Following on from what appears to have been an exceptionally busy holiday period for Noosa, it will be interesting to see how quickly our regional council responds to the build up of rubbish along the roads leading into Noosa, and some of the area’s around Sunshine Beach where careless tourists have disposed of their rubbish.  Speaking of which there is a desperate need for more bins at Main beach particularly next to Sails restaurant where each morning we’re confronted with overflowing smelly rubbish.  Is anyone from the new council vested with the responsibility of assessing these needs?  What’s happened to the ‘tender loving care’ we expect from our local government?

As Sam Scanlon pointed out in a very succinct letter to our local paper, on the flaws in the amalgamation model,  Noosa has only two of twelve councillors on the Regional Council, and given  forecast population growth at the southern end of the coast, there will inevitably be a redistribution sometime in the not too distant future, which could see our representation reduced even further.

So it’s worth reflecting on a timely article printed in the Australian by Oliver Hartwick, a researcher at the Centre for Independent Studies, lamenting the gap in our Australian Constitution which fails to recognise Local Government. He says “at the constitutional level, local government is something of a phantom.  Although its presence may be felt at times it is still hard to grasp it.” Further he points out a comparison between Australia and other federal countries is instructive, “Australia has about 700 local government bodies for a population of 21 million people, or an average of one council for 30,000 inhabitants.  The corresponding figure for the US is 3500 people per local government unit, Germany 6600 and Switzerland an average of 2800 people per council.”  (On the Sunshine we have one council for 300,000 residents, how ludicrous is that?) He goes on to say “the larger local government units are, the more removed they become from the people they are supposed to serve.  While Australian local government units are big in size they are relatively weak. Although Australian councils have taken on tasks beyond the three R’s of rates, roads and rubbish they are still far behind counterparts in other developed countries where police forces, fire departments and schools are managed locally while in Australia there has been a strong centralising tendency in nearly every aspect of public life.’’

Hartwick’s research confirms our argument that ‘big isn’t best’ when it comes to local government. Further abetted by a report from the Local Government Association of Queensland, stating the cost of council amalgamations is spiralling with ratepayers set to fork out a further $100 million to cover the costs. Local Government Minister Warren Pitt responded saying the government was considering submissions from a number of Queensland councils seeking cost recoveries.  Interestingly, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council have not as yet made their submission, probably because they are so busy trying to come to grips with the huge management task they have been assigned by Bligh and Co.  Pitt goes on to say “submissions must reflect the anticipated savings for councils over its first term”.  As reported previously this is practically impossible, some might call it an oxymoron,  as there have never been any ‘cost benefit’ studies carried out by the State government and  no evidence to support the notion of savings from amalgamations.

During January, the executive committee of Friends of Noosa met with local Greens candidate Stephen Haines and State Member Ronan Lee who pledged their support for the establishment of a Greater Noosa Council.  Political support continues to grow for this logical move with only the recalcitrant Labor government resisting by sticking to their mantra of, ‘big is better’ but can’t provide one example where this has proven to be the case.

The arrival of half yearly rate notices remind us once more of the increased costs of amalgamation (9.1%) with plenty more to come according to the Local Government Association of Queensland report. Just one of many reasons why the Noosa community must maintain the rage and continue the fight for self government.

Bob Ansett
Friends of Noosa