that make this corner of Australia feel like nowhere else.

What we stand for

We are boosters for this region — unapologetically. But boosterism without credibility is just noise, so we hold both at once: a belief in the far north's future, and a commitment to getting the facts right. We cover the good news because it's real, and we cover the hard news because the community is owed it.

Being independent and locally owned matters. There's no distant head office setting the agenda, and no pretending a story from Brisbane or Sydney is the same as a story from Edmonton or Edge Hill. Decisions about what we publish are made here, by people who shop at the same markets and swim at the same beaches as our readers.

What we cover

Our daily report spans hard local news — council, business, property, crime and the environment — alongside the lifestyle, food, events and tourism coverage that captures how life is actually lived up here. We tell human-interest stories, too, because the people of the tropical north are the best part of the patch.

If something matters to Cairns and the region, we want it on Tropic Now. And if you know about it before we do, tell us.