Art back in business
Sadly, in this area there are always empty retail shops, some for long periods.
There is nothing quite disheartening as a dark, closed business.
Well, I have a proposal that is advantageous to everyone.
Until recently a group of local artists and artisans were able to display their work at a nice studio on the Wharf.
That changed when a new art studio leased the space.
I wonder if art and craft groups could take a temporary occupancy in one of the aforementioned empty shops.
For a minimal rent, plus the cost of temporary electric service, life would once again be given to an empty, dark, lonely space.
It’s a win-win situation. Potential long-term lessees would see the value of the location, the owner would have someone to care for it and give it meaning and for a period of time the art and craft group would have studio space to exhibit its art.
This type of situation could, if handled properly, be continuous with the artists and artisans moving from one empty retail shop to another as those spaces found new, permanent tenants.
And just like that a new, unique roving art and craft studio is established.
Could this be made to happen?
Bill Sheehy,
Noosaville.
Shining light
I was so pleased to read of Tony Wellington’s plans to run for Mayor of Noosa.
For newer residents and those who may have forgotten, Tony was ‘front line’ in the struggle against the state Labor government which forced Noosa into amalgamation.
They were dark days when the prospects of ever seeing an independent Noosa looked extraordinarily remote.
Through those many months Tony and others worked diligently and intelligently towards regaining Noosa’s independence.
Tony ‘lived and breathed’ the experience of re-creating Noosa.
In that time and during his experience with the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Council and our now de-amalgamated Noosa Council, he has engaged with the people of Noosa and has heard from many residents about what Noosa meant to them and what they would like to see for the future.
He is a man dedicated to a Noosa that controls its own destiny and is protected from the greedy forces which would force population density, high rise buildings, traffic lights, rampant signage and a ‘growth is good at all costs’ mentality on us.
With Tony’s candidacy we have the opportunity to vote for an intelligent, clear thinking mayor who brings transparency and consistency with what has already been achieved under Noel Playford’s administration.
He has the communication skills, desire and energy to take Noosa to the next level, not only protecting what is important to us but also facilitating a vision for the future that nurtures current opportunities for growth and creates new ‘compatible with Noosa’ economic opportunities.
Do not be lulled in to believing that just because Noosa once again controls its destiny, that its destiny is automatically aligned with what most of Noosa has come to expect.
As always, there are forces gathering who would like to challenge the population cap, the high-rise ban, the traffic light ban and so on.
Wellington as our new mayor is the only way we can be assured of the future we fought to retain.
Greg Reddaway,
Noosa.
Waves of despair
Regarding the shocking moment a car swerved towards a dingo on Fraser Island.
The speed limit on the beach of Fraser Island must be enforced.
It is dangerous for dingoes.
In documented autopsy reports, many dingoes and dingo puppies die from vehicle strikes.
The maximum speed limit is 80km/h on the beach, 60km/h near townships and 30km/h on inland tracks, so there is no unrestricted driving on the Island, but it needs more control.
It is not just the speeding, even at 60km/h or 80km/h there have been reports of dingoes deliberately targeted by vehicles.
Sadly it’s the mentality of some in today’s cruel attitudes to animals.
It is also dangerous for any other animals and birds alike not to mention children.
Hundreds of migrating bird-life, including the common terns, the oyster-catchers use the beach and are disappearing as they can’t raise a chick because when they take their young down to the beach to feed soon after hatching they are run over by 4WDs.
Big ghost crabs are also a thing of the past where they were all once in abundance.
The speed limits are set to supposedly protect the dingoes and the birds but this is mostly ignored.
This beach should be closed to 4WDs unless driven by the responsible tour operators because it is their livelihood and they respect the rules and protect the wildlife of Fraser Island.
Not so the hundreds and thousands of vehicles that damage everything on this pristine beach, now a poor relation of World Heritage, and has the lack of funding.
Fraser is famous for the 160km beach but it is driven on by trucks, buses and speeding 4WD vehicles.
We must help keep and preserve this now at threat island.
The National Parks now have the information of the perpetrator and I hope the person is prosecuted.
He is a danger to everything speeding like that.
I think it’s high time the beaches are closed to 4WD vehicles, only for the tours guide operators, and not give any more licences for anymore tour vehicles.
The unrestricted driving is a huge issue.
Extinction is forever, there is no reverse button.
Marie-Louise Sarjeant,
Eumundi.
Boot in for Wellington
Now that Tony Wellington has signalled his mayoral ambitions, I guess he’d better don the armour.
I can hear the likes of Lobb, Nuske, Brennan, Jarvis and their other cronies working themselves into a fury.
Bitterness runs deep in parts of this community but, thankfully, those troublemakers are in a minority. Maybe they’ll bring Patricia Peterson back for another shot?
Michael Egan,
Pomona.
Fighting for us
How good it is to see Tony Wellington putting his hand up for mayor at the next council elections.
Tony has been an outstanding councillor in the first term of the restored Noosa Council.
He has never wavered from his commitment to the issues and values that were so resoundingly endorsed by voters two years ago.
Tony has stood up for Noosa for many years both during the fight for de-amalgamation and after.
He has done the hard yards in helping set Noosa Council on the right path in its first term.
He will be an excellent choice as mayor for the second term and will only extend his record as a true believer in Noosa and its values.
Lyn McAndrew,
Cooran.
Cowboy congratulations
I have never felt so proud to be a Queenslander.
The way our Cowboys and Broncos played the game of rugby league is a tribute to the game.
They play tough but they play fair, no niggling, no wrestling, no sledging but a lot of respect and admiration for each other.
At the end of the wonderful final on Sunday, nobody left the ground and there were as many Broncos supporters as Cowboys supporters congratulating the mighty Cowboys on their lap of honour.
As a die-hard Broncos supporter, I, like many others, couldn’t be happier for the Cowboys as they truly deserved to win.
The Broncos will be back next year better than ever and no doubt our Queensland State of Origin team will make us proud again.
Meanwhile, a well-known drug user from NSW Andrew Johns was caught drunk in a country airport abusing women. Crickey, it is good to be a Queenslander!
Dom Massoni,
Verrierdale.
Party for politicians
Political parties are a destabilising influence in local government and should not be tolerated by the electors.
Shirley Krasnoff,
Noosa.
Green embrace
No matter how blue-blooded they and their politics may have been elsewhere, after living here for a few years most new Noosans start to turn into environmentalists of some description or other, realising that to preserve this unique paradise they must protest against rampant development.
Newcomers may think the environmental battles have ended. Not so.
Look at Lake Weyba, Noosa Civic and the unending appetite of the Property Council of Australia.
We have to remain vigilant.
Some of us became be proud to be called ‘Greenies’ as we did our little bit for beautiful Noosa.
But, unfortunately, we can no longer answer to that nickname due to good old party politics.
Gordon Barton brought us the Australia Party, Don Chipp the Australian Democrats, and now we have the Greens.
I believe Canberra also has a motoring enthusiast party, a sex party and perhaps an afternoon tea party.
Although most of us may be motorists, have indulged in sex and also the occasional afternoon tea, we don’t expect to be mistaken for members of those parties and we don’t want party politics in our council. From now on it’s ‘environmentalist’ – or would you prefer ‘tree-hugger’?
Susie Osmaston,
Noosa Heads.
Proper plan for the future
I believe the time has come for the residents of the Noosa council area to have a mature look at the Noosa plan, which has been in place since 2006.
The council has in recent times knocked back Masters, The Civic expansion, Cooroy Motor Home Park, and is making it difficult for one of our farmers to extend his poultry business.
In addition, the Noosa Junction development of the bowls club land seems to be sitting in limbo.
This represents millions of infrastructure dollars that would generate employment opportunities for our 14,800 people aged 24 years and under, and for our unemployed population approximately 3000.
The idea that we can attract high value industries such as digital services, medical research, and higher education facilities was touted in 2005-6 when Civic was constructed and opened.
Some 10 years on the council, National Parks Association, and the Chamber of Commerce, the latter two seem to have a large influence on the council, have not been able to attract these industries.
The council seems to think that the growing population in Perigian Springs and Coolum are a problem rather than an opportunity.
I believe that Noosa has four distinct areas. They are:
(1) Tewantin, Noosaville, Noosa Heads, Noosa Junction, Sunshine Beach, National Parks, the Lake system, North Shore, this is our tourist areas.
(2) Our commercial industrial area of Civic, Bunning’s, Officeworks, Noosa Hospital and medical area, and the motor vehicle precinct.
(3) The third hub is Cooroy, Pomona and Boreen Point. Cooroy has a flourishing commercial area and is in a strong position to tap the passing tourist trade travelling to North and South Queensland.
(4) Our rural area is a diverse agriculture area. We should be encouraging small, medium and large farmers to expand and prosper.
The Noosa plan has too much emphasis on one area of Noosa only, to the detriment of Noosa going forward for the next 20 years.
If properly managed the four areas can expand and attract a diverse number of businesses and people without one area detracting from the others, retaining Noosa’s strong environmental record, giving Noosa a strong economy which will even out the effects of the highs and lows of the Australian economy.
To allow Noosa to move forward it needs the current and incoming Noosa Council, in consultation with ratepayers and key community organisations to put together a new Noosa plan that reflects the current reality of Noosa and puts in place a Noosa plan that addresses the strengths of the four Noosa areas and allows us to grow in a sustainable manner that takes us forward to 2026.
John Cox,
Noosaville.
Hospital emergency
There’s no doubt that the university hospital which is due to open late next year will be a wonderful acquisition for the Sunshine Coast – a state-of-the-art health hub with the full range of medical services that a modern community requires.
But buried in the planning detail released this week was a note that, as part of a wholesale change to the provision of health services in the region, Noosa Hospital will be slashed from 92 beds to just 20.
This is little better than an outpost servicing one of Australia’s prime tourist destinations which serves a geographically diverse region of 55,000 people and caters to a million visitors a year plus another million day trippers.
Furthermore, Noosa has a population of retired people that is not only older than the Queensland average but ageing at a faster rate.
Instead of adopting a slash and burn approach to Noosa health services, surely Queensland’s health planners could have adopted a strategy of encouraging the transition of Noosa Hospital to a facility specialising in conditions affecting older Australians while still operating as an emergency facility feeding the new university hospital.
The surrounding precinct, which is already evolving as a satellite health hub, could be encouraged to emerge as a fully-fledged centre of excellence for an ageing population.
I do not believe the people of Noosa will passively allow their hospital to be wound back to a minor facility, totally inadequate to the realities of a major retirement and tourist destination.
I think it’s a question of watch this space – there’s going to be some action.
Ingrid Jackson,
Noosaville.
Noisy minority
Firstly I am a forties baby – brought up on Manus Island – we had to take it turns to pedal while listening to the ABC program The Argonauts, we used to enter essay competitions and had to study verses out of the Bible for homework at the mission school I attended, and with no TV or social media had to read, read and read some more and write in long hand.
I’ve read the Bible twice, once as kid as once, as an adult, and as an adult, are a third of the way through studying the Koran – I’ve also read the Australian Constitution – I believe it is a better document than the Bible or the Koran.
Reply to Fran Bate – I suggest you move to a country with Sharia Law where freedom of speak doesn’t exist – although you shoot yourself in the foot “I know people are entitled to their opinions”.
Reply to Sally Platt-Hepworth – I’m studying the Koran because you can’t simply read it and because it was written to be read – your letter sounds more like you are willing to join them than me and I’ll wager you have never read or studied the Koran.
I have already publically stated that I’m not standing for council. Been a councillor, read the Bible, read the Australian Constitution and now the Koran – been there, done that.
Reply to G Bright – My so called conspiracy theories and mad paranoia is not a wild rant – it is based on facts and findings – your letter is a wild rant and ill-informed ‘Mate’.
I know first-hand about Indonesia’s invasion of Dutch New Guinea (1963, I think) and Timor and more recently the Bali bombings – list goes on and on.
Reply to Michael Rowbotham – As I have already stated I come from PNG and have friends of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhists and many other persuasions.
I have never said “religious beliefs dictate character” you make that statement by default – how many scriptures you been able to interrupt.
I’m willing to wager you have never read the Bible, Koran or any other scripture for that matter.
Can you please show me facts where Buddhists have committed atrocities in South East Asia – of all the religions they are the most peaceful and understanding – mind you after I finish the Koran I want to read their doctrine.
In reply to you and Sally, I might intend to join them and become a Buddhist.
In reply to Angelika Pawlitscheck, Chris Hindmarsh and Geoff Lewis, thanks for your supporting letters.
I guess three out of seven isn’t bad when we all know “the noisy minority make more noise that the silent majority” and that’s a fact.
Bob Jarvis,
Tewantin.
Carry on as normal
I would like to point out the inaccuracy of Jeff Nuske’s letter (Not So Strong, Noosa Today, 8 October) and his ongoing confusion about council’s capital works carry-over.
As previously explained (Land of Confusion, Noosa Today, 10 September), council has carried forward budgets for those projects not completed by 30 June 2015 to allow for their completion in the 2015/’16 financial year.
The carryover of budgets for incomplete projects is normal practice for local government and work on these projects continues.
I hope this explanation dispels Mr Nuske’s lingering confusion.
Martin Drydale,
Director, Planning and Infrastructure,
Noosa Council.
