Deputations and public questions to council, each opening on what council's minutes record of it.
2025-02-20
Public question
Ordinary Meeting
Craig Vella
Heard at the meeting. Council's recording has these questions from 15:12; our transcript is below.
▶ Hear it — council's recording, from 15:12
The feed timestamps the whole public question block rather than each speaker, so this starts at the top of that block.
What the minutes record
Question 1
The Go Noosa Interim report prepared by the Infrastructure Manager and tabled at item 8.1 of the General Committee Agenda considered on 20 January 2025:-(a) recommended the cessation of both the Free Weekend Bus Services and the Go Noosa Free Bus Service for peak season (Service) in light of 50 cent bus fares implemented by the state government; and (b) identified that the Service was funded to the amount of $900,000 through Council’s Sustainable Transport Levy. That recommendation was unanimously approved by Council and now necessitates a reconsideration and update of Council’s response given to public question 2 on 20 June 2024 given that existing services have now been curtailed* so please now advise:
Could the Sustainable Transport Levy which is budgeted to raise $933,000 in the 23/24 draft budget be used to repair and/or reconstruct the 'on land component' of the boat ramp and associated car and trailer parking at Hilton Esplanade or at any other boat ramp in the Noosa Shire? If not, then why?
Response from Shaun Walsh Director Infrastructure Services
Thank you for your question regarding the Go Noosa program and the potential use of the Sustainable Transport Levy for boat ramp and parking improvements. Firstly, to clarify, while the Sustainable Transport Levy is budgeted to raise approximately $933,000 in the 2023/24 financial year, these funds are allocated to various sustainable transport initiatives as outlined in report. The Free Bus Service, while significant, does not account for the entire levy amount. Following Council’s recent decision to cease the Free Weekend Bus Services, options for the reallocation of these funds will be considered in due course. However, under the existing levy framework, all funded initiatives must align with the primary objectives of sustainable transport management, congestion reduction, and encouraging active and public transport use. The Sustainable Transport Levy is not intended to fund infrastructure improvements for private vehicle and boat trailer parking, including those at Hilton Esplanade or other boat ramps in Noosa Shire. As outlined in Council’s Transport policy, the levy is specifically designed to support initiatives such as public transport services, park-and-ride facilities, intelligent transport systems, and congestion management strategies. Council acknowledges the importance of boat ramp facilities and associated parking for the community and note that the ‘on-land component’ of the Hilton Esplanade boat ramp and parking area has been identified for planning and design work in the 2025-26 Financial Year. Council will also continue to explore funding opportunities for these desired upgrades. We appreciate your engagement on this matter and encourage continued community participation in shaping Noosa’s transport and infrastructure priorities.
This is council's own minuted record, in council's words. Nothing is reworded: the questions, headings and bullets are laid out as the printed minutes set them. Left out are the speaker's name (it heads this page), the minutes' page-header dates, and any “meeting adjourned” line the extract caught. Where an officer answered, the answer is minuted with the question and appears above.
Transcript of the recording
What this is. Transcript of council's recording, produced by automatic speech recognition and not checked line by line against the video. Names and figures are where this kind of transcript fails first. It is our transcript, not council's record. Recording © Noosa Shire Council. Council's own recording is linked above; where the two differ, the recording governs.
15:12 Mayor Wilkie: Next is a question from Craig Vela. Mr Vela is not in attendance. I first requested Councillor Lawrenson read out his question, which will be answered by Shaun Walsh, Director of Infrastructure Services. Councillor Lawrenson.
15:26 Councillor Lorentson: A question. The Go Noosa interim report prepared by the Infrastructure Manager and tabled at item 8.1 of the General Committee Agenda, considered on the 20th of January 2025, recommended the cessation of both the free weekend bus services and the Go Noosa free bus service for peak season, in light of 50 cent bus fares implemented by the State Government, and identified that the service was funded to the amount of $900,000 through Council's sustainable transport levy. That recommendation was unanimously approved by Council and now necessitates a reconsideration and update of Council's response given to public question. Question 2 on the 20th of June 2024, given that existing services have now been curtailed. So please now advise, could the sustainable transport levy which is budgeted to raise $933,000 in the 23-24 draft budget be used to repair and or reconstruct the on-land component of the boat ramp and associated car and trailer parking at Hilton Esplanade or at any other boat ramp in the Noosa Shire?
16:49 If not, then why?
16:53 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Director Shaw.
16:58 Director Walsh: Good morning.
Also by Craig Vella
Others who spoke that day