For some years now, a growing number concerned people and I have been making strenuous efforts to get the Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation out of the cupboard to demonstrate to the community that it is eager to engage and to be more visible and disclosing about its decisions and its operations. But here we are in mid-2018 and that cupboard door has resisted all efforts to prise it open.

Before this current version of the Biosphere (NBRF v2 dates back to 2014), there was an earlier Noosa Biosphere Ltd (NBL v1, 2007-14). Both versions were established under a template provided by UNESCO. Both have had relatively the same annual budget.
So I wonder why, at the same time in its development, v1 was so far ahead of v2 in its community engagement, its wide acceptance, its range of activities and its revenue raising? In fact, by this time, four years in, according to UNESCO v1 was one of the top 20 Biospheres globally.

There is clearly something lacking in v2 in terms of organisational functionality, coordination, leadership and investment that is resulting in lack of engagement and outcomes and, even worse, community antipathy?

When v2 was established, it was boasted of by the then Council as a fix (albeit to something which wasn’t broken), people-run (although scores of volunteers were shown the door in favour of a small clique) and a deductible tax contribution magnet (although it turned its back on the revenue-raising which was a major feature of v1).

The truth is that the earlier v1 model achieved much, much more than its successor – which has developed as little more than a mechanism to hand out ratepayers’ funds to a relatively small number of organisations, something presumably Noosa Council could have done itself.

The bottom line on v2 is that its progenitors, in turning their back on the successes of v1, denouncing its leaders and demeaning its many activities, left Noosa with a struggling organisation.

Noosa Council is now applying Band-aids. They are unlikely the staunch the flow of credibility and goodwill that any successful community organisation requires.

Michael is well known in Noosa for his voluntary contribution to several flag ship enterprises. He was Chairman of Tourism Noosa and is acknowledged as preserving TN as an independent tourism organisation despite efforts to amalgamate it along with other coast tourism entities; Michael was also the inaugural Chair of Noosa Biosphere Ltd., the first successful biosphere model in Queensland; under his chairmanship the new model for The Original Eumundi Markets was established. Michael spent some 20 years in arts and entertainment, including being the Executive Producer of the NSW Bicentennial Arts Program; he has worked in corporate public affairs and holds a number of certifications in environmental tourism. He was CEO of Best Western then created and managed the biggest executive mentor service in Australia. He occasionally still lectures in corporate governance.

1 COMMENT

  1. Thanks Michael, As head of the original UNESCO Biosphere model you are eminently qualified to comment on Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation. Like you I thought Noosa Biosphere Limited was an excellent organisation, unlike NBRF they had community sector boards and democratic management. I believe the de-amalgamated Council’s junking of NBL and formation of NBRF could have had Conflicts of Interest concerns that favoured vested interests.

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