Noosa is iconic for its natural assets that have been hard fought for over decades and Queensland is one of the most diverse environments on the planet.
Noosa’s independent MP Sandy Bolton said, “We have thirteen out of the fourteen different types of world biomes, four World Heritage listed sites and three of five Australian UNESCO biosphere reserves. These are key selling points for our tourism, for our liveability, and for our future.”
“The protection of these must be prioritised yet seems to be a missing component of the Destination 2045 plan. Attaching labels such as ecotourism is not enough, especially when it is regenerative tourism that is internationally trending,” Sandy said in parliament this week.
While the plan proposes doubling the size of the tourism industry to $84 billion annually within 20 years, that is 47 million visitors flying in and an additional 40,000 hotel rooms, there is nothing found so far on how
to manage the increase, whether to beaches, roads, hospitals or policing.
“We already see the impacts from uncontrolled access to our Cooloola Recreation Area where dangerous driving, dune habitat and turtle destruction as well as dumping of human waste has not been properly addressed.”
“For eight years we have fought to get an equivalent ratio for maintaining our national parks as other jurisdictions. The National Parks Assoications of Queensland says an extra $220 million over four years and $80 million ongoing annually is needed. The extra $118 million announced has no time period nor detail of what it is for, and it is not enough,” Ms Bolton said.
The Noosa MP also touched on the new Shark Control Plan in her adjournment speech, with the KPMG review saying that the current program harms our environment, recommending removing shark nets during whale migration season as done elsewhere. Despite this and after five years of trialling and researching environmentally friendly alternates, including drones, the plan instead increases outdated approaches by emphasising all year shark net use, the expansion of nets and more baiting.
“The reality is we are constantly pleading for extra resources for front-line agencies, mitigating practices to reduce damages and consistent funding for our volunteers who work endlessly to wage wars against plastics on our beaches and in our waterways, rubbish, weeds and waste, while applying in the never-ending cycle of yearly applications for funds which is disempowering.”
“Ultimately, if we cannot manage the current impacts and fund mitigations, how would we going forward with even more? We cannot trash what is our most valuable drawcards. This is business 101 protecting the very thing essential for our businesses and communities to prosper now and into the future. As mentioned in the Destination 2045 Plan, controlling access to sensitive areas will be a positive start, including the Cooloola Recreation Area,” Ms Bolton said.
Sandy is encouraging all to share their views, whether for or against, to the relevant ministers and her office to inform ongoing efforts and advocacy.
– Minister for Primary Industries – primaryindustries@ministerial.qld.gov.au
– Minster for the Environment and Tourism – environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au
– Sandy’s office – noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au
Updates on many matters Sandy is working on are available at www.SandyBolton.com/Noosa360. To receive information straight to your email inbox, please consider subscribing to Sandy’s monthly newsletter via
www.SandyBolton.com/Newsletters which ensures you also receive any Noosa related surveys or polls.
