In April we had written an open letter to our mayor Tony Wellington about our concerns with regards to a renewal of a funding deed for the Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation (NBRF). So naturally I was waiting for the deliberations to begin. It turns out the new NBRF Funding deed will be discussed in three meetings:
Tuesday 12 June, 9.30am: Planning & Environment Committee, Noosa Council Chambers – here is the agenda, reports and the CEO’s recommendation on the matter. You can find the key changes of the new proposed funding deed starting from page 5.Update: This agenda item has been moved straight to the general meeting below.
- Monday 18 June, 10.00am: General Committee, Noosa Council Chambers. This is likely to be the most interesting debate and it might be time to dust off an old Biosphere t-shirt for the occasion ;). agenda, reports and the CEO’s recommendation on the matter
- Thursday 21 June, 6:00pm: Ordinary Committee, Kin Kin.
Before the community hands over any more public funds to the NBRF it would be great to find out a few things.
My top 5 questions
1. Has the ten year periodic review been submitted?
NBRF, you had ONE job! The ten year periodic review to UNESCO. We are curious to find out if it has been submitted. It would also be great to know at what point the public might be able to see it?
2. Are NBRF constitutional changes on the cards?
What steps are the NBRF proposing to align itself with UNESCO’s objects for Biospheres, such as opening up NBRF to greater community representation? When will it be introducing open membership and democratic elections? And will it prohibit grants to be given to organisations associated with office bearers? Also, there’s no evidence that NBRF disclosure will be improved, e.g., by releasing in full reports (financial and otherwise) to the public whose money funds the outfit.
3. How are the oysters taking?
How is the NBRF flagship project, the oyster reef restoration going? Rumours have it that the ‘sacks of oyster shells’ are silting over. Please tell us that is not true. It might be hard to determine if the project is on its way to success, but before council is handing over more of our ‘hard earned’ in grant funding it would be good to know how this one is tracking.
4. How much $ have NBRF raised in donations?
One major official reason for dismantling the NBL was to set up a new structure for ‘fundraising’ rather than relying almost wholly on ratepayers’ money. How much money has been raised by the Biosphere Foundation from philanthropic or other sources, so it could become self sustaining? ‘Contributions in kind’ are often cited, but these are vague and hard to qualify and quantify either in money terms or as success indicators. We might note that the earlier NBL had great success on those measures.
5. What do you need the money for ?
How is NBRF justifying its $140,000 annual operating expenses? Considering the directors are all volunteers, the Executive Officer role has been made redundant and the premises are free under a ‘peppercorn lease’ from the Council, why will they still be needing $140,000 for operating expenses? This is a substantial administrative overhead (more than one-third) in terms of the amount of grants money they distribute.
A step in the right direction – lets make it count
I am glad Noosa Council is requiring the NBRF to do better. Let’s make sure we use this opportunity to get to the bottom of a few things. The debate before council should be an interesting one – especially the general meeting on the 18 June.
Unfortunately if you are busy on the morning (as I currently am, unless I manage to rejig a job) you won’t be able to read the general meeting minutes afterwards. But this transparency issue is a topic for another day. A day not too far away.
Anyway, we might see you there!
I think it is fantastic that Bettina Walters has created the Open Noosa, among others agendas, to act as a social conscience to the mysterious Noosa Biosphere, from great beginnings it seems to have become an expensive white elephant.
If we can take the big four banks to task for blatantly ripping people off then some transparency in the Old Boys Club would not go amiss. Big thankyou to Bettina for your creative response to educate the public and gain attention to what is really going on with the Noosa Biosphere, get it back on track!
Thank you Christine, that is a big compliment. Really appreciated. Genuine course correction or let it go, is what I think about the matter. Too much abuse and powerbrokering has happened in my opinion.