Inclusion & balance – Mayor Clare 15 months on

Fifteen months after her shock election as Noosa mayor, Clare Stewart is emerging as the capable community leader residents voted for when they rejected one-term mayor Tony Wellington at the 2020 polls and elected the first woman leader since Noosa was created as a separate shire in 1910.

Arriving in the mayoralty without prior local government experience was a significant challenge. Just to nominate and chance the rigours of elected office required courage and self-belief. The first year is the toughest. It takes much time and huge effort to command the mountain of detail. And, with decision-making often immersed in politicking and conflicting views, there must have been many occasions since that heady win of March last year when Cr Stewart wondered quite what she had got herself into.

Local government is close to the people; the community values this and never lets its elected representatives forget it. For a new mayor the learning curve is steep and the pressure to maintain stability and gain the people’s confidence is paramount. Leadership has to be asserted, the diverse concerns of the community swiftly understood, the disparate views of incumbent and new councillors straddled, and a council culture shaped by previous mayors grasped and a way forward negotiated. It is no walk in the park.

Cr Stewart’s two immediate predecessors tended to have a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude to the job, transmitting this approach not only to Council staff but to other councillors. People – be they councillors or residents – who pressed a contrary position were looked upon as troublemakers and treated as such. In my own case, as an independent councillor exerting this independence, I soon found out how intimidating that treatment could be.

It has become clear over the last year that Cr Stewart understood these difficulties and decided to bring her equable style and tolerant mindset to the task. Everyone has been welcomed regardless of position or politics. Respect has been given where due, as evidenced from the beginning when the older, longer standing councillors were not seen as yesterday’s men but given appointments that recognised their experience.

There were some people who had voted for Cr Stewart who felt affronted by this, perhaps hoping for a dash of retribution. But such is not her way. She has been reluctant to clash even over affront, knowing this leads to conflict, while dispassion takes a different pathway, sublimating discord in favour of getting things done.

When the combustible issues of the Noosa River Plan and the Oyster Reef Project came on to the agenda, Cr Stewart understood that their impact and funding were highly contentious. She proposed an advisory committee to bring dissonant views to the table, rather than retreating to the safety of appointing agreeable cronies. Good decisions are more often forged through fire than head nodding. And when a consultative group was chosen with only one woman amongst its 12 members, Cr Stewart quickly remedied this before the community rumblings had travelled too far. A willingness to vary decisions to achieve better outcomes is a strength not a weakness.

Inclusion is the way forward

There’s a word that sums up all this – inclusive. Facing the need to navigate a range of deep-rooted legacy problems as well as newly emergent issues, many of which are capable of drawing impassioned public response, Cr Stewart has recognised that contrasting views and styles need to be heard and understood. Her approach has been to bring people together to find common ground and to work towards solutions that, as best she can, will satisfy the community that its requirements are being attended to.

One of the essential skills of a successful politician is to understand and manage the proper balancing of community interests in decision-making. After Noosa was de-amalgamated from the Sunshine Coast Council this principle was largely ignored, mayors opting for promoting interests aligned with their own views. The Wellington Council declared a ‘climate emergency’ in 2019 and followed it up with a mooted Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan (CHAP), forecasting which coastal and riverine areas might be eroded or inundated by 2100 because of sea level rises or brutal weather events. The Council announced that these events were expected to affect some 2,200 coastal and riverside properties but provided no indication of what support it might offer to the property owners affected.

There was an outcry from the community at the time which had not diminished when Cr Stewart became mayor. The CHAP reappeared in the Council again in January 2021, this time implying that harsh planning strictures would need to be imposed on what property owners could do with their own land. Grasping that the Council could not just abandon people to the forces of climate change and that it appeared heartless in the matter, Cr Stewart got the State government to allow more time to work through the dilemma with the community. Instead of saying ‘not our problem’, the council accepted it had to work towards finding an acceptable policy and planning position.

Accordingly Cr Stewart instigated a roundtable of groups representing impacted residents and businesses to search for a solution that would achieve environmental objectives without abandoning property owners. Brought together were the Eastern Beaches Bushcare Collaborative, Eastern Beaches Protection Association, Hastings Street Association, Noosaville Business Association, Peregian Family and Friends Association and the Peregian Beach Community Association.

In the hinterland township of Kin Kin there has been long-standing angst about the local quarry and the more than 200 heavy trucks that each day bustle along Pomona-Kin Kin Road. Cr Stewart has brought together the State government, local residents, council staff and the quarry owners, and has explored legal avenues in her desire to achieve an acceptable outcome.

Standing for the community interest

Cr Stewart has also shown a readiness to stand alone against other councillors if she believes they are heading towards a poor decision. Such was the case when an application was made to establish a modern medical centre at Cooroy last year. An initial Council vote to accept the proposal was later overturned after Crs Stockwell and Wilkie took to social media arguing that the decision would tarnish a character precinct. This created such a storm of disapproval that the three councillors who had previously voted for the proposal changed sides to reject it.

Cr Stewart stood her ground, arguing the health and medical needs of the community should take precedence. Her vote against six was an isolated position, but she had shown an understanding of where the community interest lay and signalled she would not betray it.

During her successful election campaign of early 2020, Cr Stewart demonstrated how she would approach the task of occupying the most important office in the shire. She weathered many personal attacks without returning fire, instead holding small gatherings in 30 cafes throughout the shire and making it her business to travel by bus to some of the more remote townships. Such openness was not a mere election stunt. Fifteen months later we see she meant it. Clare Stewart is determined to be everyone’s mayor.

When she won office, Cr Stewart not only took over a $150 million budget and 350 staff but inherited a Council culture that many people, especially in business, perceived as hostile. There was also a legacy to be confronted of a fractured and often fractious community. With her commitment to inclusion and balance, Cr Stewart is beginning to make her mark on this shire. She won’t win all the battles, but it seems a fair prediction she will continue to strive to move Noosa Shire to what it can and needs to become – a more inclusive, more balanced and more accommodating place in which to live.

Over the last 15 months, Clare Stewart’s mission has become evident – to empower the whole community, not just those who govern it.