President's Message
NOOSA PARKS ASSOCIATION Inc
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
(February - March 2011)
Noosa Parks Association (NPA) continues to be a vocal supporter of de-amalgamation. The Noosa Independence Alliance (comprising the four community groups of NPA, Noosa Biosphere Association (NBA), Friends of Noosa (FoN) and Eumundi Doonan Verrierdale Residents Group (EDV), with former Noosa shire mayor Noel Playford as its chairperson,an extremely busy year ahead of it. NPA is, and will continue to be, intimately involved with each step of this de-amalgamation journey, ensuring that a reasoned conservation voice is consistently both offered and heard.
A Sunshine Coast Daily poll in late December indicated that 78% of voters were disappointed in our current Sunshine Coast council’s performance, with only 15% satisfied.
In December, the following blog comment appeared on the Sunshine Coast Daily’s website. Written by a coast resident who does not reside in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve, it confirms that the level of dissatisfaction with the current regional council extends well beyond our local borders. It sums up what many people both within and outside the Noosa Biosphere reserve are thinking.
“Running an amalgamated council was never going to be an easy job. I lived in Noosa for 20 years and found it largely well administrated and planned. Few wanted an amalgamation.
The former Maroochy Shire was a basket case financially and unable to function with the councillors in place, and Caloundra no better with complete apathy from the council over many decades. And it still shows.
I invested then and now in property around the Sunshine Coast and Noosa's rates were always the lowest by a long way. And still are. Caloundra's rates were the most expensive. And still are. Services and improvements to the Shire in Noosa are way above elsewhere on the Coast.
Unfortunately it seems the new Council has not properly begun to function as an entity, more like three entities bundled together because they have to.
As for Caloundra where I now live due to employment transfer - what an absolute mess. Terrible planning, traffic lights designed to stop traffic, streets that change name every few blocks to honour some past councillor, or whoever, ugly advertising signs out of control, and why are Caloundra residents the only ones on the coast who need to pay for parking on ratepayer owned and maintained streets?”
The next state election will likely be held in either late 2011 or early 2012 with the local government election following this. It is NPA’s hope that the Noosa Independence Alliance (of which NPA is a founding member) will have garnered overwhelming community support for de-amalgamation well before we next go to the polls. 2011 will be an interesting period in our local history.
Ian Seels
President
2012 President's Annual Report
Click here to download the 2011 President's Annual Report