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00:00:00 Speaker 7: Good morning and welcome to the February Family Environment Committee. We wish to pay our respects to the traditional elders and their elders past, present and emerging and at this time of the year a big part of the First Nations people calendar was about the Bunya Festival and this year's been a bumper crop which happens once every two or three years. So it's always good to remember that our being in tune with the natural cycles of things was a key part of living in the landscape. So we move on. We have all committee members present but the number of non-committee councillors attending as observers as well. The first item then, the next item is confirmation of minutes. Can I have a mover for the confirmation of minutes? That's moved.
00:01:00 Councillor Stewart, Councillor Finzel. All in favour for that motion? We put our hands up. That's carried unanimously. There are no presentations nor are there deputations so we move on to reports straight from the General Committee. Mayor Stewart: I'm just using Mr Chair. Mr Chair, can I just ask a question? How do you want us to raise our hand? Do you want to raise it manually or do you want us to put it up on the screens on the computer? Speaker 7: Not on the screens on the computer. That's too high technology for old people like me. Mayor Stewart: Okay. Just manually? Speaker 7: Yes. Mayor Stewart: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 7: Okay. So we don't actually have any reports for consideration. We have a number of reports for noting for the committee. And the first one of those is the Noosa Council Carpentry Committee. This is a report for the financial year 2020-2021. And I presume we have a staff member, either Annie or Sean, who is going to provide us an overview of that report.
00:02:00 Speaker 3: Good morning, everybody. It's Annie here. Good morning, Annie. Speaker 6: Good morning, Annie. Speaker 3: Morning. Morning. All right. So I'll just give you a brief overview of the report. And this is to provide you with details of Council's own carbon footprint. So this is Council as an organisation looking at the emissions that Council, within its own operations and services, actually emits. And we calculate these emissions in accordance with the national standard, which is called Climate Active. Okay. And Climate Active is a standard that organisations, councils, et cetera, projects can become certified to carbon neutral. And the reason why we use this methodology is because it's recognised methodology across the world for consistency to determine organisations' carbon footprints.
00:03:00 So all the calculations have been done in accordance with that methodology. And this year, because Climate Active has actually changed some of their emission factors, which are only known to members of Climate Active, i.e. they are certified, the only way you can get these emission factors is through the Noosa Council. And this is to utilise external consultants that are carbon neutral, sorry, Climate Active certified. So we have had this report and the calculations reviewed by third-party consultants, 100% renewables, for compliance with the Climate Active standard. So in accordance with all of that methodology, the emissions for Council's own operations for 2021, are 51,077 tonnes. That's a slight increase in the emissions for 2019-20 footprint.
00:04:00 And the reason for that is because of the increase compared in electricity consumption in 2021 compared to 19-20. And the reason for that was because of the number of facilities that were shut down in 2021. So I'll just take you through. So we measure them in terms of different scopes. And just briefly, scope one is emissions that are direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources with council's own control boundaries. Scope two include our purchased electricity. And scope three emissions are all those indirect emissions that occur as a result of our operations, but they're from sources outside our organisation.
00:05:00 So the scope one emissions, they include our transport fuels, our stationary fuels, our refrigerants and our landfill. And as you'll see on the table there, 61% of our emissions are from the landfill. However, I do want to draw your attention to the figure one, monthly volume of landfill gas. And this is the quantity of gas that is captured and flared as a result of the wells out of the landfill. And in the end of March, beginning of April, there are another 11 wells in the landfill. And so you can see from that graph, the increase in landfill gas capture that we are seeing at the back end of the financial year 2000 and 2021. And so we will see those continue. And so we should see quite a bit of a reduction, you know, landfill emissions in 2021, 2022, this coming year.
00:06:00 Speaker 8: Okay. Speaker 3: So going forward, you can see our scope two emissions, our purchased electricity. When we compare the electricity consumption from 2021 to a non-COVID year, we can see that we've actually had a 20% reduction in our emissions from electricity, which is a good result. And the other thing that we also include is our purchased electricity. In our scope threes, we include our purchased goods and services, both our operation and capital. What we do in terms of the methodology here is where we can get activity data, such as litres of fuel consumed by our contractors, such as Clean Away, we use that to estimate our emissions.
00:07:00 Where we can only get the dollar's spend, we actually use what's called an input-output methodology to estimate our emissions. The emissions based on emission factors that Climate Active provides, based on the industry that those industries that we purchase goods and services from are included in. So you can see what we include is all of our construction materials, our parks and garden, camp, cleaning services, ICT, office equipment, municipal waste transport, potable water, and our water supply. Our carbon neutral paper, and professional services, roads and landscape, et cetera. And of course, the big one for us in terms of our purchased goods and services is our construction material and services. So that's all of our roads, buildings, et cetera. And as our capital projects increase, we will also see that our emissions from our scope three, as a result of the embedded emissions in our purchased goods and services, are likely to increase as well.
00:08:00 So that's why it is important that we actually get the best data that we can. And we're working with the largest suppliers to see how we can actually calculate the activity data rather than using just the dollar's spend. So over time, if I scroll down to table one, Noosa Council's emissions footprint over time, you can see that there has been a slight reduction over time. However, we're still hovering around that 50, 51,000 tonnes per year, and that is primarily as a result of the landfill emissions. So we continue to install, sorry, in terms of some of the future initiatives for our landfill emissions, we continue to look at ways that we can actually reduce organic matter going into the landfill.
00:09:00 We're looking at opportunities and costs to divert organic matter. And we want to continue to work with the landfill contractors, landfill gas contractors, to actually improve the capture of the landfill gas. In terms of our transport fuels, we continue to review our transport fleet, our own fleet, and look for opportunities where we can transfer those to lower emissions. And you have seen the two new electric cars that are beautifully branded. And that's an ongoing project that is continuing as we upgrade the fleet. Our electricity consumption, we continue to install solar on our large facilities, although we've pretty much done all of our large facilities now. And we are looking at opportunities in our small facilities where it's cost effective and will reduce emissions the most appropriately on our small facilities.
00:10:00 So over the year, we just did the 32 kilowatts up at the Noosa North Shore. And we also did a 10 kilowatt system at the Tewantin Middle Splash Park. So we continue to do that. We also need to look at our carbon offset strategy, because in terms of us to be net zero emissions by 2026, we will also need to look at purchasing offsets as well. In terms of our carbon calculations, we continue to review and refine. Our data and work with consultants and to improve our data capture and understanding of where our emissions are coming from. And we will continue to obtain data from our suppliers to actually use that in the calculations of the carbon footprint. So that's pretty much overall the overview of the carbon footprint for 2021 financial year.
00:11:00 Speaker 7: Thank you. Do we have any questions? Councillor Stewart. Councillor Stewart, you have put yourself on mute. Mayor Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm surprised you told me. Annie, great report. Thank you very much. Speaker 8: A couple of questions. Mayor Stewart: I know one came into the community about where we're putting and we're looking to reduce emissions on where we own and capture, where we own and we also work out of the facilities, so the digital hub, the J. Can you talk us through a bit about where we own the building that we lease it to community groups and what the plan there is for emissions going forward? Yeah, sure. Speaker 3: Under the climate active methodology, those assets are considered as downstream assets, and they fall under our scope three emissions.
00:12:00 Then what happens, there is a relevance test as to whether those emissions are going to be considered as downstream assets. So we're going to look at the overall footprint, and that considers things like how large are those emissions relative to the overall scope of, sorry, total emissions. They consider whether they contribute to specific risk exposure for Council, whether they're deemed relevant for stakeholders, and whether we can influence the emissions reduction from a particular source, and whether they're deemed relevant to a specific- So in terms of the downstream assets, they would actually be considered not a large contribution to Council's own emissions. However, because of the interest in stakeholders and because we also have the opportunity to potentially reduce those from a particular source by installing solar, etc., which we have done on some of the community buildings,
00:13:00 we will continue to look at that and to refine that. So one of the things that's important to note is that the leasee actually pays the electricity. So we don't have visibility of the electricity and how much they're consuming, i.e. how much emissions are coming from that particular asset. So we have gone and asked a number of our downstream assets for that particular data. However, that's a significant time-consuming project in itself. And we will continue to improve on that as well. Thanks, Annie. Thank you. Thank you. Further questions? Councillor Tom. Speaker 6: So, Annie, we have a goal of zero emissions in 2026. How are we travelling towards that goal after this last year?
00:14:00 Speaker 3: We have still got 51,000 tonnes of our carbon. So we've got a lot of carbon footprint, Tom, to obviously continue to reduce and, as we can see, the specific one is the landfill. So we know our waste team is working, you know, very hard to actually develop the overall waste strategy to look at reducing waste to landfill and also emissions to landfill also. However, as in the report, we will actually have to start looking at offsets. We're also involved in a pilot project with the WRI, the World Resources Institute, to actually look and pilot some new methodology to consider all of the carbon sequestration that we actually have within our boundary, such as from the council-owned and managed landscape, so all of our bush care activity, our restoration activities, etc.
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00:15:00 But that methodology is just only starting to come out internationally, but ourselves and Brisbane City Council are the only Australian councils that are piloting that project. So once again, Noosa's leading the way. Speaker 6: Oh, that's excellent, Nita. What is the – I'm so happy with the sequestration through our trees because that really puts that monetary value on actually maintaining. Yeah. Do you have – Yeah. I was going to ask you a question or are you starting to talk to the motion? I was in the middle of asking a question. What is the price per tonne on carbon at this point and is it going to go up, do you think? Speaker 3: Oh, good question, Tom. Okay. The Australian carbon credit units, you may have seen them in the news, they have actually jumped from about $22 – they've almost doubled, so they've gone from about $26 a tonne.
00:16:00 For Australian carbon credits and even overseas credits have gone up considerably as well and they are probably around the $10 mark also. Speaker 6: Council Finzel, you had a question. Speaker 2: Good morning, thank you Mr Chair. Thank you Annie for a really thorough and in-depth report. I do have a few questions coming off the back of the discussion with Councillor Weender. Can we just talk a little bit around that financial risk to Council given the tonnage rate has doubled. How is Council working towards reducing that financial risk given at some point Council will be required to purchase carbon offsets to meet our targets? Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Karen.
00:17:00 Certainly we haven't actually doubled our emissions, they are actually coming down over time and I'm expecting that particularly in the landfill this year we will actually see a significant reduction because of those increased wells. So we will continue to reduce our footprint, however we will reach what's called an emissions floor and that is where we've basically bridged technologically. and economically viable ways of actually reducing our emissions to zero by doing a whole lot of reduction activities, etc. So we will therefore need to look at purchasing offsets and that's where that whole overall offset strategy needs to come into play. And we need to look at and get some financial advice on what the expected price of carbon is going to do over the future. Look at all sorts of hedging, etc. which is over and above my accounting expertise.
00:18:00 And so we will need to get some advice on the best way of actually working through those options for offsets. Speaker 4: Thank you. Another question from Councillor Tarrant? Speaker 2: Yes, thank you Mr Chair. Annie, that leads into my next question regarding the carbon offset strategy for residual emissions. Given the... Emissions on the table on page 9 of the report shows that construction materials and services are sitting at our highest 10.86%. Will the development of the carbon offset strategy, in what way will that help Council reduce the scope 3 emissions? Yeah. Thank you. Purchase goods and services. Thank you. Speaker 3: The scope 3 emissions. This is where this methodology of the input-output methodology occurs.
00:19:00 And so if we can get better data. So if, for example, we can get better data on how much tonnes of asphalt we can use in our roads, for example, the amount of cement, for example, that we use in our projects, we will actually have a much more granular approach to calculating the emissions from those particular projects. Because at the moment, we are doing the input-output methodology, which is the dollar spend on those goods and services, as opposed to the activity data. So there's another whole piece of work that we need to do to be able to capture that activity data with our capital projects. But in saying that, I can't guarantee what the emissions would be reduced on. Even with that. So I think, you know, in terms of our scope 3 emissions, you know, the quantum that we would still be looking at is, you know,
00:20:00 for our goods and services is round about that 13,000 tonnes, which is inclusive in that carbon floor that I just talked about. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 6: Thank you. Councillor Wegener, you had another question? Speaker 8: Yes. Speaker 6: When it comes to the landfill, we sink the new pipes down to burn off the methane. However, and we're using that as a drawdown in our carbon emissions, but we've just opened up a new hole and we're filling that up with green waste still. And we really, so are we really lowering emissions at the tip when we're actually filling up the next hole with green waste? And we haven't really successfully stopped that yet. Speaker 3: And there's a couple of reasons with that, Tom. There is that is we need to put in the lateral lines as soon as we can.
00:21:00 And that's where we work with our contractors, the landfill gas contractors to where as soon as possible, we will put in natural lines and also vertical lines as well to join up with the existing well rig to be able to capture that gas as soon as possible, because actually the best gas is generally often when it's just starting to decompose. So if I might follow on on that one. Speaker 7: So the concerning element within the report is the junior executive's summary and it says, while the estimated landfill emissions have reduced by less than 1%, however, waste to landfill increased by 8%. Now- Yes. Speaker 7: This is a trend that we've seen and in our waste management strategy, but have we over this accounting period come to any better understanding of how much that increases as a result of population
00:22:00 growth south of this giant boundary versus how much is just some unsustainable behaviour in terms of household packaging and business packaging and all the other attributes that makes Australians one of the most vulnerable? Speaker 3: We haven't done that full analysis as yet. Okay. So other questions? Yeah. When it comes to human waste coming out of the Unity Water Facility, does that increase our carbon emissions? Speaker 6: And the reason I ask is because there's an 18% increase to the Burgess Creek Facility coming out of the Unity Water Facility. Is that going to be adding on to our emissions as well? Speaker 3: For Council's own footprint, we actually include the amount of water that we as an organisation use, and that's included in our Scope 3 emissions currently.
00:23:00 In terms of what you just spoke about, Tom, that would actually be included in the overall Noosa Shire community footprint, and therefore we need to include that in our Scope 3 emissions as well. So that we can see how, what the plans are in place to reduce those emissions as well. Speaker 5: Chair, if I could supplement that answer, if that's okay, Councillor Bryan. You may. Speaker 7: Yeah. Going off the Acting Manager for Environmental Services talking now, just to support Ann's Speaker 5: comments that the detailed reports released by Unity Water on upgrading the Burgess Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant have modelled carbon outputs of all their different scenarios. Thank you. Speaker 6: So, Ted. Do you have another question, Councillor Tom? And also with our emissions, are we, including the fact that our own population is increasing,
00:24:00 you know, up to another 10,000 people within the next 10 years, but every year our population increases as well. Speaker 3: Yeah, correct, Tom. And this, again, I just want to draw you back to the purpose of this report, which is to actually look at Council's own operations and services. So as Council, as an organisation, increases, yes, you know, obviously we need to make sure that whatever we do, we do it with the least carbon emission footprint that we do. And, but in terms of Noosa's overall population, that is considered in our community carbon footprint calculations, which is done as a model. Yeah. Yeah. This is the report that was sent to us by the party and this report does not cover community emissions. Speaker 7: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much Annie. Thank you.
00:25:00 So no more questions? Does anyone wish to stop? We do have a question. Councillor Finzel. Speaker 2: Thank you. Annie, this was a question sent to us from a member of the public. And if you could just please clarify how council building, for example, the Peregian community has been affected by the pandemic. And if you could just tell us how you arrived at the report and how you arrived at calculating what buildings go into that list. Speaker 3: Yes, sure. Again, I go back to the climate active standard for the calculations of the carbon footprint. And anything that is owned by council but leased to a third party is included as a downstream asset. And that's when we apply that relevance test to the report. To determine whether it meets any of those requirements to actually be included. In those downstream assets, the tenant actually pays for the electricity.
00:26:00 So we don't have visibility for that. And we're working with those particular tenants, particularly on the larger sites, to understand their consumption and look at ways and opportunities that council could actually assist them to reduce that. Speaker 2: Thank you. And can I just ask one more question, please, Mr. Mayor? You may. So given that I do a lot of work with community groups throughout the Shire, and just looking at electricity consumption in our council owned buildings, how are we looking at to ensure that our own infrastructure in those community buildings is up to a standard for groups to be able to put solar on top of their roads? Speaker 3: Great question. Thank you. And yes, so what we're looking at is the community grants have actually, we've just revised those
00:27:00 guidelines. And we can actually offer grants to those community groups to put in solar or energy efficiencies, et cetera. They go through the standard grant process. However, in doing that, they would actually need to ensure that the energy efficiency of the council actually gives permission to put on the solar on their roof. And in consideration of that would be the standard of the roof and also the standard of the switchboard and any other infrastructure that would need to be upgraded or improved or whatever to put on that solar or put on that infrastructure. Speaker 2: Thanks, Annie. Speaker 7: Okay. I noticed that Councillor Lorentson has her hand up in the virtual environment. Do you have a question, Councillor Lorentson? Speaker 4: I have a couple of questions. Hi, Annie. It's Amelia. Annie, my first question is have we actually got the resources in terms of manpower and
00:28:00 finances to achieve our greenhouse gas reductions and carbon neutral strategies? Speaker 3: Okay. Because the predominant emissions factor is our landfill, I'm going to actually have to defer that question to our landfills. I'm going to defer that question to our waste management team, if that's okay, Councillor Lawrenson, because they have got an overall waste strategy that is being developed and I just wouldn't want to pre-empt what they're doing. But we certainly work very closely together to actually ensure that emissions reduction is actually being included in that strategy. Speaker 4: Okay. In terms though, we're looking at the report, our carbon footprint, the use of council as an organisation. Yes, right. In terms of asset management and facilities built old and new, do we have design guidelines that maximise things like energy and waste efficiencies?
00:29:00 Speaker 3: Yeah. We certainly have got our NUSA design guidelines and we're also working with procurement as well to improve when we go out to tender, to actually ask anybody tendering for the work as to what work they're going to actually do to improve. So, we're looking at what work they're going to do to reduce emissions and whether in fact they are actually carbon neutral themselves. Because, for example, if we bought all of our materials from a carbon neutral organisation, such as we do with our paper, then that would actually reduce our scope three emissions significantly. Speaker 4: That leads me to the next question in regards to sustainability criteria and policy framework. I've read that some councillors actually mandate greenhouse purchasing into their supply projects. Is that going too far or is that a question possibly asked to ask Larry? Speaker 4: I know he's in the meeting.
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00:30:00 Larry, sustainability criteria should we be mandating greenhouse purchasing into our supply change and tendering processes? Speaker 7: That's a policy question. It's not an appropriate thing for staff to have a comment on. It's something for councillors to make a decision on. Okay. That's a policy question. So, I'm going to go back to you. Speaker 4: Sure. Employment bargaining agreements. Again, reference Noosa Council as an organisation. Annie, do we encourage sustainable transport options when we look at our start packages? Speaker 3: I had to take that one on notice and refer that one to HR. I'm sorry. Speaker 4: Oh, okay. Sorry. Annie, maybe these are things that I should be emailing you just for some ideas for future initiatives. I think that's a good question. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 7: Is that it, Councillor Morrison? Is that your question? Speaker 4: Thank you, Chair.
00:31:00 Speaker 7: If you can just remember to take the hand down so next time you want to ask a question I'll see it. Okay. So, I think it might be time for someone to move the recommendation. Does someone wish to do that? Councillor Stewart and Councillor Finzel being the seconder. Do we want to talk to the motion? No. Yes. Sorry, sorry. Mayor Stewart: No, I want to thank Annie for a great report. Look, I think landfill is, you know, it's clearly an area that's highlighted 61 per cent of our total footprint of emissions. We've got a very active manager and team in the landfill space and I think that, as Annie said, they're working very hard to come up with different ideas, different things we can do because that's the way we're working to ensure that the areas that we've Thank you all so much for joining us today and thank you to all of you for joining us today to talk about how we can reduce our carbon offset and how we can really make some headway into reducing those. Again, Annie, thank you again for a good report. Lots of positives, but still lots of work to be done. So we're looking forward to taking this forward and reducing where we can.
00:32:00 Speaker 6: Great work, Annie. I know that it must be hard, a very difficult situation. First, I'd like to congratulate you on working with the biomass from the trees and the natural sequestration coming from our own maintenance of our land that we have, our own, we call them the bushcare areas, and they're a tree that we didn't cut down in the past and now we can actually get a monetary value from those trees. It'd be exciting. Second, just looking at the carbon offset credit, Speaker 6: that we're going to have to pay, you know, at this point that's a million dollars a year, but we do start paying that in 2026, which I believe. And, you know, I think we should be putting a million dollars right now into further into the TIF, Speaker 6: which is our biggest carbon department and any program we can't really go in for it because we know what we're in for in the future
00:33:00 in order to meet our zero emission requirements. So let's work on funding for you and especially Cairo. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we're not facing these huge goals in the future. Thank you. Speaker 7: Councillor Pindell, did you want to talk to the motion? Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd just like to thank Annie and the team and all the council staff that are working hard to contribute to meeting the targets. I think we've got some big tasks before us, but I'm confident that this is a positive one Thank you everyone for your work in this space and for a really comprehensive report.
00:34:00 Thank you. Speaker 7: Okay. And yeah, I just want to thank everyone else. I think the report's very good at highlighting both the good opportunities we've taken to reduce the emissions and the opportunities going forward in terms of looking at changing the accounting standards to take into consideration our whole Noosa Shoah Council system and the link between the earth carbon cap and both pre-soil as a balance to the additional emissions. But also the significant challenge that both I believe as a result of population growth, which is beyond our control outside the Shire and as a result of the behaviours that are
00:35:00 very slow to change. We had the big take up on the war on waste in terms of plastic, but in terms of overall volume, the data is showing an 8% increase in what was already a very, very large amount of landfill is what should be concerning both us and the community. It will highlight the importance of the waste strategy, but also the importance of perhaps looking at re-prioritising our waste management effort to focus more right at the top of the waste stream in terms of education and perhaps educating the largest sources of waste, whether it be commercial or otherwise at the beginning. So for me, it's a good report that highlights both the challenge to get there in 2036. And I suppose when, I hope within this financial year, I believe we might be getting it.
00:36:00 It's a good report that highlights both the challenge to get there in 2036. The strategic offset report. That will help us understand the relative value both in terms of buying straight out offsets to the Australian or overseas or the alternative of is there a mechanism where we can have local offsets from enhanced plantings within our Shire. So, can we look at multiple benefits from offsetting by putting large-scale re-vegetation initiatives within the rural area? To me, they're the challenges we have to address in the next one or two years if we're going to meet our targets. Councillor Stewart, would you like to close? Mayor Stewart: No, thank you. Thanks, Mr Chair. I think it's been all said. Thank you very much. Thanks, Annie, again. Speaker 7: Okay, we'll put it to the back. All in favour? And that's carried unanimously.
00:37:00 We now move on to item 2 in this section, and that is the Nursery Environment Strategy Implementation Year 2 Annual Update. And I would believe Acting Manager Sean Watt will give us an overview of that report. Thanks, Councillor Stockwell. Sean Watt here. So, the report is the Year 2 Implementation Progress Report. Speaker 5: The report is current at June 30 last year. Ideally, this would have been reported in about October last year, but it was delayed because of the departure of the Environment Manager. The report, you know, is basically outlining our success and areas of need for improvement under the Environment Strategy adopted in 2019. It is very comprehensive with a lot of information, and I applaud Council for having such a comprehensive approach, which outlines its successes and otherwise of its environmental performance. In summary, you know, there's some great achievements, such as the adoption of the Bush Lane Reserve Strategic Management Plan,
00:38:00 Speaker 5: the provision of green waste bins, the work we've been doing on Council's greenhouse gas emissions, noting that there's still a lot of work to do, and also the particular success of expansion of Council's Conservation Partnership initiatives, which was reported to Council in December. We've also, for the first time in this report, included a summary, of environmental grants that have been acquitted from the 2021 financial year, which I think is a great closed loop about trying to get through a program where we're actually reflecting on where grants have been successful and perhaps otherwise. Speaker 5: The report does clearly identify areas that we do need to improve on. It's also been timely in terms of budget submissions. So, we need to ideally reinstate our environment sustainability forums with community partners. There's more work we need to do on threatened species management and also our integrated water monitoring program, particularly in light of the other report in the agenda about water planning becoming a key issue.
00:39:00 Speaker 5: I note separately to the councillors, we also distributed a draft work in progress of the environment monitoring program about how we capture key data sets on 12 key environmental performance metrics. And we've already had constructive comments from a number of councillors about how we make that work, as well as internal staff. That will be quite a dynamic document, ideally in the longer term, that we would actually put out to the community to give really good snapshots of our performance. And I note that in terms of budgets, we are looking at specific budget bits concerning threatened species management, community bushland care support, and ongoing bushland management planning. Thank you, Councillor Stockwell. Speaker 7: Okay, do we have any questions outside? Councillor Stewart. Mayor Stewart: Thank you, Chair. Sean, just a question in regard to some of the progress on the environment strategy enabling actions.
00:40:00 Sorry, on all the implementation progress on pages 19, 20, 21, almost, where you've got ticks and crosses and all that kind of thing. You're with me on those? Yes, I am. Yes, okay. Just in regard to number 12, improve the water quality and biodiversity of the Noosa River by restoring aquatic habitat such as oyster reefs and improving riparian vegetation. I've got two questions in regard to this one. Where are we in terms of obtaining state permits, which were due in July 2020? Speaker 5: Yep, so TNC are well-advised for negotiations with the state government, but unfortunately they still haven't managed to obtain the resource allocation, which is the permission to use the Noosa River to actually put the artificial reef in. Speaker 5: Simultaneously, though, in anticipation or hope that that's coming in soon, they've actually lodged their prescribed title works application with council only in the last week.
00:41:00 So I know that the CEO and the director and myself have an executive level forum, which is the high-level partnership meeting with TNC scheduled for this Friday, Speaker 5: to get a status update on where they're at in terms of the partnership agreement. We had a similar meeting with them just before Christmas as well. Mayor Stewart: Right, okay, thank you. Now, secondly, there's been a lot of talk about the QX disease and the fact that it's been causing a mortality rate of about 90% and destroying the oysters because of severe outbreak. Is this something, and I'm hearing from people along the river that if there's oysters that are dying out that they're noticing on sort of, I guess, on the sides of the riverbank, is this a concern that the QX disease and then what guarantees we have if we put oyster reefs in that the oysters won't die out because of this disease?
00:42:00 Speaker 5: Yeah, so firstly, I can't say I'm an expert in oyster health, so I just need to declare that, but what I'm doing, what I've done is actually put that on the agenda for discussions with TNC for this Friday to get their expert view about whether this is a risk that they are taking into account in their project planning or is it a new risk that they hadn't taken into account. So I don't have an answer other than I've become aware of this issue and I need to start exploring that from a technical perspective with experts. Mayor Stewart: Yeah, so Dr Ben Deagles, he believes that the disease to be, the QX to be endemic on our waterways. So is that something that you'll be talking to TNC about, Sean, when you have the answer? Speaker 5: Yeah, so I'm in receipt, I think, of the same information from a river stakeholder that you are that's raised these same questions and I don't have the technical answer, but I certainly will pursue it in discussions. Mayor Stewart: Thank you. Thanks, Sean.
00:43:00 Speaker 6: Other questions? Councillor Wegener? Councillor Wegener, you put yourself on mute again. Speaker 7: Councillors in the committee, I think the protocol is you do not put yourself on mute. I think you need to be present in all ways when handing by on a virtual meeting. Speaker 6: Okay. So we have the green waste bins and they pick up $16,000 and tons and tons of green waste. Is there a quality issue with the green waste from the bins and how are we dealing with it? Speaker 5: I think the quality issue that you referred to, and this is from informal conversations I've had with Kyra and the environment services, sorry, the environment health manager, is about possible plastic contamination and then its suitability for reuse in terms of monitoring applications. So those discussions are very preliminary.
00:44:00 Speaker 5: So I don't have an answer for you, Councillor Wegener. But, you know, and I think the key issue is about whether that green waste is suitable for, you know, biocombustion and other processes due to the presence of possible plastic contamination. Speaker 5: So I'm aware of the issue, but I don't know what the next steps are in regard to it. Thank you. Speaker 6: Jeff, Dave Burrows, he is very important, didn't he? The quality of our staff when it comes to the Advancement Council's conservation partnership initiative is essential, isn't it? Speaker 5: Yes, and with that report we presented in December, we made the observation that we've had significant uptake in the Land for Wildlife Program.
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00:45:00 Next year we'd like to really focus on transferring that across to Voluntary Conservation Agreements. Voluntary Conservation Agreements have found entitled to the property and set up an enduring, you know, secure tenure for nature conservation. So, and Dave, because of his excellent botanical knowledge and his knowledge of the hinterland, has been a great ambassador for those projects. So I agree with you, yes. Speaker 6: I wish we could clone them. Number 33, climate change and adaptation resilience. I'm down there. It says council carbon footprint is currently being reviewed by 30 third parties to confirm the quantum offset required. If you go to number 33, what is meant by quantum offset required? So if I think about this wording, we were preparing these reports while Annie was desperately trying to get the latest in the actual carbon accounting reports. So I think in hindsight,
00:46:00 you know, once you find those reports, we probably should have amended that wording, you know, to, you know, confirm, you know, the latest carbon emissions by council and then continue to then figure out Speaker 5: what the quantum offset should be. So I think with Annie, you know, we've got to work together to figure out, well, what is the forecast reduction in emissions arising from further improvements to the landfill? Speaker 5: And then we need to collectively work on, well, how do we actually achieve that volume of offsets and, and to the volume that we actually can account for existing vegetation. And so, yeah, I think it's just highlighting that we've got to do more work to figure out that quantum and links into that accounting measure as well. So let me just go up the page to number 30. And at number 30, Speaker 6: identify potential areas for carbon sequence sequestration. And of course, biochar, any work going forward with biochar about that?
00:47:00 So by putting the red cross there, I've been really clear that we haven't advanced any thought process on this. Speaker 5: So, and I know that our councillor sent some material around about biochar. I think we need to pursue discussions with Annie and other experts in council about how we approach, you know, sequestration areas and biochar as a possible example of that. I don't have an opinion. Otherwise, whether it's good or bad, I've just been clear that we haven't advanced it today. Speaker 6: Yeah. We've got to get rid of that X. So is that responding to get rid of that X? Speaker 5: I think council's investment in the climate change area with people working with Rebecca Britton, such as Cheyenne and also Sally, who started education, should free Annie up to actually focus more on carbon reductions. But she's been carrying a very large load of the only sort of carbon climate change person in council.
00:48:00 And now we've actually got additional resources deployed in that area. I'm really excited by Annie having resources to actually devote to these other parts of her roles. Speaker 6: That's great news. Can we look at the number of questions? You've got more? Yeah, 27. Number 27 is the idea of a new sustainability institute to establish a coordinated approach to research and activity occurring in our community towards sustainability. So that's had the big X for years now. Is there a way to go forward with that? Is there a way to go forward in a way of this institute crashing down the silos? Because it seems though, Speaker 6: council and groups and so forth are siloed. They don't talk to each other enough.
00:49:00 Could this be a way forward to de-silo-ize our approach to the environment? Speaker 5: Firstly, because of my employment post-states preparation strategy, I don't have a feeling for what the idea of the new sustainability institute is going to look like. So I think there needs to be some discussions with stakeholders including yourself about what was the original idea and what does it look like. One of the things I do want to make an observation about research though is that we are, and this is similar to most other entities, very poor at coordinating our investment in research and actually distributing it to the community. We have research funded through, Speaker 5: for instance, Rebecca's program on groundwater at Eastern Beaches. We have research funded through my area on koala monitoring in the old forest. And we have various research activities funded through the Noosa Biosphere Foundation. Yet there's nowhere actually on council or any other organisations where that research is actually billed
00:50:00 and actually being available for public dissemination. So we're actually funding research but we're actually not coordinating its dissemination to actually help inform decisions. And this interests me greatly. Speaker 5: And the way academic institutions work as well, they're not very good at wanting to share information. They want you to be a student or a benefactor to be able to access that information. So I've initiated a couple of conversations with the Biosphere Foundation and also the library actually about how we actually host a database of research that council's funded and also that when we're funding research that we actually require the researchers to enter into an intellectual property licence agreement that actually allows Noosa And the preliminary, this is a very preliminary discussion with Tracy Davis about what could that be extended. And then part of the discussion that we have with the Biosphere Foundation is about whether they could actually take carriage of assembling all the research undertaken
00:51:00 across all council's portfolios Speaker 5: and working with the library to actually set up a partnership that actually collates the research in a coordinated way. So that's just some of the preliminary work I've done. I'm a bit unclear about whether the Sustainability Institute has a role to play in terms of coordinating actual activity because the action there talks about research Speaker 5: versus leadership. So I'm just a little bit uncertain about what those next steps are. Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Speaker 2: Thank you, Sean, for the report. It is, you know, it's comprehensive. I particularly like the tables that show us, you know, where the ticks are, where we're progressing and where we've halted. I've got a question centred around the collaborative grants funding in relation to the Keeping It in Kin Kin project that's delivered by Noosac Landcare.
00:52:00 And coming off the back of Council awareness comments about reducing silo effects where we have, you know, needing shared knowledge across the space in terms of efficiency and meeting targets. I'm just wondering where we're at and how does and how we investigate how our civil construction works in hidden sites heading into the Kin Kin catchment area. What sort of work are we doing in that space to ensure that we're all heading towards the same outcomes and reaching targets, given the amount of grant money that is, you know, given in that space. And I do like the idea of this opportunity through heritage to bring all this information together. Specifically then, my question is how are the environmental groups working with civil construction towards mutually satisfying outcomes? Speaker 5: Yep.
00:53:00 So, we had an incident, Council had an incident at Wapunga Road, quite close to Wapunga Creek, which is one of the key monitoring sites for the Kin Kin project. And, you know, when you look at the practice, it was inconsistent with actually achieving good water quality outcomes, knowing that, you know, Kin Kin Creek and its tributaries are one of the significant contributors to sediment in the Noosa River system. So, Speaker 5: what we've done is actually convene a meeting, so we had land care representatives, representatives of infrastructure services, Brian O'Connor and the field crews, and also three of my team to actually talk about the issue. We actually met on site, actually grounded, so that we, you know, we're talking about real activities which might look
00:54:00 at high-altitude streams Speaker 5: such as Waipunga Creek, which are a really sensitive vicinity of the Noosa River. Those guidelines will actually help dictate the use of the grading and also the implementation of sediment controls on those rivers. It will have much implications for the grading program because these devices Speaker 5: are cumbersome to actually implement and that's why we need to prioritise the locations that we're there, where they're placed. There's also recognition that with some of those specific locations like Waipunga Road where it goes across Waipunga Creek, ideally, we'd actually come up with a capital works program staged over a number of years to actually seal that length of road so it doesn't actually require grading and then the implementation of permanent sediment control measures with those sensitive
00:55:00 intersections. So my staff just in the last week have prepared a map with the assistance of Landcare that identifies those intersecting gravel roads and high water streams. We're not just providing that examination to the Kin Kin Creek catchment we're actually looking at other catchments across the Shire including Sixth Line. So we've got some work to do and it's good that keeping the Kin Kin project actualised alerted us to this issue that if we're requiring private property owners to improve their sedimentation Speaker 5: that we should be holding a mirror to ourselves and doing the same in council. Speaker 2: Thank you, Sean. That's a great answer. Do you have any timelines when we could expect to report back to councillors or when the guidelines will be completed? Given that we've got budget council initiatives coming up or looking at capital works when do you think we might expect that? Speaker 5: I don't think it's a very guidelines exercise it's not that difficult because erosion
00:56:00 sediment control associated with road maintenance is a standard issue. I think the issue is more for the director of infrastructure and Brian McConnell to consider about what are the implications for the grading program when they're undertaken in rural areas and the budget implications associated with that. So the guidelines are not complex. It's the actual implementation of it which has cost implications. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 7: Okay. Councillor Stewart Speaker 5: you've got a question. Mayor Stewart: Yes. Thank you, Sean. Just a quick question on 36. Encourage and facilitate the use of electric vehicles and then in the sort of I guess the progress is we're looking at investigations for an EV charge at the Peregian Beach Digital Hub. I'm just wondering if we're looking at anywhere else like if there's anywhere in the junction that we're looking at for those charges and just the costs associated with them. Yeah. I'd have to take that question on notice unless Anne Nolan's still Speaker 5: in the committee structure who can report on that in more detail.
00:57:00 Anne, are you still here? No. Obviously she's not. So I'll have to take that. Speaker 3: Sorry, Anne. She is. Sorry. Speaker 4: I was on mute. Speaker 3: But yes, in terms of the EV charges I know that the transport team are actually looking at and working with a number of private suppliers so Digital Hub is currently going to have an EV charger Mayor Stewart: as well. Thanks, Annie. Any chance that anywhere in the junction has been looked at as well for those charges? Speaker 3: I think that's part of the private consideration of the they're looking at a number of different areas where they could potentially put the charges because they actually got funding from ARENA, the Australian Renewables Energy Association. Mayor Stewart: Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Annie. Thank you. And Sean, just on number Coastal Connect,
00:58:00 the $225,000 for delivered by the Eastern Beaches Bushcare Collaborative with NYFA which is these guys do tremendous work. They're instrumental in helping our foreshore risks. Are we looking strongly with these guys? And is that money included in that plan or is it a separate line item? Speaker 5: So the funding to actually undertake the actual revegetation work is totally separate to the budget for the foreshore management plan. I hope that answers the question. We've been directly engaging with each of the groups as we pointed out at the recent Speaker 5: social management plan. We're really helping some better guidance in terms of priority areas about where we should be undertaking revegetation areas
00:59:00 and all the areas that we should actually protect. The June environment down there is highly disturbed and it's a very difficult question about where to start. Where does our best efforts go into revegetation expenditure? So we're hoping Mayor Stewart: to do a terrific job. So I think Speaker 5: this is really well worth it. Mayor Stewart: This spending Speaker 5: is fantastic. One of the really good things about Council's funding programs that I'm really impressed with the environment program is actually multi-year funding. It's actually very unusual for local governments to have that and it gives a lot of security to local community groups that their effort's worthwhile and that I'm hoping to re-apply every year. Thank you. Thanks, Sean. Just on that, I don't believe there is still a conference interest but just for noting Speaker 7: that when that application was approved that I did declare a
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01:00:00 prescribed conference as I was heavily involved with the help to develop the application in the first instance but I don't believe the report on the more general Speaker 7: environment strategy figures any almost comparable in those. Councillor Lawrence, do you have your hand up? Speaker 4: Hi. Sean, a question on page 26, number 19, undertake a stormwater quality improvement program that includes an audit of stormwater quality improvement devices. Can you just give me some context? It's not planned in 2019, 2020 and given that we've just spoken about high risk erosion science and the Kin Kin program, stormwater infrastructure and coastal erosion, is there a correlation and should we be prioritising number 19?
01:01:00 Speaker 5: So, we actually got budgeted this financial year to undertake a significant trial. We've actually just commissioned a consultant to undertake that audit. So, it's an independent source. So, it's a request for quote process. So, and that will give us the background information to further inform those questions so that we're making progress, but I don't and I think we're going to find out some very interesting information about Speaker 5: the success or otherwise of these devices and where we need to improve them and I look forward to reporting that to you in the future. Speaker 6: Thank you, Shire. That's your only question, Councillor Lorenton. Thank you, Bronnie. Councillor Stockwell. Okay. If there's no further questions, Speaker 7: would someone like to move to recommendations? First, Councillor Wegener. Second, Councillor Finzel. Councillor Wegener, do you wish to talk to the motion?
01:02:00 Speaker 6: Yes. I'm concerned with the world view of council on overall all employees and so forth and we need to move to a regenerative paradigm when we look at problems and issues throughout council and I fear actually that we still have the old extractive paradigm when we look at things or maybe a conservationist Speaker 6: paradigm but that those two are still not into the concept of regenerative and Speaker 4: with this you have a world view of the way you see things and if it's collective then all of a sudden things become much more easily and it's still like when Speaker 6: this is this is the news that we want to see in the future and this is how we're going to get there and an example
01:03:00 of you know dealing how this world view affects us is the expectation that green waste Speaker 6: is either mulched or turned into biochar when you in the regenerative paradigm it is absolutely assumed that that would be the case that it will either be biochar or mulch but in the extraction paradigm you kind of think oh well just chuck it just chuck it away and when when you're filling green bins you would be expected to do it properly and not put plastic in there because you have this regenerative philosophy like there's no way in the world that we can put this in mulch but it's that plastic in it and kind of understanding the whole process Speaker 6: and a collective understanding and that's why I'm talking about the sustainability institute is I think that if there was a desiloing and sharing of the regenerative world view and is led
01:04:00 by whatever whatever the sustainable institute looks like it was led by that and we instilled this mindset among councillors and amongst the council and amongst all the residents we would really go forward that's our impediment in our own understanding of the world and the way we see things so Speaker 6: I congratulate Sean we're so lucky he's on our team and I would like to open these conversations up of current I'm thinking in the word with you thanks thank you Speaker 7: other councillors wish to speak to the motion councillor Finlock Speaker 2: yeah I'd love to thank you Sean firstly for your report and the work you and your team are doing in this space it is challenging on the back of councillor Wegener's speech there I'd like to bring into that conversation transformational leadership style I think that you know we've got an innovative team of workers in this organisation that are young
01:05:00 that have aspirations to bring their knowledge and passion to the table and inform this council of you know a bright future and it's about us promoting and nurturing I believe transformational leadership styles to influence inspire and motivate so I think that we're well on course it is challenging but I think we've got the appetite to move forward in the space and really tackle the issues before us we've been fundamentally changed through COVID we're impacted in many areas and I think this creates opportunity for us in a time in history where we need our creative thinkers and we need to all come together to find workable solutions that sometimes are out of the square so I want to just take this opportunity to thank
01:06:00 everyone in council all the staff and you know the councillors that are working hard to innovate and create change for a sustainable future so thank you everybody for your contribution. Mayor Stewart: Thank you Sean I just want to reiterate the litany of thanks for a really good report there is so much we're doing across so many areas of the environment and I think that comes across really well in this report and you know when I look back to the community satisfaction survey results you know on page 60 sitting in our former agenda it says the responsibility areas that the community has judged council have been performing better than 2017 and 19 and one of them is environment protection and conservation which is interesting so I think all of these you know the team the environmental team Annie and yourself and all the team are working so hard in this space and making real inroads and the community acknowledge and appreciate that
01:07:00 so I just want to thank you on behalf of all of them for the hard work you are doing. Speaker 7: Thank you. Yeah and for my two cents worth I think it's it's really worthwhile the improvement in reporting in terms of evaluation review and improvement within council this is a good report it's obviously hard to understand the down the bottom of page 16 it identifies that the the other part of the analysis of the 2G review is about looking at progress towards the outcomes and targets and that we've seen a draft the first working draft councillors of that report so it should be to the topic in the not too distant future I think when we look at all the good work what we hope is that it's achieving the response in the in the environment that warrants the investment and the one that I will let out of the bag is the we have one target about trying to get 50% of our Shire within a protected area
01:08:00 or being managed for conservation values that's you know that's a very big task for most councils for us we're starting from a base in the high 30% and I believe on the current draft in the last two years we've increased that to over 40% of the Shire that is being managed for the the development of the ecosystem Speaker 7: and that's a great achievement on the ground so Councillor Waco do you wish to close the debate Speaker 6: yes first of all I'd like to Speaker 6: Thank you, Brian mentioned the environment strategy that was attached to came in and I do notice that there's a there's a part of a farming there in the table contents but there's not much in the body of the work about that.
01:09:00 You know, of course, as you know, I'd love to see farming brought more to the forefront of all that land out there that's growing lantana and not be not being used in a regenerative way. I would like to see that land regenerative, regenerative, regenerative. And I know that I've met with Bill Moran and they had a talk at a land fair. And with Stewart Andrews and Bill Moran, they had a furious agreement that regeneration is what we need. And we are going, we need to go and be more consistent all the way across the residents. And when the residents move here, they should get a booklet as well saying, this is where you're moving to. These are our worldview. This is how we're going to move forward. This is what's expected of us in order to maintain this paradise we live in. Thank you. Speaker 7: Okay, I'll put it to the vote. Those in favor? And that's unanimous. So we move on to the next item, which is water planning for Noosa Shire. And Sean, would you like to give an overview of your report?
01:10:00 As you're aware, I'm fairly new to the role and subject to a whole series of emails and, you know, an invitation to participate in processes concerning water planning. It occurred to me that I don't think that there should be a report to council that actually articulated the nature of all of these water planning processes underway and their possible implications for both water supply for residents as well as water supply for ecology. Speaker 5: So, and also the interrelationship between all these processes, you know, for instance, if like the double dam wall is not raised, well then that has implications for us needing further intake from the Merrin River at Imbil, you know, to supply potable water. So, what I've done is I've provided a summary of all of the water planning processes underway and the possible implications for Noosa, both in terms of potable water supply as well as ecology, and recommended that we commence an internal working process.
01:11:00 Council staff to actually help draft policy of what is Noosa Council's position on all of these matters and also propose an environment round table which is a once-off meeting generally from what I understand from the past with key NRM stakeholders to actually inform them of what we know about these water planning processes and seek their shared knowledge and then in their own organisations then decide how they wish to strategise and advocate for particular outcomes and the like. So that's the summary of the report. I do note that the contextual of this activity is that prior to our recent rain we were on the cusp of water restrictions and then also the variability and increase of evaporation from existing water supply in Queensland is bringing forward water infrastructure from 2042 to 2032 and I'm particularly interested from a technical perspective in any solutions that might rely on
01:12:00 groundwater, in particular groundwater that feeds the Noosa River ecology. Thank you. Speaker 6: Okay, do we have questions? Councillor Wegener. Sean, do you think that it's possible or even likely that a Mary River water will be allotted, there will be more water allotted to different groups than the Mary River actually produces? Speaker 5: It's hardening to hear that as part of the review of the water planning parameters by the Minister, it's called the Minister's Performance Assessment Report, that they very clearly articulate that they need to undertake fresh data modelling scenarios, taking into account variability of flows arising from climate change. And we also note that existing modelling scenarios were paired before the Traveston Cross and Dam.
01:13:00 So we're looking back to the Traveston Cross and Dam proposal. So we're looking back to a modelling scenario which is a long way out of date. And it's going to be very interesting to see what comes out of that modelling scenario. And what I'm concerned for is the competition for water. And, you know, we've got competition of water for farmers and catchment. We've got competition for water for Gympie Regional Council Urban Growth. And noting also competition of water for the Powerlink proposal to raise it from dams. So I think it's going to be a very interesting exercise. Speaker 5: And I think Noosa Council needs to have clear articulation of what it wants from that process and have a seat at the table to advocate for ideal outcomes. Speaker 6: Could you explain to me where the water comes from? Because, you know, going up to Chingle Ray, it doesn't rain that much out there.
01:14:00 Where does our water actually come from? Where does it fall? So can I just say water for potable drinking consumption or water for ecology? Water for drinking. Yeah. Or drinking water. Town water. Yeah. Speaker 5: So the original water supply for Noosa was Lake MacDonald, which was developed, I think, in the early 80s, from what I remember. And there's a treatment plant there. That is now supplemented by an intake on the Murray River, which is placed at Imble. And that is piped from Imble through to the treatment plant at Lake MacDonald. So that's the key water supplies for Noosa River residents. It's not managed by council. Traditionally, it was before the process at the moment took up by SEQ Water. But I do know that in the upper reaches of the Noosa River, Gympie Regional Council has Speaker 5: permission to take water from Tee Wai Creek and also the Artesian Sub Mass to actually
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01:15:00 provide water already to Tin Can Bay and Kalila Cove residents. So that's the summary of the water supply. Under the grid, as soon as it was established by the Millennium Drought, SEQ Water also has the ability to take and pump water to other facilities in and around southeast Queensland to actually supplement water where it's needed. Speaker 5: And what we're seeing with climate change and rainfall variability is that whilst our coastal supplies near the coast, like Lake MacDonald, are fairly reliable, the supplies that are further inland, like Lake Widenhoe, are increasingly proven to be less than reliable. So our largest water supplies in southeast Queensland are in the highest areas for evaporation and rainfall variability. I want to again point that down there very easily. Yes. Sorry. We're not in control of it. It's under a state government intervention.
01:16:00 It's under a state jurisdiction. Do we have other questions? Councillor Stewart? Mayor Stewart: Yes. Just on some of the ways we're looking as a council to, I guess, control and monitor our water short. I know that we're working with some groups such as Float and trialling and testing some of them on our water taps. Is that correct? And how's that going? Speaker 5: I actually have no awareness of that program, Councillor Stewart. So I don't know. That would be a good topic for an internal working group. How do we coordinate everything together? Yes. Mayor Stewart: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 7: So I'm going to move the motion. I do so because I really thank John for putting this report on the agenda. And he made the comment in terms of lack of coordination and the fact that we've gone through this structural reform after the millennial drought as part, as a result of the millennial drought.
01:17:00 And prior to the invention of the Queensland Bulk Water Authority, which we now call SEQ Water, our council was responsible for its own management of Lake McDonald, but supplemented from the scheme that comes out of the Barumba Dam. We were working really, as a council, like many, we're working very closely on the concept of total water cycle management, where we have to make sure that we have a water cycle where we link all aspects of dealing with the quantity of water flowing through our areas in an integrated and sustainable way. So we'd be linking the design of urban areas, water sensitive urban design, as well as trying to capture more water. So we, at one stage, were allowed by the state government to mandate, or to require, rain water tanks. And now the state government won't allow councils to mandate water tanks, which is the most, is the most important thing.
01:18:00 And as Sean has mentioned, we're dealing in an environment where there is an increasing disconnect from where the water falls to where the water is consumed. Speaker 7: And the South East Queensland water network, as I said, we can see that water that hits Cooroy Mountain both down and gets captured in Lake Macdonald can be then piped down to provide communities to the South West and also if our water sources are below what is required, we can benefit from water coming north as well. Cathy, if you could put up that image I sent you, the key concern from a water quantity perspective has been mentioned. And that is, what does the impact of a changing climate do to our water resources?
01:19:00 So here's two graphs that look at 100 megalitres flow. One at the top of Noosa River system at Tewa Creek and the other downstream at Crown Six Mile Creek. Now 100 megalitre flow is what you'd call a flush or a flushing flow. So for an ecology, that's a really important thing to have. So for example, that's what triggers the endangered memory of river kites during breeding season to go and find a mate. And what you see here is very, very clear trends. You can see in the 70s at Tewa Creek, the probability of exceeding 100 megalitres was just over 45%. Last year, it was just over 25%. If you look at Six Mile Creek in the 80s, it was 70%.
01:20:00 Last year, it was 30%. Now that won't just be all climate signal. It will also be the increased extraction of water from potable water supply. Now, it doesn't take a member of Mensa to work out, Houston, we've got a problem. And we mentioned that already there are more allocations out of the top of the Noosa River system and from the cooler water mass in terms of groundwater. Every time we have a drought, there are investigations about increasing the tape from the Noosa River system. It was assumed that if we increased the tape, it would be recharged by the next year. So, we are still seeing some of the water, the size of groundwater in the cooler sand mass. I'm led to understand this current THC research is suggesting now that it's probably not the
01:21:00 case. The majority of the flow in our river comes from surface water runoff and therefore more susceptible for bust and rumble to climate change. Speaker 7: So, we have to realise that while we have some benefits of being part of the SEQ water network, that without really really having to put in the effort to actually reduce the As we've heard recently, the potential to use pumped hydro and what that might mean to environmental flows downstream from the pumped hydro in the Upper Mary system. So to me, this is a really important initiative. I think it's going to be really important that we engage not just our local stakeholders, but also those in the Queensland Government,
01:22:00 such that we do try and get back to looking at this issue from a total water cycle management rather than from what's Council's business and what's NTQ Water's business and what's Unity Water's business is. There we go. Anyone else want to talk after? I just had my sermon from the mouth. Councillor Weadon. Speaker 6: You can call me Disciple Wegener. We have a limited water supply and it rains. It rains between here and Kingaroy, north of it and south. And that is our water supply coming out of the sky and it doesn't stick around all that long. I was just talking to a farmer yesterday who has a farm in Kandanga and he said his big dams were dry for three or four years. And he said he couldn't pump out because his, the person upstream and the person upstream was pumping water up to their dam. And so he said, yeah, Tom, as far as he can see over the years, there's definitely less water.
01:23:00 With that limited water supply that we have and we now share with Brisbane, we were at Unity Water and Joe and I were sitting, basically sitting next to each other. And as I said, I stood up and said, Tom Wegener, Noosa, it appears to me is that our water strategy moving forward, Unity Water strategy moving forward is that everybody has to use less water because there's many, many, many more people moving here than there's the same amount of water. So there's a little bit of water there, but there's a little bit that comes in from desalination. And they didn't answer the question except for the third person that got up, the young lady, and said, well, in your bag, you have a three minute timer. And this is how, this is our water strategy going forward. You hop in the shower, you put on the three minute, only three minutes in the shower. And so looking at your graph, that's the fact that the next time we meet, it will be a two minute timer. So that's our spotter strategy. And that's not real flash hot. It doesn't really give us a lot of confidence.
01:24:00 And then Joe just stood up and said, why, why, why don't you support tank water? And when they murmured around, they said, oh, mosquitoes. Mosquitoes, they breed mosquitoes, which is a malarkey as well. So I kind of feel that, again, the state is just leaving us, going to leave us with the burden of the next drought for us to have. And it's made back to us just like they did with COVID. And we, it's really our, it's in our mandate. Speaker 6: It's in our responsibility to advocate loud and hard for what water we can get for to maintain a water supply to Noosa. Yeah, thank you. That's it. So this is really, this is a hugely important problem. Speaker 6: And it seems as though it's just, it's going to be groundhog day forever more with more and more burdens just being thrown on the councils. Okay. Councillor Stewart-Ovindel, do you wish to talk to the motion?
01:25:00 Mayor Stewart: No, I concur with what Councillor Wegener said. Okay. Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a good initiative. I think, again, breaking down those silos, bringing everyone who's relevant to the table for the conversations, you know, access to potable water and water for, you know, agricultural purposes and, you know, storage of water are really important topics moving forward. I'm particularly interested in the Barooba dam raising and the hydroelectricity further upstream and how that will impact our waterways. I think that's really important. Also, the conversation around, you know, our own water catchment and what that might look forward with, you know, is there a possibility to put tanks on, you know, residential properties moving forward. I think it's wonderful. I think that we're really fortunate to have Sean Walsh in this space.
01:26:00 He's, you know, stepped up to the plate and prepared to take this on board so these conversations can be undertaken. I think it's really important. One final thing I'd like to say is I think education and communication back to community visitors and residents alike around, you know, how we're using our water, especially given how close we came to, you know, drought status in the last, you know, couple of months or so and until Unity Water came to have a briefing with us, I myself wasn't even aware how close we were to, you know, going into full drought lockdown. So I think these are really important conversations moving forward. And again, I think we're heading in the right direction. We're, you know, actively working towards good outcomes for this organisation and our community in terms of things that are affecting everyday basic life around water and housing. So thank you. Speaker 7: Okay.
01:27:00 So I'll go first. I think it's really important to understand that we will be in a situation where, you know, there's increasing conflict over water. There will be probably advocacy needed from our council. I haven't been able to get to the heart of the truth, but certainly on the grapevine, I'm hearing stories of our northern neighbour from prompting consideration of increased take of water from the Appaloosa River, which is concerning. But also, we have to be aware that if you live on the coastline, you have to be aware of the Speaker 7: fact that if you live on the coast east of Pinbella, you've actually prevented water going to where it's meant to go, and that is to the Great Sandy Straits and the Great Barrier Reef. So our water supply is all out of the Mary River Passage, where the most, you know, 60% of our population lives in the Noosa Shire Passage. So there's an extra driver for people to look at their own water-wise behaviours, because
01:28:00 really, everything we drink here will have a slight ecological impact on the health of those two internationally famous marine environments, which is, once again, Great Sandy Straits and the Great Barrier Reef. All are part of receiving water from the Mary River Passage. I'll put it to the motion. Those in favour? That's unanimous. So we move on to the next item, which is the next item. It's on the theme of Noosa River Algae Monitoring Update. Sorry. Councillor Stockwell. And what is this? Speaker 1: Excuse me. Speaker 7: Sorry. Councillor Stockwell. Who seconded that? I only have one. I'll move on again. Councillor Finzel, was it? Speaker 8: Yes. Thank you. Give me two seconds. Okay. Speaker 7: So, Sean, are you giving us the overview on this next report?
01:29:00 Yes, I am giving the overview. Thank you. Okay. This is, if you like, a bit of an education information piece, as well as next steps. Speaker 5: So, historically, Noosa had significant nuisance algae blooms in the early noughties, and then most recently in 2017. And one of the key things about this nuisance algae bloom is a lack of understanding about what is the algae? Where does it come from? What are the factors that actually causes it? And when you look at the significant amenity impacts upon Laguna Bay, to me, it is a significant, Speaker 5: you know, community risk that we should be on top of. I just want to commend Jan Madden, the environmental officer who's been leading the environmental monitoring program since 2017, because it has been really uncharted territory. Now, Jan Madden's on a plane to retire towards the middle of the financial year. And this report is part of her handover of intellectual property, so it's actually held in the corporate
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01:30:00 member in a really good way, and to help inform future decisions. So, you could say that the monitoring program is still inconclusive. Speaker 5: We're not seeing, you know, particular formations of the nuisance blooms over these last recent summers. We did have some significant growth at a particular time in spring when we had some dry, cool weather. And we're very interested or concerned that that might lead to a nuisance bloom, but luckily it didn't. But what we're proposing with this information is actually to call another technical experts workshop with experts in algae growth, experts in water modelling, and to figure out what Speaker 5: should be our next steps as an organisation. Is our monitoring good enough? What more should we do? Have a look at some theories such as Ekman Trends.
01:31:00 And we're going to be working with the City of Waikiki to try and get a better understanding Speaker 5: of this issue and, longer term, perhaps help prevent this happening again during drought conditions. Thank you. Speaker 6: Do we have any questions? Councillor Wegener. When you're doing all the water monitoring, it's a much, probably much, a part of the bigger program where you're measuring all sorts of other things as well. Is that the case? Yes. Yeah. So what, NICA have a grant process with council where they're undertaking citizen science, Speaker 5: but to supplement that, we undertake specific nutrient monitoring at the same locations that we're monitoring the algae growth. So NICA, when they're at the River Ranger, do this program with us at the start of the bigger program. But these results are particularly focused on the locations of the algae growth. Okay. Speaker 6: Thank you.
01:32:00 Thank you. Any further questions? Did someone want to bring the motion? Speaker 7: Did you hear me? Okay. Sorry. Speaker 6: You have dropped off our scanner there, Councillor Wegener. I don't understand. I got a call and I sent it to the voicemail. And now... Okay. See. I can still see it. Can you guys... Speaker 7: So you wish to second my motion. Is that what... There we go. So I'm going to... Could you put your hand up to second the motion, Councillor Wegener? Okay. Yeah. I won't book it.
01:33:00 It is as was introduced. Speaker 7: It's a good little bit of science that there's... Yeah. Come out of the way. It was... I'm sure all councils read the technical part of the report. Of course. I must admit, I've read a lot of those and I still struggle a bit. The complexity around algal blooms is an interesting one. And it's hard to take a management approach without knowing what the key... Yeah. ...driving factor is. But also what the key limiting factor is. So my involvement in these sort of things is mainly down to tungsten with bling beer, which it can generate a or whatever. But was it affected by catchment clearing, introducing more organic carbon into the water? So there... It is a... They tend to be complex situations that lead to blooms. But one thing we do know is the more nutrients in the water and the height of the water,
01:34:00 the more likely we are to have a bloom in general. So we know that the risk from algal blooms won't be going away anytime soon. Does anyone else wish to speak to the motion? Go ahead, Sarah. Councillor Pinto. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'd like to just thank the work that Jan Bennett has done. Yeah, I'm not a scientific person. I didn't like the photos that accompanied the report. But I think Jan has given valuable contribution to this organisation. And I just want to acknowledge that. Thank you. Good. Speaker 6: And Councillor Wegener. Wait. We note that in the report, it says that it was estimated by consultants that the impact of the bloom, the big bloom, to the tourism industry was a loss of tourism.
01:35:00 It was a loss of tourism revenue between four and a half and five and a half million, basically. So if we say a penny's worth of prevention is worth a pound worth of cure, well, why Speaker 6: didn't we take one penny of that and put $550,000 straight away, maybe from the tourist levy or something, into the continuing study of it? Because it's something that we really need to know about. And on a side note, everything's getting better. Everything's getting more expensive. I mean, my gosh. And your house, for example. You're building Brian. Everything. Speaker 7: And so it just seems as though we're going to really . There's no sense in making me feel bad about the cost of housing, Councillor. Speaker 6: Yeah. I think we're going to be looking at our budget to think, well, what can we buy for the same amount of rates that we chose, that we're charging? I think we're a real surprise.
01:36:00 And I'm looking at the rates coming up in the budget, and I'm kind of going, oh, my gosh. Brace yourself, because everything's gotten more expensive, and perhaps rates will, too, because in order to pay for what we've been expecting and what we've come to expect from New South. Speaker 7: Thank you. Mayor Stewart: Great report. Great report. Your technical stuff was a bit difficult to decipher, but, yeah, terrific report. Speaker 7: Yeah, that was good. And it doesn't hurt councillors to have a bit of science now and then. So I don't need to be quoted. I think it is an issue that, as councillor, when we can say that an ounce of prevention may save us a bit of money, it is. These blooms can have a lot of benefits. They can have both an economic impact, but can also have, you know, a recreational impact
01:37:00 in terms of our own locals' access to their favourite places to swim, and some varieties likely can have health effects on people as well. So it's important to understand. So all in favour? And that's unanimous. We move on to the next item, which is planning out the base and the site of our Delegate Authority for November and December 21. We do have a range of declarations of interest. Speaker 7: So we'll start with you, councillor Stewart. Mayor Stewart: I, councillor Stewart, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in this matter in relation to the application by Alton Constructions in item 31, MCU20-0150.1. I have a close personal friendship with Lee and Rob McCready, who are associated with the applicant. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will now leave the meeting room where the matter is considered and voted on. So I will turn my camera off, my computer on mute, and I'll mute myself, and I'll get
01:38:00 a text when ready to come back. Speaker 7: Is that correct, Mr Chair? That's opinion to be the protocol. Mayor Stewart: Thank you. I'll do that now. Speaker 7: And just to make things easier, I'll go to your councillor. Ms Finzel, next. Speaker 2: I, councillor Finzel, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in the matter in relation to the application by Alton Constructions, item 31, MCU20-0150.1. I can't read the number. The number that's on the screen. Lee McCready, who was, I'm having difficulty reading this here, was associated with the applicant during my campaign in 2020. Speaker 4: Can you see that? Actually, I can't see it. Speaker 2: Thank you. That's great. Lee McCready, who is associated with the applicant, was involved in a volunteer capacity
01:39:00 with my 2020 election campaign, where I was one of three candidates that ran as a group known as Future Noosa, which is no longer an entity. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will now leave the meeting room while the matter is considered and voted on. By the protocols given to us at the start of the meeting. Speaker 7: Thank you, Clare. Ms Finzel. You're welcome. And to Grant at the triumvirate. I also wish to clear a prescribed conflict of interest in this matter, as Suncoast building approvals are identified as the applicant in number 26 for the building application EAT 21-0035. I contacted Suncoast building approvals to undertake building certification for my project. I've proposed residence in Whatcom Point on the 29th of November 2021. This process is currently underway. The total fees associated with the completion of the certification and inspection rating
01:40:00 is $5,904, which includes Noosa Council plumbing and drainage fees. I just feel that interest has looked over a lot. As a result of my conflicts, I will now leave the meeting room while the meeting is considered and voted on. And I hope that the remaining committee don't argue with themselves. Thank you, Clare. Speaker 1: Councillor Wegener. Councillor Wegener. Yes. I need to take over now and appoint you as the chair of the committee. Would you like to do that? Speaker 6: Yeah. I'll take it up. Yep. Thank you. Would you, writer, carry forward, would you, in case you don't have to talk us through anything here, could just focus straight to questions.
01:41:00 And I have a question. On page 16. I have a question. The Convention of Noosa Council, item 69, number 2, the ending of Noosa party development, that's a huge development. Is that part of the Grass Tree Group development? The Grass Tree Court development? Speaker 8: So, I'm just looking at it, Councillor. You're looking at number 2, did you say? The Indigo? Yes. The Elysium development? Yes. So, is this application just in relation to a house within that development, not for the full development? Speaker 6: It doesn't say comprising 94, oh it's not more 94 houses, it's just a house within the 94 houses. Speaker 8: So Elysium Development has some particular requirements for houses, such as SEMBACs and the like, and where they're not compliant with both, they must lodge an application to vary those. Speaker 6: So just in relation to a house in Elysium.
01:42:00 And the next question, I saw that there are several properties going on agriculture land, number 13, 16, 29, and 21. Is there more housing going on in agriculture land? Because I've never noticed this before. Speaker 8: Okay, I'm just looking them up. Number 13. Okay, so the new planning scheme requires an approval for the new housing. So it's going to require any sense of land use to be in proximity to agricultural land. So that is resulting in a lot of applications coming into council, because there's a lot of mapped agricultural land in the Shire. It is a matter that we're talking to our strategic planning on, because we're finding it's a little bit onerous in some instances for the application to be made. Speaker 6: Okay. Are there, let's look at maybe number 29.
01:43:00 Okay. So there's a house, a secondary house going on to agricultural land. Are you familiar with this particular application? Speaker 8: Not that particular application, no. Not the application itself, but certainly where there's an existing house on the site, and the owners are looking to do additions to a house, and it's triggering a requirement on the planning scheme for an application. We have been issuing exemption certificates, so there's no longer a requirement to lodge that application, because it is overly onerous for residents to do so. Okay. Speaker 6: I'm just interested in how this is going under agriculture land.
01:44:00 I think that in the mayor, I'm sure it would echo that interest, and it seems there's more of a, we're just wondering if something has changed, or if there's more pressure for people to do it. You seem to say that it's a change in actually the planning scheme, or the planning procedures. Speaker 8: Yeah. There is a lot of land under the new scheme that's mapped as good agricultural land, and so for existing properties, if people wish to build a house on them, it's triggering an application. For that house to come in and apply under the scheme. Or similarly, if they're just doing additions to an existing house, it's triggering an application. So there is a lot of land in the Shire that is mapped as agricultural land. Speaker 6: Yeah. What is that parameter that shows all of this as it triggers an application? What sort of parameters are you looking at to decide whether to approve it or not? Speaker 8: Well, the intent is to ensure that it doesn't compromise the future use of the agricultural
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01:45:00 land. Okay. So it's looking at the layout of the lot, and the adjoining properties, and what activities are occurring. And locating it as best we can in a way that it won't compromise those future activities. But it is something we are flagged with our new scheme to have a look at. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 6: That's it for me with questions. Amelia or Joe, are you out there with any questions? Amelia, you start again next time. Speaker 4: Just a quick question. Just if you can clarify, Kerry, on page 84, application ID for operational work, Stockwell Development Group. The proposal is for some clearing of vegetation. Can you explain how much, and just some context around what's meant by clearing vegetation? Speaker 8: Can you just tell me the number?
01:46:00 Can you just tell me the number? Speaker 4: Number 46 on page 84. Thank you. It's a proposal for a minor change to the development application, roadwork, stormwater, and clearing of vegetation. My guess is all of the stormwater and roadworks. Yeah. Just like an explanation. Thanks. Yeah. Speaker 8: I'm aware of Stockwell's making a couple of minor changes to their operational works. So some additional changes. Yeah. This one in particular, I'd have to go back and actually look at the detail to give you the detail around that. I'd be looking forward to the plans to show you. But through the process of construction on site, you know, they find that some minor areas of clearing, they are just minor, require some further clearing in order to accommodate Speaker 4: road or infrastructure works. But happy to put on the plans and point out those areas of extensive clearing.
01:47:00 Speaker 8: Thank you, Kerry. Thank you. Thank you, Rich. Speaker 1: Councillor Wegener, can I just step in? We've just been- Okay. Speaker 6: Any more questions? Speaker 1: Councillor Wegener. Can you hear me? Speaker 6: Yes. Yep. Speaker 1: I sure can. So we've just looked at the standing orders for this meeting. And because we don't have a quorum, we need to defer this matter to the next meeting. So we'll defer to the general meeting. Speaker 4: Okay. Speaker 1: All in favor? Speaker 4: Okay. Okay. Speaker 1: So this can't be noted because we don't have a quorum. So we'll defer to the next meeting, which is the general meeting on Monday. And we'll take a decision then. But all your questions have been noted. Speaker 6: And now let's move to the next and reinstate Councillor Stockwell as the chair. Speaker 1: Okay. I'll just bring them back in.
01:49:00 Speaker 7: Are we confident we've got the other two councillors back? Speaker 1: No, not yet. Speaker 7: We've got Councillor Stewart now. Mayor Stewart: Thanks, Mr Chair. Speaker 7: Councillor Finzel. Speaker 1: Okay. There we go. So, Mr Chair, in line with our standing orders, unfortunately because we didn't have a quorum, we're going to have to defer this matter to the next meeting,
01:50:00 which is our general meeting on Monday. Speaker 7: There was a change in legislation that said that, I don't know whether that overrides the standing orders, but a change in legislation didn't allow for matters to be considered where otherwise it would be considered not to have a quorum as a result of conflicts of interest, but we can look at that before the next meeting. Yes. Okay. Okay. So, the next item, councillors, is a confidential session, Speaker 7: but it has been requested to be referred to the general committee meeting. I'm wondering if any councillors, desperately need to ask questions to go into the confidential session today or are happy to wait till Monday. Mayor Stewart: Happy to wait, Mr Chair, if that's easier. Yeah, happy to wait, Mr Chair. Speaker 7: Happy to wait, Mr Wegener. So, we'll have a motion that the matter be referred to the general committee due to the significance of the issue for further consideration.
01:51:00 And I'll move that. I'll second it. I don't think we need to have any discussion. All those in favour? Pass unanimously. And I believe that is the end of the meeting. We thank all the staff for their time as well as councillors. Meeting closed at 11.25. Speaker 8: Thank you.