NewsBite

Video

Noosa musician cops council fine after loading up gear on Hastings St

A solution has been found to help keep live music alive on Noosa’s main street with organisations and businesses pulling together without the help of the region’s council.

Noosa musician receives council fine for loading gear on Hastings St

An association that works with musicians has found a solution with private business to keep live music thriving on Noosa’s main street.

The Hastings Street Association has secured permission for performers in their busking program to park on private land, with the help of businesses and resorts.

This will provide buskers with an alternative unloading spot to the street’s loading zones, which Noosa Council says is off limits.

A Noosa Council spokesman said businesses should provide a space if they were engaging musicians, otherwise they should park in regular parking.

A busker who copped a council fine on Noosa’s glitter strip for packing his gear into a vehicle in a loading zone had earlier pleaded for a solution to the parking chaos he said placed live music on the street under threat.

His plea was backed by Noosa residents stung by the council after they used loading zones or nature strips to pick up disabled family members or children after work.

Max Anderson is an emerging musician who regularly performs on Hastings St.

On the afternoon of December 1, Mr Anderson was packing up his instruments outside the old police beat after performing for the Hastings Street Association’s busking program.

Unbeknown to him, Noosa Council’s parking enforcement car had driven past and snapped a photo of his car, which had just arrived to pick him up.

He received a penalty infringement notice for being “stopped in a loading zone for commercial vehicles only” in the mail last week.

He was fined $120.

Hastings Street busker Max Anderson. Picture: Patrick Woods.
Hastings Street busker Max Anderson. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“My car was stopped for no longer than five minutes as I have a mate drop me off and collect me in my vehicle when I perform here,” he said.

The car was left running in the zone as the driver helped Mr Anderson with his gear to speed up the loading process.

“At this time of year, parking is extremely limited, so we had no other option,” he said, adding that they would always move immediately if they saw any commercial vehicles.

“I had wrongly assumed that as I pay tax on my music earnings, I’m hired or programmed to be there and my car is registered as a commercial vehicle, I would be all right for a short pickup,” Mr Anderson said.

The busker rang the council to explain the situation and was told he would “have a hard time contesting it” with a deadline of January 23.

The loading zone by the former police beat. (photo taken after 5pm).
The loading zone by the former police beat. (photo taken after 5pm).

“Without the loading zone, there are many instances where performing and bringing vibrancy to Hasting St would become extremely difficult,” he said.

“That fine will drain almost all of what I earned from busking that day, so what’s the point of me even being there?”

Hastings Street Association chief operating officer Alesha Gooderham is the developer of the busking program and said the association would assist in the fine appeal for Mr Anderson.

Ms Gooderham said the association was committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders.

Hastings Street viewed from the old police beat.
Hastings Street viewed from the old police beat.

Busking is banned on Hastings St except to those on the Hastings Street Association’s program.

Frank and Louis are a band of brothers who gig regularly at other venues on Hastings St.

They said they were “not sure how it would be possible to play anywhere on Hastings Street without the loading zones to drop off lots of heavy gear”.

Frank and Louis, musical brothers who perform regularly in Noosa.
Frank and Louis, musical brothers who perform regularly in Noosa.

Rob Catania, whose 13-year-old son started out busking at Hastings St and is now performing at Tamworth Country Music Festival this month, used to be based at the police beat when he was in the Queensland Police Service.

“As a former police officer and parent of a young musician, I know how underutilised the police beat parking is and how important discretion is in loading zones,” he said.

“Enforcing strict rules here risks harming buskers and stifling live music.”

Hastings Street Busking, The Police Beat
Hastings Street Busking, The Police Beat

Oz Bayldon is a Noosa resident who works with his charity, Events for Greater Good, and is a big supporter of live music.

“With the parking situation we have in Noosa, I think it’s ridiculous that a camera in a car is doing fines rather than someone serving the community and using commonsense in these situations,” he said.

Mr Bayldon told Mr Anderson’s story on social media, which attracted hundreds of comments from residents sharing their own experiences and calling for change.

Noosa festival organiser Oz Bayldon.
Noosa festival organiser Oz Bayldon.

Some examples shared by unhappy commenters who received tickets from the parking enforcement car included a woman who was fined $120 for stopping on a nature strip to pick up her 85-year-old disabled mother when there were no other parks or driveways available.

“I tried to dispute it with council and they just didn’t care, even when Councillor Amelia Lorentson tried to help,” she wrote.

Another woman, who “literally worked for Noosa Council”, received a fine for dropping gear off in a loading zone for an event in Noosa Lions Park.

A man working for a communications company said he’d been unloading telephone systems equipment in a loading zone to be installed in a resort on Hastings St, before moving the car to a normal parking space, and he received a fine.

The Noosa Council parking inspector car.
The Noosa Council parking inspector car.

Another woman pulled over in the zone for seconds to pick up their child from work on the street and only knew of the fine when she got a letter in the mail.

Noosa Council’s website states that the fine collection car uses “specially designed infrared cameras” to improve the efficiency and safety of parking monitoring.

Max Anderson says the fine he received from the Noosa Council made financially unviable to busk on Hastings St. Picture: Patrick Woods.
Max Anderson says the fine he received from the Noosa Council made financially unviable to busk on Hastings St. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The council’s acting local laws and environmental health manager Clint Irwin said the loading zone (commercial vehicles only) existed to ensure that Hastings St businesses could receive deliveries so their businesses could trade.

“These loading zones do not cater for the dropping off of private equipment or people and were that to occur the zones would not be readily available for the commercial vehicles they are designed to service,” Mr Irwin said.

“Without commercial identification or being of a commercial vehicle type, you cannot utilise commercial vehicle only stopping zones.”

Mr Irwin said buskers wishing to drop off equipment needed to do this legally from appropriate car spaces, or make arrangements with business owners to park on private land.

The council did not comment on other solutions when no parks were available.

Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sunshine-coast/business/noosa-musician-cops-council-fine-after-loading-up-gear-on-hastings-st/news-story/90ccac120037e2ca446eded87731238e