NEWS
Friday July 30, 2021
Cairns Local News
Community opposition to Machans Beach unit application PETER MCCULLAGH
Cardiac Ward Nurse Unit Manager Mandi Pashley receiving the generous donation from Northern Frontier General Manager Linda Ly along with Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation CEO Tony Williamson.
Getting back on their seat to recovery A GENEROUS donor has helped make recovery from heart disease more comfortable. Almost $35,000 was donated by the Northern Frontier Foundation to the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation, to enable the purchase of 12 electric recliners for the cardiac ward at Cairns Hospital. Cardiac Ward Nurse Unit Manager Mandi Pashley said she was grateful for the donation, as the recliners would make a big difference to cardiac patients and would be in almost constant use. “We care for many heart
failure patients who often struggle to lie flat in bed due to shortness of breath. Without a recliner they need to sleep on multiple pillows which is not always comfortable or practical,” Ms Pashley said. “Our post cardiac surgery patients tend to find it more comfortable to sleep sitting upright, due to the sternal wound and as they can’t sleep on their side, a recliner is a great substitute for a bed. Having an electric recliner available will provide them a comfortable sleep which is so important to their recovery,” she said.
Northern Frontier Foundation General Manager Linda Ly said they were pleased to support the project as it would help improve the health and lifestyle of the local community. “We believe these chairs will be most beneficial for the cardiac ward and patients,” Ms Ly said. “The Northern Frontier Foundation is dedicated to supporting the local community directly and in-directly where possible in improving health, education, environment and economic development,” she said. Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation CEO
Tony Williamson said the donation brings the NFF’s support of the Foundation to almost $155,000. “We’re very grateful for the support of NFF and particularly its founder Dean Pradal, who has been very supportive of us for many years,” Mr Williamson said. “Items like this are a great way the community can support the health service to help our patients be as comfortable as possible. The Foundation is about putting the icing on the cake and this contribution is a great example of that,” he said.
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A RECENT decision by Cairns Regional Council to approve a Development Application greenlighting the approval for 4 townhouses has angered a section of the Machans Beach community and left some locals disillusioned with the Council process. Prior to the Planning Meeting where the development application was approved a total of 38 non-conforming submissions were received, with only one supporting the proposal. The application was approved for a number of reasons. The first and most important was the application met the criteria as outlined by the State Government’s code, effectively rubber stamping the approval, however allowing Council to apply some measure of conditions upon the development. Residents opposing the application feel Council should have the ability to deny an application instead of automatically approving developments. Machans Beach resident and opponent Thomas Herridge believes the rubber stamping is wrong. “A couple of councillors claimed that there was a legislative requirement to approve the Development Application. “Why is there a vote then if there is no option but to approve?” he said. If Council opposed this code assessable application they would expose themselves and ratepayers to a potential legal challenge from the developper costing thousands and perhaps with no real chance of winning A council spokesperson stated with regard to the number of community submissions that, “the proposed development was subject to code assessment and therefore was not required to undertake public notification for submissions. “However, at the time when the development application was considered by Council,
38 not properly made submissions against the development and 1 not properly made submission supporting the development were received.” It is important to note that submissions were classified as not properly made as there was no formal public notification required as the application was code assessable. Residents feel their submissions should have been considered as their submissions were well researched and pointed out numerous aspects where the development application was non-compliant with the Cairns Plan. According to the Queensland Government Planning Act, a development application is classified as Code Assessable if it fits within existing planning instruments but may be inconsistent with existing local planning codes. Whilst this is cold comfort for Machans Beach residents opposed to the development, they still believe the classification of code assessable development applications create issues not just for residents but also Council. “There appears to be a high level of subjectivity related to the application of code assessable development applications. “This subjectivity raises concerns related to Council appearing to be pro-development rather than applying the assessment in an open and transparent manner,” Mr Herridge said. Opponents of the development were at pains to point out, they are not opposed to development, they would prefer to see appropiate development in the Machans Beach area. At the meeting Councillor Olds suggested there was a huge gap between community expectation and council action. The Machans Beach residents opposed to this development believe the “gap is more of a chasm.”
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