Noosa’s ageing population, housing too expensive for its “productive workforce” and a low gross regional product (GRP) growth are strongly impacting Noosa’s economy and need urgent action, Noosa Chamber of Commerce president Ralph Rogers told guests at a chamber event hosted by Noosa Today last week.
Mr Rogers told attendees these were some of the findings from the chamber’s recently completed economic and social impact study, a document prepared annually by the chamber from a range of data to understand what is going on in the local marketplace, with a comparison to neighbouring council regions.
“We put it in a document so it’s easier to digest, to understand and to be there to assess it and use it in your own business plan,” he said
“It’s important for Noosa to not only understand the economic consideration but what’s happening from a socio-economic point of view. The 40-page study is used to advocate on behalf of our members and the community, based on fact not fiction.”
Mr Rogers said among key takeaways from this year’s report was the fact the GRP (a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in a region) of the shire hasn’t got above 4 per cent in the past four years, except during Covid “when government threw a whole lot of money at the community”.
“What that demonstrates is the community is somewhat dependent on social payments,” he said.
“Of the three councils we closely monitor – Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Noosa – we have the lowest GRP growth out of the three shires.
“There’s a couple of reasons why this is happening – 36 per cent of our population is over 60 compared to the Queensland average of 22 per cent, 25-34 year olds are only 7 per cent of the population when the Queensland average is 14 per cent.
“Our average dwelling price is $1.3 million when the Queensland average is $690,000. What else needs to be considered is annually all we’re doing is approving on a 10-year-average, 336 residential dwellings a year with half of them knock downs and rebuilds.
“So what you can see is 25-34 year olds can’t afford to buy a place to live here, therefore they’re not here, therefore we’re losing our productive workforce.
“From a council point of view between 2014-15 through to 2019-20 the difference in operating expenses in council grew 25 per cent. From 2019-20 to 23-24 it grew 44 per cent. That’s from $78m in 2014 to $132m.
“Council’s got a 20 per cent vacancy rate in jobs and it’s got 16.2 per cent turnover of staff. Staffing costs 36 per cent of total revenue that comes to council.
“You need to say to yourself what does this mean.
“I’ll tell you what it means. Noosa Council is 2.55 per cent GRP every year, that’s what we pay to council, compared to 1.86 for Gympie and 1.64 for Sunshine Coast.
“The impact of not developing residential dwellings anywhere close to the average Queensland price means our productive workforce (25-34 years) can’t afford to work here.
“And it’s our view for a vibrant economy we’ve got to be able to engineer supply at a price point on Queensland average wages can afford to live here and buy, and this is such a critical issue for us we just can’t afford to give up.
“The key takeaway is for Noosa’s economy Noosa’s realities can’t be ignored.
“Council’s financial capacity does exist with $123m in the bank.
“Housing affordability will provide for our economy, 25-34 year olds can’t afford to live here.
“The only way we’ll get out of this is with collaboration, leadership, with government and the private sector working together to deliver a product of residents that can be afforded and we’ve got to take those bold steps now.”
Mr Rogers said the chamber would be taking their findings to state and local governments.
“All we can do is advocate, all we can do is put the facts in front of them. We will do that, hopefully they’ll listen,” he said.
Mr Rogers said the Noosa chamber was independently funded, receiving no support from Noosa Council, state government, or anybody else.
With 170 members the chamber is two and a half times the average-sized Queensland chamber.
Having completed its 2024 business plan and exceeded all goals and objectives, the chamber committee would be working on its 2025-28 strategic plan which would be shared with every member for consideration on its completion, he said.
