12690773-JC22-24
Friday, 24 May, 2024
INSPECT SAT & WED 12-12.30PM 9 Surfside Court, Sunshine Beach
Emergency rescue sees man airlifted after crash
Celebrating Noosa’s vital volunteers
Beth McKenzie claims victory at Ultra-Trail
24-page liftout Property Guide
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INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
Favourite festival to return By Abbey Cannan
Oz Bayldon is eager to get the community back together for the Noosa Come Together Festival in June.
Picture: SHANE ZAHNER
The perseverance of volunteers is the reason for the return of the Noosa Come Together Festival in 2024 from 8-9 June, says event organiser Oz Bayldon. The fundraising festival was cancelled in 2023 due to increasing production costs, rising insurance premiums and limited sponsorship. Despite these same issues still existing, Oz said their extra volunteers have helped push the festival ahead this year. No event can go ahead without volunteers and without their passion to lift the organiser s exhaustion, he said. Along with helping Riding for the Disabled and the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club s Sailability program, the festival this year is also fundraising for domestic violence assistance programs. Story page 2
State power move By Phil Jarratt The State government appears to have blindsided Queensland councils with last minute planning changes that enable developers to bypass council planning schemes in the interest of faster outcomes on affordable housing. Community consultation on the proposed amendments to the Planning Regulation 2017, the Minister’s Guidelines and Rules (MGR) and the Development Assessment Rules (DA Rules) to support the implementation of the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation) Amendment Bill 2023 (HAAPOLA) opened on Friday 19 April, but according to Mayor Frank Wilkie, Noosa
Council staff were only briefed on the detail a little over a week ago. Consultation closed last Tuesday 21 May, fortunately not before Council and Noosa MP Sandy Bolton had made their submissions. While the HAAPOLA amendments to a bill that was already passed last month are in the main aimed at the very real affordable housing crisis, and, according to the Housing Department, will “simplify and expedite the supply of housing to get homes on the ground faster”, the devil, as they say, is in the detail, particularly the potential ramifications for Noosa within the state-facilitated development (SFD) clauses.
It was the late realisation of this that had Mayor Wilkie agitated at the first full meeting of the new Noosa Council last Thursday, when he moved a motion, “That Council note the State Government has responded to the current housing challenge through the recently passed HAAPOLA Bill. “However, the consequential amendments being proposed to the supporting Regulations, Ministerial Guidelines and Development Assessment Rules, have potential to circumvent and undermine Council’s good planning through its planning scheme that could result in unacceptable development outcomes for the Noosa community … and it is recom-
mended that Council make a formal submission raising particular concerns on the new State Facilitated Development (SDF) process.” The motion was passed unanimously. Mayor Wilkie called on the community to oppose proposed amendments which he said would allow developers to go direct to the State for planning approval if they include an affordable housing component. Under the changes, he said, including as little as 15 per cent affordable housing within a proposed development would be enough to remove council as development assessor and give the State minister approval powers. Continued page 3
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