By Diet Simon and Mark Rodriquez
The Sunshine Coast Mayor, Bob Abbott, wants people here to help Council resist state government dictates on increasing our population. An interview with him about that led our 9 March edition of What’s Going On?
Also in that show were interviews
- on finding compromises between live music noise levels and opportunities for musicians to make a living
- an expert community rebuilder consulting with the Mary
Valley people - a Nambour high school helping an Aboriginal primary school in north Queensland
- how a puppy starts a career to guide dog for a blind person
- and theatre notes
Views expressed were ours or those of the people talking to us, not necessarily those of Noosa Community Radio.
“They’re going to force the population numbers on us and not allow us to plan properly”
The state government has directed Council to make some major changes to its proposed “Palmview Structure Plan”, which Council submitted to them as required in the Regional Planning Act. Mark spoke to Bob Abbott about the changes, where Council stands and what they
recommend Sunshine Coast residents do to make it clear to the state government that they support the responsible planning submitted by council. Basically, this is Council urging us all to resist the state government’s push to overpopulate your Sunshine Coast.
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Council invites you to have your say on the proposed Palmview Structure Plan and associated planning documents. When preparing your submission, you can also refer to Council’s summary of significant amendments. Submissions close on the 19th of April. All the documents mentioned and more information can be seen at Council’s website. As Bob Abbott said, he is really keen to get the community to stand up on its hind legs on this one…”this is the litmus test”.
Musicians seek Council support for entertainment precincts
Sunshine Coast musicians are having to lobby hard to hold on to ever fewer live gig opportunities. They are asking Council to support them to put control of the gigs into council’s hands instead of the state’s liquor licensing authority which is now in charge. On 2 March there was a forum of liquor licensing officials and industry stakeholders organised by the Musicians Association of the Sunshine Coast (MASC). Their treasurer, local singer-songwriter Harii Bandhu was at the heart of it. He told Mark the outcome.
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“It’s almost like the government are sulking, they’ve moved away, it’s kind of like there’s no contact”
The government’s Traveston assault ripped the guts out of the Mary Valley. 2,000 people have left it, vast swathes of land are going to ruin, businesses and schools have closed. An enormous revival effort is needed. The Valley people have had a community recovery specialist in for two days to share some ideas. According to his website, Peter Kenyon has advised around a thousand communities all around the world. Diet asked him after meetings with Valley groups what he’s been advising them:
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“Don’t spend your time dancing under government funding priorities – you have got to take the lead”
Peter Kenyon told Diet not all the troubled communities he’s worked with were able to recover. His “Bank of I.D.E.A.S.”, as he calls his consultancy, operates from the basic assumption that communities do not develop from the ‘top down’ or from ‘the outside in’. He believes that communities need to build from ‘the inside out’, and their residents must invest themselves, ideas, assets, capabilities and resources. With those givens, is the Mary Valley still a viable place after everything the now sulking and not communicating George Street bullies have inflicted on it?
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“Hope to bring the kids down to have a camp at our school”
Nambour Christian College has started partnering a small Aboriginal primary school in Normanton, in the north Queensland Gulf Country. Diet asked Jesma O’Hara, the chairwoman of the college board, how that idea came about:
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“You start changing a community one life at a time”
The Nambour-Normanton school partnership reminded Diet of an opinion survey published about three years ago that found about 70 per cent of Australian parents opposed to Aboriginal history being taught in schools. So he asked Jesma O’Hara what sort of history she thinks will be taught in Normanton.
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At this point Diet needed to vent some anger. “I have heard from a friend who leads a team of workers that includes a young Aboriginal man, here on the Coast, that he gets abused by his workmates who call him the despicable names for Aboriginal people that can earn you a
court conviction. My friend stepped in and gave the abusers a tongue lashing. The Aboriginal man – about as light as a Mediterranean person, by the way – told my friend, he didn’t mind what the fellow workers were calling him. My friend told him he should mind. It saddens both of us that racial abuse can be so corrosive that the victim would rather put up with it than resist.”
“We feel very proud of that dog when it eventually goes to the blind person”
Ever wondered how the career of a guide dog for the blind begins? As some Community Radio people and their loved ones were cheerfully getting soaked by shower after shower on our car boot sale in the parking lot of the J on Saturday Feb 27, a lady led a beautiful white dog – a labrador-golden retriever mongrel – to the Simons’ stand. It was wearing that orange coloured rug – or whatever that dog garment is called – that denotes “guide dog at work”. But it looked so young. So Diet took Veronica Carley from Yandina across to the studio and began by asking her why an ordinary person, who’s not a specialist, gets involved with a dog like that.
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A number to call if you want to get involved is 1800 810 122; their website is Guide Dogs Queensland
Synda Turnbull provided theatre notes
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Hear What’s Going On? again at 11 a.m. next Tuesday, 16 March. We’d love your feedback. You can email us to markrzz@bigpond.com or leave a message at 5447 2233.
Click here for the entire show as it aired
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