12:00a.m. 27th August 2008

Councillor Lew Brennan believes diversification is critical to the Sunshine Coast's economic future. Photo: Barry Leddicoat/177803

Five months after being nominated chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s business and corporate services portfolio, which incorporates economic development, councillor Lew Brennan is ready to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together to help drive business forward in the region.

Mr Brennan said he planned to meet with CEO John Knaggs this week to discuss how council should structure its economic development unit.

Since amalgamation, the three former councils’ economic development divisions – Caloundra City Enterprises, Business Maroochy and Noosa’s Economic Strategies and Innovations Unit – have continued on their separate ways.

“We certainly need to have a specific unit for economic development. Now we’ve got a permanent CEO we can look at structural issues to make sure we can deliver on the direction this council is going to take the region,” Mr Brennan said.

While he acknowledged council had already flagged its support for a sustainable environment, Mr Brennan said that would not be at the expense of jobs, although he said they would have to be in the right industries.

“Once we get our structure in place and become a team, our role will not only be to support existing businesses, but when we’re looking at supporting the creation of new industries, they need to fit with our ideals for the environment,” he said.

That environment includes thousands of hectares of caneland, which is a key part of Mr Brennan’s vision.

While he wants much of the land to remain agricultural, he said some of it could become a showpiece for industrial innovation.

“There are some very exciting opportunities right in front of us, and the canelands will be an example of that,” Mr Brennan said.

“I have a vision to create a centre for creativity and sustainability. I have new ideas coming to me every week from the private sector that are incredibly exciting.”

He said the possibility of creating a power generation industry on some of the caneland, with “appropriate housing” around it on some of the higher land was definitely worth investigation.

That’s the type of innovative thinking that has been the hallmark of Mr Brennan’s 11 years in council, all of it prior to amalgamation spent in the former Noosa Council.

He took on the role of chair of the economic strategies and innovation unit after just a year, having convinced his Noosa counterparts that diversification was critical to the region’s future.

“Council had done a magnificent job with the environment, but I took it to council that we needed to restructure to focus on business and economic development. Supporting just one industry (tourism) clearly wasn’t sustainable,” he said.

Now he is set to convince his new fellow regional councillors, and the CEO, that the Sunshine Coast needs more irons in the fire than retail, tourism and building and construction, although the former SunROC (Sunshine Coast Regional Organisation of Councils) has already facilitated some strong research confirming that fact.

“What we don’t want is massive smokestack industries. We want to attract businesses here that are low impact and won’t take away from our lifestyle or environment,” Mr Brennan said.

“The other thing we need to do is identify how much job-creating land we have, how much we need and where it should be located.”

While some aspects of the big picture are still unclear, Mr Brennan said he had no doubt what was needed to drive business sustainability going forward.

“Business people, families and young people will leave this region if they don’t have access to quality education,” he said.

“We’ve got more young people staying here, getting educated and contributing to the long-term future than ever before. That will be the key to our success.”