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Menu changes daily with Fresh Local Produce, Specialty Cakes and Cold Pressed Juice. Wed, Thur & Fri: 6.30am-2pm Saturdays: 6.30am-1pm*

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spillDEBeans 12 Memorial Ave, Pomona Council of Mayors

BIG news includes a resolution by Noosa Council to apply to join the Southeast Queensland (SEQ) Council of Mayors. The Council of Mayors has done a tremendous job on a number of matters in recent years, including playing a pivotal role in securing the Olympic Games. These games have the potential to accelerate investment in transport, infrastructure, tourism and so much more across the Southeast and it’s time Noosa supported the work of the Council of Mayors.

Previous Noosa Councils decided not to be part of the SEQ Council of Mayors and that was their choice, but we consider collaboration and robust dialogue with other councils as vital. We need to work as one SEQ region to deliver better outcomes for the business sector and the wider community.

Playground progress

It’s full steam ahead at the Hinterland Adventure Playground site, Cooroy. Construction of the arbour is now underway. Footings for the major features have been installed and the water play area is complete. Work to install the Bio Basin continues and we are looking good for our end of year completion date.

While it is ‘all go’ with the playground, work on new car parking spaces to support the playground is continuing, with the crossing now finished. Thank you for your patience while crews continue working on: • 12 new car park spaces on Maple St, adjacent to Apex Park. • 22 new car park spaces at the Lower Mill site. • 22 ‘overflow’ car park spaces along Maple

St, next to the Cooroy

Tennis Club. • 2 new disabled car park spaces in Marara St, next to the playground.

Road re-seals

Speaking of continued infrastructure, you may have noticed road resealing underway in the Hinterland.

The full of list of roads either already resealed, or about to be, includes: • Ambulance St, Pomona. • Belwood Pl, Pomona. • Pioneer Rd, Pomona. • Pottery St, Pomona. • School St, Pomona. • Smedley Dve, Pomona. • Camphor Rd, Pinbarren. • Weemilah Crt, Cooran. • Pender Creek Rd, Kin

Kin. This resealing program is part of the $4.36 million funding Council received under the Local Road and Community Infrastructure Program and is grassroots spending at its best.

Free holiday buses

Good news abounds with the ‘Go Noosa Free Holiday Buses,’ which will be back for Christmas 2021 and Easter 2022. Subject to TransLink approvals, travel will be free on TransLink buses servicing Cooroy, Cooran and Pomona, Sunshine Beach, Sunrise Beach, Peregian Beach, Noosa Parklands, Tewantin and Noosa Civic.

Storm season

As we head into storm and bushfire season, it is essential we are as prepared as possible. Get Ready Week is October 10-17. Take the time to check your insurance and clean up your yard. Develop your household emergency plan. Prepare an emergency kit. Register now for the Noosa Alert system via Council’s Disaster Dashboard www.noosa.qld.gov. au/noosa-alert, To stay informed during disasters, check Council’s Disaster Dashboard and subscribe to the Noosa Alert system. Find out more and access support resources at www. getready.qld.gov.au

Kin Kin Quarry

Council has filed proceedings in the Planning and Environment Court in the case against Kin Kin Quarry operator, Cordwell Resources. An initial hearing whereby Council will seek interim enforcement orders for all quarry truck movements to cease during school bus hours, will also be sought.

Further proceedings will focus on alleged breaches by the Quarry operator, with Council seeking to address the intensification of use issues, which is at the centre of community concern.

Final enforcement orders will be sought requiring the operators to limit the number of quarry trucks per day, avoid convoying and ensure that movements are within the operating hours, with all truckloads covered.

A thank-you to community members for their commitment over several months to gather evidence. More than 20 residents have provided statements that will form a critical part of the legal case and for which we are very grateful. A copy of the court document is available on the e-courts website https:// bit.ly/3kqPIcH

Tiny homes win

To end on a high, Council has given a green light for two new ‘tiny homes’ on Council land at Tewantin to help support young people transitioning from crisis accommodation to independent living. Council is pleased to assist the Youturn project with land for the tiny homes at Earl Street, between Youturn’s premises and Tait Duke Cottage. If successful, the three-year pilot program could become a model for other councils that are facing similar housing issues. It’s a tangible solution to homelessness and an incredibly important initiative of which all councillors are fully supportive.

Until next month, stay safe, Clare

At NOOSA HOUSE OF DANCE

we offer a large variety of classes for ages 18 months to adult.

Contemporary Ballet Jazz Dance club Tutu & Twirls Acrobatics Hip-hop/Street Tap

Hinterland towns back those in need

THROUGH good times and bad, Noosa’s hinterland communities have always held strong and united to help those who need it.

This strength is demonstrated by the sheer number of volunteer organisations that provide support for local people and families.

As well as being civic-minded, the Hinterland is also known as a haven of creativity, and both of these characteristics are on display at Cooroy’s Uniforms 4 Kids – a world-first program whose volunteers turn donated police, emergency services and Australia Zoo uniforms into bright and cheerful clothes for disadvantaged kids.

This remarkable organisation, founded by Yvonne Pattinson OAM in Cooroy, not only helps families in need but also reduces waste by preventing the uniforms from ending up as landfill. The organisation now has branches throughout Australia that turn out 24,000 items of clothing a year.

Cooroy’s 20 volunteers create about 3,000 dresses, shirts and shorts, and I am delighted to support their work with $5,000 through Round 6 of the Stronger Communities Programme to purchase four sewing machines and an overlocker.

Pomona and District Community House is another example of the region’s strong ties, and I was pleased to provide a $13,650 Stronger Communities Programme Grant to give this venue a fresh coat of paint.

The Community House plays an important role in Pomona, helping people of all ages stay connected and socialise through events like the popular Cuppa and Convo morning teas, activity groups and expos.

The Coalition Government’s Stronger Communities Programme Round 6 provided up to $150,000 for each of the federal electorates in Australia – more than $22.6 million in total – to help improve local community participation and contribute to vibrant and viable communities like those in Noosa.

We can all look forward to the benefits that this funding brings to Cooroy and Pomona by ensuring that these groups and their many volunteers can continue to help others.

* If you are interested in more information about the Uniforms 4 Kids program, go to their website at www. uniforms4kids.com.au.

Helping you get more from your home loan.

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Leanne Wallace

CommBank Nambour Branch Nambour Central, 25-31 Lowe Street

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Tourism & Hospitality Support Program

THE Palaszczuk Government has announced a new $40 million Tourism and Hospitality Sector Hardship Program to assist Queensland tourism and hospitality sector businesses that are suffering major loss of trade. It builds upon $1 billion in measures, programs and funding support for the tourism industry.

The Tourism and Hospitality Sector Hardship Program is part of the $600 million Australian Government-Queensland Government COVID-19 Business Support Package.

The program is set to get underway in October, with a formal application process. Eligible small, medium, and large tourism and hospitality businesses can access up to $50,000 in funding support to help them into next year and the expected easing of restrictions.

Get Ready Qld

Now is the time to get your property ready for storm season and update your bushfire evacuation plan.

Rob Skelton

Member for Nicklin

Queensland has been impacted by close to 90 disasters in the past decade and the Sunshine Coast is not immune.

Households that are well prepared before a natural disaster are more resilient and are able to recover faster.

The best way to minimise the disruption to you and your family’s lives is to first understand your risk exposure to natural disasters, look at the big picture, identify the scenarios that you need to consider, and make a plan.

Head to https://www. getready.qld.gov.au/ for resources to help get your household prepared.

Largest Police Intake in a Decade

The single largest intake of police recruits in a decade will enter the Oxley Police Academy this week, as the Palaszczuk Government continues the biggest investment in policing for Queensland in thirty years. 142 recruits will enter the Oxley Police Academy this week, with a further intake of 72 recruits planned for November.

This is in addition to the 44 recruits currently undergoing training in Townsville, with a new intake of 48 recruits commencing at the Townsville Police Academy in November.

These huge intakes progress the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to deliver 2,025 police personnel by 2025 together with a $300 million 5-year capital works program that is delivering new and upgraded police facilities across the state

Fairplay Vouchers Extended

Round 5 of FairPlay Vouchers has been extended until October 13 as they have been affected by the cancellation or postponement of community sport due to COVID-19 and recent lockdowns. The program supports eligible Queensland parents and carers with a $150 voucher towards the cost of sports registration for children aged between 5-17 years. Contact my office on 5406 4100 or at nicklin@ parliament.qld.gov.au to find out more.

Sandy Bolton

Noosa State Member for Noosa

Time to stand up against social trolls

WHILE social media can have the enormous benefits of connecting, sharing, and informing, events during recent years have seen an increase in the ‘dark side’. This is so much so that its tentacles are entering every realm, affecting all that we love.

Parliament’s Legal Affairs and Safety Committee, of which I am a member, saw a commonality in submissions from witnesses during the vilification and hate crimes inquiry. Social media has become a platform for those who want to hurt, victimise, and brutalise fellow Australians in an unprecedented way, with images and posts that have been truly shocking.

An initiative put forward recently by a Year 6 student to entice children off social media highlighted the enormity of this issue.

The harm it was doing to, and between friends, and the volume of misinformation and bullying being broadcast, highlight how we are failing our children. We are already seeing impacts on our young, mentally, and otherwise.

These include physical ailments from being hunched over phones and screens, to fear, anxiety and a level of unhealthy competitiveness in achieving those ‘likes’, through to devastatingly suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

We adults are supposed to be their protectors, and yet here is a youngster trying to fix our failings, regardless of our efforts including programs, initiatives and apps designed to get us offline and living our best lives.

One only needs to take a stroll through online community noticeboards, to see comments that range from brutal to bizarre, which would never be verbalized or accepted in person.

The era of the ‘keyboard warrior’ has brought out the very worst in communicating, and is leading those who are already suffering to sink further into depression and fear, and respectful contributors to abandon these pages. This leaves only what has been termed by many as a ‘cesspit’.

As someone who has seen the enormous benefit of the connecting and sharing, I find it incredibly sad that ‘freedom of speech’ can become ‘freedom to humiliate or bully’.

What is the answer? The High Courts have now determined that those hosting websites or social media pages, are responsible for comments by others (third parties) and may be liable for any defamation that arises as a result.

More information is available on my website at www. sandybolton.com/noosa360

This leaves us with the choice to either monitor our posts 24/7 and delete harmful comments from others, or to turn comments off as so many have been doing in response to the misinformation and vitriol being promoted, including about COVID and vaccinations.

Over the years I have requested and encouraged respectful conversations in all realms, often privately contacting those who have not realised that their comments may have been inappropriate.

Now with these legal ramifications, findings in inquiries, and requests from residents of all ages impacted by this negativity, it is time for real change.

Yes, it is regrettable that it has come to where we must hide or delete comments as part of this process.

However we all have a responsibility to ensure that nothing on our pages could be seen as perpetrating hurt or fear for another. Turning comments off altogether is not my preference. However, should we find that monitoring and deleting is insufficient, we may find it necessary to do so in some cases.

I offer gratitude to the many page moderators in our community, who are already doing this as an effort to retain freedom of speech by promoting freedom from humiliation.

We all play a vital role, and we need to use these mediums for positive outcomes, including connecting with each other, and sharing credible information and those beautiful happy snaps and messages that have been a life line during these long hard COVID months of separation. Persecution, humiliation, and degradation are not what we as Australians, Queenslanders, or especially Noosans aspire to.

Until next month, ‘unfollow’ those pages or people who are perpetrating harm, rethink your own comments, and get out and about in our glorious spring sunshine and homes, thereby living our best lives.

Sandy

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