2021-01-18 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                 18 JANUARY 2021


    For activities that are not within the remit of either agency representatives, other
      management agencies will be invited, such as Queensland Water Police, Department of
      Agriculture and Fisheries, Department of Environment and Science and the Australian
      Maritime Safety Authority.
    An open Expression of Interest process will be undertaken, planned in late January 2021, to
      select participants. These EOI’s will be evaluated by the Chair based upon;
      o     Individual knowledge and experience in management issues associated with the
            Noosa River and its catchment.
      o     Ability to represent community interests and communicate to as many members as
            possible in identified community sectors.
    The term of the group will initially be for two years, after which the group and its Terms of
      Reference will be reviewed.
    The group will meet 4-5 times a year and minutes of the meetings will be made publicly
      available on the Council website.

The ToR has been loosely based on the Great Barrier Marine Park Authority’s Local Marine
Advisory Committees (LMACs), and staff consulted with GBRMPA staff to assist in its
development. LMAC’s have been active in Queensland coastal communities for more than 20
years, and represent a very successful example of long-term stakeholder engagement.

It is anticipated that a process to appoint members to the Noosa River Stakeholder Advisory
Committee will be undertaken in late January and early February 2021, with the first meeting of
the group to occur soon after.

Noosa Council’s role in river management
Historically there has been some dissatisfaction with the ability of the State government to deal
with issues associated with the Noosa River, both within the Noosa Council and the broader Noosa
community.

The 2004 Noosa River Plan was endorsed by relevant State agencies and the Community and
Industry Advisory Committee (CIAC) was established to help drive the plan forward. This was a
bold partnership initiative at the time and it initially worked well, however over time the commitment
of relevant agencies waned.

In 2014, due to ongoing concerns specifically about abandoned vessels and living on the river,
Noosa Council publicly declared interest in taking on responsibility for the management of
anchoring, mooring, living on the river and commercial jetty leases. Council sought and received
advice from relevant State government Ministers regarding options to manage these activities at a
local level.

Discussions with the relevant State agencies provided legislative pathways as to how that could
occur, which also included undertaking public consultation and presenting a case to the Minister
as to how Council would manage specific river related activities at a local level. There was also a
requirement that Council would implement and enforce any new provisions.

In 2015, a 24-member Community Jury of local residents and ratepayers was established and
following their deliberation process, the majority of the Jury supported the proposition that Council
should take over authority from the State Government for managing anchoring, mooring, living on
the river and commercial use of the river on the basis it would be a user-pays system, funded
through alternative means to rates. 18 of the 24 community jury members supported this position.



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