Start of recording ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Wegener: Are in attendance Mayor Stewart, Councillor Finzel, Councillor Stockwell and no other councillors are in the audience, are present. Can I have a mover and a seconder for the confirmation of the Planning and Environment Committee meeting held on February? I'll move Mr. Chair. Councillor Stewart and Finzel. All in favour? Mayor Stewart: Got it. And Mr. Chair, we've just had the addition of Councillor Lorentson to the meeting. Councillor Wegener: We may note that Councillor Lorentson has entered the room. Do we have any presentations? No deputations? Speaker 4: No, no. Councillor Wegener: Okay, we have reports for consideration of the Committee. Number 1, MCU22-0208, application for a material change of use for a short-term accommodation at 132 Solar Road, Cooroy Mountain.
00:01:00 And can we have Patrick and Nadine, could you give us a little overview of the situation? Speaker 6: Yes, I can. Good morning. This is an application for material change of use for the owners seeking approval to utilise their existing house for short-term accommodation, mainly when they're not using it. There are no changes proposed to the existing dwelling. They're proposing to utilise four bedrooms and up to eight people. And the whole dwelling will be available for short-term use. It's been assessed against the code for the planning scheme and has been determined to fully comply with those requirements. I do note there is an error on the front. The land area is actually 4.6 hectares, not 4,000. So it is 4.6 hectares. This application would normally have been approved under delegation by Council staff.
00:02:00 However, due to the discussions that have been held by Council, we thought it was prudent to be transparent and put this matter up for discussion. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Nadine. Questions? Councillors? The ridiculous question to start with. It's right on the border of the Sunshine Coast Council, and I believe that it actually overlooks the Sunshine Coast Council. What would happen if they had very strict rules, which didn't conform to our rules, and they were very cracked down on short-term accommodation? Or if it was flipped and they had a potential party house right on their border, which would overlook and the sound would come into Noosashire? Speaker 6: This is a code-assessable application. We have to assess it under our planning scheme. It adjoins, yes, it does adjoin Sunshine Coast Council area, and really, there's nothing
00:03:00 there. We've assessed amenity, so we've determined under our planning scheme that it won't impact on an amenity of the area, and that includes the surrounding area in Noosa and also Sunshine Coast Council. Councillor Finzel: There is a site map on page eight. It might give you an idea of the geography. Councillor Wegener: Yeah. It is overlooking. Speaker 2: Anyway, yeah. So, I think that maybe to sort of indulge on what the Dean said, despite the fact that those properties are outside Noosa Council, there's still been, the amenity impacts have still been considered as part of this application to ensure. So, yeah, the fact that they're not in the Noosa Council Shire area hasn't excluded our contemplation of the amenity impacts. Councillor Wegener: And it's, if it was a rural residential application, that's when the land size would matter because
00:04:00 that's in one of the accepted codes where it has to be 4.4 hectares. Yes. And even that, that doesn't matter because it's in rural areas. So, it's well and truly within the planning scheme. Speaker 6: That's correct. Yes. It fully complies with the scheme provisions. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Any other questions? Amelia, your hand raised. Councillor Lorentson: So, my Dean, due to the significance of the matter and given that we've just put out a housing needs assessment, we've got a narrow minute on a housing crisis, we've just gone to a summit, is that the reason that you've now brought the application to Council for Councils to make a decision on it? Speaker 6: We wanted Council to make a decision on it. We just wanted Council to be aware that these are the types of applications we are receiving and yes, we are fully aware of Council's housing crisis and we just wanted Council to be aware
00:05:00 of these types of applications. And also, this is a consistent application. The planning scheme supports this type of communication on this location, on this site. Councillor Lorentson: If this application was refused, can the application be reviewed? Speaker 6: I understand it is their holiday premise, so it's supposed to be their principal place of residence to be able to undertake the four times a year and 60 days. Councillor Lorentson: So as an investment property, it actually doesn't have those rights to a short-term let for 60 days and four times a year. So, okay, thank you. Councillor Wegener: Take a note that Councillor Wilkie has entered the room. Councillor, do you have a... Frank, do you have any questions? No, thank you. Would anybody like to move?
00:06:00 Councillor Finzel: Given the proposal has been reviewed against the accommodation code and is consistent with the code's requirements, can you just talk to us a bit about the conditions that have been recommended to ensure amenity and the registered complaints overall? How is this going to be used? Speaker 2: So we have a range of conditions that we will utilise for short-term accommodation approvals and they're really designed to protect the amenity of the surrounding area and that will include the hours which outdoor areas can be used. It will also include the requirement for, you know, a code of conduct to get it into. A contact person to be nominated, standard conditions that are similar to the ones that are within the local law approval as well, that are separate to local law approval, and they certainly give us an opportunity to regulate the property once it's reached.
00:07:00 Speaker 6: So there's also a condition limiting the number of bedrooms, so four bedrooms and eight people, and there are also, there's a condition about outdoor areas, including balconies, textiles and the like, must not be used after 10pm each night. And there's also to be done in the evening. And there's the complaints register that we've talked about as well. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Are you confident that we're moving forward that the local rules, in conjunction with the complaint register, will help minimise concerns for community around potential problems? You can always find... Speaker 2: I'm certainly finding that the hotline gives the opportunity for local residents to alert. The hotline that there is a problem occurring at the property and for that hotline to contact the local authorities. So if there's a problem, you can contact the contact person and for it to be resolved in an efficient manner. The data that comes through the hotline is also passed on to Council, so we can identify
00:08:00 if there's a problem at the property and take appropriate action under the local law, and also under the planning approval if required. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: And another question. Have you had any correspondence from neighbours or community with complaints around this matter? Speaker 6: There was one... Yes. There was a letter that we received in terms of...regarding this application. Again, noting it's a code accessible application, and that letter raised concerns about traffic and utilising the road. Councillor Finzel: Thank you very much. Thank you. And are we satisfied that the President's correspondence has been answered adequately? Speaker 6: I think the road is appropriate for the scale of the use, noting that it is an existing dwelling and... I think the road is appropriate for the scale of the use, noting that it is an existing This is a large dwelling, existing dwelling, and I think the road standard is sufficient to cater for the traffic that would be generated by this use.
00:09:00 Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Amelia? Oh, sorry, sorry, Council Stockwell? Councillor Wilkie: Yeah, mine's out of interest. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: It probably goes down on record as being the most unusual shape locked in the Shire. The only reason I can assume that they did it that way, is it a creek at the back? The back, it doesn't show up as a creek on our overlay, but did you get down the back and see if there's any values there that we should be thinking about when conditioning a commercial use of the block? Speaker 6: No, I didn't, sorry. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Can't really do anything because it's not shown as a class one, but I presume they've sort of done that to try and maybe get a dam size or something. Councillor Wegener: Okay, Councillor Loringston? Councillor Lorentson: Hi, Marty. Amenity, condition six that we found. Outdoor areas, including balconies, decks, pools and the like, must not be used after 10pm. All the other applications that have come before us, and correct me if I'm wrong, we
00:10:00 stipulated a 9pm outdoor area use. Why 10pm with this application? Speaker 6: I think for the rural residential. Sorry? Councillor Lorentson: The residential. Speaker 6: So the smaller lots, the more intensive rural residential areas, which are on 9pm. Okay. And the rural areas we've been providing at a 10pm curfew. Speaker 2: I think it's a case by case basis as well, Amelia. There was the first property that went through the rural zone was 10pm, and we looked at the context of the surrounding area. I think recently there was one that we had at the last round of meetings where that pool was close to the property boundary on the rural residential lot, and on that one we actually said 9pm because we wanted to ensure the amenity was preserved for the joint property. So the high density residential areas, or even low density residential areas, and the rural and rural residential, we'll look at 10pm as a benchmark, but it may come back to 9pm
00:11:00 depending on the circumstance. Councillor Lorentson: So consideration is given to proximity to the neighbouring property. Do we also look at acoustics? So if you're perched on top of a hill, I know living in areas like this that sound like trowels. So consideration given to proximity to the neighbouring property. Speaker 2: Well, it's given as much as we can to the specifics of the site without requiring an acoustic report for this type of use. Quite challenging, I think, to get an acoustic report to address that kind of noise on this use. But we'll look at, I think in this circumstance, it's about 150 metres to the nearest house. So we're confident that the amenity will be preserved. I mean, if someone in any house, depending on its location, puts the music up to 110, it will have an impact. But the other conditions talked about, there being projection of amenity as well. Speaker 4: Through the Chair, councillors, just reminding, this is a code-accessible application.
00:12:00 Our ability to be able to work through a more broad-up process is limited. It is code-accessible. So those elements, while yes, in other applications, absolutely, we would look at that type of, that type of condition or understanding of impacts, code-accessible doesn't allow us to be able to go to that extent. Councillor Lorentson: But when we're addressing amenity issues and we're conditioning those impacts, would you not be considering this? Speaker 4: Through the Chair, council, I'm not here to debate you. I'm just here to... Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm going to move the motion. I think it's getting into inappropriate comments from the gallery. So I'm moving the motion. Councillor Wegener: Do you have a seconder? I'll second it. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: As was discussed in the new meeting, where all the questions were asked previously, this is a code-accessible application that complies under the Act. We are very clear on what we must do, and that Act says, if it complies with all the
00:13:00 relevant benchmarks, council must approve. There is no leeway. We should go with the staff recommendation. Councillor Wegener: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Any other comments? Yeah. Councillor Wegener: We'll put it to a vote. All in favor? It's unanimous. Okay. We're on to item two. Planning and Environment Court Appeal Number D14 of 2023-Application for a Multiple Dwelling, 20 Units, and Operational Works Clearing of D14. Alleducation at 1011C, Church Street, Pomona. And we have Patrick at the table to talk us through the appeal. Thank you. Speaker 2: So this report advises that an appeal has been lodged against the refusal that was issued on the delegation for the application for 20 dwelling units and the operational works
00:14:00 application for the removal of vegetation at the site at 11 Church Street, 11C Church Street, in Pomona. The application was refused due to non-compliance for a range of issues including stormwater and drainage, excessive cut and fill, environmental impacts and the unsatisfactory built form. It's considered that it's in order for council to defend the support. Mayor Stewart: I'll move staff recommendation. Councillor Wegener: Councilor Stewart, Councilor Finzel. Do you have any questions? Councilor Wilkie or Lawrenson? No? Should we put it to a vote? All in favor? It's unanimous. Thank you very much. We're on to number three.
15 minutes in ¶
00:15:00 Short stay, letting or home posted accommodation, local law, 12 month review. And we've been looking forward to this. And Anita has come to the table along with Patrick. Can you walk us through this? Speaker 1: Sure. The purpose of this report is to report back on council's resolution to undertake a 12 month review of the local law. As part of the review, we undertook consultation. We made multi-interest stakeholder group which had representation from a variety of STA industry stakeholders as well as residents and community groups. It was indicated through that consultation that implementation of the local law had been well received by both the industry and resident community groups. We received also a greater than expected number of applications in the first 12 months. Probably double what we were expecting.
00:16:00 Partly because of the fee waiver period of five months and also because of the response of the industry that they've come forward voluntarily. So in terms of our review and the feedback from the stakeholders, we're not proposing to amend the local law. But we are looking at making changes outside of the local law to frameworks that support the implementation of that. And also increase our resources to support dealing with the backlog of applications as well as undertaking proactive compliance. We're also looking at introducing a, A annual renewal fee which was previously deferred by Council. And that will, Would commence as of the 30th of June this year. So the recommendation to Council
00:17:00 is that we undertake the range of actions which have been identified in the report. We increase the resources to include two additional local law assessment and compliance offices on a temporary basis. As mentioned, to assess the backlog of applications and proactively undertake compliance and that we commence compliance and enforcement action on properties operating short term accommodation or home hosted accommodation without an approval or not displaying an approval sign where they've gotten approval and that the introduction of the annual renewal fee commenced 30th of June with a sliding scale of fees depending on the dwelling type and extent of use. So the detached house is at a rate of $400 annually. A detached house which is limited to the use of a principal place of residence for a maximum of four times and a maximum of 60 days, $100.
00:18:00 The use of a unit for short term accommodation on an ongoing basis, $200. Where a unit is someone's principal place of residence and used four times and a maximum of 60 days, $100. And home hosted accommodation. We also recommend that we continue to monitor the implementation of the local law and just continue to make ongoing improvements to systems and processes where required and that we'll continue to liaise with the multi-interest stakeholder group. Councillor Wegener: Okay, well there's heaps to talk about here. I'd like to open questions for councillors. Mayor Stewart: The report. Thank you. It was great. What you're suggesting implementations we're going to make, and we've sat in meetings before with residents, in your opinion, does that meet, of us, closed doors for us and our camera, the changes and the additions, does that meet the concerns that some of the residents had?
00:19:00 Speaker 1: Yes, particularly the proactive compliance. So taking action on properties that aren't, who are operating without an approval, and undertaking enforcement action on properties who are operating with an approval and without a sign, following up more readily on complaints that haven't been dealt with appropriately through the complaints hotline and have been elevated to council. So all of that proactive enforcement and compliance action will continue to implement and we're going to continue to do that. We're going to continue to implement the local law at its highest level and deal with issues that we've received from the residents and community. Mayor Stewart: Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Questions? So one thing that we saw as this was rolling through was, you know, you had vacancies and you needed more people at times downstairs in the department, and I think that actually bogged down the process somewhat because you were missing an officer, and I think that's something that we're going to have to deal with as we go through this process.
00:20:00 Very important, one of the team of five was missing for quite some time, did you actually ever find a replacement to fill that position? Speaker 1: So the scale of applications was, as I said, probably double what we were expecting in the first 12 months, so that was one factor, and then there has been issues around retention of staff, but Patrick might want to elaborate on that. Speaker 2: Well, as of Friday last week, we're operating at a full complement of staff. Unfortunately, over the weekend, we've had a resignation, and not necessarily unforeseen, there was just personal circumstances with that officer in terms of where they were going to live. So they've made that decision over the weekend and have resigned, but they did it immediately. So at this point in time, there is an officer that we're down, but having had conversations with the team, we're confident that we continue to offer the service that's required.
00:21:00 And we'll see what happens. So it's important that we go through that position as soon as we can. Speaker 1: I might just add that the report also recommends that we increase the complement to the staff by two additional compliance assessment officers to deal with that backlog on a temporary basis and also be more proactive in the compliance and enforcement area. Councillor Wegener: Now, this started a year ago, and for a bunch of the community, it probably seems like an eternity. But for you... This was all new legislation, new local laws, new enforcement, new jobs for new staff. Like, it must have just been like a rolling thing through the year, moving quickly down the stairs. Speaker 1: Yes, well, it's a whole new area of business and regulation for Council.
00:22:00 You know, the first 24-7 hotline Council's ever had to deal with customer complaints. It's a whole new regulatory framework that is the first for Queensland. In terms of, you know, a local law being introduced to deal with this matter. So it was all new learnings and setting up systems, processes, a team, training the team. There was a lot involved in getting it up and running. But we've done it successfully. Speaker 2: I think it's a credit to the team, the volume of applications that they've been able to approve and work through. We certainly realise that there is a backlog that we will continue to work with. With any new, any new process. There's always some learning and requirement. And the team's been really cognisant of that as well and trying to improve and taking the feedback from the community as to what's working and what's not working and trying to make things better. Councillor Wegener: Yeah, I just think that that's something good to really look at, as us councillors, to really look at how the system works and how it's been implemented, the trials and tribulations
00:23:00 that are now going forward. And one thing that it seemed at the beginning, we thought it was going to be really hard in the beginning to get the applicants and to get a handful through the door where instead there was a landslide. And actually the hard part, the sticky end is now. And so we had it sort of backwards from our anticipation. Yeah. Mayor Stewart: So it was 2,510, wasn't it, the applicants in the last 12 months? Speaker 1: About 2,700-odd applications. Yeah. We have a backlog of around 600 that still need to be assessed. But yeah, that was given, we're expecting around 4,000. That was around 68% of applications came in in the first 12 months, which was much higher than expected. Mayor Stewart: And on part with Mornington. It took about three years to get to that number. Speaker 1: Thereabouts. That's correct. And Mornington Peninsula are still implementing theirs and chasing properties that haven't read through. They've got a registration process, haven't registered.
00:24:00 So yeah, we're ahead of that game. Mayor Stewart: And other, you said first in Queensland to do this local law. Other Queensland councils are doing this now? Speaker 1: I believe so. Some are following and have our path and have consulted with us on how we've done it. Yeah. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: So the two sides of the coins are, one, that we aren't doing anything. And the other side of the coin is we're actually really cutting edge here and leading Queensland for sure. For Queensland. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. The first draft of the local law, it said the report was initially prepared and publicly notified back in 2019. And we have had COVID and significant impacts throughout that period. I'd like to maybe ask a question about the ongoing fees and charges. And it was suggested in the previous. I don't know if you've heard of it. It was suggested that the fees and charges should be funded by the resident community feedback. Can you just talk a little bit about their recommendation that the complaints hotline
00:25:00 should be funded not through, through fees and charges and not subsidised by the rate payments. Has that influenced the decision around the costs of the rates for the high cost accommodation? Speaker 1: Yes. So it was clear from the community resident group that the implementation of the local law and the ongoing compliance. And the team and the resources required to fund the hotline, that it be funded entirely by the short stay industry, short term accommodation industry and not by rate payers through the use of application fees, which we already have in place, but ongoing annual renewal fees. So it be on a cost recovery basis. Yeah. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. And Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you, Mr. Chair. My only request is that when the committee's finished discussing this item, if they would be kind enough to refer it to the general committee, please.
00:26:00 Councillor Wegener: Yes. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, I think the reason for the significance of the matter. Councillor Wilkie: Council Jurisdicts emailed the committee requesting a move due to the significance of the issue, and I agree with that. Councillor Wegener: Okay. Again, I love talking about this in the committee meeting because we're all talking about this. The general's going to be a very, very heavy meeting. So perhaps if anybody needs to say something of incredible significance in their speech, make it now. I would just like to say thank you very much for this team. I think it's been an enormous effort. And I'll move that this be sent to general meeting. Seconds? Councilor Lipton will second that. Before we close, anybody want to say anything more? Okay. Okay. All in favor? Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Patrick.
00:27:00 Councillor Wegener: Okay. Now we're off to number four. Lucid Council Threatened Bonner Recovery Roadmap. And we have, we have David O'Gorman and Rebecca Lipton in the room to talk us through this. Welcome to you. Okay. Councillor Wegener: Are we ready? Fantastic report. Hi, all. Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'm just going to hear about the Threatened Bonner Recovery Roadmap. You may have recalled back in April 2022, I commenced the development of the, of the roadmap. Okay. Um, and that was all in response to the nursery environment strategy, specifically commitment 1.3, uh, which is to improve long-term survival of threatened species and
00:28:00 ecological communities. Uh, therefore the roadmap has been developed specifically to deliver our commitments under the nursery environment strategy. And obviously it has formed the scope of the document and the process moving forward. Um, being new to council at the time, uh, I started in March 2022, so fresh into it and straight on the road. Um, the first, um, initial goal for me was to do a comprehensive desktop, desktop review of, um, obviously all the other work that has been done in the past regarding biodiversity, fauna, uh, management recommendations across the Shire. Uh, from that process, uh, basically shortlisted 29 species of conservation significance that occur across the Noosa Shire, uh, specifically fauna, not flora. Uh. I actually took the draft roadmap to Council and it was endorsed for public consultation in May 2022.
00:29:00 From that process there, I formed an expert panel, which consisted of 10 organisation members, including community conservation groups, examples of Mary River Catchment Coordination Group, NICA, etc. Also involved some expert wildlife consultants as well, and academics and whatnot. So yeah, 10 stakeholders contributed to an expert panel who jointly nominated the Noosa 9 that we're discussing today. That was achieved through the completion of a decision matrix. So basically, during the desktop review process, I generated a decision tool which enabled the panel members to actually score the species against the other species. And that was done through the process of creating processes across the Shire. So they could be things like climate change, development, domestic animals, etc. So that occurred, I guess, over the second half of 2022.
30 minutes in ¶
00:30:00 And since then, we have jointly determined the Noosa 9 moving forward under the roadmap. The species nominated are the Giant Barred Frog, the Glossy Black Cockatoo, the Greater Glider, the Koala, the Tusk Frog, the Mary River Turtle, the group of Acid Frogs, the Water Mouse, and the Loggerhead Turtle. Now, those species aren't in prioritisation order. They were just simply the species that were nominated that were also grouped according to their key habitat types. So I'll take a little step back there. When I shortlisted the species, the 29 species, I also grouped them into their key habitats as well. So that ensured that when the stakeholders, the expert panel nominated the species, we were ensuring that we were getting a representative spread of the species across the different habitat types of the Noosa Shire. The reason for that was to ensure that, you know, moving forward,
00:31:00 our resources are being attributed to not just one ecosystem, but across the whole Shire. And that also complements other environmental strategies under the environment strategy. So since the community consultation process was completed, I've finalised the roadmap. And that has resulted in sea turtles being nominated for the 23-24 management priority moving forward. So this decision was made because of, firstly, the conservation status of the species. So loggerhead turtles are classified as endangered. And also, as a lot of people are aware, they've obviously faced a lot of threats over the last couple of years with flooding and whatnot. So we are seeing a decrease in nesting activity along the beaches and an increased occurrence of compromised turtles washing up as well. We also need to consider, I guess, you know, in terms of implementation of the Noosa 9 moving forward, is that we need to make sure that we are complementing other activities undertaken by Council in that space.
00:32:00 And we also need to make sure that we're accessing the, you know, available funding streams from grants, from DDS and whatnot. So that all, I guess, combined, and we nominated sea turtles under those, those, those precedents, I guess. Therefore, we have also put in funding bids for sea turtle recovery over the 23-24 environmental services. And basically moving forward with actually implementing the roadmap, well, the Noosa environment strategy basically expires or needs to be updated in 2029. So we are developing a stage approach where we will annually assess which species we will prioritise for implementation. And as I said, that will purely be based on the opportunities that exist for those species, the conservation status of the species, and what other projects Council are delivering in that, in that financial year.
00:33:00 The other thing I'd like to talk to you today is also the opportunity to co-benefit other species. So as I said, we have nominated nine species and specifically it was nine under the Noosa environment strategy. But there are obvious opportunities where we can actually create benefits for species that are very closely linked to the Noosa 9. So for example, loggerhead turtles was nominated as a species for 23-24. However, obviously if you're targeting loggerhead turtles in a recovery action plan, you're going to be targeting green turtles as well, which also nest on our beaches. So there's that opportunity to overlap into different species that are closely related to. And obviously, you know, a small bank for bark, like grant streams, external funding, obviously is released and aligns with, you know, more than one species. But generally there's opportunities for multiple species that we're targeting in that area.
00:34:00 The same thing can be said for the Mary River Cod. So at the moment, we narrowly nominated the Mary River Turtle. However, obviously Mary River Cod, Mary River Turtles, sharing very similar habitats and funding streams, we're definitely looking to do joint management plans, recovery action plans for both of those species, rather than just concentrating on the one when it's just probably not the most efficient way to go about things. So certainly opportunities for there. But as I said, the Noosa 9 as it stands, nine species under the Noosa Environment Strategy. And obviously that reflects resources that were, you know, attributed to this over the next, for the remainder of the Noosa Environment Strategy. So basically, the reason I put this up to Council is for the recommendation that the Noosa Threatened Pawn Recovery Roadmap is in, is approved for implementation. As I said, we've undertaken the consultation process. The roadmap has been finalised.
00:35:00 We're at the implementation phase now. So that's why it's a council. So I'm hoping to achieve that here today. And then once we've done that, moving forward over the next financial year, obviously redistributing the results and the final roadmap to all of the 10 stakeholders that have evolved in the process. Combining that with obviously a wider community advertisement program as well to push the Noosa councillors delivering their objectives under the Noosa Environment Strategy. For Threatened Pawn Recovery. And that will lead nicely into a sea turtle recovery action plan that will be developed prior to the nesting season commencing in November 2023. So I think that sums it up. But yeah, if you've got any questions, we'll be happy to field them. Councillor Wegener: Another question. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: That was comprehensive. Thank you. I'm interested in your expert panel of your 10 stakeholders. Mm-hmm. Can you just talk to me a bit about that?
00:36:00 Some people in the community might have, you know, other ideas. And I think that some expertise has been missed out. There might be some gaps in the... Yeah. ...in your own map. Yeah. So can you just talk to us a little bit about that expertise? Speaker 3: I sure can. Just give me two seconds. So basically, I made sure that we had an even spread of participants within the expert panels. As I said, 10 organisations or individuals, depending on the make-up, were invited. Two of those representatives were from Noosa Council. Obviously, that's important because we are making sure that we're delivering this under the Noosa Environment Strategy. Then we had the community conservation groups, so groups like Mary River Caption and Coordination Group, NICA. We had Noosa Biosphere. We had... Noosa District and Landcare. So we had a bit of a spread there. And then I also engaged three independent wildlife consultants to complete the decision
00:37:00 matrix. So making sure we're just getting that even spread so we're not introducing too much bias into the decision process. And I think that's the fairest and, you know, I guess, most robust way to go about that process. So I do believe we've got an even spread amongst all the different stakeholders. And we had academics in there as well. So we're really trying to put it out to everyone. And the benefit of that too, in that planning stage, is obviously a lot of connections have been made to those groups who will be instrumental in the implementation phase of the roadmap as well. And that was important on a personal level for me, just joining Council as well to make sure that I've developed those connections and increased the effectiveness of the implementation of the board. Councillor Finzel: And through that process, did you get a lot of engagement from community? Just writing and filing emails? Speaker 3: No, it was a targeted, yeah, sorry, it was a targeted campaign, yeah, for sure. So it was distributed to those key community conservation groups.
00:38:00 And then obviously the members within those groups were able to contribute to the decision process. And, you know, examples are that I held, you know, a meeting with probably 20 or 30 members from NICA and we talked through the process and we completed the decision matrix together. And, yeah, so it was quite, I guess, yeah, quite open to anyone that was associated within those groups. And generally they're the people that have the knowledge and interest in the environment to adequately contribute as well. Councillor Finzel: So just moving forward, because we're looking at Council, you know, engaging really good community, you know, engagement and how we can do that better. And we're always looking for continuous improvement around that. So moving forward, people outside your targeted groups that you've engaged, which sounds fantastic, where's the broader opportunity for people in community who, you know, love the environment,
00:39:00 have a keen interest in what's happening? Where do you physically and physically think they have opportunity to put their voice to this? Speaker 3: Well, I think if we take it into two steps, obviously we had the development of the roadmap. As I said, I really feel that that required people with a scientific background to decide those species. But moving forward into the implementation phase, well, you know, a lot of those different groups are going to be very instrumental depending on what species we're looking at. So, for example, with sea turtles, Glamour North Shore Coast Care will be a key organisation that we'll be liaising with and developing the recovery action plan with. So I think if we combine our overall community engagement process. And then we can direct people to, you know, if they are interested in this area that can, you know, support Glamour North Shore Coast Care, get involved and maybe go through that avenue. Councillor Finzel: Oh, that's great. So there's opportunity. Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. I think it'll be more about, yeah, directing the general public towards those groups that
00:40:00 are going to be instrumental for that species. I think it's probably the only way that it can really be done. And it does support those groups as well. So they'll, you know, potentially get new members from this process and more support and more community awareness. Speaker 7: It's probably a good opportunity for us to spruik our environment grants as well that are open for proposals to be submitted. So that's on our project page at the moment. And we really welcome any of the community groups to come forward with ideas. And as David said, it's that partnership approach that will make this successful to work hand in hand with individuals and groups to be able to do the species recovery on the ground will be really beneficial. So those grants are open until the 12th of April. So yeah, welcome anyone to come in and have a chat about what ideas they might have. So yeah, that's a great opportunity for us. Speaker 3: Absolutely. And it's probably important to remember too that, you know, it's not like Council isn't doing anything for these species already.
00:41:00 Like sea turtles, we've done a lot of work over the last 12 months with them. But, you know, actually documenting and consolidating all of those management actions, what we're doing, what we're doing next. We don't have that structure at the moment. And that's the idea of this roadmap. You know, we're not going to be reinventing the wheel in terms of creating all these new management plans for species. It's consolidating what has already been done, what needs to be done, and having that clear direction for Council that we can communicate to the wider community. Yeah. I think that's the key here. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Speaker 3: That sounds good. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Councillor Stockwell. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. So David, thanks for that. It's a really robust process. And as you know, I have a slightly different opinion on the outcomes of your process. And I've been involved in the recovery of the Mary River Cod and the Mary River Turtle for nearly 30 years. And the key concern is that we've chosen a species, because it scored two points higher, that is still yet unknown habitat within the Shire. So it may be we don't have Mary River Turtle habitat in Noosa Shire at all.
00:42:00 In 1994, I've never seen anything in our catchment that looks like a nesting bank for a Mary River Turtle. And that includes researchers who have looked at a lot of creeks around the place. Compared to Mary River Cod, which scored a couple of points lower, which we know has historic and current habitat throughout the Six Mile Creek catchment. So I know you said we do recovery plans with those species jointly. I think we need to change the nine, or conclude nine and a half, is that to me, the Mary River Cod is a far more appropriate species than the turtle. Because of... Yeah. It's in-stream habitat is more representative of a range of freshwater aquatic species, where when you're looking at the turtle, one of the key recovery actions is actually to try and get better outcomes from the nesting banks. So reducing predation, protecting the eggs, even relocating eggs if there's floods.
00:43:00 Similar to what you would be looking for down on the coast. Their fecundity is pretty low, so yes, the in-stream habitat requirements do affect the species recovery. The Cod, it has a high range of things. So we know, for example, a couple of weekends ago, we had the conditions where we could have had fish deaths. And it's purely related to the sort of climate we're seeing now that's much more like a dry tropics, where we have these long dry periods through February, historically dissolved oxygen. So to me, the Cod, because it's much better indicator of climate-induced, it's much better indicator of climate-induced changes within our system. It's also linked to the... Please continue. Yeah, thanks. Thanks to the water use and the environmental flows, which is a major issue for the Six Mile Creek, because we haven't got any environmental flow potential from the Six Mile Creek Dam.
00:44:00 And I just think we need to have a think about that. I think I would be moving a change, but I would probably do that in general committee, so others have the opportunity to have a think about that. Yeah, I'm quite happy if it's Noosa nine and a half. So that the... Like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts, that we've got the Cod and then part of that is the Mary River Turtle. I know the catchment committee is keen to do a survey to see if we do have Mary River Cod, but it'd be unusual to have a species that has an unknown distribution in the Shire as one of the top nine. Yeah. So to me... I suppose I should have a question. That's what we're talking about. I'm talking... Your thoughts on that. How's that? I got to a question, Councillor Finzel. No. Speaker 3: No, look, as discussed, I do totally agree with your comments. We did, in the desktop review process, exclude some species from the roadmap, and they were species that we were pretty sure weren't occurring within the Noosa region.
45 minutes in ¶
00:45:00 But after talking with RMCCC and other groups, it was a high possibility in their opinion that Mary River Turtle was within the catchment, and given, you know, I guess the species conservation status as well, it's important that we do find out if they were within particularly the Six Mile Creek. So that's why it was included in the shortlisted species. I was expecting that Mary River Cod would get up over Mary River Turtle. But again, as I said, we did break the species in the shortlisted species. We did get the species down into their key habitat types, and we made sure that we selected, you know, a proportionally representative species from each of those key habitat types. As I said, I was surprised Mary River Cod didn't come up. However, as I said, I think at the end of the day, to keep that uniform and fair approach, we need to maintain the Mary River Turtle in the Noosa 9, given the stakeholder involvement in the process. But in terms of targeting the Mary River Cod, more than happy to look at how we can do
00:46:00 that. The same thing stands for migratory shorebirds as well, for example. They weren't included in the Shrove Map because specifically under the Noosa Environment Strategy, we needed to have species that bred within the area so we could actually see if Noosa Council and Noosa Council's investment was having an impact on the species positively. If the species doesn't breed here like migratory shorebirds, it's very difficult to track our management actions in terms of progress. So there are other species that this has missed because of how the Noosa Environment Strategy was developed, I guess. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We didn't have to worry about whether it's 9 or 10. Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I'll be honest with you. In the Noosa Environment Strategy, it was six to eight species was what was specified. I went with nine to follow on from Tyron's work back in 2017, 2018. And that was done to maintain, you know, there is some media work that's certainly done that with the wider community. So I thought maintaining that was important.
00:47:00 I have no problem with going to 10 species as long as we've got the adequate funding and staffing to deliver that. At the moment, you know, we probably need to work on that side of things, particularly, you know, we've got a lot of work to do. You know, we've got a lot on environmental services, but as I said, more than happy to include the Mary River Cod as an additional species, or as I said, combine it with the Mary River Turtle. But in terms of what's the best approach, well, we haven't actually looked at that yet. But yeah, super open to that. And I think it's a very valid point. So in support from Council, I'd be more than happy to do that. But yeah, I think it's very important. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I've got another question. I like the idea of focusing on the green turtle. I know this is looking at budget for next year. One of the key impacts on the turtle is the next high tide in the next full moon around Easter time when we have absolute idiots who drive up the beach over the nesting eggs.
00:48:00 Have we considered what the regulatory requirements are to actually protect the species on the national shore? Is that part of that recovery? Or are we intending to look at regulatory options? Speaker 3: For sure. Yeah, definitely. So regulatory wise, very difficult to control that. However, what we have done within the last couple of weeks is I've actually met with Cooroola Coast Care, UPWS, Coorong North Shore Coast Care. And we're looking to do a targeted education campaign across not just people who drive along the North Shore section, but camp up at Double Long Point and the North Shore section as well. And seeing how we can particularly over that breeding season, combining with the school holidays, how we can drive an education campaign towards the users of that area to try to not just, you know, protect nesting turtles, but also, you know, people who do find turtles. The problem we have up there is the data as well. So we don't know where the turtles are laying because physically we can't be up there checking
00:49:00 every day. So it's enabling those community members to actually know how to report a turtle nesting site. And then we can obviously look to manage it more appropriately, like we do on the eastern beaches. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And recently the Tewant Beach Association has lobbied both state and council in regard to a suggestion, which I think is the appropriate regulatory response, which is to stop cars two hours either side of high tide. Would that be a benefit to the conservation of green turtles, do you think? Speaker 3: Of course it would be. Because it would stop people from driving on the dunes. However, yeah, it's out of my scope to understand how we could enforce that. I think it would be extremely difficult. And I think short term, it's more about education and awareness. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: It is a big challenge, but one we should take on, in my opinion. Speaker 3: Yeah. It's tricky, isn't it? Because it's like, you know, then you, you know, that area is also zoned as a recreational zone along the beach.
00:50:00 It's different than, you know, pure national park status. So it is designated as a recreational area. And if you take that right away from people, well, I'm not sure if that's, you know, if that's reasonable. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. I think, I think from memory it's, it's considered a road. Yeah. And there may be provisions under limited access roads. Yeah. Yeah. It's also, obviously, the only beach in Queensland where you can get a permit to drive on for one day. Speaker 3: Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I fully understand what you're saying. And it's not that I don't agree with you, but I really think that community education Deputy Mayor Stockwell: is the only way we can really tackle it, to be honest, at this point. Thank you. That's my only questions. Councillor Finzel: So, I just wanted to ask you about the Mary River Cod. In the chart here, you've got, even though it was endangered, that was fish and rays. You've got non-applicable. So, you've told us today you've got quite a robust process around your panel that you engaged. Do we have enough time between this meeting and that meeting to actually get enough feedback
00:51:00 around the Mary River Cod in relation to material? And what does non-applicable mean in that column? Speaker 3: I'm sorry. I think I know exactly what you're talking about. Where have we got here? Councillor Finzel: Yeah. So, you've got it listed as non-applicable. Speaker 3: Ah, cool. Yeah. No worries. So, basically, species are classified either under the EPBC Act or the National Conservation Act in terms of their conservation status. So, a species can be classified as non-applicable under the EPBC Act or the National Conservation Act under Commonwealth legislation, but it can actually not be, you know, under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act. It can not be classified as endangered or under threat. So, how we went about with the roadmap is that we chose... So, for each species, we just went with the default highest conservation advice species.
00:52:00 So, if a species was listed as endangered under Commonwealth legislation, we ran with that. If it was classified as vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act, we basically ignored that and we went with the... Yeah. I've got a question. Yes. Yes. Mayor Stewart: We... Councillor Wilkie and I were down last week at Peregian and we saw a wonderful community member who was very much looking after newborn turtles. Oh, wow. She was, sort of, protecting them and providing, sort of, pathways for them and things like that. Yeah. Although, they were due to be born. It was right on hatching time, I think. Yeah. But she was working very closely with Coolum Coast Care. Yeah. So, with a lot of this work, are you hoping... And because, as she said, they hadn't seen turtles, sort of, for similar reasons that you've just stated. Yeah. Sort of, further south on the coast for a long time. Is this a hope to get them back, to migrate a bit further south? Or will this be... I think some of this work being in collaboration with Coolum Coast Care, how will it work?
00:53:00 Speaker 3: So basically, long story short, there were two successful, well, two nests on the eastern beaches this year. Yeah. Two actually in the vicinity of Peregian. So, you were lucky to see the... Mayor Stewart: Yeah. Speaker 3: She showed us the video. Oh, okay. We didn't see it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Coolum Coast Care manages those nesting sites, so at times they'll relocate them if they're vulnerable to storm inundation and whatnot. So, basically, the idea of this recovery action plan for sea turtles is to address, I guess, local threats, which include, obviously, increased severe weather, climate change, induced erosion. So, that's supporting Coolum Coast Care to have the resources to actually identify those nests in the first instance and then look to relocate them if they have to. The Sunshine Coast region, as well, has also been identified as an important resource for turtles moving forward. You may not be aware, but the sex of turtles is determined by the temperature of the nest.
00:54:00 Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Speaker 3: Yeah. So, we're getting issues, or we may start to see issues further up around Mon Repos area where whole clutches may turn out to be one sex due to... Yeah. So, it's really been identified as a hotspot for turtle conservation moving forward. Sunshine Coast Council are very active, obviously, with their turtle care program and turtle conservation. For the first year, we actually joined the Clean Up for the Hatchlings event that was held in February. So, that was a really positive move. We applied for grants alongside the Sunshine Coast Council to look at lighting awareness campaigns. But, long story short, basically, all of this work will be done in the future. So, we're going to be doing that in conjunction with Cooroy and Coast Fair because they are the main community group there that's active in that space. But, there's also a great opportunity to team up with the Sunshine Coast Council, even as far as things like educational signage, making sure that it's uniform across... Sure. ...not just the Sunshine Coast Council, but up to Noosa and making sure we're getting
00:55:00 the same messaging across. Yeah, it can look different, but we have to have them uniform as well. Mayor Stewart: Yeah. Thank you. Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope that answers your question. Mayor Stewart: Yeah, it was fascinating to see it. Yeah. Councillor Wegener: Yeah. It was incredible. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dave, you mentioned that if we look after these nine species, there are other species that share the same habitat or better. Council, we all received an email from a young environmental advocate who's present here this morning. I would just like to ask some questions on his behalf about the reasons why species such as the Estuary Stingray, Migratory Shorebirds, you covered that, Bridgestone Curlew, Grady-headed Flying Fox, Richmond Birdwing Butterfly, the Swamp Yabby, the Honey Blue-Eye, and Eastern Ground Parrot were not included in that list. And if you can give us a little bit of background on that list and whether there's any way we can improve any of those species.
00:56:00 Speaker 3: Yeah, okay. No, very fair point. So, to take a step back, I guess when we are looking at threatened fauna recovery, let's be honest, it's the habitat that we're looking to improve. We can't really, from a species level, it's very difficult to implement certain activities. Mirror River Cod is probably one of the exceptions where we can look at stocking, but most species, it's about improving that habitat value. So obviously that does have flow-on benefits to other species. So in terms of actually nominating more species than what we have, again, under the NUSA Environment Strategy Framework and the resources that we have here at Council, that's probably not possible at this stage. However, what I think where the opportunity does lie is, you know, when we are implementing this habitat recovery for these certain species, we'd be very smart about how we do it. As I said, Council's doing a lot of work in the space already with the Natural Areas Team, doing huge, you know, natural area bush regeneration activities and whatnot.
00:57:00 So it's just about being smart in the delivery. And we've also got to remember that, you know, as I said, this roadmap has gone through a very comprehensive stakeholder consultation process, and we've identified not just the conservation, the species of conservation significance, but obviously the species of iconic value to the NUSA region. And I think that's super important. So there's a reason some of these species have been nominated, purely based on the iconic value to the NUSA Shire. And that's a very important driver in terms of getting resources, support, funding to actually implement those recovery action plans, so therefore having a larger overall impact by selecting some of these species over other species that, you know, justifiably could have been selected as well from a conservation perspective. Councillor Wilkie: So there will be flow-on benefits for these other species? Speaker 3: For sure. Yeah. And we'll look to harness those opportunities. So when we look to do a recovery action plan for a certain species, we'll sit down and be like, okay, cool. Well, what other bank grab up can we get here?
00:58:00 And I think, you know, we nominate the loggerhead turtle, but obviously the green turtle. So that sort of flow-on effect, if that makes sense. Yes, it does. Councillor Wilkie: The other follow-up question. You mentioned an allocation for the care of turtles. Can you give us a ballpark figure? Speaker 3: Budget-wise? Yes, please. Yeah, no worries. So we put it into the meeting report. So we're proposing $15,000. For 23, 24, which is a pretty small amount, obviously. But, you know, there is funding availability there under grants. We've already applied for. Beg your pardon. I should have. I should have. Oh, that's totally fine. Yeah. So, you know, like, that's an important issue. Important consideration. So not all species are going to cost the same to, to implement their recovery actions. So that's why it really needs to be a staged approach. We need to re-evaluate every financial year how many funds we need to deliver what we
00:59:00 can. As I said, a lot of opportunities will fall under grants as well. So things may cost more than other species, just depending on what opportunities exist. And we'll try to obviously tailor it into that, that efficiency, I guess, into that . Councillor Finzel: So just on that point, given we've got young people really engaged in a space in our environment, we really want to think about our future generations moving forward. And, Rebecca, you mentioned earlier the opportunity through our community grants. Is this something that our younger people, that our wildlife warriors that are coming up through the ranks, is this something that they can apply for and perhaps look at those endangered species that haven't quite made the night? Is there something they could do through that process to see how they can, I don't know, elevate those species through research, through community development? Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Speaker 7: We've welcomed that involvement of the young people in our community around conservation
60 minutes in ¶
01:00:00 programs. Dahlia from the Environmental Education Hub is doing some great work with those schools and groups on giving children that opportunity to have the experience on the ground with planting trees, taking water quality samples. And I think that's really important. Removing weeds to really put conservation efforts into action. It's so important. And our conservation program is broader than this project that looks across the various community groups that do do those tree planting projects. Our work with our private landholders, with our conservation land management program. We also have an acquisitions program through the Environment Levy as well. We also have an acquisition program through the Environment Levy as well. We purchase conservation land. So when you look at it as a full suite of programs, there's many activities there that address threatened species management and lots of opportunities where we can engage
01:01:00 with young people in that process as well. So yeah, always open to those ideas. Always open to partnerships. And it's a really positive way to make sure others can be involved in the program. Fantastic. Thank you. Speaker 3: I might just add to that real quickly. So nominating sea turtles this year is obviously a bit of a strategic thing as well. So let's face it. Everyone loves a sea turtle. Everyone loves a hatching. So I think that's a really important avenue for us to gain momentum behind the roadmap moving forward, which will then increase that community engagement for all the species. But it's about getting this out there too. And sea turtles are just a perfect candidate for that. And we can achieve that if this is before the regular season starts in November. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. And I think having outcomes that are measurable and that we can achieve and give a big tip to is fantastic for the environment and for our young people who are coming through. But we are making progress in that space.
01:02:00 Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Amelia, do you have a question? Councillor Lorentson: Hi. In terms of actioning the roadmap, I'm really quite interested in that and the implementation plan. My question is, what sort of outcomes are we likely to see? So I'm talking in terms of, you know, things like ecological management plans. When a development comes into council through planning, will this feed into a criteria and importance? When an ecological management plan is paid for by a developer, will we need to apply that? Should you be, you know, investigating whether a species is breeding or not breeding? I don't know.
01:03:00 I'm just going to keep going. You know, rights of nature. Is this going to feed into a pledge by Moosa Council that nature rights? Is it going to, are we likely to see amendments in our planning scheme that, again, gives further rights to protected species? So can you talk a little bit about that? Can I get an idea of those sorts of outcomes? Speaker 3: I might pass that one over to Camille. I think she'd be... Speaker 5: Hi. How are you? Hi. So there's a few areas where we're trying to feed that. So, firstly, the Noosa design control we're currently under review at the moment. And we had a meeting last week, Sally, around making sure it's on a sensitive design. People think part of that would be lighting turtles, that sort of thing. So that's the first area where it's coming in. We're also reviewing the construction specifications, the standing construction specifications, which is a big part, and making sure that, you know, for all projects, you know, they've got construction environmental management plans, erosion and sediment control plans, that sort of thing.
01:04:00 So that's another area where we're looking at making sure that we're setting the benchmark, I guess, for environmental management in that area. And I guess, yeah, potentially from this, you know, looking at the plan scheme, if that's a recommendation as well, then, yeah, I guess it would just depend on the certain spaces. But for distances, that sort of thing as well. So, yeah. Fantastic. Councillor Lorentson: And very measurable. And I think that's, you know, I reference also Spencer's letter. And, you know, it's a call for action. Yeah. And we'll share that. But he talks about, you know, true enemy of our environment is not climate change, it's apathy. And I love that we are actually getting into that space where we're actually making some noise about what's important to the community, and that's our environment. Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:05:00 Well, we're having conversations with the state government, too, around the acquisitions process, and trying to get an understanding of how, particularly in the offsets, because there's a huge amount of money sitting in that offsets fund. How are they targeting that investment to ensure that it's, you know, prioritising certain spaces, or not just focusing, because it's just currently based on regional ecosystem, mapping. There's no other consideration, which is a big limitation. So trying to have a look at, you know, even our acquisition process, how we can develop a framework that other councils can use, and also other state governments could use, to better direct that investment as well. Because conservation land, and protecting those existing remnant ecosystems is crucial as well. So, yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Last question. I'm also guessing an outcome, our infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure, that's also going to be part of this bigger conversation about protecting our genic systems, for turtles, for example.
01:06:00 Speaker 7: Yeah, it has to be holistic. But it can't be just an engineering focus. But it has to be holistic. So, you know, for delivering stormwater outcomes, it needs to be a whole attachment consideration, looking at natural flows, looking at habitat type, looking for environmental health, looking at filtering opportunities, using certain species, understanding what species are using the habitat from a flora and fauna perspective. So that's, you know, it does need to be that whole, that whole approach. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: That's great. I love it. Because being proactive in a call to action. I sit on the Heritage Committee. And I don't know if everyone knows, but right now we're doing a community consultation out to community. We want everyone to get engaged. And the section in that is about identifying trees and what of the value those in our environment. So our peak body as councillors is the LGAQ, as you know. And they're currently working with the state to look at amendments in planning schemes
01:07:00 and support local council to get the outcomes that everyone's talked about here today. So I encourage everyone to get online to the Heritage Survey. There's a great opportunity to action forward here. And are you aware of that? And can you speak to us a little bit about how that's coming through from the state to help local councils deliver and protect our heritage? Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not. I've always been involved in that. And that's something, yeah, it's something we're really interested to be interested in particularly cultural heritage. And how we can better ensure that, yeah, it's considered, like, particularly in the Noosa Trails as well. We're working with national parks and close to the Kabi Kabi on that as well. And one of the things is, you know, looking at the Trails Master Plan and trying to reduce the number of new trails, for example, that we put in and reduce those impacts and utilise existing pathways instead of putting new ones. And simple things like that. So it is being captured. But, yeah, definitely it's something we need to look at developing further.
01:08:00 So, yeah. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. So I think the timing's really good because we've also, you know, we've done our corporate plan. We're looking at bringing everything together. And I think this is part of it. And we're going to see that moving forward. And we're going to see this response and this action by council to engage with the community to, you know, find out first with the community what we value. And I think council on state government and all levels of government are ready to move forward, even up by the hill steps. We're all heading in the right direction. So, thank you. Councillor Lorentson: I have a final question. Sorry, Tom. Councillor Wegener: Yep, go for it. Councillor Lorentson: We've also received the email from Spencer. There was also a request in the email that the statement for the regional climate action won't be put in place. Can I just post that question for the general meeting and request and ask that someone can
01:09:00 read the climate action roadmap for you at the next meeting. I'll leave that for some consideration. We'll provide advice. Through the CEO. We'll provide advice. Thank you very much. Councillor Wegener: Excellent heritage advocacy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: It's taken three years to bring that together, so I'm excited, yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Just looking, because I'm just looking and thinking across our species, and I like how you've broken it up into different ecosystem types, and that will give us a span of species that will be indicative, and most of those species will have significant challenges ahead with climate change, whether it be through temperatures, whether it's through extreme weather, whether it's through changed fire regimes. There's one there that I don't recommend we put in, but it's an interesting one, that we haven't got a raptor, but a powerful owl.
01:10:00 And I know in the UK they use their raptors a lot as indicators, because they will pick up, because they're at the top of the food chain, they'll pick up the changes in the small species, and in the UK it was about all the heavy metals being built up in the birds, etc. So it's one. Yeah, I suppose, as I said, it's probably, it's, powerful owls are also an interesting one, is it was the icon species used for the initial campaign to try and stop the clearing of the Ringtail Ural for pine forests, because it used to occur in those forests, probably still does. And so, yeah, 30 years later, we're replanting the powerful owl habitat. But, yeah, just an interesting one. I looked all at it, I thought, yeah, it covers most of the things, and I thought, yeah, well, just there are a range of ecosystem conditions that the species we've chosen won't necessarily pick up, but you can't get everything 100% perfect. Speaker 3: And that's exactly right. There's definitely holes in this, let's be honest, it's pretty much, it was a very difficult process to try to get everything to be uniform,
01:11:00 fair amongst everyone, making sure we're picking up every little bit of thing, but having that really wide stakeholder engagement process picked up holes in this in the initial phases, and that was super important, you know, getting that advice from different people, academics, consultants, you know, Brad from MRCCC, you know, he's got so much knowledge out there with Mary River Coy, Mary River Turtles, and just, you know, really getting that input in the development of this was really important as well, and I think that's value added to it, you know, as you've moved on through the process. Councillor Finzel: So, on the back of that statement there, is there anything, are you going to do like a gaps analysis on this, or have you already done that? Speaker 3: No, I mean, we've gone through a pretty extensive desktop review process, so we identified the gaps that already existed, filled them, but obviously annual review, not just of the roadmap, but of the Conservation Recovery Action Plans for the species we're looking at, so, yeah.
01:12:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm going to, oh, do you want to say something? Councillor Wegener: I just want to say, yeah, I think that this brings effect to what's out there, what the community groups can use to help advance their desires, their wants, and I can see the nets, the shark nets in the loggerhead, you know, will probably bring that, you know, them into focus as well, since it's upcoming breeding season, because there's lots of opportunity and discussion of moving the nets during certain times, during whaling migration, and in different times, and it'd be, it may really be a disaster to catch a loggerhead turtle in the nets. Speaker 3: Definitely, yeah, and as I said, Council's already involved in a lot of these talks and discussions, but we haven't formalised it for each species, so we don't have that clear direction for stakeholders and the community, how are we actually addressing impacts on turtles, you know. Yeah, we are, you know, jointly running a Shark Smart, Surf Smart Awareness Campaign, which you're well aware of, with Noosaville, Sphere, Royal Mental Services, you know,
01:13:00 in that space there to, you know, have discussions about shark nets moving forward, but as I said, just consolidating them all into recovery action plans for the different species, that's why we need this roadmap, and that's what I'm proposing basically, that we have that direction moving forward, so. Councillor Wegener: Well, I'd like to also say that this has been a great discussion, and I hope we've exhausted a lot of our discussions for the General, but Jill has asked for this to be moved to the General as well. I'll move that. Councillor Finzel: Awesome. Oh, we've done that before? No. Councillor Wegener: That was the last one. Oh, this one. Yeah, I think, yeah. All right. Yeah, let's vote on it. Yeah, Kerry. I want to thank her. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mayor Stewart: Yep. I, Councillor Stewart, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in relation to number 10 in the list of applications in the Delegated Authority Report.
01:14:00 As my husband and I have a friendship with Robin Yates, who is associated with the applicant of Pomona Distilling Co. I also have a prescribed conflict of interest in relation to number 15 in the list of applications in the report. So, I'm a Board Director of Young Care, which is associated with the applicant De Luca Charitable Foundation Limited. As a result of my conflict of interest, I'll now leave the meeting room on the matter as considered and voted off. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Chair. Councillor Wegener: Okay. We'll go to... I thought you were going to go. We'll go to number six, planning applications decided by Delegated Authority for January 2023. And we have Patrick in the room. Do you have anything to say? No. Speaker 2: I think you said it's the report for the items that were decided under delegation for the month of January. I think we've got 30 items that were decided between development assessment through operational works, building works applications. Councillor Wegener: Did you realise that there were all approvals? Speaker 2: That's what the report, yes, is about. Those that have been approved. Councillor Wegener: No. Sometimes there's refusals in it. Isn't there?
75 minutes in ¶
01:15:00 Speaker 2: Occasionally... Well, that's correct. And that was the reason for this report initially coming to Council when it first commenced, was to demonstrate that while some matters that were coming to Council were being recommended for refusal, that there were a lot of applications that were being decided under delegation that were being approved. Councillor Wegener: Well, this is the first time that they've all been approvals. I'm quite sure. Councillor Finzel: I'm happy to move it. Councillor Wegener: I'll second it. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I did have a question. Okay. Councillor Wegener: Sorry. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do you want to talk to them? Sorry. No. It's just a more general question is, you know, with the increasing rate, interest rates, are we seeing a change in the number or nature of applications that are coming in over the last few months? Speaker 2: There was probably a dip going into Christmas, maybe. But we're certainly seeing strong numbers. We have a weekly meeting where we review the new applications. We're having pretty strong numbers. I have a question.
01:16:00 We have 10 applications a week, which is quite strong. Still a range of applications. Maybe some of the complexity is dropping maybe back a bit, but you probably need to look at that a bit more over time to see what the trend is. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Okay. Councillor Billy, Councillor Frank, any questions? Councillor Wilkie: No. Thank you, Mr Chair. Councillor Wegener: Okay. Councillor Stockwell has moved it. Councillor Finzel has seconded. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I thought it was you. Councillor Wegener: I didn't. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, you didn't? No. Councillor Finzel moved it and you seconded it. Councillor Wegener: Oh, is that right? Okay. That's, yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: It's a long meeting. I know. Councillor Wegener: Okay. Putting the vote. All three in favour? Okay. Well, that's it. Speaker 4: There's no confidential session. Councillor Wegener: There is no confidential session. Yeah. Okay.
01:17:00 We have two things referred to general and, yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.