This month’s rally against Noosa Council’s plans to update the much-loved Gympie Terrace foreshore had a strong whiff of sideshow alley about it.
At face value many of the 200 or so (some claimed 300) who turned out in blustery conditions did so for good reason. No one likes having their public tennis court relocated, and some objected to a reduction in the number of riverside carparks. Mostly though, and this is a widely held view, they thought it was a case of over-engineering, something more suitable for South Bank than our much-loved Gympie Terrace. In that regard they had a point.
What they didn’t know is that it was a view shared by many of our Noosa Councillors. Well before this rally, there was a groundswell of opinion and feedback that the foreshore plan, despite its good intentions, was over-the-top and poorly communicated.
But this story isn’t about those reasonable objections, it’s about the carnival barkers, the political hucksters, the conspiracy theorists, the failed Council candidates, the right-wing lobbyists and others who jumped on what would normally be a relatively straightforward Council issue like seagulls on a chip.
The carnival of vested interests and misinformation.
Among the loose alliance of rally organisers was – inevitably – the right-wing, LNP friendly Noosa Boating and Fishing Alliance and its two chief spruikers Andrew McCarthy and ‘Chicko’ Vella who worked tirelessly in the recent Noosa Council election to remove environment-friendly Councillors and those trying to rein in the massive problem of STA. When they’re wearing their right wing lobbyist hats, McCarthy and Vella don’t advertise their day jobs; running a little business called Good Night Noosa that acts for absentee property investors. In other words, they make their money from our proliferation of STA and have a direct, vested interest in Council decisions and outcomes.
Then there’s Sonja Boric, still wearing the tee shirt for failed Mayoral candidate Nick Hluszko. Boric and Hluszko, along with McCarthy and Vella, were all part of the biggest fabrication of the last local election campaign…that the Council was trying to ban motorboats from the Noosa River. And her friend Debra Walz, an incessant campaigner against fluoride in water and another sharer of various conspiracy theory posts on Facebook.
McCarthy, Vella and Walz regularly take advantage of our Council’s open-door policy on taking questions in Council meetings, but their own rally had no such room for democratic processes.
With Mayor Frank Wilkie away on leave, the organisers reneged on their promise to present his views to the rally. This was their explanation;
Mayor Wilkie sent a letter to which I did agree to read out. However, as the rally agenda was already set, we did not have time to allocate. Hence in Chicko’s opening as MC he acknowledged Mayor Wilkies letter and apologies for not attending.
As this Rally was community focussed we also agreed that in the spirit of democracy, it would have been unfair to read one Councillors voice and not the others who were attending.
Sonja Boric
Media coverage. Do we deserve better?
All of these groups share one thing in common and that’s to disrupt our Council, paint it in a bad light, create division and fill the void with their own concepts of how things should be done. Each issue they attach themselves to is a means to this end.
Our local media fall over each other to cover such events. It’s ‘colour and movement’, easy to point a camera at. The organisers play to this. You might think readers or viewers deserve some context, some background, some idea of who’s behind the event. They got nothing of the kind.
On one TV bulletin McCarthy and Vella – both NBFA lobbyists with vested interests in Council decisions – were merely referred to as “concerned resident”.
Perhaps young TV journos churning out three stories a day for their sausage factory bulletins have an excuse. But the local paper does not. This entire coverage a week later had not one, single reference to enlighten readers about the people and groups behind the rally.
Noosa Today has recently parted company with Phil Jarrett, the one, experienced journalist who has been covering local politics for them with nuance and context.
Compare his coverage of the attempted SovCit takeover of the old Tewantin TAFE site in January, when Jarratt gave readers a real flavour of who was there, who was behind it, and what they believed in.
And as Jarrett reported, there were some familiar faces in the attempted occupation of the building.
Interestingly, Debra Walz was an early sharer of My Place ideas, and, while trying to placate some of the more hostile activists at the TAFE site, was heard telling them: “I’m on your side, a sovereign citizen.“
Phil Jarrett. Noosa Today. January 16, 2024
Each of the local activists we’ve referred to has a right to pursue their objectives peacefully and legally. It’s the media’s job to report on what’s happening in context and to dig a little deeper so readers and viewers are given a chance to judge for themselves.
The journalistic questions WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW should be basic guidelines. When groups are less than transparent about their motives, beliefs and connections, the WHO is more important than ever.
