Geoff Wilson joins Noosa residents’ fight against proposed coastal hazards plan

A fund manager who campaigned against Labor’s franking credits in 2018 has joined a grassroots fight against Noosa Council’s climate strategy.

General manager of ASX-listed Wilson Asset Management Geoff Wilson has joined a fight against Noosa Council's proposed Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan.

A fund manager who campaigned against Labor's franking credits in 2018 has joined a grassroots fight against Noosa Council's climate strategy.

ASX-listed Wilson Asset management chairman Geoff Wilson worries the values and insurance costs of his and other Sunshine Beach properties will be hit under proposals in the Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan.

He is one of many residents to voice concerns about the plan, prompting Noosa Council to push back the its finalisation from May until November.

Noosa is one of 32 councils in Queensland developing an adaptation plan to propose ways to mitigate damages from climate change as part of the state's QCoast 2100 program.

Mr Wilson said the proposal lacked detail and was based on worst-case scenario mapping.

"Along with an increasing number of locals I am concerned the council has pre-empted its proposed plans with costly and harmful planning restrictions on people's homes while doing nothing to help the local environment," Mr Wilson said.

He purchased a Seaview Terrace home for $6.5 million in November.

Mr Wilson previously rallied an 80,000-strong retail investor client base ahead of the 2018 federal election to fight Labor's proposal to make franking credits non-refundable.

In his submission he said the council could face significant litigation from class actions if the current plan was rolled out.

Mr Wilson said the council's proposal was unnecessarily and economically harmful for all Noosa Shire residents and would impede their ability to improve properties.

"There is much more work to be done by council to protect public assets and the local environments before unnecessarily attacking family homes and creating economic damage and uncertainty," he said.

Seven community groups formed to create a residents' alliance and wrote to Noosa MP Sandy Bolton to seek her support to force a council rethink on the matter.

Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart said the council had gained approval for more time to consider the 200 submissions received on the Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan.

Eastern Beaches Protection Association spokeswoman Minna Knight questioned the erosion mapping used in the plan.

"The fact is, a cumulative range of worst-case scenarios would have to occur simultaneously in 50 to 80 years' time, for properties to potentially face the suggested threats," she said.

"It's not imminent, immediate or certain."

Noosa Council CEO Brett de Chastel said the council was committed to listening to genuine concerns.

"We have provided the community with very detailed mapping and have made more information available to our community than many other councils," he said.

He said the declared coastal erosion prone area mapping used by the State Government had been live for several years and showed a significantly larger area than the council's mapping.

Project officer Grant Hinner said the state's mapping applied a one size fits all approach for the entire Eastern Beaches, whereas the council had broken up the area into five distinct zones.

"The mapping used by council for the erosion prone area shows on average a 40 per cent reduction in the erosion prone area identified for the Eastern Beaches compared to the existing state mapping," he said.

"The methodology used and the outputs in the Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan have been reviewed and approved by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science."

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Originally published as Geoff Wilson joins Noosa residents’ fight against proposed coastal hazards plan