2020-10-12 GC Agenda - Item 9 - Attachment 1 - Aircraft Noise Ombudsman Report - Investigation

6 Preparation for consultation
Newspaper advertisements

6.1       A week into the consultation period, Airservices placed a public notice in six
          local papers:
               Sunshine Coast Daily (27 March 2019)
               Buderim Chronicle (28 March 2019)
               Caloundra Weekly (28 March 2019)
               Nambour Weekly (28 March 2019)
               Coolum Advertiser (28 March 2019)
               Coolum North Shore News (29 March 2019).
6.2       These notices were placed in the classifieds section of the papers in all but
          one instance. This placement is unlikely to have come to many readers’
          attention.

6.3       The newspapers selected serve audiences in locations largely outside the
          area Airservices was intending to target with its consultations. Those
          newspapers that best served the target area were the Noosa News, Noosa
          Today, Cooroy Rag and the Eumundi Green, none of which were used by
          Airservices to advertise its consultation. The Sunshine Coast Council
          advertised the drop-in consultation sessions and information kiosks it was
          running in areas outside the target areas in these publications, excepting in
          the Cooroy Rag.

6.4       One complainant, who resides in the target area, complained after the
          consultation period closed:

                  Back in March-April during the consultation period, the general public were not even
                  aware of the of the Targeted Area’s existence. Ideally in the future, this map [the map
                  included in subsequent Airservices reports showing the consultation areas] should be
                  included in meeting notices, in letterbox drops and all newspapers serving the Target
                  Area, so people might at least be aware of all the changes proposed and how they
                  differ from earlier designs. [emphasis in original]

                  The Cooroy Rag is the only newspaper based within ASA’s circled Target Area.

                  I have searched March-April back-editions of both Noosa Today and Cooroy Rag for all
                  advertisements placed in these papers, by ASA and Sunshine Coast Council (SCC).
                  There were no advertisements in these local newspapers before ASA’s community
                  consultation meetings in Cooroy, Pomona or Cooran.

6.5       This complainant also pointed out that:

                  The SCC did place a notice in Noosa Today on 14 March in advance of 5 coastal
                  meetings from Noosaville to Maroochydore, only for venues outside the circled target
                  area. Cooroibah, Tinbeerwah and other residents in the eastern hinterland, may have
                  chosen to attend the nearby Noosaville meeting. Therefore, they would have been
                  aware of the changes in sufficient time to allow them to make submissions. However, to
                  the west, notices in advance of any meetings inside the hinterland Target Area never
                  appeared. Consequently, most hinterlanders could quite rightly assume no
                  notices for meetings in the area, meant no changes in the area. [emphasis in
                  original]


Aircraft Noise Ombudsman
Investigation into complaints about the introduction of new flight paths in the Sunshine Coast (April 2020)   Page 15