Noosa Council mayoral candidate Nick Hluszko answers the burning questions

Noosa mayoral candidate Nick Hluszko answers five burning questions including how to manage population growth and tells us where he stands on the biggest issues. See the video.

Noosa mayoral candidate Nick Hluszko answers five burning questions and tells us where he stands on the biggest local issues heading into the election.

The Noosa River is part of what makes Noosa a popular destination. What measures do you plan to effectively manage the Noosa River, considering factors such as water quality, recreational activities and environmental conservation?

The Noosa River is actually in very, very good shape, it has been for over 22 years with the exception of the periodic flooding events. When they have done the water quality measurements soon after, it’s always been in great shape, it’s virtually pristine, so by all the current measurements it’s great. We need to obviously be more careful with sediment and pollutant entry into the river as population growth increases. So my plan is that we should work with the state, they have a very comprehensive catchment action plan through their resilient rivers initiative, which is fully funded. So my plan going forward is to take a seat at the table with the state to implement that.

Noosa is widely known for its pristine coastline. How will you balance the competing interests of residents, tourists, business owners, surfers, swimmers in managing and protecting the coastline? 

Well the coastline if you look at it over the last 40 years through the federal government satellite mapping, it really hasn’t changed that much, it fluctuates, it erodes, so it’s quite stable in reality, despite what people may think. In terms of protecting it, it’s really about foreshore protection, making sure there’s fair and equitable access for all, for residents and for our visitors and to ensure that environmentally, we’re protecting that environment. We have enough infrastructure around that so people aren’t then tempted to actually ruin what we have already.

Experienced businessman and community leader Nick Hluszko is in the running to become Noosa mayor. Picture: Supplied

Noosa is facing increasing pressure to manage its expected population growth, with council not wanting higher buildings in the town as proposed in the Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan. If elected, what do you propose to solve issues regarding population growth?

Well, the forecast is for 80,000 people to 2046, that’s about 60 something people per month. So this is not going to be an event, this will be actually a journey, and if we plan correctly around our infrastructure needs, we can then allocate the housing dispersed throughout the shire and by that I mean we can look at various options for housing types, from on-farm type of accommodation, from more worker cottages, for more higher density in the right areas. So I think it’s an issue of breadth overtime.

Hinterland residents of Noosa always complains that it gets missed by the council. How do you propose to address the unique needs and challenges of both hinterland and coastal communities in Noosa?

Ironically enough, I’ve been out in the hinterland a lot and their fundamental needs aren’t too different to what is happening even closer to the coast. It’s all about rates, it’s about rubbish, and about the roads, and they’re saying exactly the same thing. We haven’t got enough footpaths, our roads are in poor condition, parking is terrible, and rubbish needs to be sorted out. So it’s really about if we get our transport strategy right, if we get our infrastructure strategy right, that should be shire-wide and equally dispersed, I’m all for making that happen.

Noosa Council mayoral candidate Nick Hluszko. Picture: Iwan Jones

How do you plan to regulate and manage short-term accommodation letting, including Airbnbs, in Noosa to balance the economic benefits of tourist, with the need to preserve residential neighbourhoods? What more can the council do to restrict short term accommodation letting in the area?

Clearly there are some fundamental problems with today’s policy. We do have a law around STAs (short term accommodation), but there are too many complaints coming in. One of the things I would advocate if I were elected to actually get in there, have a look at the actual issue in terms of where are the complaints happening, the frequency of those complaints over the same issues across the shire, understand the detail, and then start making adaptations or policy changes to start making the lives of both the investor, and the resident more importantly, more palatable for everybody, so we need that balance. Noosa has always had accommodation, now it’s an issue of making sure that whatever needs we have around STAs, clearly do never, ever impact negatively those of the residents.