Nick Cooke

7:01 Mayor Wilkie: Next question is from Mr Nick Cook. Mr Cook, would you like to come to the lectern? I read your questions, which will be answered by Kim Rawlings, Director of Strategy and Environment, and Richard MacGillivray, Director of Development and Regulation.

7:16 Councillor Wilson: Thank you.

7:22 Speaker 5: Destination Management Plan. A significant strategic document intended to guide tourism and visitor management in Noosaville over the coming decade. Development of the plan commenced with community engagement in 2023. It involved extensive consultation, engagement, workshops, surveys, communication activities, advertising, staff resources and external expertise over a period of more than two years. While Council has reported on the aspects of the engagement and the process and the outcomes of the plan, it does not appear to have been a publicly available, consolidated figure outlining the total cost incurred by Council in developing the plan, from inception through to adoption. Understanding the full cost of the strategic planning initiatives is important for transparency, accountability and informed public discussion, particularly at a time when Council is proposing rate increases and communities are seeking assurance that resources are being allocated effectively. This question seeks to establish the total investment made by Council in preparing the Destination Management Plan and provide clarity on where those funds have been expended. So the question is, what has been the total cost of the Destination Management Plan, from initial concept planning to final adoption, including but not limited to internal staff costs, consultant fees, research, community engagement, workshops, surveys, advertising, communications, graphic designs and the like, and the other direct or indirect associated costs?

8:48 Director Rawlings: Thanks Nick. The research and data gathering that informed the development of the DMP began five years ago. The issues the DMP seeks to address have been going for many years and Council has sought to understand these and address these throughout this period in different ways and therefore allocated resources to these issues across the state. The estimated cost associated with the development and delivery of Noosa's Destination Management Plan today is estimated to be around $600,000 over a five year period, or approximately $120,000 per year when averaged across the five year period. This accounts for less than 0.07% of Noosa Council's cumulative budget and likewise less than 0.0% of the relevant Directorate's budget responsible for the development of the DMP over the same period. This figure estimates the total cost of the project, including but not limited to a portion of internal staff salaries, consultant and professional service fees, research and analysis, community engagement activities over three comprehensive engagement processes, workshops and stakeholder consultations, surveys and data collection, advertising and communications, graphic design and publication costs, associated project delivery and operational expenses to date, including the development of the DMP portal.

10:07 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Your second question, Mr Cook.

10:18 Speaker 5: Second question is about dog registrations. Recently reports indicate that Noosa Council issued over 500 infringement notices to dog owners for unpaid registration, resulting in substantial community concerns and a large number of appeals. Council has publicly stated that the renewal of the Noosa Dog Registration Registration Program was carried out by a postal mail. However, many residents have publicly claimed they did not receive a renewal notice prior to receiving an infringement notice. Council has also reported approximately 200 appeals have been lodged in relation to these infringements and there's rumblings of class actions. Given the number of residents raising concerns and the significant financial penalties involved, it's important the community have confidence that the registration process operated as intended. The question seeks clarifications as to whether renewal notices were successful or not. The answer is that the dog owners were successfully generated first and foremost in internal systems and sent to dog owners for the registration periods that ultimately resulted in infringement notices being issued. So the question is simply can Council confirm whether the annual dog registration renewal notices for all affected dog owners were successfully generated by Council's internal systems for the registration periods that resulted in the recent infringement notices.

11:31 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you Nick. Um, Director of Regulation and Development, Mr Moop. Can I ask you a question?

11:36 Speaker 3: Thank you.