Twenty years is a long time in anything and it’s particularly a long time in a world confronting long-term climate change in a political climate that denies any need for haste. Unaddressed by urgency, much damage can be done. How much, how it will be repaired and what will happen in the meantime are conjectures beyond me. Noosa Council seems happy to let nature take its course at a local level, a complacency I find almost equally frightening as the consequences that science tells us we face.
So my thoughts here are about what we might aspire to rather than what we’re likely to get which, if the present is anything to go by, will be a future totally undermining of idealised aspiration.
My vision of a great Noosa is of an engaged community supporting a mosaic of cultures and lifestyles and which values social responsibility and mutual respect. It will be governed by a responsive, accountable and transparent Council that is both a strategic leader and an effective service-provider.
The natural environment will be pleasurable, healthy and treasured by community and visitors, who will be welcomed as guests should be welcomed in any human society. There will be a prosperous business sector that is relevant to the community and which is encouraged and facilitated by the Council to the greatest extent possible to provide meaningful work for younger citizens who will remain here, not flee, to pay their role in forging a whole community.
And this place will have a modern, adaptable and sustainable infrastructure that anticipates and efficiently manages change whether this is driven by demographic, economic, climatic or other factors.
Moving on to practicalities, Noosa Council needs to commit itself to a 2040 vision to demonstrate that it does have something in mind that it cares to share with the rest of us.
Noosa 2040 would be a long-term blueprint to guide present decisions and their execution by establishing a planning pathway for a Shire with a unified and thriving community, a strong and diversified economy, and a healthy and sustainable environment.
It will be built on Noosa’s current strengths and informed by social and economic research, the findings of an expert local panel and extensive community consultation and be signed off by Noosa Council before the end of 2020.
Noosa 2040 will not be regulatory but a social policy contract between community and Council. It would commit to matters of detail such as:
- Ensuring a community-facing council – A council that demonstrates its understanding of the community by engaging with it before decisions are made and demonstrating fairness and flexibility in its dealings with all stakeholders.
- Encouraging true independence – Independent councillors with the will to work together but who understand they must be more accountable to the community than to each other.
- Maximum transparency and communication – A council that will implement maximum transparency, disclosure and accountability to residents and ratepayers.
- Rigour in local government – Demonstrable leadership; an outward-looking and performance-oriented culture; disclosure, transparency, accountability and communication; competitive pay and reward; a learning organisation; service quality and accessibility; cost-effective spending recognising opportunity cost; strategic decisions not ‘thought bubbles’.
- Ensuring the sustainability of the lifestyle and environment enjoyed by the community – A council that understands that quality of environment is vital, quality of commerce essential and quality of life imperative.
About Noosa 2040
Noosa 2040 is a rolling project inviting the community to contribute future scenarios for Noosa from any viewpoint – wishful, realistic or a poetic flight of fancy. Send your vision to editor@opennoosa.org. As always contributions do not necessarily reflect the view of the editorial team.
