Reminder: Community Consultation – Next Chat with the Mayor – Friday June 12 at 9 to 10 am in the library forecourt.
I will be available for a chat following that meeting.
Public toilets – private businesses are not required to make their bathroom facilities available to all and sundry (ie those who are not customers).
Given the high cost of pump-outs, visitors should be encouraged to utilise public facilities such as those on Gallery Walk, at Geissmann Oval and the Visitor Information Centre.
Development applications – Kidd St and Macdonnell Rd applications will be on Council’s July agenda for a vote, following finalisation of an external expert’s peer review on ecological matters (yet to be received).
Unacceptable uses of short-term accommodation – recently, a high-end venue was used – for a second time – to make explicit content.
The venue was booked through a booking platform under false pretences. Is this what we expect in our community?
Property owners need to be more in touch with the uses to which their “accommodation” is put. If the booking is for four, 20-30 people should not be on site.
New Fees and Charges – adopted at Council’s Ordinary Meeting of May 27, 2026.
I am pleased to announce that from July 1, 2026, any applicant who lodges a development application to legitimise an existing business or construction as a result of Council compliance action (enforcement notice or show cause notice) will be required to pay an additional 50 per cent on top of the ordinary application fees.
This should encourage people to seek approval up front rather than forgiveness after the event.
Fees for development applications will also be increased to better cover the cost of assessing applications, particularly the more complex impact assessable/inconsistent developments.
I also moved to have the set cost of an expert or peer review changed to “at cost” to the developer as the current amount of $2,346 does not reflect the cost to Council.
Out and about – A busy fortnight: Cauldron Distillery’s Spirit of the Mountain Concert marked both their fifth birthday and the launch of Eat Local Month; Small Business Month networking event at Beaudesert Gold Club and Tamborine Mountain Business Chamber’s breakfast event at the Bearded Dragon; disaster group meeting; LGAQ elected members 2026 update; psycho-social hazard and risk awareness training and an Ordinary Meeting and Strategy meeting; multiple budget discussion sessions.
Cost savings – I have declined the opportunity to attend two separate local government conferences in Canberra and Sydney, resulting in a saving of $7,000.
Legal action – Council funding has been put to good use – two Concerns Notices for the purposes of the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld) have been issued following 14 months of harassment using a Carriage Service.
One Notice to the facebook page administrator and the other to the person who made the posts. Twenty-eight days to respond or off to court we go.
Making an imputation in the form of a question does not make it any less defamatory.
Quote of the week: “It is better to be uninformed than ill-informed” – Keith Duckworth.
