Endorsement Of Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan 2026

Brian Stockwell0:00

General Committee for 2026. We'd like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land, the Kabi Kabi people, and since it's the first one we should remind ourselves why we do that yeah, in the Kabi Kabi Commitment. They really encourage both councils, staff and all the community to embrace the concept of custodianship, having the humility and respect to care for and protect that which sustains us in return. And they, for Kabi Kabi, invite us to experience the beauty of Noosa, from the koalas, from the sacred mount karuri in the west, to the white-bellied sea eagle fishing in the Everglades to the north, to humpback whales migrating along the eastern New Zealand and the lockheeds and that kind of white sandy beaches, and it's good. Just remember why we like to live here, play here, and the importance of protecting those things that do sustain us. We then move on to the attendance, and we note that all Councillors except for Councillor Wilson are here. Councillor Wilson has extended her apologies for today's meeting being spilled onto Christmas Eve. We then move on to the adoption of the Minutes. The adoption of December 10 committee meeting. I saw Councillor Wilkie and I saw the arm of Councillor Wegener. Presuming there's no discussion, all those in favour? And that's carried unanimously. We then move on to the section 8 which is reports directed to General Committee and the first one is the endorsement of the Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan 2026 and we have sue, our disaster coordinator and our acting manager of design and we would like to give you an executive summary of the report.

Hello everybody. Okay so the Local Disaster Management Plan has been brought up for Council endorsement today. It's been reviewed in accordance with the Disaster Management Act which requires councils to maintain an up-to-date plan that supports effective disaster management across the local area. Whilst I would like to note it's not actually a Council report, it is an LDMG report, but it's provided to Council as a courtesy so that they're aware of the planning and also to make sure Council complies with our legislative requirement under the act to ensure that we have a current plan. Full the last assessment of the plan occurred in 2023 and this current review focuses primarily on incorporating machinery change of government changes and introducing a substantially improved format to make it easier for future updates. A full comprehensive review of the plan is scheduled for after the State disaster management plan and it's expected to be released later in the latter half of 2026 so it'll probably be early 2027 when we do another full review of the our disaster management plan. The was completed though in consultation with our emergency management coordinator and the executive officer to the district management group and the plan has been considered by the Local Disaster Management Group and endorsed at their meeting on Ordinary Meeting in November 2025. Since that endorsement, though, an error has been identified on page seven where the formatting somehow has we've missed we've got photo of the Mayor but we've missed the mayor's name and title so I would just like to move have someone move an amendment for me if possible that we could that allows the CEO to approve minor changes like that to the formatting. The report also notes that the operational sub plans that support the plan are reviewed and updated under the delegated authority of the Local Disaster Management Group those plans are being systematically reviewed the Local Disaster Coordination Centre sub plan reviewed by the Local Disaster Management Group in November. So I'm just steadily going through each one to update those since the last update to Council in September 2024 key disaster management activities securing have significant state and Federal funding for recent events including ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred, the western Queensland trough and activation for counter disaster operations and reconstruction of public assets for the severe storms that occurred in 2025. Unfortunately I can't give you an accurate figure as to what the November storms will be. We're still getting the last of the invoices in for that. Community resilience activities have continued strongly in 2025 with around 6,000 get ready packs distributed across schools, aged care facilities and public engagement events in partnership with our emergency services. That is considerably increased on the 2024 year with a couple of bigger events being initiated this past year. So the recommendation before Council is to repeal the 2023 Local Disaster Management Plan and adopt the 2026 version. Sorry and I just remembered we have just discovered one error in the report as well where I talked about the recommendation or the last Council endorsement of the 2023 plan. It says 2026 instead of 2023.

Amelia Lorentson10:52

Yes, Councillor. Hi sue and Chris I'm just running through this suite of sub plans at the moment that are included in the Local Disaster Management Plan and just wondering and I'm thinking considering like just an urgent risk in particular rare high consequence events such as a terrorist attack as what just happened recently at Bondi Beach. Do we currently have I know that sits under state but I'm just trying to understand is there any appetite to include us in part as of the LDMP at LDMG plan a sub plan on counterterrorism or on rare high consequence events given recent events down at Bondi Beach?

Frank Wilkie16:09

Thank you for the report, Sir. The Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan is the primary statutory instrument through which Council the local and disaster management group carry out legally mandated disaster management responsibilities. The plan ensures Noosa Shire complies with the Disaster Management Act and disaster management regulation, including duties to establish a Local Disaster Management Group, maintain a disaster response capability, prepare, review and publish a local disaster plan and coordinate disaster responses. Group, responses. The document translates the state's three-tier disaster management framework, that is the local, district and state levels, into practical local level processes. It ensures Noosa can manage an event locally and request assistance when required. The plan defines the composition powers, roles and responsibilities of the LDMG, its subgroups, command and control structures, and decision making responsibilities, ensuring all agencies can work in a coordinated and legally consistent way. It identifies noosa's disaster risks and vulnerabilities, and risks guide all investment, planning and response activities. The plan sets out detailed processes for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, making it the single source of truth during crises which all agencies can refer to. It aligns Council with state policy frameworks. The plan is publicly accessible. Which helps maintain community trust and clarity in how these disaster powers are used and are subject to regular review, especially after events, and continual improvement is the goal. Thank you very much for the compliment. Thank you mate.

Amelia Lorentson20:56

Yeah I'll support that entirely and I sit observe the Local Disaster Management Group and absolutely we've got absolute leaders in their fields that sit around that table also I want to acknowledge the staff we have dedicated committed experts that are under this roof as well and I think again it takes a village and just good people to keep this community safe and that it especially our staff and our volunteers and community. When I read through the report I found really quite interesting just the demographics of our community and in terms of how that relates in context to a local disaster management. Just understanding like actually having the depth of information of understanding who our community is in all its complexity that we are in all the community. A quarter of our residents are over 65 and I've got to actually stop and think of that there are lots of people that live alone there's people who actually don't have access to a vehicle and that information feeds back to our expert emergency services who understand that if there's a fast-moving fire a heat wave or a storm, then they're ready they're planning for it they're planning for those that don't have access they're planning for those who live by themselves they're planning for our communities over 65 and more so I sit in the resilience stage we give the tools to our communities so they can help themselves in particular our aged care facilities and I really commend yourself sue and Ian I've attended some of those workshops they're brilliant and that comes back to my very last point in terms of acknowledging our community and again I've been in this town for quite some time and I speak first-hand that you know when someone. Is lost you know I remember at Sunrise Beach maybe six months ago ten o'clock there was a call out on a community notice board that someone's mum went walking and hasn't come home I thought I was the only one that read that and started walking down the streets looking for this lady everyone was out on the streets 10 till midnight looking for this lady and this is the community that we live in and the community that I feel so proud to belong to so again going back I see this is going to be short it's not I want to acknowledge also and thank our community for looking out for each other and for understanding the role that they play in keeping our communities safe I think we're blessed thank you very much