Main Menu
Sub Main Menu
sunshine coast
noosa
coolum
national
world
2:14PM Wednesday 03 December, 2008

Abbot's Canberra funding plea for Noosa boardwalk

23 August 2008

| By Grant Reynolds

There’s a sliver of hope Noosa’s boardwalk project may yet receive an injection of federal funding, but it relies on Canberra bean counters deciding if the project is outside council core business.

Money had been promised by the former Howard government, but the Regional Partnerships Program has been wound up and council was left with a shortfall of about $500,000.

Fresh off the plane from Canberra, mayor Bob Abbot said he’d spent time lobbying to have the Noosa boardwalk included in a federal government grants scheme to be rolled out in the 2009/10 financial year.

“They have given us some information about new grants schemes they proposed that we may be able to apply for,” he said.

“If it (the boardwalk) gets in that budget we’ll see what we can do to get that money.”

Mr Abbot had argued the boardwalk is outside of council’s core business because it would be used by thousands of tourists visiting Noosa.

“They certainly appreciated my arguments, we’re not just providing infrastructure for locals,” he said.

“If we weren’t providing a significant amount of infrastructure for all Australians (who visit Noosa), we probably would not spend so much money.”

Failing that avenue, Mr Abbot said council would simply reduce the size and scope of the project.

But any decision on funding will have to wait until the House of Representatives Standing Committee’s inquiry into the new regional infrastructure program is complete.

The details of the scheme will be released in the May 2009 budget.

“We’re not sure if we’re going to be able to wait that long,” Mr Abbot said.

> Mr Rudd, $230million for a new runway please: Abbot

Have your say

We welcome comments on our stories and blogs - after all it's your site. Please note comments should be on-topic and not abusive. Comments are checked before publication.