Whether taking on developers hell-bent on destroying the Coast’s natural appeal or a Prime Minister indifferent to the plight of the poor, Bill Hoffman has never been one to mince his words. Bill’s been a journalist for 32 years, 29 of those on the Coast. Love him or hate him, he'll get you blogging. Jostling for poll position
| Bill Hoffman
Who do you trust?
That is the question voters concerned about the future direction of the Sunshine Coast will be asking themselves now that the 2008 local government election nominations have closed.
It’s a good question, though one that is never easy to answer.
The councillor you can trust to always ensure the gutters are clear may also be the one capable of approving a subdivision that will dump an extra 2000 people in your neighbourhood or a mega tower at your favourite beach.
Nominees for the super council who have come from the Coast’s existing three councils are probably the easiest to gauge.
They can be judged on their past actions. Trust me. They will stay true to form, whatever is spruiked on their election material.
Attitudinal surveys of the Sunshine Coast have consistently shown residents have concerns about rampant growth and its impact on the environment and our lifestyle.
It is interesting to note that Noosa, the one council to not only grasp the paradigm of community expectation but to also implement a town planning scheme to reflect it, is now confronted by a state government that is saying “Trust us” and believe that the iconic legislation we are offering will somehow protect the community from itself.
Noosa Council elections have always been pretty straightforward up to now. You didn’t get elected unless you swore to protect the town plan and you didn’t get re-elected if your actions broke that promise.
Now voters are being asked to trust an un-named independent panel appointed by the state government and over which they have no control.
No wonder the community is screaming blue murder. Rather than having its plan enshrined and isolated from the machinations of the new super council it is now at the whim of an “independent panel” over which it can exercise no control.
Who do they trust, indeed?
In Maroochy and Caloundra, the lessons of recent experience are instructive.
Asked by the state government to produce plans to cater for an increased population provided for under the South-East Queensland Regional Plan, Caloundra went to the development community for the $2.5 million it said would fast-track its planning, while Maroochy hid its decisions from the community it was meant to serve until its hand was forced by a Freedom of Information application late last year.
Oddly, the state government now wants the new super council to determine densities south of the Mooloolah River while accepting Maroochy’s offer of growth that exceeded its own ambitions.
If the state government is prepared to allow the super council to determine Caloundra’s LGMS, why didn’t it listen to submissions from the likes of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council to stall the process for the entire region until after the elections?
Maroochy’s response ignored the wishes of the community as expressed in surveys it had commissioned, locking the shire into a planning document that has the potential to deliver in excess of 33,600 more people than even the SEQ Regional Plan considered possible.
Councillors have excused themselves of any responsibility, arguing that the Maroochy Plan 2000 planned for a stand-alone Maroochy City of 500,00 people. Yet rather than seize the opportunity to wind those numbers back, they have allowed the LGMS to rubber stamp decisions that should never have been made.
Examples of the impact of poor planning are self-evident across Maroochy and should inform questions voters put to candidates ahead of the poll.
Be it bioreactor dumps on known water courses, the upgrading of villages to regional centres without any community consultation, the provision for massive industrial estates in rural areas, approval of subdivisions that encroach on flood plains or just a plain refusal to listen to the best advice of planning and environmental officers, Maroochy Council – despite the self-congratulatory tone of its final meeting last week – has mounted a pervasive argument for change.
It is going to take the super will of a new super council duly mandated by the electorate to change many of the planning timebombs set to blast away at the sense of community, sense of place and quality of life that many naively believe come as part of the package for which they are now paying ever-increasing interest rates.
Community groups have continually had to fight battles to protect the region’s quality of life, while their elected representatives were being lulled into delivering outcomes that do more to maximise developer yield than satisfy ratepayer expectation.
It is now up to all voters to use every opportunity available to test the quality of candidates in their division so that the ballot they cast on March 15 helps deliver a council capable of managing the inevitability of growth while maintaining the lifestyle and environmental values that make this region such a special place.
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Recent Comments
To my mind, this is really a Job interview isn't it? A favourite question by skilled job interviewers is "can you quote an instance when you have done something like this before ? How, specifically, did you handle that instance?"
The less experienced interviewer will be satisfied by a hypothetical discussion on how it would or could be handled. They usually end up regretting it.
Ignore the promises if the track record tells you something different. The track record will always end up winning.
Perhaps it's best for voters to discover which mayoral aspirant each candidate backs and vote accordingly - and maybe we will get a complete team.
Brainchild of the Natoli council, it was put forward without public consultation to the State Government as a major greenfield employment hub 25 kilometres remote from where most Coast dwellers will continue to prefer to live and work, just to trump Caloundra City's huge Bell's Creek industrial precinct.
The only Maroochy councilors who ever voted against it were Paul Tatton and Jenny McKay. Tom Hulett has been vocal in condemning its critics, while local rep Greg Rogerson has consistently run with the foxes and hunted with the hounds.
Alexina Johnson and Vivien Griffin promised to oppose it when they addressed a public meeting in Yandina this week, but Rogo dissolved into incoherence at the first murmur of disapproval at his gruesomely obsequious presentation and sat down in confusion.
This brutally crude approach of creating a new factory town for lots of 20th Century industrial jobs in a 21st Century future is indicative of the bad decisions that will destroy the very qualities that attracted people to this region unless things start to change.