In New York on the 16th of April I awoke to news of the Bligh government breaking another promise to residents of the Sunshine Coast with her announcement that the State Government will not be reimbursing our council for the cost of amalgamation. 

No surprise here as we have been predicting for some time she would worm her way out of meeting this commitment.  Remember, this was an amalgamation forced upon us after 96% of Noosa voters opposed it in the plebiscite provided by John Howard.  It’s also worth remembering and reminding Queensland voters right up until the next election, that this Labor government steamrolled through State Parliament one of the most undemocratic pieces of legislation ever put before an Australian Parliament.  It first of all dissolved a legally elected local government, then legalised forced amalgamation of local shires against the ‘will of the people’,  then added to this piece of legislation authority for the State to sack any local government and fine councillors who had the temerity to offer  constituents a vote on this life changing  issue.  I mean even a totalitarian government would have to pause before ramming a bill giving it such draconian power through a compliant Parliament.

The Labor Party has traditionally boasted about what great haters they can be and I suspect this hatred or vindictiveness is directed toward the Sunshine Coast in general and Noosa in particular. For not only have we turned against the State Labor Party but we have had the effrontery   to oppose their intention of turning the Sunshine Coast into another Gold Coast.  Their obsession in overriding community opposition to unfettered development at Palmwoods and Caloundra South by ignoring concepts we hold dear about sustainability, environment and relaxed lifestyle, is but one example.

Having just returned from several weeks in the USA and in particular visiting the small rural town where I went to High School, I was devastated by the damage done to a community by greedy developers spurred on by a State Government’s insatiable appetite for population growth.  No thought about infrastructure or sustainability or lifestyle factors.  It was growth at any cost.   (Go West Young Man was the catch cry.)

The beautiful town of Vista California, proclaimed the ‘Avocado Centre’ of America, had a population of 3000 when I went to school there in the 50’s. The town was surrounded by avocado, orange and lemon tree ranches.  It had a strong community spirit and enormous  pride in everything about this little town.

Today the population has grown to 90,000, all the avocado, orange and lemon trees have been wiped out, (through a scorched earth policy) replaced by ‘tract housing’ and a freeway running  through the centre of what used to be the Main Street of town. 
There is an eerie similarity to what is now happening on the Sunshine Coast with the State government pushing for a massive housing development at Palmwoods and Caloundra South and the Regional Council only now putting up weak resistance to these demands. Noosa itself is not beyond the reach of this population growth as indicated by Mayor Abbot who let slip this week that ‘Noosa’s population cap is flexible’.  Who said it’s flexible?  The Noosa community didn’t.

The council that now governs us has a constituency base of around 300,000 making it the 4th largest council in Australia and is expected to grow to 500,000 over the next 10 years.  Ironically, at the time of forced amalgamation Beattie & Bligh argued the election of a coast wide super council would enable the Sunshine Coast to adopt many of the sustainability policies that has so far preserved the beauty and naturalness of Noosa.  Fat chance!  With the ‘harmonisation’ process now pursued by this Super Council, it’s all about sameness based on the lowest common denominator, meaning bringing Noosa into line with the rest of the coast.

We have a three tier level of government in Australia represented by Federal, State and Local governments. Through their respective electoral processes, Federal and State Parliaments are remote from their electorates in the sense that an individual vote has little impact on decisions and policies for it’s a consensus of the preferences of the majority that elects and determines policies of government.

At Local level the checks and balances that influence behaviour of Federal and State governments is absent.  There is no political opposition to put forward a legislative program offering voters a real choice, traditionally, the only checks and balances have been the intimate proximity between electors and the elected.

This intimacy has been stolen from us through the forced council amalgamations for it has made the elected remote from the electors. In a sense we now have a mini state government representing the coast without the checks and balances that normally apply at state level.

With only two overworked councillors, instead of the twelve we had, representing the interests of their Noosa constituents, our voice has become a distant cry in the wilderness and destined to become even fainter as the population growth explodes south of Noosa.

So what more can we do about it?  Well, we can start by bombarding the Premier,   Ministers, local and state wide newspapers with letters decrying the draconian behaviour of this Government in forcing Noosa to amalgamate against their wishes then charging ratepayers for what they vehemently opposed. And of course we invite you to join the Friends of Noosa who have a commitment from the LNP to facilitate the return of our council.  

Bob Ansett