I despair as Councillors try to design a unit block on the run. There we were in Tewantin promptly at 6pm with mayor Tony Wellington, back from leave, in the chair and a full council plus six senior staff around the table. At the press desk was Peter Gardiner from Noosa News.
Noosa Council General Committee Meeting, Monday October 15th. Noosa had received a year’s rainfall in a single week, so it was no surprise to walk into the foyer of the Council chambers and see water damage caused by a leaking roof. Just one of many repair jobs across the shire that need attention.
Cr. Ingrid Jackson has worked hard for the community to successfully set council onto a path of greater transparency and accountability. An attempt to derail her failed. Allegations of misconduct against her by two of her fellow councillors have been found to be frivolous and lacking substance. This is her statement.
Mayor Cr Tony Wellington is on leave and Noosa Council’s meetings (open and secret) have temporarily ground to a halt, so I thought I might look at how our two local newspapers, Noosa Today and Noosa News, reported activities...
There was only one item of significance at Noosa Council’s ordinary meeting last Thursday (20 September) and that was a motion from Cr Ingrid Jackson, strongly supported by Cr Jess Glascow, to introduce the live streaming of all public...
At the Monday 17 September general meeting of Noosa Council, the public gallery was crowded with three members of the public, including me. At the media table were Peter Gardiner (Noosa News), who left halfway, and Margaret Maccoll (Noosa...
Most ratepayers would never know this (or even be interested if they did know) but Noosa Council has a monthly meeting cycle which includes four meetings, sometimes five, that are open to the public.
I’m now well into my regular reporting of Noosa Council meetings as I seek to provide a critical and constructive rather than some councillors’ sycophantic view of our local governing body. My enduring hope is that this critique may...
Ordinary meetings of Noosa Council are rarely lively affairs. They tend to be tick-box night. But last Thursday it was an unexpected transport proposal, an unusual admission of wrong-doing from Cr Stockwell and the reappearance of Cr Pardon provided some spice to warm up a chilly winter’s evening at Tewantin.
Noosa Council is building a $2.5m playground in a rural village where old people outnumber the young nearly 3:1.
This week I’m taking a good hard look at a special Noosa Council meeting on Friday 6 July, the primary aim of which was to formally adopt the 2018-19 budget and give the CEO and Corporate Services Manager an...
By Cr Ingrid Jackson. An informed community is a more effective community and disclosure, transparency and accountability matter.
What is the problem with taking and publishing informative minutes of all official council meetings? I'd argue, that we are in danger of becoming 'a parish of Dibley' rather than the progressive shire many of us want.
By John Digby Lobb. Those who know me from my occasional disruptions to your life in the columns of the local media will understand that I live just outside the Noosa Council boundaries. But, because I feel this is my community of interest, I’m a regular attender at Council meetings – and have been for many years.
On Thursday 19 April, Councillor Ingrid Jackson put a transparency motion before Noosa Council. As she explained on her own facebook page:
"My motion was simple: that General Committee meeting minutes be made public. That’s the meeting where the most significant or...
