By JOLENE OGLE
A NEW community forum has been launched and invites everyone from the Noosa Shire to share their thoughts, complaints and suggestions with other locals.
Founded by former Noosa Council candidate, Jess Glasgow, The Noosa Voice aims to “enhance the social and economic growth” of the Noosa shire.
Mr Glasgow started the web-based community forum in 2013 as a means to bring together active local residents who wanted to suggest ideas for improving the shire.
“I built Thenoosavoice.com.au website to provide a place for Noosa locals to have better engagement with their community,” he said.
“If there is something residents feel the need to address they can jump on the site and start a new forum topic. The site also gives locals the opportunity to see what others think.”
Now a not-for-profit organisation, led by a board of directors, The Noosa Voice has raised issues such as developing environmentally friendly job options for the region, inspired discussion about a people jury for Noosa, called for action against vandals and started to raise funds for CCTV cameras in Noosa.
Mr Glasgow said the driving force behind The Noosa Voice was to provide an online community for locals.
“Websites are everywhere, and a lot of them are about attracting tourism to Noosa… what about the people of Noosa?” he said.
“They need a platform where people can communicate about anything and everything… things that are happening in Noosa, and things that are not.”
Councillor Frank Wilkie has thrown his support behind the online forum saying it is typical of Noosa’s technologically driven economic future.
“Increasingly, we’ve seen more and more people working from home, producing and exporting services online and importing dollars. This low-impact, high-yield economic activity is a good fit for Noosa,” he said.
“Business activity that previously required high-impact, bricks and mortar construction, offices and showrooms is now being done behind closed doors in homes.
“It’s important we recognise the growth of the online community and economy and maximise our community’s access to modern telecommunications.”
Mr Glasgow said a smart phone app for The Noosa Voice will be available soon to help locals connect online and on-the-go with a forum and photo uploading option.
