Wow, the beautiful spring sunshine has arrived, however other areas have seen storm clouds looming, and I do not mean only the weather!
With the notifications of two projects utilising the State Facilitated Developments (SFD’s) process predominating for Noosa, I used both my last Question Without Notice, as well Private Members Statement (PMS) speech in Parliament, to highlight the flaws in this process. For those who have not read the media that has surrounded this, in a nutshell this bypasses local governments in the decision-making regarding development applications for affordable housing projects. Now as everyone knows I have been advocating for genuine affordable accommodations for our workers since being elected, formed the Housing Action Group in 2020 to gather stakeholders, including community housing providers, and have sought sites, funding and partnerships, and how this could be achieved.
However, I opposed the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill which provided the pathway for SFD’s, due to its lack of detail including the definition of ‘affordable’, as without that, we are not resolving the issue!
Currently these two projects lack sufficient detail for informed feedback from our community. As of writing on September 23, the deadline for initial feedback has been reached, with a timeframe of only 10 days from that date for the Minister to determine whether projects will proceed to Stage 2, which is the application and community consultation part.
As we know the need for affordable housing is very much urgent here as well across Queensland and Australia, and given that all levels of government took at least 5 years to respond to the calls, it is appropriate that state provide the information needed, and extra time as I have requested, to do a process similar to Ministerial Designations, which consult with local governments first. The rushed nature being undertaken is doing our community and the project applicants a disservice in their efforts to provide affordable accommodation for our residents.
Understandably when details are not provided, there is conjecture including that we may suddenly be faced with buildings that go beyond our current ‘landscape’, look and ‘feel’, or contravene what has been put forward in the amendments to our planning scheme for Noosa Junction and Tewantin. This potentially could erode Noosa’s ‘brand’ of uniqueness and laid back lifestyle, which is a key selling point as a desired destination.
Without this point of difference, we become the same as other destinations with the potential for high rises, further congestion and more ‘overload’ for both visitors and residents to contend with. This impacts all; our residents, our businesses and our environment, and is not scare mongering, it is a very real concern. Once you have a process where Ministers can circumnavigate our local governments, that do not even have to go through the standard Ministerial designations process, you have the potential for it to be misused. Or even as we saw with the DAF Boatshed which went through a ministerial designation, years to remedy a flaw that is extremely costly. While this first round of feedback has closed, should it progress, there will be further opportunity to have your say. In the meantime, should anyone wish to write to the Minister, you can do so via housing@ministerial.qld.gov.au and don’t forget to cc to our office via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au. Our sincere thanks to everyone who has already done so.
Now in a similar vein regarding processes, the Noosa Chamber of Commerce has raised an issue in relation to Councils’ Planning Scheme amendments, and the importance of doing an economic analysis on any changes. This I also raised in the PMS, and even though it goes against the usual call from businesses to reduce ‘red, green and other colored tape’, it makes sense, especially when such decisions can have long term ramifications to resident’s amenity and our economy. To take the extra time to get major changes right is imperative and given state governments are very much involved in these processes, I have requested this process be reviewed by any incoming government.
During my Private Members Motion (PMM), I raised the ongoing call for an independent review of Queensland’s Covid response, and the continuing fallout. This to ensure we are prepared for the next pandemic, as well as have a better understanding of the long-term implications of decisions made.
In Queensland we do this for other disasters, with a permanent Inspector-General of Emergency Management whose role is to constantly review the effectiveness of our management responses after every disaster.
Countries across the world have already done or are doing Covid inquiries: England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand. Other Australian States have inquiries – Victoria, NSW, Western Australian, the ACT. Even our Commonwealth Government is conducting an inquiry; however, it does not consider State actions.
The impacts of Covid and the responses to it were traumatic for so many: people lost their jobs, businesses, and homes. They could not farewell loved ones. Mental health and fitness declined with suicidality heightened, abuse of alcohol and drugs as well domestic and family violence increased. And the ongoing impacts are both visible and invisible. Strain on our health and policing systems, staff shortages, costs of everything including building materials inflated, the list is long.
Academic papers have been addressing the impacts of Covid polices, with the journal Economic Policy and Analysis suggesting that more finely targeting Covid policies such as quarantining our vulnerable may have been the most effective.
An article in Scientific Reports states that school closures should be avoided due to their harsh impacts on students and their futures, and that it is imperative that we learn as much as we can about the optimal blend of policies for addressing a pandemic based on our experience.
Whether those conclusions are appropriate for Queensland, or if Queensland could have made other choices, we do not know, we will not know, without an independent inquiry.
Our own Chief Health Officer has acknowledged that we didn’t do everything right, saying “the way we messaged was probably wrong”. He also pointed out issues around vaccine fatigue and whether mandates were worth it.
We review for bushfires and cyclones, why are we not doing it for a disastrous event that impacted our whole state, Australia and the world?
It is called disaster preparedness, which gives confidence and reassurance to our communities. With the government amending the motion, all opposition members and myself (excluding the Greens) could not support, as it no longer called for an independent review.
With disasters being of utmost relevance in Noosa, I also raised in an Adjournment speech the issues being encountered by residents from forecast mapping for floods and erosion decades into the future. The unintended consequences of these have already included extreme increases to insurance premiums, and restrictions on what property owners can do now, based on a forecast 86 years away.
As you can see, the last sitting of the 57th Parliament was extremely busy, with all speeches shared to Facebook, as well accessed via www.sandybolton.com/parliament/speeches
Whilst on disasters, as we come into the ‘season’, please make sure your household is prepared for anything including bushfires, as we never want to see so many in our community impacted again as we were in 2019, or in the 2022 floods. Information is available at www.getready.qld.gov.au or drop into Noosa Council or our office to pick up a ‘Get Ready’ pack!
Our annual Connect newsletter have started arriving in your mailboxes, filled with the year just passed! As in 2020, the delivery date was brought forward as our ‘crystal ball’ cannot predict election results. As always if you have any questions, need assistance or have not yet received your copy of Connect, please contact our office via 5319 3100 or mail@noosa.qld.gov.au
Have a wonderful month everyone, and I look forward to seeing you out on the campaign trail in efforts to Keep Noosa Independent!
