2023-03-13 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING REPORT                                                  13 MARCH 2023


In 2022 the Noosa River received an B Report Card rating for catchment health for the first time in
the Report Card’s history (normally Noosa scores A-), and 5 stars for its socio-economic rating.
The decline in rating was largely due to an increase in catchment pollutant loads, with sediment
loads increasing from 349kg/ha in 2021 to 1,112kg/ha in 2022, caused by very high rainfall and
river flows experienced over the summer months.
These results have highlighted the importance of advancing urgent and significant investment in
riparian health to build resilience and to better withstand extreme weather events. There is a solid
evidence basis from the long term data collected through the program to help drive this investment.
This requires also the coming together of land managers across the various Natural Resource
Management groups and agencies to establish asset management and investment plans for the
catchments that focus action and funding to priority areas. This is particularly needed in the lead
up to the Olympics and Paralympics where we have the opportunity to present SEQ and Noosa as
a world leader in healthy and sustainable catchment management.
Council is pleased to support the Keep it in Kin Kin project in which Noosa and District Landcare
and rural landholders work together to prevent erosion and sediment runoff in the Noosa River
Catchment.
Council is also pleased to support the many beneficial activities lead by Noosa Integrated
Catchment Association and Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee and others that add
significant value and improvement to catchment management and health across Noosa Shire.
Based on 2022 results from our socio-economic community survey, extremely high numbers of
residents (83%) are satisfied with the access and usability of their local waterways.
The Healthy Land and Water Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program is regarded as one of the
most comprehensive waterway monitoring programs in Australia.
Previous Council Consideration
In 2019 Noosa Council renewed its Network Member Agreement with Healthy Land & Water,
committing $74,380 over three years.
Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 18 July 2019, Item 8, Page 5
That Council note the report by the Environment Officer (Rivers and Coast) to the Planning &
Environment Committee Meeting dated 9 July 2019 and authorise the CEO to enter into a 3 year
Network Member Agreement with Healthy Land and Water as provided in Attachments 1, 2 and 3.
Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 21 July 2016, Item 11, Page 3
That Council note the report by the Principal Environment Officer to the Planning & Environment
Committee Meeting dated 12 July 2016 and authorise the CEO to enter into a 3 (three) year Deed
of Agreement with Healthy Waterways.
Finance
The new Network Member Agreement outlines Council’s financial contributions and terms of the
agreement for Council from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025 (refer Attachment 1). The agreement will
commence in retrospect from July 2022 to recognise the work that HL&W have already delivered
within this current funding period including launching the 2022 Noosa Report Card, providing
technical input into water quality and wetland workshops and proposals, and collection of data in
the lead up to the next Report Card’s release in November 2023.
The total funding amount requested is $81,170 excluding GST, which is an increase of $6,790 from
the previous 2019-2022 agreement due to increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Council may terminate the agreement if needed subject to Section 2 of the agreement (term and
termination clauses) and may withhold payment of a program contribution where the program has
not been delivered in accordance with the agreement (refer to Annexure 1 in Attachment 1 for
program deliverables).


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