By PHIL JARRATT
IT WAS a warm morning when I went to the Christian Outreach Centre to cast my vote last Friday, but it was the warmth of camaraderie rather than the heat of battle that I felt as I worked my way down the gauntlet of candidates, pressing flesh and kissing cheek as you do, pretending that you’re going to vote for all of them.
And in many ways, I wished I could do just that, because I have nothing but admiration for the way the election campaign was conducted, particularly among the serving councillors. As I write (on Monday (21 March) morning the identity of the new mayor is in the balance and the council vote unknown, but I would be fairly confident that Joe Jurisevic and the two Franks, Wilkie and Pardon, will be returned comfortably, as I think they deserve.
The saddest part is that while two serving councillors, Sandy Bolton and Tony Wellington, were separated by only a few hundred votes as of Sunday night, only one of them can serve on the new council. If I were a betting man, I’d say that Tony will be mayor by the time you read this, and Sandy will be considering her future, which will be Noosa’s loss, at least for the next four years.
I’ve made no secret of my support for Tony, whom I’ve come to know and admire mainly through a couple of years sharing committee work for the Noosa National Surfing Reserve. I find him to be a hard worker, a straight shooter, a committed environmentalist and a renaissance man to boot, whose creative side may not be essential for the dog work of council business but will add an interesting layer to the philosophy of community leadership.
For those of you who don’t know, the man who might be mayor writes, paints, shoots photos and makes movies. These are not hobbies; his work is world class. He has worked in many capacities in the film and television industry, picked up awards and directed and wrote the classic Raw Nerve feature which starred John Polson in the late ‘80s. His book Happy? received rave reviews for its insights into the good and the bad side of the relentless pursuit of happiness. That’s only skirting around the edges of the man’s achievements, so if he misses out this week, consider the above a heartfelt goodbye Tony, and thanks for all the fish!
But the unmissable and effervescent Sandy Bolton also has many fine traits, as we’ve seen in the previous council, as we saw in the energy with which she campaigned, and as I’m sure we’ll see if the tide turns these next few days and she becomes mayor. If the tide doesn’t turn, then her many virtues in public office will be lost to us for the immediate future. I think that too would be a shame.
Big names fall, new ones emerge at the Quiksilver Pro
While my hard-working daughters and their diminished team slaved away on the hot sand removing the infrastructure of the Laguna Real Estate Noosa Festival of Surfing last week, I slipped down the coast to catch the last couple of days of the season-opening Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. While the standard of surfing was incredible on the currently not so Superbank, the surprising factor was the number of virtual unknowns dominating proceedings, following the early elimination of superstars like Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson.
I follow the WSL tour pretty closely, but to be honest I knew next to nothing about Lennox Head’s Stu Kennedy, until I saw the injury wildcard smash the biggest turns on the shortest board in the comp (Slater inspired, I hear) to almost win it. He was one of many unknowns and rookies to really shine, but it was great to see the Aussie/Rip Curl double of Matty Wilkinson and Tyler Wright prevail to take out the Quik and Roxy titles.
And it was especially moving to see big brother Owen Wright in Tyler’s camp as he struggles to recover from serious head injuries sustained on the North Shore. He’s a strong lad, they’re a strong surfing family. Go Wrights!
FOOTNOTE
As social media went euphoric in the aftermath of the Laguna Real Estate Festival of Surfing, it was inevitable that one or two whiners would emerge, but why give them oxygen? To set the record straight re Bobby Aitkin’s letter in this paper last week, he stated: “The powers that be sent all the ‘no-name’ longboarders to surf Access 11 between the rock walls, where the conditions were appalling.” This is entirely false and patently ridiculous. Competitors in virtually every surfing division had to surf heats at the secondary site at Noosa West, due to the fact that First Point was not breaking. The waves were contestable throughout. There were no complaints to the contest director at any stage, but Mr Aitkin, having been eliminated, chose to write a letter to the paper. If it’s any consolation, Bob, I got eliminated from my division in the same conditions, and if there’s anyone who could have influenced the manipulation of the program as you suggest happened, then that would probably be me. Now get over yourself, move on and let’s share a few on First Point next swell.
