Noel Pearson-Submission to Noosa Shire Council (Good Shepherd College)

If the land had not been discounted to GSLC by the Shire Council and the land had
been retained by the Council or sold to another person or entity, and the service
station development that is now proposed provided no such windfall to the college —
would not the current leaders of the college be joined with the parent community in
objecting to this development application? Of course they would. It was the then
school’s leadership that aroused the concern of service station development in 2007.
It is this very scenario that is now playing out. Except this time the current school
leadership is party to the tawdry transaction.

In closing my submission, the Noosa Shire Council should reject this development
application. The current school leadership cannot complain of any detriment from
their inability to extract a windfall from a situation where the Shire Council had
allowed the school to acquire the block for its obvious best use for schooling
purposes. You can’t complain about a potential development when you are not the
owner, acquire the land for a more noble purpose, and then be allowed to flog the
land off for the same kind of development you originally complained about. The
current school leaders of GSLC should not be allowed to get away with this myopic
abuse of the trust they owe to their school. In the absence of them knowing what is
the right thing to do, Noosa Shire Council should show them.

Yours faithfully,

Noel Pearson
[email protected]