Lessons to be learnt from rock wall 'win' for council

Council claims victory with rock wall consultation award, but will the lessons be taken on board?

HARD FOUGHT: Local residents celebrate the decision not to build a rock wall on the Maroochy River. Picture: Warren Lynam

OPINION:

I WAS pretty surprised to see a council press release hit my inbox yesterday declaring its community consultation process over the proposed Maroochy River mouth rock wall had won a national award.

The council was awarded the 2019 Australian Coastal Award for Community Engagement for its Maroochy Groyne Field Renewal Project, the release proudly declared.

Mayor Mark Jamieson said the council had initiated and undertaken "an extensive community engagement process for this project” and the results had contributed significantly on council's eventual decision not to rock the Maroochy.

Technically, that's true.

The council did undertake the engagement process.

But that was only after a fairly large-scale outcry from the local community after preliminary discussions and when news broke that council officers had recommended replacing the sandbag groynes at Cotton Tree with rocks and exploring the option of a 200m rock sea wall.

Those recommendations were put forward, to be decided by a vote, at a council meeting in January, 2017, with limited community consultation.

Had the story not been published prior and the public not made its feelings known, as extremely clearly as it did, would the council have delayed the decision and pushed for broader consultation anyway?

We'll never know.

What we do know is people from all walks of life and some with enormous profiles rallied hard against the proposed rock wall.

There were former treasurers, surf club members, property developers and ex-elite athletes all fighting against taking away the popular sandbag groynes.

That said, once it was undertaken, the consultation process was carried out very well.

The community forums gave great information to the public in a pretty respectful, non-combative setting.

People got to ask questions, voice their opinions and understand some of the finer details from the technical consultants brought in to carry out analysis of the options.

So isn't that the process that should be enacted by default, instead of at the 11th hour?

The right decision was made, in the end.

Like for like replacements and ongoing beach nourishment, with works to kick off mid-next year. The wild river is a community asset of enormous value.

In the end the Maroochy River Estuary Consultation Group created proved to be a valuable tool in facilitating the discussions and advising council.

That process was a blueprint in how difficult community issues and developments should be approached.

Perhaps the default position of council should be to seek community input first, to shape favourable options, then explore those further.

Council showed here that it can do consultation very effectively, even if it was pushed to do so.

So why not take the angst away early and work on being consultative from the outset?