Sunshine Coast Council mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli answers the burning questions

We’ve put Sunshine Coast mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli under the microscope ahead of the election. Here’s where she stands on the region’s biggest issues.

We’ve put Sunshine Coast mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli under the microscope ahead of the election. Here’s where she stands on the region’s biggest issues.

What comprehensive strategies do you propose to address transportation challenges on the Sunshine Coast, considering factors such as infrastructure development, public transit enhancement and sustainable mobility solutions?

So first of all, we have been missing out on our infrastructure across the Sunshine Coast for such a long period of time and we really do need to get that infrastructure, so the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games are really our best opportunity to get some legacy infrastructure and we do need that heavy rail to come all the way in from Beerwah to Caloundra and up to Maroochydore.

It needs to go the whole way to really activate that CBD and allow people to get on that train from here and get down to Brisbane and back.

So that’s really important, but more than that, we need a transport solution that is going to be for the people who live here, we need north, south, east, west connectivity, I’m suggesting something like hop on hop off buses in the suburbs, that will then take you to the major thoroughfares where you can then travel more like an express bus up and down more quickly.

How do you plan to manage the population boom on the Sunshine Coast following the COVID-19 pandemic, with people moving here, putting pressure on services, and expected population growth?

So the state government is telling us that we’ll have another 200,000 people here in the next 20 or so years, that’s a lot of people that we need to manage, and to manage where they will go, and the sorts of different housing options that they will have, that is what’s missing.

Currently on the Sunshine Coast, we need to have more social housing, currently, we only have half the state percentage for social housing, so we need to have our fair share of social housing.

Next up is affordable housing, so that is subsidised by the government as well, so that a certain percentage of an income earners, income goes towards rent and the rest is topped up by the government, then the missing middle.

Now the missing middle is one and two bedroom apartments that will be more affordable for our children, for other people coming to the Sunshine Coast to be able to live before you have the houses and the high end.

So we really need a broad variety if we’re going to address that.

Sunshine Coast mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli. Picture: Iwan Jones

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

The coastline is so important to the Sunshine Coast, people come here because we are a beautiful destination and also because we have beautiful beaches, so that must be recognised, remembered, and also considered when we’re making any decisions as a council.

Of course, with more people coming here there will be more and more pressure on our beaches, on our parks, on all of the beautiful things that make the Sunshine Coast so special.

So we will really need to consider that in all of our planning decisions and in all of the ways that we make decisions based on community input, through the community consultation because that is what community groups are telling me is missing now.

How do you plan to balance the diverse needs of the hinterland and the coastal regions of the Sunshine Coast, ensuring resource allocation, infrastructure development, and economic opportunities?

I have been conducting a listening tour across the Sunshine Coast over the past few months and everywhere I go, if you are west of the Bruce Highway, or also south as well to our southern regions, people feel that they are being ignored and forgotten.

It is a very strong sensation in our hinterland that they don’t feel part of the Sunshine Coast funding equation and that really needs to change.

Everyone needs to feel part of our community and to feel that they are being considered, recognised, and valued.

Because if you have vast tracts of our community not feeling like they’re valued, then we’re going to end up in trouble.

Now, one of the things that I intend to do is a back to basics focus and that will also help markedly in the hinterland.

Rosanna Natoli

The Sunshine Coast has received world-class recognition for its environment with the Biosphere designation. How do you intend to navigate the tension between developing land to accommodate the booming population while preserving green spaces. What are your thoughts on developing on flood plains?

We only have one chance to protect our environment, so obviously that needs to be paramount and any development that happens must also consider all of the environmental implications, that’s just a given.

In this day and age, nobody expects development to happen without consideration of the environment, I have said that I am against any development in the floodplains, we do need to protect that, and we need to protect our residents coming forward, so that is an issue as well.

We need to protect our inter-urban break, we need to protect our green spaces, we need to protect our lifestyle, that is what people are telling me, that’s what they tell me is so important.

Where do you stand on the Blue Heart Sunshine Coast project? Do you support it or do you think it needs review?

So there are a lot of people in our community hurting over the Blue Heart and as well as that there are a lot of groups who are very excited about this project and what I think needs to happen is we need to bring people back to the table and have a really good look at this science, really good look and a discussion from all of the stakeholders so that we can get rid of all of the myths around it and we can actually get back to the basics of the truth here and the facts and find out a way forward.