12:00a.m. 11th March 2008

| By Toby Walker

Bob Abbot was still settling into his role as Noosa’s deputy mayor when Russell Cooper was Queensland’s premier and Sallyanne Atkinson was the Lord Mayor of Brisbane.

Almost 20 years on, and in the final week of his campaign to become the Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s first mayor, Big Bob will be hoping he can hang on to the top job a while longer than the six weeks afforded to Mr Cooper.

But if he does top the polls on Saturday he will probably be happy to score the six years of popular support Ms Atkinson enjoyed in Brisbane.

Mr Abbot was Ms Atkinson’s guest at her home in leafy Buderim yesterday for a meet-the-candidate morning tea.

Mr Cooper made the short trip over from his Somerset Drive home, while Olympic hero and fellow Buderim resident Raelene Boyle made an appearance to show support for the man they want to see win this weekend.

Having travelled up and down the Coast canvassing voters over the past few weeks, Mr Abbot held court in Ms Atkinson’s living room before 25 well-dressed seniors who used the occasion to ask him how he would fix congested roads and preserve the region’s prized lifestyle, and his opinion on the relocation of Horton Park Golf Club.

Ms Boyle said she was publicly supporting Mr Abbot because she believed him to be a man of integrity who had a proven record of success with the work he had done in Noosa over the past 25 years.

“I think when you are a public figure you can either be a leader or sit back and choose to contribute nothing,’ she said.

“I’m here for Bob because this is one of those times where I felt I needed to step forward.”