2021-01-18 GC - Item 2 - Attachment 3 - Consultation Report River Plan Version 2 (2019-20)

                     -    Outline what future infrastructure might be required, when and where.
                     -    Distinguish between the infrastructure requirements of recreational users and commercial users.
                     -    Consider options for new or different locations.
                     -    In the four years Council staff have been writing this Plan, baseline research should have been completed to inform an infrastructure overlay for the river.
                     -    Actions required by Council
                     -    Plan should define and assess the reasonable infrastructure requirements of both recreational and commercial users now and into the future. Specifically,
                          the report should address known infrastructure issues including:
                    -     Adequacy of boat ramps and associated parking.
                    -     Adequacy of ferry and charter boat terminals.
                    -     Adequacy of boat repair facilities / slipway infrastructure.
                    -     Adequacy of pump out facilities.
                    -     Adequacy of marina/s.
                    -     Potential for dry stack storage for vessels.
                    -     Ensuring adequate marine repair facilities.
                    -     Lighting all navigation markers throughout the river.
                    -     Ensuring marine facilities are flood proof.
                    -     Ensuring river mouth is navigable.
                    -     Ensuring adequate public jetties (noting that some jetties are so high that they are unable to be used by boats; there are no published usage policies etc).
                Objective 1(vii) page 64
                    -     As noted, this objective to “improve obligations related to the ongoing management of commercial jetty leases” is a nonsense as the report fails to provide
                          or describe a single material issue relating to the jetties or their management at present.
                    -     An appropriate river plan should engage the leaseholders as key stakeholders but not seek to put forward interventions and actions that are not directly
                          linked to any identified risk or issue.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Delete proposed actions to impose greater control or intervention on commercial leaseholders in the absence of a single risk or issue being attributed to
                          their operation.
                Objective 1 (viii) page 64
                     -     As noted, Council has no authority to control commercial activities on the river if they are conducted lawfully in accordance with Federal and State
                           legislation.
                     -     It cannot assume jurisdiction.
                     -     Similarly, Council’s plan does not describe or attribute a single material issue or risk to river businesses other than apparently overwhelming staff with
                           inquiries.
                     -     Council has no jurisdiction, mandate or strategy to “guide and manage commercial activity on the river” and should respect existing legislation.
                      -     Actions required by Council
                      -     Delete proposed actions to impose greater control or intervention on marine businesses in the absence of a single risk or issue being attributed to their
                            operation.
                Objective 2 (ii) page 64
                    -     No cost benefit is provided to warrant Council conducting a buyout of any fishing licences.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Council should refer any buyout requests to the State.
                Objective 3 (ii) and 3 (iv) page 65
                    -     Council has failed to properly engage or include community or industry in the development of this draft river plan.
                    -     It is disingenuous to put forward an action proposing “establish appropriate communication and engagement mechanisms” without describing them in detail
                          so the community and industry can be confident that they will be given greater involvement than provided to date.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Council should detail what engagement will be undertaken.
                    -     Council should note our recommendation that a River Management Committee or Trust be formed.
                Objective 3(iii) page 65
                    -     Council has no authority to enforce compliance of anything on the river.
                    -     This action is flawed as Council lacks appropriate jurisdiction.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Amend any reference to jurisdiction to enforce compliance on river to refer to the appropriate agency. Council cannot assume a mandate or jurisdiction.
                Objective (vii) page 65
                    -     Council has not provided adequate detail to the community to explain the implications of the marine protected area.
                    -     Significantly greater information is required.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Amend any reference to marine protected areas to refer to Council prepare a detailed report for community consideration.
                Measures page 66
                    -     An effective monitoring program will require significantly more specific and granular detail to assess progress towards any
                          outcome.
                    -     Every Target must be measurable with a specific date, and if that date is several years away, then progressive steps towards it must be stated.
                    -     The Measures lack any reference to key elements of the plan including:
                    -     marine safety
                    -     river usage
                    -     industry and community satisfaction and participation in decision making
                    -     cultural impacts
                    -     economic impacts
                    -     marine species health/diversity/population
                    -     cooperation with stakeholders
                    -     cooperation with State and Federal agencies and their commitment to provide adequate resources
                    -     Compliance
                    -     waste impacts other than litter (eg. Sewerage)
                    -     suitability of marine infrastructure
                    -     Significantly, the proposed Measures do not even relate to the nominated vision of the river being the “healthiest and most biodiverse system in South East
                          Queensland”.
                    -     Actions required by Council
                    -     Ensure all measures are specific and measurable with suitable increments for monitoring outcomes.
                    -     Include additional measures to ensure Council focuses on all key aspects of the river plan.
                    -     Ensure Measures exist that relate to each Objective and the Vision itself.

The Nature      General observations
Conservancy –       -    The Plan pulls together an impressive bank of information and has clearly been based on a consultative, collaborative and well-intentioned process across
Reviewer 1               a diverse pool of Noosa River stakeholders.
                    -    It gives a comprehensive account of the available information underpinning each priority area and, in most cases, the issues (e.g. threats, knowledge gaps,
                         need for more management action) that the Plan seeks to resolve in order to achieve its ambitious vision of the healthiest waterway in SEQLD.
                    -    However, at times I found the document a little unwieldy and was regularly re-reading guiding sections (e.g. Introduction, objectives) and seeking higher
                         level summaries of key information to reorient myself. Some suggestions are below on ways to improve this.
                    -    Introduction
                    -    Suggest including a summary diagram of how the key sections of the document connect to and support each other to ultimately produce the Action Plan,
                         i.e. a map of the document. The structure seems to be loosely based around the DPSIR (or similar) framework (i.e. with the River Health and Sustainable


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