Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Wegener: I declare the meeting open. I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional end of the Kabi Kabi people and we pay our respects to those elders past, present, and emerging. In the room today we have Councilors Stockwell, Finzel, and the Mayor in attendance plus we have Amelia Lorentson attending in the back. And we've got a great room of very very intelligent and board of people here. Can I have a mover and a seconder for the confirmation of the minute for the Planning and Environment Committee meeting of May. Moved by Karen, seconded by Claire. All in favor? It's unanimous. We have no apologies, no confirmation of minutes. We did presentations, deputations. So we're into the reports for
2 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
00:01:00 the consideration of the community. And we start with the tender for the community battery. We have Annie Nolan and Kim Rawlings at the table. Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Yes, this is about the community battery. So the federal government actually put out a grant for 58 community batteries right across Australia. And they applied for eligible areas and Noosaville was designated as one of those eligible areas. So Noosa Council was the lead applicant in applying for this grant in partnership with Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. and as well as Yarra Energy Foundation. We have just recently been notified that we were successful in that grant to actually put in the community battery within the Noosaville because that was where it was designated under the grant requirements. So, as a result, we will receive, once we actually sign the agreement, $500,000 for this community
5.1 TENDER CONSIDERATION PLAN - COMMUNITY BATTERY ¶
00:02:00 battery. And as a result of that, we would normally go out for a tender to actually put out to open market. But this is a very specific and new technology. So the report that's going to council is to put together a tender consideration. It's going to be a tender consideration plan for this project, which would enable us to go directly to Yarra Energy Foundation. We selected the partnership with Yarra Energy Foundation because they are a not-for-profit organisation that are the only ones to our knowledge that have actually put in a front-of-the-meter community battery in North Fitzroy, Victoria. So they have got the experience about dealing with the technology, dealing with community engagement. So we are recommending that we would actually put together a tender consideration plan, which is suitable under the Local Government
00:03:00 Act for the procurement to actually go direct source. And so this recommendation is for that we prepare the tender consideration plan largely in accordance with what's in the draft report. And then that we enable Barry, as the chair, to go directly to Yarra Energy Foundation, the acting chief executive with the financial delegation, to enter into a contract as part of that tender consideration plan. Councillor Wegener: Very good. Any questions? No questions. Just kind of a philosophical question, or a big question. So ZEM, the zero-emission project, is a big project. It's a big project. It's a big project. It's a big project. It's We're very closely with yourself and staff to make this happen. Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Zeninc has been very instrumental in keeping abreast
00:04:00 of what's actually happening right across Australia in terms of community batteries, the different types of models that have actually been promoted or trialled. And this is very much a pilot project for Noosaville. So that's, again, why we would be looking for the tender consideration plan. Councillor Wegener: And the reason I ask is, as new townspeople, as we're learning, or of course, four of us are, learning about how things happen, how change happens. And there's different models within council. And the Zen model is a not-for-profit group, mostly led by volunteers like Anne Kennedy and Vivian Griffin, who have this vision. And they promote this vision. They try to bring about change through community batteries and solar. And they work very tightly with council for that. And it's a symbiotic relationship. Speaker 1: Very much so. So in our climate change response plan, as well as our environment strategy,
00:05:00 we actually have two goals. The first is for Noosa Council as an organisation to be net zero emissions by 2026. And the other one is for the whole of the community to be net zero emissions by 2026, which is very ambitious. But this was very much a community-led request and initiative that we need to be recognising the science of climate change and really moving towards net zero emissions by 2026 as the community overall. And so what these batteries will do, will actually soak up the solar that's actually being generated during the day and actually capture that into a battery. So it will, in fact, be able to be used at night. And therefore, it's increasing the percentage of renewable energy that's actually in the grid overall. So it will actually help to reduce our emissions overall. That's fantastic. Councillor Wegener: Joe, Joe has asked this to be sent to the general committee
00:06:00 meeting to do the significance of the matter. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm happy to move that way. Councillor Wegener: You're happy to move that? OK. I'll second that. All in favour? OK. Great question. We'll see you back at the general. We'll go through the whole thing again. Unless you have something else to say? Speaker 1: No. I think I'll stay here for the next item as well. We'll just. Councillor Wegener: We'll see you very quickly. OK. OK. OK. For the next item, we're going to talk about computers. I have a conflict of interest. Speaker 3: I'll just . Yeah. OK. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. I, Councillor Wayne, am going to go from the meeting that I have a prescribed conflict of interest in the matter in relation to the application by Permaculture Newstead and I'm the president of this association. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will now leave the meeting room while the matter
5.2 CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE GRANTS - ROUND 3 - 2023/24 ¶
00:07:00 is considered to vote it off. Speaker 4: OK. So as Councillor Wegener is the chair, we now need to call for a new chair. All these out of the room. I'll nominate Councillor Finzel. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll second that. Councillor Finzel: All in favour? All in favour? Speaker 4: All in favour? Speaker 3: OK. Speaker 4: Councillor Finzel, you're in charge. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. So the item before us today is item 5.2, Climate Change Response Grants Round 3, 23-24. We have Carbon Reduction Officer Annie Nolan at the table, the Environmental Services Department. Annie, can you please give us a brief overview of what that is? Speaker 1: Sure. As part of our Climate Change Response Plan in the budget, we nominate $50,000 for community initiatives to assist to help us reduce our emissions across Noosa Shire as well as improve resilience of the community to the impacts of climate change.
00:08:00 So as part of the environment grants, we actually put out these grants and they were open to community groups to apply for funding to suggest projects to actually do in fact that, reduce emissions or reduce emissions. Or improve resilience across the board. We received six applications and they're in attachment one to the report. I don't know if you want me to go through all of them. Speaker 2: No? Speaker 1: There were six. The first one was for solar installation at the Genealogical Heritage Centre. Sorry, I'll just backtrack a bit. Beg your pardon. We had $50,000 in this year's budget, but because we actually had carryover from last year of $17,000. Sorry. I forgot the exact number. We were able to actually make that up to $67,000 for the total. Okay. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. So do you want to just go through the applicants? Yeah.
00:09:00 Speaker 1: So I'll just go through the applicants really quickly. The first one was for a solar installation at the Genealogical Heritage Centre. And we're recommending, sorry, the amount requested was $3,326. And we're recommending full funding for that. The next one was, the applicant was Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. And that was for solar for strata stage three. That was to create a how-to video for their strata champions to be able to put on solar because we know that solar buildings are very, very difficult to actually engage with and put solar on there. So that was for $7,169. And we're recommending fully funding for that. There was also solar at the Kin Kin Community Group. And that's the installation on the Kin Kin Community House and 10 kilowatts of solar on the community, sorry, School of Arts building. And that was for $13,665.
00:10:00 And we're recommending fully funding for that. The next applicant was SevGen Indigenous Corporation. And again, they are recommending that they upgrade their 1.5 million square foot solar system to a 16.72 kilowatt solar system with a 12.8 kilowatt battery storage. And that's for $13,596. And we're recommending fully funding for that. The next one was for solar panels on Permaculture Noosa at the Cooroy Community Pavilion. And that would be the installation of 6.6 kilowatts of solar. And that was $2,625. And we're recommending full funding as well. The last one on the list is from Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. And that is for an education program for electrify everything. As we know, we're moving to basically electrifying right across the board to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. And this was to develop a business case, a toolkit, education, advocacy, and identify
00:11:00 economic opportunities through identifying how Noosa could actually electrify right across the board. And again, reduce our emissions. So that was for $19,455. And we're recommending that that is also fully funded. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, Annie. That's great to hear such great initiatives coming from our community. It's actually a highlight of my role here to actually see our engaged community apply and put forth such great initiatives and for us to be able to partner with the community to deliver great outcomes. Do we have any questions? No. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: No. No. I'm happy to move to recommend that. Councillor Finzel: I second it. All in favour? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I was going to talk to it then. Oh, sorry. Councillor Finzel: I do like to talk to that. No, I would. Thank you, Council. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think it's really interesting that this climate change grant, just because of the diversity of types of community groups that have applied, from geological to the indigenous
00:12:00 corporation that is not for profit but looking at a wild food farm, from places like the A permaculture group that's building a community facility on council property, through to others which are trying to educate those within the tourism industry or the body corporate industry about the financial benefits and the commercial reality that solar and strata presents. And then sort of the last one there at zero, Noosa Inc, is about that whole transition that's occurring of trying to get everyone to understand that the more you switch to electric appliances and electric throughout the house, heating, lawn mower, the quicker we'll make that target. And so as we mentioned, the 2026 target zero emissions for council, that's a non-negotiable, we'll get there. But for the community, it is a big ask, but it's probably one that is achievable in terms
00:13:00 of electricity without too much additional effort. Technology required or investment required, it's about people changing their consumer behaviour. It's very easy, for example, to, if you're renting, to buy green power and charge your cars, motor mowers, heaters. So I think it's a good array, and the fact is that there's significant value for money for the just under $60,000 investment. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, Councillor Stockwell. So all in favour of a resolution? That's unanimous. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thanks, Annie. Thanks, Annie. Thank you. Thank you. Can we bring Councillor Wegener back in? Speaker 3: If we must. You're doing such a great job as Chair. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thanks very much. You're just sitting there. I'm a member. Councillor Finzel: Welcome back. Thank you.
00:14:00 Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Next we have the environmental grants, environmental project grants round 18, multi-year environmental collaborative, MBC grants, round two, 23 to 26, and environment organisation alliance grants, 23 to 26. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I have a couple of conflicts to advise. So I wish to inform the meeting that there's a discussion. I have a declarable conflict in this matter in relation to the application by Nurses District Landcare due to my long-standing connection with the organisation as one of the inaugural members of the unincorporated group dating back to the 1980s and a current ordinary member. Although I have a declarable conflict of interest, I do not believe a reasonable person could have a perception of bias considering the community nature of this relationship. I will choose to remain in the meeting room, however I'll respect the decision of the meeting on whether I can remain and participate in the decision.
5.3 ENVIRONMENT GRANTS - ENVIRONMENT PROJECT GRANTS (ROUND 18), MULTI-YEAR ENVIRONMENT COLLABORATIVE (MEC) GRANTS (ROUND 2: 2023-2026) AND ENVIRONMENT ORGANISATION ALLIANCE GRANTS (2023-2026) ¶
00:15:00 Speaker 3: I am. I move that Councillor Stockwell, I note that Council note the declarable conflict of interest by Councillor Stockwell and determine that it is in the public interest that Councillor Stockwell participates and votes on this matter because Council believes that he does not stand to receive a personal benefit or loss in relation to this matter and does not have a close personal relationship with Landcare and therefore a reasonable person would trust that the final decision is made in the public interest. Councillor Wegener: I second that. I second that. All the members? Councillor Stafford. Speaker 3: Alinda, sorry, it's just come to my attention that Tourism Noosa is on here. Both of you said yes, and we had declared a conflict of interest in regard to funding for Tourism Noosa because Lee McCready, who we always declare for, is currently on the board. So it just came to my attention then. So I will declare a conflict of interest.
00:16:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do you want to just, while she gets out, I'll read my one and then I'll give you time. Oh, you've got another one? Oh, sorry, can I just stop by? Oh, I've now got another two, thanks to you. Oh, right, okay. All right. I wish to inform the meeting that I have the careful conflict just in this matter as I have a long-standing relationship with the MRCCC. As a previous government employee and a long-term collaborator since 1994, I have in the past undertaken, missing a word there, a small consultant contract below the limit of a prescribed conflict and prior to the declarable timeframe. I was, up until the last ADM, council's representative on the committee, and in this role played a role in facilitating and developing the group's revised catchment system. Although I have an incredible conflict of interest, I do not believe a reasonable person could have a perception of bias considering the community nature of this relationship. I will choose to remain in the meeting room and I will respect the decision of the meeting
00:17:00 on whether I can remain and participate in the decision. Speaker 3: Okay. I'll move. I just need to get some wording for the reason why, because I'm just looking at this one, sorry. I'm just looking to use the wording from the last one. Yeah. Councillor Wegener: There's no right or left. This is actually our job. Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. That's good. Do I move yet? Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:00 Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 2: So that has been a very significant achievement and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all the committee members as well. I guess some
00:33:00 of the feedback from the last meeting was that they felt that perhaps it had been a little bit too long and that perhaps the committee was too large but nevertheless big achievement and other than anchoring there were a whole range of other results that came out of it. So we had from the Noosa Integrated Catchment Association a proposed river strategy and management frameworks. They did a huge amount of work as well in terms of collecting information that would help Maritime Safety Queensland make decisions in terms of the number of vessels on the river, also in relation to trailers around our boat ramps. We also had advice on speed limits that occurred in the second half of 2022 and we also
00:34:00 provided a report on the environmental values and water quality objectives for the river. There was a seagrass distribution study completed but yeah obviously the main body of work was working with MSQ to provide feedback on the maps that they were proposing in terms of bringing in limits. So that's a bit of a summary of the committee but in terms of the river plan moving forward, we felt that by stripping it back and making it more of a simpler, cohesive, document that can go out to the public, behind that is a very detailed operational plan. And the way that I've developed that is by doing an audit of the 2019 actions and really stepping out what do we need to do next in order to
6.1 NOOSA RIVER STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY COMMITTEE SUMMARY REPORT ¶
00:35:00 move forward with the river plan. So that's a bit of a summary. Any questions? Councillor Wegener: Well I understand there's a large body of work that did that. Yes. Speaker 2: There has been a lot and I think engaging with those 13 different people as well was useful because it helped me gain a really good understanding of all the various opinions about the river. It's a fairly divided group as we know but it was fantastic that they were able to coalesce around. Speaker 3: Thank you Amy for all your hard work. And as you said, I think it was really great to have MSQ there who are, this is their space, you know, so it was really important to have them at the table because they're the ones who can actually implement and ensure the actions are undertaken. So, but thank you for all your hard work because I know there is hundreds of hours of work into this.
00:36:00 Thank you. Any questions? No. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm happy to move to the motion. All those in favour? Councillor Wegener: I'm sorry. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm going to talk to. Councillor Wegener: Oh, you're going to speak. Okay, sorry. Yeah, go right on. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, I think the key to this is, it is a dot point listing of the issues that were identified by the group and the key to ensure that any community consultation process is effective is to ensure the council takes action or the government in this case. Now, we see the first one, Discussion Paper and Recommendation of the Anchorage War and it clearly has gone out through the State Government to the community for feedback and as I said recently, I'm happy to invite the Minister up shortly to announce his support for the proposals that came out of this committee. We'd even throw lunch in a boat if you'd like to make the right decision. Anchoring is still going to be a significant issue and if we looked at the seagrass distribution study, one of the keys to the significant loss of seagrass beds that was identified
00:37:00 is the fact we have so many anchored boats and anchored boats that twist with the wind and the currents wipe out the seagrass and they're critical for the ongoing health of the river for kids being able to go down the river and catch a fish. We've already talked about the concepts around what we might build into a new News River plan or an action plan associated with the river. The voluntary work done by Peter Hunnam and the NYCA group in terms of identifying some of those urban land use pressures that are contributing to the decline in health and we can feel very happy that we get a report card that's highest in South East Queensland but we know underpinning that is it isn't a measure of biodiversity. And that's where the pressure is being felt so we had the study that identified critical declines in benthic invertebrates, we now have a study that shows critical declines in seagrass so it's clear that we have to look at a whole catchment approach to reducing the pressures on the river. And I suppose the other one in there, one of the first bits of advocacy coming from
00:38:00 the group to us was the clean up of removal of unlawful structures and stored vessels and rehabilitation in the frying pan area. Now that's something hopefully we'll be able to act on in the very near future when we adopt the encroachment policy which is imminent. So I think that not only do we thank those who did volunteer their time to go on and chart a course for the river, you know the community has a great love for a river. I remember doing a survey years ago where the Noosa River came out as number two and the only thing that the local community valued more was koalas. So it's a big issue for this community and it is one that will take joint effort of both council and state government and this particular advisory group has done some good work to getting voices from across the spectrum in our community to identify where they see as the priorities and it's now up to us to do our job.
00:39:00 Councillor Wegener: Did we have any comments or information from MSQ, how they saw it from their side? Speaker 2: Yes. It's a good question. We exchanged some correspondence as the anchoring limits were being considered and I think they really valued it and they see Noosa as probably a bit of a case test for them. They've described a desire to roll out management plans in other waterways across Queensland. But before bringing that sort of initiative into the legislation they wanted to I guess trial it in Noosa. So I think it'll be a very interesting time towards the end of this year to see how and when that might be implemented. But it will be through amendments to the marine zone. Councillor Wegener: Great.
00:40:00 Speaker 2: Yep. But I think it's worthwhile following up again and seeking feedback. And their thoughts on how it all went. So we could certainly send another letter seeking that input and further advice on where to next. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. We'll put it to a vote. All in favor? See an aye on this? Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: And we have. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So on the next item. Councillor Wegener: Yeah the next item. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm gonna move that the matter be referred to the General Committee due to the number of conflicts of interest to be declared and to ensure that we have a healthy quorum of councillors voting on the matter.
00:41:00 Speaker 3: Let's proceed to the motion. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So this one's just a referral motion, not necessarily procedural. Councillor Wegener: Just for the viewers, the next report that we're talking about is 6.2, planning applications presented by delegated authority for April 2023. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: To refer further, and it's due to the number of conflicts of interest related to the matter to ensure a healthy quorum is achieved.
00:42:00 Just a healthy quorum. Healthy. Yeah, because by the act, one person can constitute a quorum in this. Speaker 4: Okay. Councillor Wegener: You can get a quorum of more than one. That's right. Councillor Finzel: Second vote? Councillor Wegener: Oh yeah, I'll second that. Yes. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Okay. Any speak to the, speak to the motion? Okay. All in favor? Seen any less? And that? There are no confidential sess, sessions. And so I will. Thank you. The meeting closes at 10.16 AM.
6.2 PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY APRIL 2023 ¶
00:43:00 Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you.
8 MEETING CLOSURE ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.