By MEGAN OGLE
Council candidates converged on the Cooroy State School on Monday night 15 February to talk all things Noosa.
The meet the candidates event, organised by the Cooroy Chamber of Commerce, was well attended by the community with hardly a spare seat available and all but two candidates, Nathanael Ford and Mark Denham, were present.
Each candidate was given three minutes to talk about their policies before the floor was handed over to the audience which asked questions about current Noosa hot topics.
No topic was off limits with candidates and community members discussing local issues including intensive farming, flying foxes, economic growth and the hinterland.
Candidate Jess Glasgow focused on the hinterland saying one of his main goals was to bridge the gap between the coast and the hinterland.
“I’ve spent my whole life growing up here in Noosa, 33 years, and I’m sick of seeing it as the East and the West, the hinterland and the coast,” Mr Glasgow said.
“There is a Noosa brand that can be much more than just Noosa beach. The Noosa beach is full, but the hinterland is not.”
Brian Stockwell drew applause from the audience when he announced his plans to ban factory farming if elected.
“I’m a strong supporter for sustainable, free range agriculture,” Mr Stockwell said.
“If elected I will move to amend the planning scheme to ban factory farming throughout the rural zone.”
Another hot topic was addressed by candidate Mark Rodriquez who said he was committed to “finding a solution to the flying fox problem”.
“Dispersal has proven not to work,” Mr Rodriquez said.
“I will present the case to council to use the environment levy funds to do more GPS tagging and monitoring of where (the flying foxes) go.”
“Then use that information to plant food and roost trees to distract them in their flight paths and, hopefully, lure them away from human habitation.”
Self-proclaimed battler Ken Coleman said his focus would be on creating local jobs and business growth in Noosa.
“I’m an optimist, I’m a realist but I’m a battler,” Mr Coleman said.
“Nothing has ever landed in my lap, I’ve had to work for it, so I’m fully aware of some of the harsh realities that are in this little paradise that we live in.
“As a worker, I see that over 90 per cent of business in Noosa are either sole operated or employ less than five people, that means that profit margins are tight and competition is intense which means that it’s so hard to grow a business in Noosa.
“If we don’t look to our future and put infrastructure, educational systems and industries in place there will be no way we can look after our green areas, our shire or our people.”
