MAYORAL MINUTES · Attachment 1 to the Ordinary Meeting Minutes dated 19 March 2026 - Noosa Council Submission_SCWA Bill 2026

Importantly, the CAPs have been developed through three phases of extensive community
engagement, ensuring a high degree of social licence and local knowledge integration. These
include:
   1. Technical expert workshops – involving hydrologists, geomorphologists, ecologists, water
      quality scientists and land management specialists contributing evidence based inputs
      into catchment priorities and interventions.
   2. Targeted engagement with community representative groups – including environmental
      organisations, Traditional Owners, river user groups, rural landholders and local
      stakeholder networks, ensuring the CAPs reflect diverse place based knowledge and lived
      experience.
   3. Broadscale public consultation – inviting submissions from the wider community through
      open forums, online engagement, and public information sessions, reinforcing
      transparency and regional ownership of the CAPs.
Given the scale, depth and rigour of this process, Council recommends that the Bill require SCWA
to demonstrate alignment between its Strategy/Program and the relevant Catchment Action
Plans, and to ensure that decisions made at the waterway level remain consistent with the
catchment scale objectives endorsed through the SEQ Resilient Rivers process. This alignment
is critical to ensuring that waterways management, sediment management, ecological
restoration and climate resilience actions remain coherent across jurisdictional boundaries and
reflect the community’s expressed priorities.




PART B
RECOMMENDED LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS
To support stronger role clarity, structured joint decision-making mechanisms, and safeguards
for local planning instruments are essential to avoid duplicated e ort, policy misalignment and
community dissatisfaction, Council recommends the following amendments for inclusion in the
Bill:


B1. Insert explicit statutory role clarity for SCWA and local government
    While Clause 4 of the Bill states that the Act does not a ect the operation of other legislation,
    this protection requires strengthening to prevent unintended duplication or displacement of
    Council responsibilities.
    Council recommends amendments that:
     1. Define clear functional boundaries for SCWA and local governments, particularly in:

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