The Black Arm Band Rally on Noosa’s Main Beach last Sunday marked the first and hopefully the last anniversary of the loss of our Local Government. More than a thousand Noosa residents and visiting tourists joined the rally to express their disgust over this blatant act of totalitarianism by the Bligh government.

This Remembrance and Renewal Rally was designed to enable residents to commiserate with one another over the loss of our council and to renew and re-energise their commitment to restore Noosa’s right to self govern.

With only days remaining before the election, Noosa voters must once again show their anger at the Bligh government by emphatically supporting the only party very publically promising to restore our local government. The LNP and only the LNP have committed to facilitate a process to create a Greater Noosa Council incorporating Eumundi, Doonan, Verriedale and West Peregian.

The election is going to be much closer than the pundits claimed when Bligh called the early election.  Up until February this year she repeatedly assured a gullible electorate that her government would run its full term.  No doubt her private polling revealed a strong swing toward the opposition particularly after Queensland lost its AAA rating and the debt ravaged State budget went into deficit.

In any event, we now have a narrow window of opportunity to get rid of those responsible for surreptitiously removing our council against the wishes of 95% of the Noosa community and in doing so regain our right to self government.
          
This is the most important State election faced by the Noosa community. Although we can’t influence the entire state, we can emphatically demonstrate our support for the party committed to returning our Noosa government. Don’t be conned into voting for the Greens or Independents because they claim to support de-amalgamation, only the LNP can actually restore our Local Government in their own right.

It’s even more urgent now as significant cracks are emerging within the Regional Council.  With very public squabbling amongst councillors and plenty of name calling with one branding the mayor an immature bully, this council is now at risk of imploding.  The risk from that event is a State appointed administrator not a Greater Noosa Shire. Already over 60 former Noosa council staff from all levels have moved on, including very talented managers like our former CEO Bruce Davidson, Brett de Chastel Manager Corporate Services, Fiona Wilson Finance Strategy and Services and most recently Alan Sheridan. Morale within the SCRC is reported to be very low and it’s rapidly morphing into very much a Maroochy Centric administration led by the former CEO of the Maroochydore Council.
 
Rates increased substantially last year and we have been warned there is much more to come as the costs of amalgamation, will ultimately have to be borne by Coast Ratepayers.   If that’s not enough there is increasing evidence of response time to community needs blowing out and a decline in services.  Tourism Noosa has been battling to ensure its identity isn’t submerged under the banner of Tourism Sunshine Coast. And don’t forget that demographics suggest we may only have one Councillor if Caloundra and Maroochydore keep outstripping our population growth. All this and its only been twelve months since we lost our government.  What’s it going to be like in two or three year’s time?

We can’t afford to take that risk, ‘maintain the rage’ and elect a government prepared to return our right to control our own destiny.

Bob Ansett
Friends of Noosa