2021-01-18 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  18 JANUARY 2021


The Jury presented Council with 12 recommendations and at its Ordinary Meeting on 14 January,
2016 Council resolved to;
A.    Thank the Community Jury members for participating in the Community Jury Process, for
      their dedication and time attending meetings, researching material and finalising their Report
      and Recommendations to Council;
B.    Note the Jury recommendation that Noosa Council should take on the responsibility of
      managing anchoring, mooring, commercial uses and jetty leases for the Noosa River;
C.    Write to the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Department of Natural Resources
      advising them of the Jury’s recommendation for Noosa Council to manage on-river and
      foreshore activities, seeking their support to establish an acceptable process for both parties
      to transfer agreed management responsibilities for the Noosa River to Council; and
D.    Agree to utilise both the 12 additional Jury recommendations and the supporting
      explanations in the development of a comprehensive River Management Strategy and the
      associated discussions with State Government agencies.

In February 2016, then Noosa Mayor Noel Playford wrote to the Minister for Transport informing
him of the community jury outcome and that Noosa Council’s objectives were to;
    Take on management of moorings, anchoring and living on board vessels in the river;
    Seek legislative amendments to prohibit long-term unattended anchoring;
    Remove abandoned and derelict vessels from the river;
    Implement an on-river inspection and compliance program; and
    Manage commercial jetty leases.

Discussions with representatives of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines indicated that
Council was not able to assume responsibility for commercial jetty leases as it was not possible to
delegate authority under the Land Act to Council, however a pathway to seek Council management
of anchoring, mooring and living on board, from the Department of Transport and Main Roads, was
still available. The community jury recommendation had been that Council management would be
on a ‘user-pays’ system, however it was very unlikely that this would be possible without the
inclusion of the commercial jetty leases in the overall proposal, as this removed a significant portion
of the likely revenue associated with local management.

In 2017, Council endorsed a review and update of the Noosa River Plan (2004) to be undertaken
under a whole-of-catchment management framework to progress the Noosa River Community Jury
recommendations and address a number of key pressures affecting the river system.

Through the Draft River Plan (version 1), Council continued to seek support from the Minister for
Transport and Main Roads to transfer agreed management responsibilities for anchoring, mooring
and living on the Noosa River to Council.

In response to River Plan Version 2, comments were received from the Director-General,
Department of Transport and Main Roads in January 2020. These included;
    A number of the recommendations around anchorage, mooring and prevention of ship-
      sourced pollution indicated your preference for NC to manage these services. I believe the
      Queensland Government should remain the primary service provider of marine safety,
      waterways management and ship-sourced pollution prevention activities. However, I
      welcome opportunities to develop broader partnerships to improve the delivery of these
      services.




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