By Margaret Maccoll
It wasn’t the welcome he expected when Noel Playford turned up to the Noosa Australia Day celebrations on Gympie Terrace to discover the citizenship ceremony wasn’t there and there was no official recognition of local Australia Day Queens Honours recipients.
The former Noosa Mayor said he celebrated with family and friends after being recognised in the Queens Honours list with a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to local government in Queensland and to the community.
Noel said he attributed his acknowledgement largely to leading the Free Noosa campaign to de-amalgamation and the outcomes achieved over the past 20 years working as Chair of both Local Government Mutual and WorkCare, in all cases working as part of a team.
He said Noosa Council was now in a better financial position than the majority of councils in Queensland, sustainable into the future and in a better able to manage development in a way Noosa could maintain its quality of life.
“Instead of feeling they were part of a very large bureaucracy in the Sunshine Coast Council people feel they are listened to, are closer to their elected members and can influence council” he said.
Noel said he and wife Diana had moved from Noosa Shire to Raby Bay to help out with their three grandchildren but he missed his Tewantin house overlooking the river and the couple continue “to spend as much time as they can up here”.
