JIM FAGAN
Wider community involvement and outcomes are a vital part of the new Noosa Biosphere Reserve management model which Noosa Council will consider tonight.
And if it acts on the recommendation of its Biosphere working group, Mayor Noel Playford, Deputy Mayor Bob Abbot, Cr Frank Pardon and Cr Tony Wellington, Council will look for more feedback at a community consultation session on April 15, as well as from the Biosphere’s six sector boards. Among the proposed new structure arrangements is replacing the existing Noosa Biosphere Ltd (NBL) with a new authority called (subject to legal advice) the Noosa Biosphere Reserve Project Ltd. The working group received 67 submissions from the public and held workshops to create a management model for the Biosphere Reserve and on Monday Cr Abbot told the council’s general committee, “The most important thing in all of this for me is what the Biosphere Reserve can do for us in the future, how we value that brand and how we can actually build that new economy we need to protect our lifestyle and our environment. Looking not the least bit jet lagged, Cr Abbot said, “Twenty hours ago I stepped on the world largest aircraft in the city of Dubai with six or seven hundred other people. One of the things I thought about on the way home was how small this world really is now and how we can sometimes get somewhat insulated and insular in the way we think in our own local community. “It really was an eye-opener to me to see how the world is now open to us, and the opportunities we have in front of us, if we can expand to meet that market.” “We have the opportunity now to think about that isolation we can create for ourselves so easily by having too much regulation around us, by having too much obstruction and control.” He said everyone in the Biosphere Reserve Project, “as we will call it if it gets going,” had the freedom and a capacity to break out of the past and isolated ways of doing business. “And I’m not just talking about the Biosphere Reserve. I’m talking about tourism, I’m talking about the council, I’m talking about a lot of things. This proposal gives us the opportunity to break down the barriers.” Councillor Frank Wilkie said the report was a great synthesis of all the ideas presented. “It shows how, even with some strongly held views on either side of the debate, there has been a lot of ground given. “What I like about the report is it allows the final model to build on work that has been done so far by the existing sector boards, governing board and also acknowledges the work done by the volunteers. “As I have observed at the meetings, it is not an easy process. There is a lot invested in this and it is very important. It is always going to be fraught but I think this report indicates a willingness to synthesise the ideas that have been brought up and we’re only at the first lap of the mile. There is still a lot more to go but I think it is a very good start.” The report says the new company will be much more focussed than the current objectives of NBL and will have a significant emphasis on strategy and brand. Directors will have a mix of skills matching the proposed vision of the new authority. There will be between seven and nine directors appointed by council and will include the Mayor and one councillor. Only Noosa local government area residents would be eligible for directorship and non-councillor directors rotated every three years. A senior project officer and an administrative officer will give day-to-day support to people implementing Biosphere projects. They will not work in the council precinct but in a community-based hub acting as the practical co-ordination for the delivery and doing. Council will fund these roles and provide office accommodation.
