2021-03-18 Ordinary Meeting Agenda

ORDINARY MEETING AGENDA                                                              18 MARCH 2021


Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 16 July 2020, Item 2, Page 7
That Council note the report by the Environmental Services Manager to the Planning & Environment
Committee meeting dated 7 July 2020 and:
A.    Approve the Project Management Plan (provided as Attachment 1 to the report) as meeting
      the requirements of the Project Implementation Plan outlined in the Alliance & Funding
      Agreement subject to Council appointing an independent scientific expert to provide a review
      of the project’s Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Plan. The review is to include an
      assessment of the effectiveness of the methodology, project’s goals, measures, outputs and
      outcomes within the context of ecological restoration and the terms of the three year contract,
      and recommendations (if any) for improvement to be included in the Monitoring and Evaluation
      Plan; and
B.    Note the Terms of Reference of the Noosa River Oyster Restoration Project Technical Advisory
      Group (provided as Attachment 2 to the report); and
C.    Establish a Noosa River Stakeholder Reference Group to provide strategic input, local
      knowledge and expertise into River Management initiatives, initially providing input into this
      Shellfish Restoration project and more broadly into finalisation and implementation of the
      Noosa River Plan, and
D.    Delegate to the CEO to determine the Terms of Reference and undertake a process to
      establish the Noosa River Stakeholder Reference Group together with the appropriate role for
      Councillor representation on that Group.

Finance
There are no additional financial implications of the creation and management of the NRSAC.
Outcomes of the Committee that may require Council investment will be assessed as part of normal
budget processes.

Risks & Opportunities
An open EOI process was undertaken to remove the risk of perception of bias, or hand-picking
candidates. The Terms of Reference also stipulated a range of river user sectors to be engaged,
ensuring representation from all key sectors. The size of the committee was limited to allow it to
remain focused and one of the key criteria was the ability to represent a significant sector of the
Noosa community. This has resulted in well-qualified and well-intentioned persons missing out. To
mitigate the risk of negativity towards the NRSAC, these will be invited to provide input to relevant
issues going forward. This will particularly be the case with the nominees under the Recreational
Boating category which had the highest number of nominees as a category.
Since the previous Community & Industry Advisory Committee (CIAC) ended in 2012 there has been
no such representative group for the Noosa River. This has presented challenges in developing and
delivering a Noosa River Plan that is supported by a range of different sectors. One of the benefits
of this type of consultative group for the Noosa River is that the stakeholders, while diverse, are all
fundamentally interested in the same thing – a healthy, biodiverse and clean river that sustainably
supports the environmental, social and economic needs of our community. If there is good will and
a cooperative approach to this Committee, the opportunity to make positive change on the Noosa
River is very strong.
There are many Government agencies (local, State and Commonwealth) involved in aspects of the
management of the Noosa River, and this Committee is being set up with just two of them – Noosa
Council and Maritime Safety Queensland. There is a risk of not being able to immediately deal with
some issues associated with the river without those other State agencies. Bringing all agencies
together from the start is extremely challenging and the approach of this group has been to start with
the two most relevant agencies to the issues generally raised in the local community. The vast
majority of concerns raised in the feedback to the Noosa River Plan drafts has been within the remit



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