Noosa’s STA disaster. Community calls for less talk, more action

Frank Wilkie’s supporters saw his convincing election win last March as the beginning of the end of Noosa’s Short Term Accommodation (STA) scourge. 

Many residents voted for him, convinced by his pledge to be at the ‘forefront of safeguarding Noosa’s unique character’ that he would be tough on STAs.

For these rate-payers, Noosa’s ‘unique character’ is laid waste by the STA concentration with more in Noosa Shire than in the Sydney City Council government area. 

As well, Noosa has some of Australia’s highest densities of STAs. In beachside areas there are multi-bed, whole-house rentals without on-site management, often generating anti-social and inconsiderate behaviour and contributing to congestion. STA opponents want these quasi hotels, and the STAs where the Local Law is continually flouted, reined in.

They had hoped that the popular arrival of Mayor Frank would signal a tough approach. But with Frank Wilke writing to one anti-STA activist that it is ‘false and misleading to claim that the Local Law’s intent was to reduce STA numbers’, some wonder if their election support was misguided.   

So what is the place of these residential hotels and party houses in Noosa’s ‘unique character’? 

Historically few dwellings were dedicated to holiday letting. Some owners rented holiday homes for a few weeks a year to trusted friends. Others vacated homes at peak holiday times, renting them to visitors to pay the rates. There were adequate long-term rentals for essential workers. 

Family homes and tourism ventures were separated by the Town Plan, and tough rules applied when tourist accommodation was approved in residential zones. There was a balance of renters’ to residents’ numbers. 

Frank Wilke says his approach to protecting Noosa’s unique character will be to ‘limit STA’s impact on neighbourhoods’. STA opponents, especially those severely affected, say that’s not good enough. 

Further disappointing some, Frank recently pointed to a significant drop in complaints to the STA hotline as evidence the Local Law is working. 

STA opponents are derisory, saying the complaints numbers were not adjusted to account for reduced STA numbers (several hundred property owners have not renewed their STA registrations) or occupancy rates. Questions have also been asked about operation of the complaints hotline over the peak holiday period. 

As well, affected residents are fatigued and frustrated after a decade of fighting complex planning issues that they perceive favour investors (of whom few live in Noosa) over residents, snail-paced implementation of the Local Law, and complaints arrangements. Many have given up on achieving change. 

Even with a decline in complaints, they say a five-a-week annual average rising to around 10-a-week over the March holidays easily exceeds complaint levels in normal residential areas.  

So what now? 

Ten months after the election a staff review of the Short Stay Local Law is underway – analysing the performance and effectiveness of the ‘hotline’, evaluating compliance activities, reviewing renewal fees and rates levied on properties offered for STA, and exploring ways to make the Local Law more effective.

As part of the review 14 businesses running STA booking platforms or maintenance services have been invited to participate in a survey.  Just six individuals or groups representing the interests of residents are included, raising concerns of potential bias. Those receiving the survey have been asked not to distribute it further.

For STA opponents it’s a case of ‘Déjà vu’.

“We’re just going over old ground time and time again,” Natasha Fabulic, convenor of the 400-strong Facebook group Noosa Residents Against Unregistered Short Term Accommodation (NRAUSTA), says. 

“I endorsed Frank’s mayoral bid because he was more likely to tackle the STA problem than any other candidate,” she said. 

“STAs are being wound back all over the world, including in parts of Australia. Here we want Council to demonstrate that it is putting residents first as they frequently claim by closing down the troublesome and disruptive STAs, and limiting STA operation to home-hosted dwellings. AirBnB itself advocates this home-hosted approach in its corporate advertising.

“Campaign statements and the election outcome delivered a mandate to Council to take the toughest possible stance against STAs, and we want Frank as elected community leader to take advantage of that.”

Fiona Jacobs, who was unsuccessful in her Councillor bid, shares the NRAUSTA view. In a letter to Frank Wilke and councillors she asks:”Without a meaningful reduction in STA numbers, how does Council plan to achieve its objective of protecting residential amenity?“Reducing STA numbers should be explicitly recognised as a critical objective in the administration of the local law.”      

Share

This Post Has 2 Comments

Leave a Reply