Noosa’s past week – as seen by its two newspapers

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 in the shire last week.

NOOSA TODAY – Thursday 27 September

Noosa Today had a page three story with a bewildering headline, (‘Council votes on report not record’), which reminded readers that Cr Ingrid Jackson‘s motion to live stream council meetings on the internet had not been supported by most of her colleagues and explained valid reasons why it should have been.

The story said Cr Frank Wilkie‘s amendment to ‘look into it’ by the end of December was passed 5-2. My bet is there will be more ‘workshops’, ‘forums’, ‘focus groups’ and then a deferral – this Council is not interested in transparency.

The article also mentioned the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Belcarra goals for local government in Queensland – equity, transparency, integrity and accountability. Principles this council chooses to ignore.

The changing of the guard at Tourism Noosa was covered in ‘Tourism appoints a new leader’, which said it had tapped Mantra Group general manager Steve McPharlin (who happened to be chairman of Tourism Noosa) as CEO from 200 applicants. Hmm, parachuting from chairman to CEO happens sometimes but always raises eyebrows.

I’m not sure why Steve wants the job. The council under successive mayors Playford and Wellington has only ever been lukewarm supportive and now Cr Wellington has turned his attention to something called ‘sustainable tourism’. Not sure how it works, perhaps the council could confide in ratepayers and voters about what it means.

The council can maintain tourism and a good community by improving infrastructure – especially roads, parking and public transport. But does it want to, or is it trying to do as Dr Gloster seems to suggest not so long ago – keep those day trippers out of the place?

Further along, on page seven, together with a large recent photo of our State MP, was ‘The Bolton Report’. Sandy Bolton wrote of activism in Noosa, the Yurol State Forest purchase and repurposing the TAFE site. She said the State government had tried to keep TAFE open and active but it wasn’t viable (perhaps it should have focused on vocational training in tourism, hospitality and aged care not the arts, fond of them though I am).

On page 11 was perhaps the most intriguing piece – ‘Elmes eyes council run’. The man Sandy beat for the Noosa seat, Glen Elmes, said he’s not ruling out a return to local government. (He’d have to have a crack at mayor, wouldn’t he?)

The former State Minister has an excellent pension plus business pursuits so I don’t know why he’d bother. A renewed zest for the struggle? Relevance deprivation syndrome? If he runs for mayor there’s a rumour it may be against Cr Frank Wilkie not Cr Wellington (or could be both), insurgent Brendan Weatherill (who’s already announced) and one or two others I believe are considering the top civic job. No women yet. Let Open Noosa know if you hear anything.

The serious stuff ended on page 18 with readers’ letters. (Noosa Today usually runs more lively and topical letters than Noosa News). Paul Norton‘s missive entitled ‘Bridge well used’ said the Gumtree Road bridge at Cooroy is much walked across by pedestrians and is needed (the mayor doesn’t think so but his councillors disagree). Paul said the rumoured $400,000 figure for a replacement is nonsense and a much cheaper prefab (try dividing by five) would suffice. So far ex-councillor Ray Kelly is winning councillors’ hearts and minds on this one.

Dom Massoni‘s letter (‘The good and the not so good…’) said the good included paid parking at the National Park and that was about it. The ‘not so good’ comprised the new gold-plated boardwalk (Dom said Dennis Massoud should have been consulted), mayor Wellington’s admission of not having a vision for the TAFE site, and the council deceiving ratepayers by moving capital works’ project budgets to variable multi-year completion targets.

It was an excellent letter, even though Dom told me that his final summary line, “So much for transparency, Noosa Council” was edited out. Of late, Noosa Today has been kind in printing our letters but tends to reduce their impact with this kind of strategic editing of the punch line.

I also had a letter published (‘Council behind on budget’) in which I quoted figures from the council’s last financial report which showed after only two months they’re already 46% behind schedule. Unfortunately, like with Dom, my last sentence (“As stated, this council is under-resourced and over committed”) also got the chop.

Mark Griffin‘s ‘Give the idea a go’ applauded Bob Jarvis‘s lateral thinking for the TAFE site, pointing out that council offices and TAFE site are both owned by the State government so Bob’s idea was feasible. And then Bob returned for another serve on the same subject in ‘Think outside the square’.

Instead of being negative about the TAFE site, Bob wrote, Cr Wellington should work to find a solution. Bobbie said there would be no economic loss to Tewantin if the council offices were moved to the TAFE site, in fact the shift would have benefits.

In summary, bravo Margaret! A much more lively newspaper when the council is under scrutiny. ‘Speak truth to power’ as the media catchphrase goes. Or ‘democracy dies in darkness’ as the Washington Post has it. The Noosa Today editor will know she’s made it when the red bat phone rings out of its case, the godfather is on the line and he’s in meltdown.

We live in hope.

NOOSA NEWS – Friday 28 September

The front page featured an agreeable story, ‘Festival shares story and dance’, celebrating Noosa’s indigenous culture. This year’s Booin Gari was well-attended despite rain showers. Meanwhile, a festival of a different kind to gladden car lovers was foreshadowed (‘Best of British on show this Sunday’). On the downside, I suppose such pleasures will be more grist for the mill for those people who consider Noosa has too many events pulling too many visitors to the shire.

Along to page eight where it was revealed that upgrades and environmental rehabilitation at the Noosa North Shore campground have been delayed until the end of next April 2019 – missing the busy summer season. The council said it needs to “investigate further” (lot of that going on) but I wonder if this delay to the $2.5 million project is caused by a lack of resources. The council-owned site is popular but lacks adequate facilities. The project will install new camp kitchens, improved sewerage and landscaping.

I should also mention Cooroy’s multi-million dollar children’s playground – being created at a cost of $2.4 million spread over two years. This is a breathtaking amount of money and hard to justify when rural roads are not being bituminised and Noosa’s main urban roads and parking spaces are not coping. It would be gratifying to see Noosa News giving attention to these critical issues as a real-world newspaper would.

Which brings me to the blatantly dishonest headline, ‘Meetings live-streamed for you’. No they’re not. Remember the council just rejected Cr Ingrid Jackson’s motion that it investigate live streaming of meetings and also knocked back an agreement in-principle that it be introduced. Acting mayor, Cr Frank Wilkie told the newspaper that council is looking at options to live-stream its meetings on the web. There was no mention of Cr Jackson who fought to introduce it and who also proposed a way forward.

As Dom Massoni told me, “I was absolutely flabbergasted at how Noosa News managed to spin the shameful live-streaming debate and made Wilkie look like he was the one who came up with this great concept without mentioning Ingrid’s input once!”

Cr Wilkie said the council has to consider “other issues” and needed to undertake a “robust investigation” but the whole exercise seems designed to delay greater transparency on the part of the council. Cr Jackson was seeking to reinforce the recently adopted Crime and Corruption Commission ideals of council equity, transparency, integrity and accountability and her motion should have been accepted. Remember, also, how a couple of months back, the council rejected Cr Jackson’s motion to have council committee meeting minutes recorded. Even the tiniest community associations in our shire do that. Not our council.

I have to say I found the newspaper’s behaviour disgraceful. I can only assume Noosa News is following the council’s script and trying to mislead ratepayers. (It’s failing though. When I last checked, the newspaper’s own poll on the issue showed 74% of respondents agreeing they would watch live streaming of council meetings and just 16% saying they wouldn’t.)

Moving further down the newspaper to page 15 was a story headlined, ‘Why can’t we build on it? Rural residential owner wants to build second home for family member’. A Tewantin resident on a 1.2 hectare lot was refused permission to build a second home for a family member. Considering large blocks can add a ‘granny flat’ and considering the dearth of building block subdivisions in the shire, this regulation seems harsh.

The regional south-east Queensland plan says every council has to allow for new residents – home sites not granny flats. This story seems to offer further evidence that Noosa Council has taken its anti-development policy too far.

There was a brief piece on page 18 about Tourism Noosa’s new CEO who had morphed into that prime slot from his former position as Chairman. There were more than 200 applicants and we hope that Mr McPharlin and the Board fully exercised their conflict of interest responsibilities. I know that local sage and former Tourism Noosa chairman Michael Donovan has questioned the circumstances of this appointment and also suggested a fresh face with a new vision may have been preferable. Nevertheless we wish Steve McPharlin well. Managing Tourism Noosa is an onerous task perhaps only trumped by the responsibilities of the next Noosa mayor to get the shire moving in the right direction.

On page 20 there was a strange little item, ‘It’s dinner time. Big turnout for mayoral event in Cooroy’. Half a page of photos including mayor Wellington and Cr Frank Pardon – but no story. Did the mayor have nothing to say? Or was his address unworthy of report? Maybe there was no correspondent? Or they’d misplaced their notebook.

‘Where does it all go? Yes rubbish is worth recycling‘ informed us that Noosa News is embarking on a partnership with the Council to increase recycling and reduce waste. My view is that waste management is a hard and dirty topic for Noosa. It’s been a problem since de-amalgamation denied facilities to the new council. It will continue to be a difficult and expensive responsibility.

Finally to the letters on page 29. ‘Your Say,’ the newspaper titles it, but apparently not for people like me who struggle to be published. (Pro tip: don’t be too critical of the council.) Last week’s letters featured a Victorian visitor complaining about traffic congestion in and around Hastings Street and suggesting a park and ride facility.

As we know, this is a major problem for Noosa but, because of the bias of most councillors and the council being under-resourced, it is incapable of enacting a viable transport strategy. More strategically located car parks and a park and ride service would be an excellent start. Council’s inability to implement constructive reform has become a major embarrassment to our community.

We live in hope.