At Thursday’s Ordinary meeting, I moved a procedural motion, ‘That council defer consideration of the Noosa River Catchment Management Plan (NRCMP) to enable council to undertake appropriate and full community and stakeholder consultation on the final draft NRCMP in 2024 and following this process report back to the July 2024 council with a final and fully costed NRCMP’.
It was successful.
This is what I said at the Ordinary meeting:
“Tonight, the issue is not about the River Plan. It is not about a Conservation Park. The issue tonight is about public trust. Our community has felt misled.
The Noosa community support a Noosa River Catchment Plan, in particular, they support measures aimed at excluding sediment, chemicals and human waste entering the river. Actions prioritising anchoring, mooring, liveaboards and sediment.
What the community don’t support is to not be consulted on significant matters that have the potential to impact on their livelihoods and lifestyles. Namely, the last- minute inclusion of a recommendation #1 to ‘consider establishing a Conservation Park’.
We have heard from the General Manager of the Boating Industry Association, the chair of the Australian Fishing Trade Association, both who have expressed that they are troubled by the inclusion of this Conservation Park concept as it was never part of the overall consultation that has been in play for years, and ‘worse still, there is little detail of what it would mean’.
“This seems to be an afterthought – a last minute inclusion which has now put at risk the entire plan which goes back to 2019.”
We have heard also from our community and our stakeholders. It is clear from the number of people here this evening, by the 2,600 signatures presented tonight opposing the Plan and by the 100’s and 100s of emails- both for and against the River Plan, the social media posts, newspaper articles and tv news reports that there is widespread confusion, misinformation and distrust in Council.
There has been insufficient time and process allocated for the community to fully understand what the impacts of a Conservation Park might be.
There has been no substantial or acceptable explanation to the community as to why a significant change, that is, the inclusion of ‘consideration of a Conservation Park’ was made two (2) months ago, without broad and appropriate consultation.
And why other models such as a River Trust were not considered, evaluated, costed and presented?
How did we go straight to a Conservation Park status recommendation?
It is therefore not reasonable nor right to be pushing through a River Plan just before an election that is causing undue stress and confusion in the community and creating distrust in Council.
This does not reflect meaningful community engagement.
It simply destroys the public’s confidence in the integrity of our Council.
By deferring this matter to next year, we lose nothing. Funding is not at risk. And our river is not at risk.
I would like to remind Councillors that the Noosa River already has some of the most restrictive State protections by way of Fish Habitat Areas (FHA) and declared under Qld’s Fisheries Act 1994.
Under this State legislation FHA are already protected from physical disturbances associated with coastal developments.
The purpose of this State legislation aims to ensure that fishing in the future is protected by protecting fish habitats.
Further, there is no authorisation needed under State legislation to access a declared FHA for community uses.
The State legislation is a fair and equitable management approach for all stakeholders- recreational, traditional, commercial fishing and boating activities are allowed.
So, the question on everyone’s mind is, why are we trying to change that?
Councillors, the importance of public trust and public participation in decision-making and the importance of maintaining the public’s confidence in the integrity of our Council should be the only basis of the decision before us.
A declaration regarding the potential of a Conservation Park should not occur without full community consultation.
Creating a conservation park to be managed solely by Council is a significant undertaking and cannot occur without full community consultation and costing.
Without detailed community briefing and participation, and a majority community buy-in, it should not progress…
We lose nothing by deferring. We lose a lot by endorsing this plan tonight.”
(Please note this is my personal opinion and does not represent the position of Council.)
