John’s view on a not so ordinary meeting

Ordinary meetings of Noosa Council – convened once a month on a Thursday evening at six – are rarely lively affairs. Most of the to and fro occurs at the earlier general meetings and Thursday tends to be tick-box night.

But last Thursday it was an unexpected transport proposal, an unusual admission of wrong-doing from Cr Brian Stockwell and the reappearance of Cr Frank Pardon after a period of extended leave that provided some spice to warm up a chilly winter’s evening at Tewantin.

Calm beginnings

Proceedings began calmly enough with Cr Frank Wilkie presenting a petition from 256 Sunshine Beach residents who want Ferris Park to be an off-leash dog area between 4 pm and 8 am each day. Curfew for cats!

There was a material change of use motion passed 5-1 in favour of a home business at Cootharaba; some extra signs for the-Noosa Village shopping centre were knocked back; and an item requesting Council approval for 15 more poker machines to add to the 180 already at Tewantin RSL was deferred.

Temperature rising

Then the thermometer rose when Cr Ingrid Jackson called for a division on a motion to accept a new E-Noosa transport proposal. Cr Stockwell said he liked the new approach and that the Council should get on with it even though State and Federal funding partnerships were needed. (He didn’t explain what would be got on with without the money.)

Anyway, Cr Pardon supported the motion to adopt the recommendations and seek government funding. Transport’s a big problem he said. The number one project the Council needs to deliver. He agreed the E-Noosa concept needed major government funding but said a start should be made anyway.

From the gallery, I pondered upon this. How, I conjectured, can the Council adopt a plan without funding? It all seemed a bit tokenistic.

Cr Joe Jurisevic, who said he’d read a 1995 traffic congestion story in the local press, agreed this was a long standing problem. Strategy is good but we need to make it happen. He agreed the E-Noosa concept is aspirational and requires government funding.

But, from where I sat, once again there was no indication of what the Council might do apart from beg for funds which may or may not be forthcoming, perhaps depending upon who wins the next Federal election.

Cr Jackson said she appreciated the amount of work the Council had done and acknowledged the importance of getting on top of the transport challenges but reminded councillors that at the earlier general committee meeting she had asked a number of questions about the practicality of the recommendations being put forward.

She also said the new E-Noosa Report didn’t take into account the Sunshine Coast’s growth and expansion, pointing out that the 10-year plan had electric buses on current, not additional, bus routes and didn’t include any development in the hinterland.

She also highlighted there had been no 10-year consideration of increased day tripper and tourist numbers, no budget, no business case and no modelling for E-Noosa and was further concerned that this idea had appeared without community consultation. Cr Jackson said in the absence of this information, she could not support the motion.

This seemed to me to be an honest assessment. After all, the Council was moving to approve a proposal asking for funds without a business model. How can you expect to succeed in those circumstances?

Mayor Tony Wellington said he supported the motion – still committed to electric buses it seems – and said E-Noosa was in keeping with the overall strategy (which apparently has been worked on for two years). He accepted it will need high level funding. It also seems many questions are hanging in the air about how E-Noosa and the two-year-in-the-making strategy are going to happily married.

To me, this proposition is an imprecise aspiration not a plan. Not something to take to the Federal government – no business plan, no 10-year modelling and the hinterland left out as usual. (Although Cooroy’s getting a $2.5 million children’s playground. Yes, you read right.)

Pressing on regardless, Cr Wellington said he wants E-Noosa publicised. There are multiple working groups and consultants on the job and there’s going to be a coordinator. I’m pretty sure he also said a business case is irrelevant. He reiterated the need for Federal funding and that, although the project’s ideals were good, they could change. He concluded by saying he supported the recommendation.

At this point Cr Jackson asked if E-Noosa could be an election promise from the LNP with a Federal poll not so far away. Cr Wellington responded he was not sure how Lew O’Brien intended to find the funding. Surely the mayor should have canvassed all funding possibilities? After all, the LNP may lose the next election.

Cr Jackson asked what funds were currently available in the transport levy. Infrastructure Director Carl Billingham said $2.4 million. I wondered how much of that had been committed to existing capital works. Cr Jackson asked if that was enough. Billingham said he was not sure. He was also not sure what the Council was going to do. “I don’t know,” is never a smart comment to make when you’re running an infrastructure show.

Cr Wilkie said part of the strategy revolved around new working groups and that there existed short, medium and long term plans. Nothing was definite but they would renew and refine; but this was a good plan. It sounded a bit like hope exceeding expectations.

Cr Stockwell said there needed to be an integrated approach, said E-Noosa has community support but needed to utilise existing resources. He said the Council had successfully assessed the proposal and now needed to act.

The motion to get on with E-Noosa was passed 6-1 with Cr Jackson, still unconvinced the homework had been done, against.

And that was that for transport. Councillors then read remarks long and short lauding the CEO’s report of Council achievements during the year, Cr Jurisevic saying introducing green bins was a personal standout for him.

While on capital works, I must mention the lack of comment on the overall capital program. The figures show a listed completion at $27.8 million of the $30.9 million budget – 90%. But this is not strictly correct since it includes unfinished work. Actual completion for the year was $25.7 million – 83.2%, more than $5 million of unfinished work. Not really good enough.

Also missing was the lack of an update on the new town plan and the asset management plan – both critical omissions given their importance both to the future of Noosa and the efficient utilisation of and accounting for assets.

A public apology

Then another surprise. Cr Stockwell was granted permission to make a public apology. He read a prepared statement, saying he had omitted to declare a perceived conflict of interest at two council committee meetings where he had not declared consultancy work for Country Noosa undertaken before he was a councillor. He said he was sorry for the oversight but had acted impartially in his deliberations within the Council.

He also revealed that he had faced a Regional Conduct Review Panel, had been found guilty of both breaches and ordered to provide an apology to the Council. Cr Stockwell apologised again, admitting he should have been more diligent. A damning indictment or a just a serious oversight? Well, I guess that’s up to the community to judge. And did he reveal all the information about his breaches this year? Perhaps the Council Complaints Register will tell us.

Ordinary meetings are normally benign occasions when councillors merely ratify earlier judgments. This one had a bit of welcome sparkle. And left a lot of question marks trailing in its wake. This Council is now past its halfway mark and it still seems to be floundering.