General Committee - 15 September 2025
Date: Monday, 15 September 2025 at 12:30PM
Location: Noosa Shire Council Chambers , 9 Pelican Street , Tewantin , QLD 4565 , Australia
Organiser: Noosa Shire Council
Duration: 01:17:20
Synopsis: Parking Law adopted, penalties up, AI enforcement, Finance surplus, Cash reserves prompt QTC review, Capital lags, WHS reporting improves, Appeals maintained.
Meeting Attendees
Committee Members
Brian Stockwell Karen Finzel Amelia Lorentson Jessica Phillips Frank Wilkie Nicola Wilson Executive Officers
Acting Ceo / Director Community Services Kerri Contini Director Corporate Services Margaret Gatt Director Development & Regulation Richard MacGillivray Director Strategy And Environment Kim Rawlings Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh Apologies (Did Not Attend)
AI-Generated Meeting Insight
Key Decisions & Discussions Council corrected an error in the July 2025 delegated planning decisions report, changing one listed “approval” to “refusal,” with totals adjusted accordingly (00:36–01:23; Item 7.1, amended Attachment 1). Council noted the August 2025 Financial Performance Report, recording a net surplus of $38.5m vs projected $35.6m and operating surplus of $34.8m vs projected $33.8m (02:13–06:40; Item 8.1). Waste operations contributed ~$4.4m to the operating result; new grants (Resilient Rivers, illegal dumping, food organics) will be incorporated at the next budget review (05:30–06:40; Item 8.1). Capital delivery was $4.9m (5.1%) of the $95.8m program by end‑August; developer contributions ~$0.4m and capital grants ~$3.2m received (15:18–18:05; Item 8.1). Cash reserves stood at $137.3m (vs $123.1m prior year), with noted ebb/flow from rates timing and capital delays; discussion flagged potential QTC review of surplus cash and debt (07:45–11:28; Item 8.1). Employee costs were under budget largely due to higher vacancies (~$1m), offset by lower capitalisation (~$337k) and overtime (~$186k), with vacancies concentrated in Infrastructure Services and Corporate Services (06:48–20:05; Item 8.1). Unitywater distributions are tracking to ~$5.95m (budget), with an accrual of ~$0.93m at year end and receipt timing around 30 Sept (16:13–17:44; Item 8.1). Council resolved to make Parking (Amendment) Subordinate Local Law (No. 1) 2025 and adopt a consolidated Subordinate Local Law No.5 (Parking) 2015 after 21‑day consultation (58 submissions; 38 properly made) (22:08–23:52; Item 8.2). Community feedback supported stronger deterrents for overstaying, disability bay misuse, and illegal overnight camping; concerns noted about enforcement capacity, cost-of-living, and perceived revenue raising (22:08–28:47; Item 8.2). Enforcement capability improvements highlighted use of a “parking car” with cameras/AI for intel and targeted patrols, including pre‑scouting illegal camping hotspots for joint patrols with QPS (24:14–26:02; 36:18–37:11; Item 8.2). WHS 2024/25 Annual Report noted transition from LGW to WorkCover QLD with premium savings; 157 suitable duties completed; 13 LTIs; near‑miss reporting increased; 250 corrective actions; ~800 health appointments (52:34–55:42; Item 8.3). External WHS audit last completed around 2022 with a pass (~71/100); external audits are periodic due to intensity; internal inspections ongoing; plans to upgrade WHS systems and role‑specific training delivery (58:20–01:09:05; Item 8.3). Contentious / Transparency Matters Amelia Lorentson questioned whether $137.3m cash reserves indicate under‑utilisation of public funds and over‑reliance on QTC; officers proposed a QTC surplus cash/debt review for assurance (07:45–11:28; Item 8.1). Discussion acknowledged capital delivery delays as a driver of high cash balances and the need to align cash holdings to delivery capacity and 10‑year major projects (esp. waste) (10:21–10:46; 20:28–21:34; Item 8.1). On parking penalties, officers rebutted “cost‑of‑living” claims by noting charges apply only upon infringement and are subject to an internal appeals process for fairness (27:28–29:46; Item 8.2). Jessica Phillips sought clarity on legal vetting and public notification; officers confirmed legal review by King & Co, human rights and anti‑competitive checks, Gazette notice, and website publication (30:08–33:25; Item 8.2). Revenue transparency: infringement revenue goes into Council’s budget/reserves; intent is to reinvest into proactive patrols/education to achieve behaviour change, not revenue raising (33:48–35:36; Item 8.2). WHS reporting drew requests for deeper benchmarking, audit cadence, and clearer context for statistics to avoid misinterpretation; officers committed to provide additional sessions/data (55:45–58:03; 01:09:22–01:10:44; Item 8.3). Legal / Risk Monthly finance reporting provided under s 204 of the Local Government Regulation 2012; adoption noted without issues (02:13; Item 8.1). Parking amendments progressed per Local Government Act 2009 processes, including s 32 adoption of consolidated law, human rights assessment, and anti‑competitive provisions review by King & Co (30:44–32:03; Item 8.2). Appeals pathway for infringements maintained with separation to an appeals officer, supporting procedural fairness and transparency (28:42–29:37; Item 8.2). Illegal camping enforcement sits under Local Law No.4 with different evidentiary thresholds than vehicle parking; any uplift in penalty units requires a separate local law amendment process and consultation (39:42–43:36; Item 8.2). Cash coverage exceeds State’s 3‑month target (officers cited 6–9 months as prudent), mitigating liquidity risk in extraordinary events (12:45–14:34; Item 8.1). WHS regulator oversight noted; increased incident reporting reflects improved hazard capture rather than deterioration, but system modernisation is needed for nuanced risk analytics (01:03:24–01:09:05; Item 8.3). Parking, Camping, Disability Access and Enforcement Brian Stockwell noted most penalty increases are ~$41, with disability bay penalties rising substantially (by two penalty units; cited ~$668), to deter misuse that harms vulnerable users (47:41–48:56; Item 8.2). Signage: Updating signs with dollar amounts is problematic as penalties change annually; officers to consider alternative messaging (e.g., periodic public updates, targeted comms) (48:31–49:00; Item 8.2). Technology: camera‑equipped parking car and AI enhance hotspot identification and time‑limit monitoring; used to pre‑plan joint QPS camping patrols (24:14–25:51; 36:18–37:11; Item 8.2). Education before enforcement: planned comms post‑Gazettal; locality‑based parking management plans and signage reviews underway with Traffic & Transport team (44:28–45:34; Item 8.2). Behaviour change measurement: officers open to periodic trend reporting on infringements/overstays, noting precinct differences and confounding factors (37:19–38:50; Item 8.2). Illegal camping complexity: overnight occupation proof is required under camping provisions; future review may consider higher penalty units under Local Law No.4 to reflect greater amenity/environmental impacts (39:42–43:36; Item 8.2). Finance, Reserves, and Investment Posture Amelia Lorentson pressed for diversification beyond QTC; officers said QTC is government‑backed and currently higher‑yielding, but supported a QTC surplus cash/debt review to validate settings (07:45–11:28; Item 8.1). High cash linked to capital underspend and rates cycle; if capital delivery lags, cash accumulates, suggesting the need to re‑profile works or reconsider funding mix (10:21–10:46; Item 8.1). Brian Stockwell cautioned that looming waste capital projects in the 10‑year program could rapidly draw down balances, tempering calls for immediate debt paydown or reallocation (20:28–21:15; Item 8.1). Operating variances favourable across employee costs, materials/services, and finance costs; ICT underspend driven by invoicing/profiling timing, not structural savings (15:18–15:46; Item 8.1). Workforce vacancies impact overtime and capitalisation rates; risks to delivery/corporate knowledge were raised for separate organisational response (18:30–20:05; Item 8.1). Workplace Health, Safety, and Psychosocial Risk Premium savings from moving to WorkCover QLD; LTIs = 13, with reductions in longer‑duration claims vs prior years; near‑miss reporting increased, and property/vehicle incidents decreased (52:34–55:42; 01:02:16–01:03:24; Item 8.3). Incidents rose to 243 from 189, attributed to improved reporting culture; 157 suitable duties facilitated safe return to work; 250 corrective actions completed (55:42–01:04:12; Item 8.3). System limits obscure severity and role‑relevance of training/inspections; leadership plans to procure smarter WHS analytics and deliver role‑specific modules (01:04:42–01:09:05; Item 8.3). Psychosocial hazards addressed via “Wellbeing at Work” survey action plans, executive monitoring, and “Thrive at Work” initiatives; a further update is due by end‑December (01:10:47–01:13:29; Item 8.3). Benchmarking against other councils and deeper briefings were requested to contextualise metrics and guide resourcing (55:45–58:03; 01:09:22–01:10:44; Item 8.3).
Official Meeting Minutes
MINUTES General Committee Meeting Monday, 15 September 2025 12:30 PM Council Chambers, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin Committee: Crs Brian Stockwell (Chair), Karen Finzel, Amelia Lorentson, Jessica Phillips, Tom Wegener, Frank Wilkie, Nicola Wilson “Noosa Shire – different by nature” GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 15 SEPTEMBER 2025 1 DECLARATION OF OPENING The meeting was declared open at 12.31pm. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY Noosa Council respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters of the Noosa area, the Kabi Kabi people, and pays respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. 3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cr Brian Stockwell (Chair) Cr Karen Finzel (via Microsoft Teams) Cr Amelia Lorentson Cr Jessica Phillips (via Microsoft Teams) Cr Frank Wilkie Cr Nicola Wilson EXECUTIVE Acting CEO / Director Community Services Kerri Contini Acting Director Corporate Services Margaret Gatt Director Development & Regulation Richard MacGillivray Director Strategy and Environment Kim Rawlings Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh APOLOGIES Cr Tom Wegener 4 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES 4.1. GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 AUGUST 2025 Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson The Minutes of the General Committee Meeting held on 18 August 2025 be received and confirmed. Carried. For: Cr Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jessica Phillips, Cr Frank Wilkie, Cr Nicola Wilson Against: None 5. PRESENTATIONS Nil. 6. DEPUTATIONS Nil. GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 15 SEPTEMBER 2025 7 ITEMS REFERRED FROM COMMITTEES 7.1. PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY – JULY 2025 The following material was presented to the meeting in relation to this item: Refer to Attachment 1 to the General Committee Minutes - Amended Delegated Report - July 2025 Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Council note the report by the Development Assessment Manager to the Planning & Environment Committee Meeting on 9 September 2025 regarding applications that have been decided by delegated authority for July 2025 as per Attachment 1 to the Report. "Attachment 1 to the General Committee Minutes Amended Delegated Report - July 2025" (with amendments, as tabled at the meeting). Carried. For: Cr Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jessica Phillips, Cr Frank Wilkie, Cr Nicola Wilson Against: None 8 REPORTS DIRECT TO GENERAL COMMITTEE 8.1 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT – AUGUST 2025 Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Nicola Wilson That Council note the report by the Acting Financial Services Manager to the General Committee Meeting dated 15 September 2025 on Council's financial performance for the period ending 31 August 2025. Carried. For: Cr Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jessica Phillips, Cr Frank Wilkie, Cr Nicola Wilson Against: None 8.2 PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SUBORDINATE LOCAL LAW NO. 5 (PARKING) 2015 - PUBLIC CONSULTATION OUTCOMES Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Brian Stockwell Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That Council A. Note the report by the Acting Local Laws and Environmental Health Manager to the General Committee dated 15 September 2025; GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 15 SEPTEMBER 2025 B. Resolve to make Parking (Amendment) Subordinate Local Law (No. 1) 2025 as advertised (refer Attachment 1); and C. Resolve to adopt, pursuant to section 32 of the Local Government Act 2009, as provided at Attachment 2 to the Report, a consolidated version of Subordinate Local Law No. 5 (Parking) 2015. Carried. For: Cr Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jessica Phillips, Cr Frank Wilkie, Cr Nicola Wilson Against: None 8.3 WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY ANNUAL REPORT 2024/25 Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Council note the report by the Workplace Health and Safety Co-ordinator to the General Committee Meeting dated 15 September 2025 regarding Workplace Health and Safety Annual Report 2024/25. Carried. For: Cr Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jessica Phillips, Cr Frank Wilkie, Cr Nicola Wilson Against: None 9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION Nil. 10 MEETING CLOSURE The meeting closed at 1.49pm.
Meeting Transcript
Brian Stockwell 00:00.000
Can someone wish to move the Confirmation of General Committee meeting on 11 August? Seconded by Councillor Lorentson. No need for discussion I presume. All in favour? And if online? Yes. Yes. That's carried unanimously. We have no presentations and we then have neither have we got deputations but we have got one matter referred from the Planning Environment Committee and that's the Planning Applications and that's the Planning Applications decided by Delegated Authority July 2025 which was referred here to affect the minor change. Patrick Murphy 00:35.997
That's correct. There is an amended attachment to the report. I think Kathy do you have a copy of that? So there was one matter that was identified as being approved but it actually had been refused. Accordingly the attachment has been updated to reflect that. You'll see there on the screen the summary table identifies the changes still showing the 63 applications that were decided through the course of the month but just reducing the numbers of approval by one and increasing the refusals by one and further in the body of the report the actual item has been identified as being refused as opposed to approved. That's it there. I think it's nearly the last page. Brian Stockwell 01:23.716
Okay and we have an amended recommendation. Councillor Wilkie seconded. Councillor Lorentson do you wish to discuss? No thank you Mr Chair. Anyone wish to discuss this matter? Okay I shall put the motion. Those in favour? Jessica Phillips 01:45.936
Yes. Brian Stockwell 01:47.701
That's carried unanimously. Thank you Patrick. Now we now bring up our Director of Corporate Services and Acting Manager of Finance to deal with the financial performance report for August 2025. Margaret Gatt 02:02.701
Good morning councillors, good afternoon councillors, apologies, I'll hand over straight over to Dave to take us through the monthly finance report. Acting Financial Services Manager 02:13.415
Good afternoon councillors and through you Mr Chair, this report presents a summary of council's financial performance to the end of August under section 204 of the Local Government Regulation 2012. As would be expected at this point in the financial year there are no issues of financial concern from our perspective with how the organisation is tracking financially. Council's overall financial performance was a net surplus of $38.5 million against a projected net surplus of $35.6 million and our operating result was $34.8 million, again favourable against our projected surplus of $33.8 million. There are a number of There are a number of attachments to the report including the statement of income and expenditure statement, the financial position, a little bit of a change in the way we're presenting our financial reports with the traffic light focus on the units across the board both in terms of operating and capital and then a capital financial performance graph with I do note that details on our financial performance on our financial performance of our capital program was given under separate cover through the infrastructure services group. Um, it's worth noting that our waste operations contribute about 4.4 million of that operating To our, um, general operating results and details of the major variances, um, in terms of both revenue and expenditure given in the attachments to the report. Um, the trend that we reported last month in terms of rates, levies and charges continue with higher than anticipated waste charges of 106,000 and offset by, um, uh, lower than anticipated, um, discounts and rebates. Again, there's no other points of concern, but it's worth noting that there are a number of other new grants that are being, that the organisation has managed to procure, and they will be subject to further amendment in the next budget review. They include the resilient rivers, illegal dumping, and food organics programs. In terms of operating expenditure, again, all favourable were under budget. In employee costs, materials and services and finance costs, employee costs are under budget, and that's mainly due to, well, there's across the board savings in nearly all the branches we've got in council, and thank you to our acting CEO for highlighting an error with our accruals at the end of the month, and so we had to rerun some journals, but again, all favourable. Again, all favourable variances, and you would expect that there is a slight negative in that space with lower than anticipated capitalisation rates, and that's mainly due to the slow take-out of the capital works program, and that will be adjusted as the profiling for that program comes. So that's about it for operating in terms of capital year-to-date revenues of 3.7 and that's mainly made up of 0.4 in developed contributions and capital grants of 3.2. I guess it's worth noting that the timings of those revenue streams is closely aligned to the delivery of the program. And developer contributions are really hard to forecast. In relation to our capital program at the end of August we completed or managed to complete $4.9 million or 5.1% of capital's $95.8 million capital works program. In terms of cash we were sitting on, at the end of August we had $137.3 million of cash reserves and that compares favourably to what we were sitting on at the end of August in the previous financial year and that was $123.1 million. So I'm happy to take any questions and answers. Brian Stockwell 06:34.160
We've got questions. I'll start off and it's just maybe. Amelia Lorentson 06:40.660
That's right you can turn left also Councillor Stockwell. That's right I had my hand up. Oh no no just to let you know I'm sitting next to you. Brian Stockwell 06:48.180
Yeah the commentary on employee costs I couldn't quite work out how it got to $282 but can you it talks about employee costs. It talks about employee costs are under by 282 then mainly due to lower than anticipated vacancies of 1 million so the result is 1 million so that's a certain amount below what we... So basically there's a million dollars of vacancies and across the board they're being offset by lower capitalisation rates which is about three hundred and forty thousand remember or 337 there's some associated higher higher employee employee costs costs of of 193 a and overtime costs of 186 and the happy overtime costs of 186 can be directly attributable to the lower lower levels of um so if we took those last three figures off the million dollars would come up yeah that's basically how it works. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson. Amelia Lorentson 07:45.252
I've got a few questions but I'll start with the cash reserve 100 cash reserve 137.3 million so every sort of report we see it growing. My question is really probably a question to yourself. Marg or possibly even to Kerri. At what point does growing our cash reserve now at 137.3 million shift from prudent financial management to potentially under utilisation of public funds and I and I ask the question just and I go back to our capital works program delays. I also went and had a look at our strategic investment policy and there's no cap on how much we can invest with QTC so great passive so great passive income but at what point is are we putting too many eggs in one basket so question to to Mark maybe to Kerri or David. it. Acting Financial Services Manager 08:54.900
Probably start with the last one. probably start with the last point. QTC is our highest secure investment strategy so that's in some respects that's why under the investment policy we don't cap how many dollars we could have with that institution effectively government backed. and it's at the moment we're drawing funds back from alternative institutions because we're getting higher rates of return with QTC. The other issue of the higher cash balances is largely So, largely attributable to the fact that we've got delays in our capital program and as we move through the financial year we would expect those cash balances to decline. The other contributing factor is The other contributing factor is we've just issued our rates. So our rates, our cash balances would have an ebb and flow across the financial year. But you're right at some point The other contributing factor is we've just issued our rates. So our rates, our cash balances would have an ebb and flow across the financial year. But you're right at some point in time, Council will need to have a discussion about how much cash it is holding. Amelia Lorentson 09:58.818
Yeah because there could be almost an over-reliance and it might stop us from really actively getting into the space of diversification when we know that we're getting this passive income by just putting as much as we want into QTC and other banking institutes. Acting Financial Services Manager 10:21.298
Yeah, that's right. Our cash balances too are largely attributable to what we said we were going to deliver in the budget. So if we said we were going to deliver 95 million, we were up going to work out funding sources and strategies to fund that body of work. And if we don't deliver that body of work in both operating and capital, our cash reserves will continue to grow. Margaret Gatt 10:46.310
And through the chair, I could just make comment there. Councillor Lorentson, it's common practice as well for councils at particular juncture through a term that if they feel necessary, we can seek QTC's advice to do a surplus cash and debt review. It's something that I've led in other organisations and it just gives that very high level strategic review and advice and potentially provide council in the community that we are managing our cash appropriately. Excellent. And also to give council and the community confidence that we're doing it appropriately and as you said with the high level responsibility of spending public funds from the community. Thank you very much Mark. Amelia Lorentson 11:29.716
We can do that. That'd be great. Thank you. Frank Wilkie 11:33.576
Yeah, I'd just like to reiterate something that David said quite softly but it's very important and that is that the cash at bank is constrained cash. It's there for the delivery of the capital works program, staff wages. It is essentially constrained cash and allows this council to do what it set out to do when we unanimously endorse the budget. Brian Stockwell 12:04.434
I believe. Sorry, is that correct? Acting Financial Services Manager 12:06.954
Now there's a question. Technically from, if I put my accounting hat on, it's not constrained. The constrained component rests with what's in trust. But there is pre-allocated dollars. You are correct in that we need to have sufficient reserves. And typically what we would like to see through the year, the target is three times our offering expenditure, but that's based on a yearly trend. So you are right, it is what we need to. Determines that it will constrain further sums of cash, like it constrains a certain percentage of its operating board. Rates revenue for disaster management purposes. So I think there's about three or four million dollars in that figure that is constrained. So of the 134, you can see that there's around six in There's another three or four in disaster management. So that figure starts to whittle down. Margaret Gatt 13:43.403
And through the chair again, if I just make another comment, is that our sustainability ratios were, in terms of prudent financial management, having six to nine months cash cover is an excellent sustainability ratio result for our council. So that's in the event that we have something untoward or unplanned that we're able, so, the worst case scenario, something happens with our system and we can't issue our rates, as an example. We've got six months cash cover ratio, allowance there to continue our operations in the event of something extraordinary happening to our revenue sources. And Director Gatt, does the State require minimum cash? Yes, three months. So we will exceed the local government 8.7, yep, yep, great. Acting Financial Services Manager 14:31.763
If they're tied at fresh, yes? Yes, yes. Frank Wilkie 14:37.065
I had a question, just to go back to the one about the employee costs that Councillor Stockwell raised. If employee costs are under budget, due to lower than anticipated vacancies. I thought the opposite-- Acting Financial Services Manager 14:53.507
I'm sorry, higher than anticipated. Frank Wilkie 14:54.767
Okay, yeah, so higher than anticipated vacancies. I thought it would be the opposite. I knew I had, there was something-- The opposite to what is written, yeah. Thank you. Oh, apologies. Yeah, that's all right. Sorry. The other question I had was the, in the summary of key materials and service expenditure variances, Could you could you-- explain the 115,000 variance for communications and IT, are you-- Yeah, that's mainly, that's mainly our telecommunications charges, our ICT contracts with our service providers. They're over one? Acting Financial Services Manager 15:26.565
No, they're under a quarter. Okay, so what, why is-- It's mainly a, it's, I believe it's mainly a time issue with the way the budget's been profiled against the actuals. And a lot of the variance-- And a lot of the variances we're getting at the moment are due to the fact that we have yet to finalise our profiling of our budgets. Frank Wilkie 15:46.467
Okay, thank you. Margaret Gatt 15:48.727
Sometime through the chair again, just to add to those comments, sometimes it's very difficult. It's very difficult to control how our vendors actually invoice us and the timing of when they invoice us. So that's, again, if we have a budget profile, because we expect to be invoiced at certain periods and frequencies, and then that doesn't eventuate, then that can cause those variances as well. So it's not an actual variance in expenditure. It's a timing issue. Yes. Frank Wilkie 16:14.627
And final question, Mr Chair. When do we expect to receive the Unitywater dividend? What What time of year is that paid? I think the final dividend has been declared. Board memory, I think we budgeted for 2.1. I think it's coming in at 1.95. We'll do We'll do an accrual at the end of the 25 financial year for 932. We've already received 1.1 million to date. We will expect that in the next. It may have already been received, but I'd have to take that on notice as to when we'd actually receive the final payment. But they have declared their values in their financial statements and we're looking to accrue, as I said, 900. And if I read the budget documents correctly, we're predicting $5.95 million from Unitywater in dividend tax equivalents and loan interest? That's right, yes. Are we close to that target? Acting Financial Services Manager 17:22.463
Yes, we received- I think we received just over the 5.9 budgeted target for the '25 financial year, and we're anticipating that we will receive the same amount for the '26 financial year. Margaret Gatt 17:36.282
Thank you. Through the Chair, I do believe that it is 30 September when we will receive that additional revenue. Thank you. Okay, I think Councillor is on the line. Jessica Phillips 17:50.140
I'll take it offline. It's a question for Director Gatt, but it's fine. Thank you. Brian Stockwell 17:54.960
Okay. And Councillor Wilson, back to you, Councillor Wilson. Nicola Wilson 17:58.060
Just back on the employee costs again, the lower capitalisation rates, is that a timing thing again, or is it capitalisation? Acting Financial Services Manager 18:05.460
Yes, through you, Mr Chair, basically it is. Because we've only spent a small amount of our... budget on capital to date, we've... we assumed that we would get certain rates of... from operating to effectively capital. That hasn't happened to date. We're expecting that that will pick up as the year progresses, and that variance will mitigate down. Amelia Lorentson 18:31.627
And so, Laurence and-- Again, employee costs and workforce pressures. I note that they're not listed under risk, and probably just going to just start-- go back a little bit. So, overtime and other employee costs were higher than expected, and employee costs were under budget, and correct me if I'm wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've understood that's because there's higher vacancy and turnover. So, my question are, what risk does high staff turnover pose for service delivery, financial performance, and more importantly, retention of corporate knowledge? And are there any specific departments that are experiencing higher turnovers or vacancy rates than others? And again, same question, what risk to the organisation does that pose? Just before you answer, there's quite a few questions there that are ones that are broader than our financial report. And asking finance staff about matters that are probably organisational-wide. I think if we can respond on those matters that do our finance and take the others on notice. Through you Mr Chair, the main vacancies are within infrastructure services and corporate services. thank you. Brian Stockwell 20:09.180
Happy to move Mr Chair. Moved by Councillor Wilkie, seconded by Councillor Wilson. Thank you for the extensive and detailed financial report. I'm glad to have you on board. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie. Yes. You can talk to the motion? I just did. That's it? Others wish to talk to the motion? Actually, just the query about, or the questions regarding the level of surplus cash, there's obviously, you know, in the 2016-20 we could do one of the reviews and came up with that it was prudent at that stage with high interest rates to actually pay down $10 million in debt. I've got no problems with doing it again. I suppose what we do need to consider if we look at our 10 year capital works budget, there's certainly some very significant expenditure proposed particularly around the waste area that would see that balance quickly come down if we were to proceed with some of those larger projects. I was going to talk. Amelia Lorentson 21:15.361
Just a shout out to Marg and your team you guys do a lot and these reports don't just happen so I just really want to acknowledge the hard-working team that bring these reports to us every month. Brian Stockwell 21:33.980
Anyone else? Councillor Wilkie? I'll put the vote. Those in favour? Yes. That carried unanimously. Thank you. We then move on to the next item which is Proposed Amendment to Subordinate Local Law No. 5 Parking 2015. Thank you. And we have the Acting Manager and the Director here to run us through the outcomes of that. Clint 22:17.598
I'll just read the Executive Summary as written, if that's okay. The Special Meeting on 30 June 2025. Council resolve to propose to make Parking Amendment Subordinate Local Law No. 1 2025. Council also resolve to commence Community Consultation with the intent of amending Subordinate Local Law No. 5 Parking 2015. Accordingly, community consultation was undertaken on proposed amendments to schedule three, infringement notice penalty amounts for certain minor traffic offences over a 21 day public period from the 25th of July to the 15th of August 2025. A total of 58 submissions were received, with 38 considered properly made. Feedback revealed community support for the proposed amendments, particularly in relation to discouraging overstaying, misuse of disability spaces and illegal overnight camping. However, some concerns were raised regarding Council's enforcement capacity, cost of living impacts and perceived revenue raising nature of the changes. However, given overall positive feedback, it is proposed Council proceed to resolve to make parking amendments subordinate local law number 1 2025 as advertised and adopt the consolidated version of subordinate local law number 5 parking 2015 as outlined in the report. Frank Wilkie 23:52.100
Thank you for the report. In some of the submissions you mentioned that there was there were concerns about council's capacity to enforce. Could you talk us through some of the improvements that have taken place in council's capacity regarding parking enforcement involving technology? Clint 24:11.676
Yeah so some of the technology that we that we're using has been it's been very beneficial to us so at the moment where we're using a lot of our I guess local Intel we're also using more of the technological advancements that we have made and particularly the parking car is probably a primary example of that. The parking car has been a very good tool for us at the moment in terms of monitoring particular zones and providing a lot of intelligence on where the problem areas are within the Shire. And there's so much more to resolve from to resolve from that too through the use of AI as well, which those cameras are. So that's really at the start of things for us. That's probably the major example that we have. There's a lot of potential for us to utilise that technology to provide a lot more intelligence around the Shire in terms of the infringement areas. In terms of monitoring before we do camping patrols for example. The car has been really good in terms of seeing the potential problem areas so we know the areas that we're going to hit when we undertake the camping patrols with the police. So that's probably the primary example that we would have. Frank Wilkie 25:51.183
Could you qualify in terms of number of complaints received about how illegal camping has driven some of these changes? Clint 26:02.935
Well through the Chair illegal camping has been illegal camping has been an issue across all coastal councils and this has been no exception but it's very topical issue and it's a very visible issue so So, um... It is a component of the changes. These changes have been coming at us for quite some time and don't just refer to camping. We obviously get a lot of feedback around We get feedback around the misuse of disability car parking spaces. That's a big one for us. A lot of frustration in the vulnerable segments of the community about misuse of those spots. from the business community around loading zones and how those zones are misused as well, obviously for vital deliveries and whatever else when you have normal cars parked in there. So camping is a very visible part of the overall package. It's a very important part too because it does tend to, if not manage and we get feedback Very well or poorly can create poor outcomes in terms of community and whatever else and bad outcomes for residents and tourists. So it's a part of the overall package but not the only component. Frank Wilkie 27:27.930
Thank you. And final question. In the submission In the submissions, cost of living impacts was raised as a concern. Could you place that concern in some sort of context, please, about how these laws actually work? Clint 27:45.090
Through the Chair, the cost of living expenses, it was raised but I think it's important to identify that this is not the same, these proposed changes are not the same as, say, increased utility charges, say water, electricity, or even registration, so it doesn't apply to every motorist within the Shire, every motorist within the State, every motorist within Australia. identified. These charges apply to people who are infringed. And that's quite a different scenario to applying it across the whole community. And we're not saying for a moment that there's not an impact when you are infringed. Obviously, it's not pleasant. However, in context, it's not the same as the charge that everyone bears in the community. Frank Wilkie 28:41.201
And there are appeals processes in place should someone feel aggrieved? Yes, they are and there is. And they're important processes through the Chair because people who are aggrieved by receiving the infringement, they can set out the reasons why they think they shouldn't be infringed. And then it's up to a separate process through our appeals officer to look at that. So that stands aside in terms of good governance and transparency. So that's quite an important process. And then, you know, sometimes those appeals are upheld and sometimes they're the other way where they go through. yeah, I mean, that process is very important to us. So, and that will stay. So similar in principle to incurring a speeding ticket. You only incur it if you infringe and then you have an appeal. Yeah, I mean, through the chair, it only applies if you're a speeder. If you're not infringed, then it just, it doesn't apply. So it's quite different, as we said, to registrations and whatever, assuming that you're not in a vehicle. Brian Stockwell 30:01.772
Thank you. Any other questions? Councillor? I do. Councillor. Jessica Phillips 30:09.812
Thank you. Just a few questions. Thanks for the report. Just checking how it goes through a legal review. Is that internal? Just to ensure that for local laws there's always consistent, I guess, consistent across the board. Is that how it normally goes to review without ballot? Clint 30:29.388
Through the chair. Councillor, do you mean in terms of this amendment process or is that what you're talking about? Yes. Jessica Phillips 30:36.688
Yes, through the amendment process. Does this just get a legal overview, please? Clint 30:42.728
Yeah, okay, so through the chair, it does get a legal overview and we've used King & Co, which you see in that report there. They're the kind of pre-eminent lawyers for legal law review within Queensland and if not further afield. So the, specifically the wording around the recommendation, recommendation, the format of the attachments, the wording of sections, say the human rights section, they've all been subject to legal review. So there is a specific process that we need to go through, Councillor, to make sure, and also looking at the anti-competitive provisions there under item number six. So there is a specific There is a specific process that we need to go through, and I'd also mention as well, we referenced the local law-making process within the report as well, Councillor, so that process is made in accordance with the Local Government Act, so there's quite a bit of legal oversight and procedural process, if I can put it like that, to go through when you're proposing to amend a subordinate local law. Jessica Phillips 32:03.500
Okay, yeah, this is just, I've got a few follow-up. Do you want me to go through all mine or go? Fire away. A lot of them will be from just looking from a community perspective, Clint, so Ian and I probably understand exactly what you're saying, so my questions are just to make it really transparent. What's the plan, what's the Council's plan to communicate the parking like the local wall that's coming to us today, how will that now go out to the public? Clint 32:33.790
Yeah, yep. Thank you, Councillor, through the Chair. So, seeing the report on the 800 next steps. So, there's a notification process that we need to undertake now and assuming that these are adopted. So, that's a notice within the Queensland Government Gazette and also and also there's a posting on Council's website, a posting and notice I should say on Council's website. And obviously there, with the public access to that public access to that law. And there's a whole procedural process there. But to answer your question in short, Councillor, yes, there is a public process and notification process that needs to be undertaken. Jessica Phillips 33:23.054
Okay, great, thank you. Just a follow-up question then when it comes to the revenue from local laws. Where does that go in our budget? Where does the revenue generated from local laws, where does that fit? Clint 33:48.552
It sits within our budget and under the reserves, so that's where it sits. Jessica Phillips 33:58.819
My intention was to see how the money's spent back into, say, the camera car and education. That was really more trying to align the community to understand where the revenue goes. Is that clear? Yeah, yeah, that's right. So through the Chair, and we make reference to that too, Councillor, within the report as well. So all of the proactive patrolling that happens now, that is all funded via revenue. So what we're talking about here as well in this report is that if there is any increase in revenue, and that's on the assumption that there's no behaviour change. I mean, ideally for us, councillor, we would have behaviour change and there would be no revenue emanating from these changes. That would be a great thing. But if there is revenue coming in from this, we'll be using that to hit some of those or more proactively patrol some of those problems. And the Mayor mentioned before around illegal overnight camping, for example. We get that pop up in all areas of the Shire, to be honest, but particularly the coastal areas. So, any realised revenue will be put back into those patrols, improving behaviour and trying to enhance the community amenity and liveability. So, it will be put to good use. Okay and does any of that go into our like the signage just so i'm thinking about making that sure we're trying to deserve yeah we're going into very general um discussion about how council budgets we're not talking about the subordinate local law so i'm not going to allow your question That's fine i've got one more around local law apologies i'll take that one offline then um just in relation to UPS information sharing if there was complaints that come through them around parking spots that they've identified how does that information share back with our local laws to make sure that they're targeting um the same complaints that might come through a different process Councillor yeah so we through the chair meet with QPS quite regularly on a quarterly basis so we've got so we do that formally at that stage but we've also got very good lines of communication so um so they're communicating with us constantly on problem areas and issues within the Shire so and also we also undertake those Queensland Police Service compliance um compliance inspections incentives particularly around the illegal camping so there's another opportunity there where the two agencies get together to try and produce some better outcomes from that perspective so yeah in short we meet formally communication lines are very much open so we're in a very good information sharing space at the moment Brian Stockwell 37:18.512
Just a couple of questions. Amelia Lorentson 37:22.172
Clint you mentioned the ideal the ideal outcome would be changing behaviour which means less infringements which means less infringements are we expecting then to get a 12-month review to actually measure that behavioural change is will you some point come back with a report and just let us know is is it working? Clint 37:47.598
Has it sorry through the chair has the has it changed behaviour? Amelia Lorentson 37:53.158
And I know it's not one in isolation but given that that's the drive. Okay so I'm happy to report on anything. Clint 38:02.424
It can do. Amelia Lorentson 38:04.064
Look it's behaviour change it is you're talking about trend that's got lots of things that can happen where people would argue then that behaviour hasn't changed because in this area it's come up again but I mean I'm happy to come back to council and report on overall trends on how things are going as an update report perhaps we can do that by some other mechanism rather than a report maybe the quarterly reporting in council I don't know but as a broad in the context I'm happy to report on on these matters it's just probably going to be precinct specific as well and may not be able to be put down to a specific you know issue I think my question was maybe a little bit leading Clint and there was a reason for it and it's probably going to lead into the next question so behavioural change in terms of illegal camping and we had the discussion beforehand about whether as part of future local law changes that we should actually be considering creating a different category for illegal camping that it's not just a vehicle and shouldn't be treated as a vehicle the impacts whether it's environmental and amenity are greater for a camper with three four people parked alongside the National Park than someone who's had a big night out and left their car at the National Park So can you explain to me is that something that we will consider? Clint 39:42.164
Yes, so through the chair I do appreciate the pre-question because I'm now prepared. So the the camping side of things is contained within like law number four. So there's a there's a penalty unit that applies or two penalty units that applies to camping in there. So if we wanted to you know If we wanted to you know increase, that would come under another local laws review. So it doesn't sit within parking, it sits within local law number four which is related as a camping provision within the local law, within local law number four. So what it means though in terms of this, while we can't make the amendment here and now, we can do it as part of a future local law review. So if the council feels that the infringement amount is not enough for camping, it can increase those number of penalty units, because sorry, a penalty unit is $166, we can, the number of units that apply, we can. anymore. Amelia Lorentson 40:56.020
That, I actually think it does fit into this local law, Clint, if you can just sort of bear with me. So parking a vehicle for the purposes of overnight accommodation. So the issue I think we have with parking a vehicle as opposed to parking a person is really different. It's easier for us to infringe a vehicle. It's safer for local laws officers just to drive past and infringe them. At the moment the issue with infringing an illegal camper is that You physically need to get the person out of the camper van in the middle of the night and hand them over the fine. So I'm wondering under this local law, which is parking, whether we can create We can create a category for vehicles that park overnight and then define what that looks like. Clint 41:51.959
I guess what I'm saying, just to go back to the basics here with this. For this report, the amendment is, the proposed amendments are as put on the... Yes. Screen. What I'm saying is that, and it doesn't matter about where it kind of sits, I guess what I'm outlining as a process is that these amendments are as they sit. If we want to make future changes to them, we can certainly look at how we do that. I'm happy to take legal advice. process advice about how we get the right outcome for the community. So I'm not saying no to that. Can I just add further to your point, Amelia, I think the challenge with trying to fit in that differential what you're stating is that there's still an evidentiary of requirements. Even if there's a person in the vehicle, you still need to understand where they, you know, occupying it. We understand where they, you know, occupying it overnight. So I guess that's where some of our other tools like our signage and parking management plans and the like can help to assist to deter those sorts of practices as well. The challenge at the moment, as you pointed, is for camping controls, there's a requirement there to essentially obtain evidence regarding the person there overnight sleeping in it as opposed to just parking the vehicle. So that's, you know. Currently they ask that based on those two evidentiary elements, one is purely the vehicle base and the one is the actual camping activity. So, but we can take that on board for future local... Local review rounds, absolutely. I appreciate it, thank you. Kerri Contini 43:30.933
Just to be clear, any amendment would have to follow the same process. Amelia Lorentson 43:34.913
Process. Go back out to consultation. Which is a very big process, I understand that, public interest. Brian Stockwell 43:41.275
Councillor Finzel, you've got your hand up if you've got a question. Jessica Phillips 43:45.455
Yes, thank you, Mr Chair. A lot of them have been answered around the table. Thank you everyone for your input and for the staff of the reports. Given the need for alternative solutions was raised post the community feedback, and given the conversation around the table, what is the plan towards investing in further education around these issues to the public around, you know, like things we've discussed around the camping, for example, as opposed to like a parking violation. Is there an intention to be providing further education, and how is that to be managed? SPEAKER_10 44:28.501
Yeah, I'm happy to answer that, Councillor. So, we obviously, with this piece of work itself, we will publicise it. So, obviously, it goes through a gazillion process, and then we will push out some comms as well around this particular change. There's also mention, and then we're working closely with our traffic and transport team, who are undertaking a lot of work at the moment regarding parking management plans and looking at locality-based... parking management and making sure it's fit for purpose and effective at regulating and managing behaviour and parking that meets the needs of that community and businesses. So that work is sort of underway and this is, I guess, one small piece of a bigger piece of work that Council's undertaking regarding managing managing and dealing with congestion and parking more broadly. So there'll be ongoing work that will be undertaken with local rules but also with our traffic and transport team to really spend a lot more focus and education and awareness and obviously things like signage will be looked at as part of the upcoming and ongoing reviews across... Amelia Lorentson 45:34.440
Okay, I'm going to move the motion. Sorry, I've got a question still. Brian Stockwell 45:38.860
I'll talk first and then ask questions. So the amendments as proposed are there to... increase the deterrence and to try and make this relatively equivalent with like councils. It was interesting about the concept of the cost of living crisis is in fact not... enforcing parking regulations and not increasing the deterrence is probably having an impact on cost of living, not only is it more difficult to find a car park if people are overstaying and people are spending extra on petrol, but it's also the fact that if we're not raising the revenue through enforcement, we're not paying for the staff and therefore the general rate payer has to pay for them. so So, in fact, to me, if you're looking at reducing the cost of living, you want to make sure you comply with the effective, and so what this does in the majority of the offences, it increases the penalty year cost of about $41. Now, it would be interesting to monitor to see if that $41 is an extra deterrent, or if it's a deterrent in some areas, say the hinterland versus Hastings Strip, because the anecdotes it's Because the anecdotal advice is that a number of people get a fine in Hastings Strip, and they say, "Well, that's how much it normally costs me to park anywhere." So, increasing it by $41 doesn't make a difference. The big one that does change, obviously, is parking in the disabled zones, and that's gone up by two penalty points, or over $360. So, that's obviously to really reinforce that we have a lot of need. for those disabled spots to be kept for the right places. So, I support the amendments. I think they go in the right direction. I think it would be interesting to see if we can plot a percentage increase or decrease. As you said, there will be other factors that are beyond our control that may influence the number of visitors in town, for example, but there may be ways to just assess if the dollar figure in any advertising of such does act as a further deterrence. So, Councillor Lorentson, you have another question? Amelia Lorentson 47:40.998
Yes, it sort of ties in with what you just said, Councillor Stockwell. So, the submissions really highlighted the shortage of disability. The shortage of disability bays and the fact that they're being misused. In terms of signage, the increase, the penalty is actually $668, which is substantial. It would be really great to have that actually on the signage, because I think that would be probably one of the major deterrents. $668, whether you're going for a surf or Hastings Street shop. Hastings Street shopping is $668. It's a lot of money. So just a question. Will you be considering putting the actual amount on the signage? Clint 48:30.100
I would have to think about that because the penalty unit changes every year. Through the chair. I was going to add that, Councillor, yes. So the challenge would be every year we would need to increase and change. all the signage across all disability parking bays to have the amount. Yes, so that's, I guess, the challenge. The penalty units change every single year. But I agree with you around... Amelia Lorentson 48:56.498
A removable waterproof sticker. Just peel it off. Yeah, yeah. So we'll have to think about the ways in which other messaging that can be used to help deter people who do targeted focus areas. through the chair councillor we probably I mean off the back of the notification period of this we would probably get into a more periodic yeah but a more regular kind of is Clint 49:26.490
Advertising or you know updates excellent did you know parking here could I think that's probably a more efficient way of us you know getting the message out perhaps than the signs and I wouldn't I'm not discounting the sign it just comes to my mind that maybe we should do more updates and it's something that um Richard and I have been talking about in here too a bit more proactive as we talked about earlier today about what we're doing in these spaces and around the education because it's not just the compliance part now it's education before compliance so kind of So kind of going along with what it's saying I think there's probably a suite of different things that we can do that would probably be quite effective so we could probably take that offline have a look at that suite of alternatives as well. Amelia Lorentson 50:15.894
Excellent, thank you Clint. Brian Stockwell 50:19.500
Councillor Finzel. Jessica Phillips 50:23.600
My apologies I can't get my hand down. Okay, once it's up. So from now on in the meeting just let me know if you've got a question. Do other people wish to talk to the motion? Councillor Wilson. Kerri Contini 50:36.560
Just very very briefly I'm going to say I support the recommendation and I'm just noting that these fees are avoidable. Frank Wilkie 50:47.464
I'm not going to speak now because Councillor Wilson has shamed me by her brevity. But I support the amendment. What he said is a better three minute question than you said it in one sentence. Others? Brian Stockwell 51:03.292
I will close it. I actually was thinking about the idea of signing, but I would think that we had a few strategically located signs about illegal camping. Camp here, $666. Camp at one of Council's caravan parks, $35. And let them make the decision. Okay, so that's all I have to say. I'll put the motion. All those in favour? Jessica Phillips 51:34.900
Yes. Brian Stockwell 51:37.800
Oh, that's Kerri Contini, so Thank you. Thanks Amelia Lorentson 51:42.460
Clint, thank you Hayley. See you. Brian Stockwell 51:52.960
Item 3, workplace health and safety and reports 24-25. And we have Director Gatt and two workplace health and safety looking people. With Woodby, I'll let you introduce our... Margaret Gatt 52:08.298
Thank you through the chair. Good afternoon Clint Councils. We have Julianne Hoban, our manager of people and culture with us today. And we also have Craig who... And we also have Craig Hodgson. Both Julianne and Craig will take you through the annual workplace health and safety report. Thank you and welcome for your first meeting. Thank you. And as normal I'll think up a half question for you. Julianne Hoban 52:32.897
So this report provides a summary of the health and worker health. The health and safety activities undertaken by Noosa Council through 2024 and 2025. Council transition to workers compensation insurance provided from local government, LGW, over across to Queensland WorkCover. We completed this in November last year. the it represents a costing the savings to council the achievement is 1.6% reduction to our premium which is based on your total work wages wages and from the councillors it's down to 0.5% so you came from 3.2 down to 0.5. The WH team completed 157 suitable duty claims for work it will work and non-work related injuries. This assists employees to return to work reducing lost time. There were 13 LTIs in the financial year. Most of them were repetitive movements, strains, cuts to hands and required medical attention and they were off to work. Also in that point we reduced our MTIs by three, increased our near-miss reporting, which is great, it prevents injuries, which is a very positive and as consequence to health and safety. and safety reps leading at toolbox stores that highly value the reporting of near-misses. We also reduced the incidences involving property to council and cars and other So the red breast tumor. Remediation from the WHS to reduce LTIs included rotating of tasks between employees to awareness of repetitive injuries. Repetitive injuries and training in PPE, equipment and manual handling training, which is ongoing. Council has not received any notification, incidents or notifications from WHSQ or the Electrical Commission Office. WHS are working to reduce outstanding actions down from 189 to 63. The WHS team continues to close out the remaining actions in cooperation with the Respondent Areas. The inspections, there was 250 corrective actions were completed in the year 2025 and an increase of 152. a year. The WHS team completed flu vaccinations, hearing tests and silica medicals, skin checks and mask fitting testing over the fine entry year. The WHS team has The WHS team has coordinated approximately 800 appointments across Council to ensure compliance with the WHS Act, health and wellbeing of our Council employees. That's basically the report. Thank you. Amelia Lorentson 55:44.925
I'll start. Just in terms of how we're going compared to other Queensland Councils, have we benchmarked? I'd really love to understand really love to understand, you know, all sorts of things. Claim costs, what are our claim costs compared to other Councils? What's our LTIFR compared to other Councils? just to really see how we're faring and Council with similar tiers as Noosa Council. Margaret Gatt 56:20.127
Through the Chair, I'm happy to answer that. Thank you. We don't have that detail in this report. We usually do extract that from our insurer. Excellent. They provide that detail and it's a public record. So we can take that question not on notice. I'm partially responding to it and I can provide that and I can provide that information to you at a future date. Amelia Lorentson 56:41.144
Thank you. And there was a lot to unpack in this report. Will there be an opportunity for the Councillors maybe to unpack some of this information? Just to understand, you know, someone that's absent for an injury, is it a major injury or not such a significant injury, can that opportunity afforded to us at some stage soon? Margaret Gatt 57:09.637
Through the Chair, I've had a conversation with the CEO and the Acting CEO around providing some more background data to assist the councillors in understanding what the data is telling us. Obviously we keep confidential information confidential in terms of you know staffing names and etc etc so just as an example as well we probably a little been a little bit remiss of myself not to explain what the acronyms stand for we just assumed that everybody knows knows what an LTI is and what an MTI is so lost time injury and a medical time injury and things like that so yes we'll take that request on notice and I'll work with the acting CEO to see when we can schedule that in to provide you a little bit more understanding. Amelia Lorentson 57:57.103
And I've got a lot I'll just ask one more for now the first thing that sort of stood out when I opened the report is council has had no WHS audits this financial year is why not it's probably the question. Margaret Gatt 58:19.785
Hand that over to Craig he can answer that question. Thank you Craig. Craig Hodgson 58:24.645
So before we came over to council LGW did a ORI audit so Work Club came in and did an audit on council in 2022 I think it was off the top of my head. Council scored 71 which a pass is 70. The last time they did the audit it's only four councils in Queensland passed. we did quite well. And the year before, four years back, we passed again with around 71, 72. I'd have to go and look at the numbers but it's around that point. Last year was a big year with the workers' comp getting transferred and all those sort of things. So no, we haven't looked at doing an audit. We do internal audits all the time but we don't do an external audit. Kerri Contini 59:11.447
External audits typically are only done periodically because they are expansive. They come in and they audit all of our documentation. Very resource intensive. Right through to They're very thorough to on the spot site visits where they will go around and visit all of our sites, ask staff questions. So they're very, very thorough. So typically in the past they've always been done every three or four years. Because they can't possibly do every council every year. But we are always appreciative of an audit. We have a very strong workplace health and safety culture at Noosa Council. But there's always room to improve. And we always get valuable learnings out of those audits. Amelia Lorentson 59:57.641
Fantastic. So there was significant savings from just switching our insurance providers. Yeah. Did that savings get reinvested in... What you just said, Kerri? I can respond to that. Margaret Gatt 01:00:12.494
We don't, other than user charges, similar to the questioning before around parking fines, that revenue will just come back into consolidated revenue or that savings. It's not like it comes then directly or we take a clip and bring it over to Workplace Health and Safety. We would just go through the normal budget process through the year and if we've identified that we needed a larger expenditure, obviously that would be offset then by those savings. We would just go through the... But that revenue doesn't come into the line item in people and culture. I just wanted to provide through the Chair again to give you some confidence around auditing as well. So the Office of Justice Attorney in general, which is where Workplace Health and Safety as a department sits under, they will regularly review any even such as this Council meeting and the report that's tabled with the minutes. They have operatives that regularly scan Council meetings and also would look at our annual report and any of the statistics with LGW. If they ever saw anything of concern then they would of concern then they would as the regulator initiate an audit. Now we've not had that in my understanding of Council so but just to give you some confidence that there is a regulator will scan their eyes. oversight there and if they have an issue then they will and it will be a compliance order we won't have any opportunity to say we can't we can't participate because we're too busy that will just be imposed upon us so that that does that yeah that's there. Brian Stockwell 01:01:53.487
I couldn't think of a hard question. I think I'll give a straight forward one. I think I've identified a typo in the table. Thank you. That had duration van days locked. I'm pretty sure it's most to admit that the final break column should be greater than 52, not less than 52. Margaret Gatt 01:02:12.911
Thank you through the Chair for picking that up. we will But when we look at that table, it's probably the core of what we have to consider as councils. When you compare to 2020, you see significant, between '21 and '22, significant reduction in total claims. In the last two years, we've had no claims that had a lost day greater than 26 days. And we see even in the eight and the eight to 26 weeks, only one or two just reported here. So if any other organisations if any other organisation does a report like that showing that level of change, would they be happy? I don't know. I think that's something to celebrate. Brian Stockwell 01:02:54.461
Thank you very much. Councillor Wilson. Kerri Contini 01:02:56.970
On the converse though, just below that in part 5, there were 243 incidents in the 25th year compared with 159 in this year, so there's an increase quite sharp in the injury incidents and requiring first aid. Do we have any sort of trends that we're aware of? They're all kind of... Are there particular types of injuries that are occurring along the way? Margaret Gatt 01:03:24.898
I'm through the chain here, but Craig can respond in terms of the first aid. What are the types of...? Craig Hodgson 01:03:30.738
They're mainly hands and cuts and things like that. And things like that. Sprains and cuts. Sprains and cuts. Sprains and cuts. And sprains. A lot of injuries. We did a big push this year and last year to get people reporting because we weren't getting reports through the LT. They've been helping us to get people to report things. The injuries were probably there but they weren't being reported before. Where now is we're getting them reported and we're getting on the front foot so we're cutting down the injuries also. A lot of new misses have been reported now and we're on top of those before they become an injury, if that makes sense. Typically Kerri Contini 01:04:13.846
In the...we would have people quick and thorough about reporting major injuries or injuries that required further medical attention, but minor things people would just say, "Oh, it's all right, " and just keep on going with the flow. past... Yes. And we've encouraged... That's the sort of thing that's actually important to report, because we can learn from that to make sure that it doesn't turn into a more serious injury. So we've seen an uptake in that reporting. Margaret Gatt 01:04:42.667
And through the Chair, if I can just highlight on that the increase that you will see in that area under five on near miss reporting. Craig did mention that earlier on in speaking point, but I just wanted to highlight that. community as well. That's a very positive increase. So that's an increase of 34. And that's as a consequence of the health and safety reps leading toolbox tours, so that they highlight the value of reporting near misses. And that's critical in identifying potential hazards before they lead to injury. So it's almost like a converse, it's an increase, but it's very positive. And I suppose the other one I wanted to emphasise as well is the reduction in incidences involving property by 11 in relation to council and private vehicles. Yeah, I just thought I'd make that point. And the other one that I just thought I'd point out, under workplace health and safety training, so whilst that does not look particularly positive under section 7 of the report, where it's saying we've only averaged 64%, which falls below expectations, what happens is with our current system, it issues out take five or training requests across the whole organisation. So as an example, it will issue one to, say, the acting director of corporate that might be related to working at Heights or confined spaces. Confined space training or silica dust training. Now, that's not related to my role. Yes, I could undertake that training so that I'm aware of what the code of practice is saying, but I probably wouldn't prioritise that. Conversely, there might be some office-based training that is distributed to an external staff member that's not relative, so that's how those statistics get a little bit blurred, but we're looking at a potential alternative data capture and reporting system for workplace health and safety moving forward that we hope has got a lot more smarts and analytics in it and that we can provide more clarity. If we're going to look for any significant improvement it's in our backend workplace health and safety system which was a good system when we put it in but it is now well outdated and it makes it difficult for us to really interrogate data. It produces kind of bulk data. Not nuanced data that helps us really identify where the gaps and opportunities are, where the problems might be. So that would be I think our next maturing as a workplace health and safety culture is a robust system. Amelia Lorentson 01:07:18.162
And I appreciate that because I think when I first read the report I was a little bit concerned you know total total incidences rose from 189 to 243, 61 out of 107 inspections were completed. The take five completion rates at only 64% but when I got context around that that made me feel really well sure that we're in a really good space so any further information or detail and or how we can improve the report really really recommend it thank you just to follow up on that does that mean you will be able to send appropriate training modules to staff rich Frank Wilkie 01:08:06.644
That are roles yeah roles specific to staff that would through the chair through the chair that's what acting CEO was referring to yes yes that's the aim and for example at the moment it's very difficult it's wrong Kerri Contini 01:08:20.333
Difficult in our system so if you look at the hazard inspections it doesn't differentiate between whether that is something very minor like a paper sign needs to be uploaded or something made or something major. It just lists them all as things that need to be rectified but similarly to first aid instances it doesn't mention whether that's- it doesn't categorise it as somebody needs a band aid put in or somebody- had to be taken to hospital. The system just simply doesn't allow us for that kind of detail and that's where we need to go to to get better rigorous data and better ability to target training. and target actions where they need to go. Brian Stockwell 01:09:06.427
Happy to hear it Mr Chair. Moved by Councillor Wilkie, seconded by Councillor Lorentson. Excuse me Mr Chair. It's been moved and seconded. You can ask questions after the hit talk. Thanks Councillor. Frank Wilkie 01:09:22.080
We've received workplace health and safety reports before. This to my memory is the most detailed and extensive I've ever seen. It has a lot of data in there that I too would appreciate an extra session to unpack to understand the training and training that you've got underway or plan to implement to mitigate the risks. So I really appreciate it. There's a lot of things I do and I understand that you're doing it at an operational level and I would like to because I know it's important work. And Craig, I would thank you for your report. It is, as I said, the most comprehensive WH &S report I've seen and you perhaps have the most important job in the organisation. Because your role is about ensuring that our employees are kept safe and that they go home safer to their families. And I know that everything in this report, from what I've read, is geared towards is geared towards lowering that lost time to injury rate, which is the most important. Making sure we're getting as close to zero as possible. But in order to do that, I would appreciate another session, because there's a lot of really great... programs underway and proposed, and thank you very much for the work you're doing. Brian Stockwell 01:10:44.092
Okay, thank you. Now, Councillor Finzel. Jessica Phillips 01:10:47.212
Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you for the report. I have some questions around psychosocial hazards in the workplace, regarding strategic support and governance moving into the future. I guess perhaps maybe staff could give us some further information. I know there's comments around health and wellbeing initiatives and initiatives for the future to address potential hazards and there's also support for staff to raise work-related or personal concerns. In the report moving forward is there going to be opportunities to address some examples of psychosocial hazards like high job demands, work overflow, low job control, lack of role clarity or poor organisational justice? How are we planning to address that and report that moving forward? Through the chair Councillor Finzel I can respond to that. As you'd be aware and the other councillors we have had that well-being at work survey which was in essence a high-level risk assessment of the psychosocial hazards. contained within Noosa Council and the organisation has responded by multiple action plans to address those concerns such as those themes that you raised Councillor Finzel like high job demands lack of clarity and organizational justice just to identify a couple those action plans continue to be monitored and reported on through to the executive team but it's certainly an ongoing piece of work and I would suggest that between now and December at the end of December of this year which is the commitment I gave to councillors when I when I and the and the and the CEO Larry provided an update to the councillors on that well-being at work survey. We did give a commitment that we would come back and provide a further report on that in terms of the status of the action plans and the effectiveness of those action plans and further mitigation strategies moving forward. Kerri Contini 01:13:01.313
You might as well also mention... Thank you. Sorry, thank you. And the Acting CEO has just mentioned as well that we also have another wellness initiative called the Thrive at Work program, which I'm sure some of you are aware of, which are fitness activities and other mental health initiatives that people can participate free and during work time. Karen Finzel 01:13:29.454
Thank you, that's great. In terms of reporting, is this something that will become like something embedded in this report moving forward? Is that the plan? Margaret Gatt 01:13:39.974
Through the chair, Councillor Finzel, I can take that on notice and I'll have the discussion with Julianne as the manager of BNC around where the appropriate forum is for that reporting, such as that will be. at work ongoing reporting whether we incorporate it into this or we keep it as a standalone report. Jessica Phillips 01:14:00.041
Thank you, that's encouraging. I look forward to the reply to that question. Thank you and keep up the good work. Brian Stockwell 01:14:06.681
Okay, does anyone else wish to talk to motion councillors? Nicola Wilson 01:14:09.681
Thank you for the report. It's really good to see the ongoing training, the toolbox talks. I think that's really important and reading this report took me back to my days at Caltex when I was the head of management reporting there and that was such a And that was such a big topic, a big focus there and also I worked at Qantas as well so it was really a reminder that that used to be front and centre of pretty much everything that started with a safety topic and just having that culture embedded in your report. Organising is so important and it's probably something that we as a council haven't seen too much on so far. I think we've had a presentation to the Audit and Risk Committee last year but otherwise we kind of don't see too much of it. But otherwise we kind of don't see these stats too often so I think it is great to actually highlight that this is so important and to keep track of where we're at. But yeah, very good, thank you. Brian Stockwell 01:15:05.405
Councillor Lorentson? Amelia Lorentson 01:15:06.833
I'd like to acknowledge and thank the WHS team. I'd like to acknowledge the Thank you very much. I think my take home when I read the report and I've been doing this job now five years is council is really serious about safety and you know I'm a big believer in continuous improvement and we as councillors have that opportunity. to help support your team whether it's extra staffing or more finances so please talk to us this is really important you know happy staff happy community it's important that we keep our staff safe and supported so thank you for your work. Brian Stockwell 01:15:56.020
I'll talk. I think we may have brought him back but I know previously we had some guest speakers on workplace health and safety issues like ex-Bronco player Shane Webke. If any of our staff are Shark supporters or Raiders supporters and you might want to make special efforts this week, on the flip side I'm sure those who support the Broncos would be happy. Would you like a close? No, thank you. I'll put the motion. Those in favour? Yes, both people? We'll make that unanimous. Thank you for your report and that brings us to the end of the agenda. There have been no confidential sessions. I call for the meeting closed at 1:49. Related Noosa Council Meetings
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