State of our Region 2021, Sunshine Coast
Hello everyone and welcome to the Sunshine Coast Council 2021 State of our Region. I'm Mayor Mark Jamieson, thank you for joining us as we look back on the year that was, reflect on where we are today and what we have to look forward to in the future. Today we will hear from several community representatives, showcase some of our shared achievements over the course of the last year and take a look at the priorities for the year ahead. I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the Sunshine Coast
local government area the Kabi Kabi Peoples of the coastal plains in northern hinterland and the Jinibara peoples of the southern hinterland. May I also pay my respects to their elders, past and present and to all First Nations Peoples. Well the past 12 months have been amongst the most extraordinary I've ever seen in my nearly 10 years in local government. In fact memorable
in so many ways from the historic announcement that Brisbane and southeast Queensland will host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to the emotional financial and social roller coaster of managing through and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite all of the challenges that the pandemic has thrown our way our Sunshine Coast has a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to. From the outset our council has had a single and unwavering priority to safeguard the interests and well-being of our community in everything we do and in ways not previously thought possible.
The health response has been multifaceted and has involved all tiers of government. Through our collective efforts our council continues to respond to the needs of our community and support local businesses and industry to keep money circulating in the economy and keep people employed, all the while helping each other to adjust to the new COVID normal. As always there was a number of Sunshine Coast people who shone brightly through the course of the year, despite the challenges. Join me as we hear from our community about some of those stories.
My name is Jodi Salmond I'm the general manager of Reef Check Australia and I live here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. Reef Check Australia is an environmental charity that's dedicated to empowering people to protect our reefs and oceans. We really believe in hands-on work, so getting in amongst it and getting people engaged with what's going on in their community, so if we give them the opportunity to join in with hands-on research education and involvement we believe we can all collectively create ripples of change which turns into waves. Overall I think that the Sunshine Coast community, when we talk about environmental protection and what we're doing within our marine community, I think we're doing okay. It's pretty
amazing to me that we have such amazing and beautiful reefs directly off our coastline, many that you can actually access directly from the shore and yet none of these reefs actually have any protection so that's a little bit crazy and hopefully something that we will look at for the future. If we start looking on land and in our coastal systems I certainly think that our marine debris issue is not going away but we can certainly see that the community cares and is doing a lot to actually stop either products at the source but also those single-use items and we all get together to do a variety of cleanups. The Sunshine Coast Council have been really integral in ensuring that Reef Check Australia can survive within the Sunshine Coast and not only survive but actually thrive here as well. We have had so much support over the last few years so through the Environmental Levy Partnership that's a grant that allows us to do our vital reef health monitoring but also it allows us to engage the community, so for us it's really important that data is collected on these stunning reefs and with one of the only groups that are actually doing it within southeast Queensland certainly the only group doing it off the Sunshine Coast. So I think the next 10 to 20 years is going to be pretty exciting for us on the Sunshine Coast we all know that we're getting more and more popular here more and more people want to move here and live here and experience the same lifestyle that we have all loved for so long. I think what we have to
think about though is how do we actually increase the protection of some of these beautiful areas. Our Environment Liveability Strategy which reflects what most people on the Sunshine Coast love about our region, provides an opportunity for the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to have made an application to UNESCO for our region to be declared a biosphere. The UNESCO biosphere credential will support us to protect and enhance our economy, lifestyle and the environment for future generations and it aligns with our vision to be Australia's most sustainable region, healthy smart and creative. In partnership with our community we finalised our Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategy this year in May and that is very significant in terms of our environmental future. The CHAS is a long-term guide to pairing and protecting
our coastal areas and communities from coastal hazards in the future. We are dealing with rising sea levels and they present challenges for us into the future the CHAS is designed to give confidence to our community about that future. Council has secured more than 500 hectares of new lands for our conservation and recreation purposes and that adds to a significant conservation estate that the citizens of the Sunshine Coast own and we manage. What I consider one of the most important initiatives of council is the Regional Inter-urban Break where we're working in cooperation with our neighbour Moreton Bay Regional Council so that our shared boundary is straddled by an area with particular environmental protections, an area that won't be built out in the future. Delivering our net zero emissions plan by 2041 is very important to our community and careful planning and delivery to accommodate a growing population, we're a very desirable place to live people want to come here, I've always worked on the theory it's better to plan for that than be surprised when they arrive.
A highlight for this year was the First Nations supplier day where 47 indigenous businesses had an opportunity to demonstrate their wares and their services and it was incredibly well supported, a really harmonious and enthusiastic response from all those people involved and I congratulate them and wish them very well for the future. I'm from the kara rag mob and their juanji mob up on Cape York and in the Torres Straits but obviously grew up here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast on Kabi Kabi Gubbi Gubbi country and so yeah I always call it home it's a beautiful place to be and I'm very privileged and honoured to be able to operate a cultural tourism business here and work with all these beautiful people and First Nations people here on the Sunshine Coast. So we're at this amazing First Nations supply day here with the Sunshine Coast Council have put on it's really amazing for me to see all of these unique indigenous businesses everyone here coming together working together it's getting me very excited for what the future holds for First Nation tourism and businesses here on the coast. So the councils here have a First Nations team dedicated to looking after events like this and supporting businesses like ours as well and it really works well to have those guys within the council and be there for support partnerships introductions and everything else in between. One of the areas council has been the most active in for the last decade is in developing our economy, we've seen household incomes on the Sunshine Coast that were previously 22% below the state average now to be only 6% below the state average, that means more jobs and more money in the pockets of Sunshine Coasters and that's really really important, but we can't afford to rest on our laurels, we need to continue to invest in new projects and encourage investment from other levels of government and the private sector. The world is rapidly changing, we're having to deal with problems in our community or challenges in our community and workplaces that you know we haven't had to deal with before. Aaron and
Khayt from Mindstar have seen an opportunity, a growing opportunity where wellbeing in the workplace is a priority, a priority for employers and a priority for employees. They've diversified and developed a leading business in this area and that's an example of the sort of foresight we're seeing on the Sunshine Coast. Mindstar is a national workplace wellbeing organsation, we're about workplace well-being and positive leadership.
So what we do is help people to be their best every day at work but also at home. The B Well and Prosper portal is something that we developed for the business community in the Sunshine Coast and it's about workplace well-being and because much of the Sunny Coast is small business then we know that it's the hardest gig in the world. We've been really lucky to have over 500 businesses sign up to the portal over the last two years and you know they continue to sign up and you know be able to access all the great tools and resources, so we certainly encourage you know more to join that program. So I think from now you know we're going to have better more honest more
open conversations and I think business owners will be more vulnerable to actually talk about you know any challenges they're having in business which will create a better community for everyone. We run a national business but what better place to have your head office than the Sunshine Coast there's so much opportunity here and so much growth within small business within the innovation community more and more people with incredible skills are locating here and with the technology that we now have and the bandwidth that we now have it just makes it an ideal place to get that balance between work, health and home. For Khayt and I and the kids what would I hope next 10 years with Sunshine Coast and I think it's keeping that culture of well-being and beauty that that we all know and love and is the reason that we're here and probably will be for the next 20 years. Sunshine Coast job fairs that were staged at Caloundra and Mooloolaba attracted significant crowds highlighting a whole range of job opportunities that existed on the Sunshine Coast for people of all abilities and for people with a variety of skills and knowledge and that was heartening to see as well. The Sunshine Coast Thriving Through Change Business Resilience Expo was another example of initiatives that have been put in place and of course the Buy Local campaign that was widely supported by council and local media to encourage people to spend in the Sunshine Coast local businesses are the ones employing our friends and family they're the ones taking the risk, they're helping to shape and support their local communities and economies and they contribute to the regional prosperity that ultimately everybody enjoys.
Quik Corp are a great example of business investment in the Sunshine Coast they've been here for some time but saw an opportunity to expand and can see the future that exists in a burgeoning Sunshine Coast economy that they want to be part of. Quik Corp is a manufacturing business, we focus on emergency services equipment we're one of the largest providers in Australia and we're also a large provider of agricultural and spraying equipment into that sector as well and we also have so a number of niche areas where we actually do environmentally friendly herbicides, data tracking and a number of other things that supplement our main business. Quik Corp was actually started in New South Wales originally as a very small family business, it was born on the back of solving an age old problem of controlling noxious weeds in really rough terrain, it exploded from there in its own idea because they had a patented product and over time that actual they were making a decision as to where they wanted to expand the business and they had a choice between the Sunshine Coast and Coffs Harbour so luckily enough they chose the Sunshine Coast and from there we developed into many different markets we went from our agricultural market into emergency services, we're now the largest rural firefighting manufacturer in Australia, that's enabled us to grow and on the back of large contracts in that area we were then able to take it overseas so we're actually selling emergency services and agricultural equipment into the US, Canada and parts of south east Asia, so that's enabled us to grow again and we're now building a 9500 square meter factory at Coolum. Council has been excellent in supporting the growth of this business, recently when we decided that we wanted to take the next step and grow our footprint on the Sunshine Coast, as far as manufacturing goes we've obviously got the capability and the size to to grow considerably in our new site, there's numerous jobs available for skilled workers as far as using advanced manufacturing they're looking at putting a large investment into equipment into our new factory and our ultimate goal is to be able to run that at double shifts and and to be able to double our employment numbers, which is roughly you know from 150 to around 300. Council's award-winning Community Strategy successfully delivered a range of programs and events to support healthy and active lifestyles for the local community including the highly successful Lift Project, the Healthy Sunshine Coast, Migrant learn to swim program and the Healthy Ageing forum. We delivered busy and vibrant community infrastructure through our
libraries, galleries, historic houses, aquatic centres, community venues and sporting venues. The Reconciliation Action Plan for 2021-22 was adopted by council to further embed reconciliation commitments within the organisation to our region. We've been involved in programs that are fostering youth activity, engaging with the elderly particularly those people who've been disaffected by COVID and we've supported our volunteers who play such a vital role in serving the needs of our community, but again who've been under pressure as a consequence of the pandemic, the council has sought to stand with them and assist in every way. During the course of the last year we responded to 1108 grants which saw more than $5.8 million dollars awarded to community groups and in addition more than $1.5 million was awarded to community organisations directly impacted via COVID through the community response grants and that's ensured that organisations and sporting clubs and community groups have been able to stay on their feet effectively at a time when their own revenue streams were negligible because of the lockdowns and limitations placed on the community. The Sunshine Coast is becoming more and more diverse
as people from all over the world seek to join us many of those people come with particular skills and knowledge but it isn't always recognised here in Australia, so our Migrant Work Ready program is designed to help those people to either enhance their skills or upgrade their skills or perhaps even pursue a different vocation and that training program that we do with our partners is very very important to facilitate those people's participation in our economy and our lifestyle in our community and I'm very proud that council and our partners see that opportunity and ensure those people get the best support in fulfilling their career and adding to our economy. Karen Kim is from South Korea she was a news presenter in South Korea she's come to Australia and is seeking similar opportunities and I have great faith in Karen's ability and her skill level that she'll find suitable employment in Australia and become a really dynamic member of our community. I actually came here first in 2005 when I was elected a recipient of the Korean government sponsored working abroad program so I worked at one of the radio stations in Melbourne exactly 10 years later I returned to Mooloolaba with my family I actually can say that the Migrant Work Ready program was the turning point of my life in Australia. Actually you can learn some practical skills like how to refine your resume or how to conduct the interview in English so that kind of practical skills can actually give you some confidence when you are actually doing the job interview. I met so many wonderful mentors there and became a Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce member and expand my social network through a monthly event. I got a job offer from ABC as a reporter
right after giving my speech at the graduation ceremony so i will be yeah starting working at ABC as an intern to get a job training there as of next January. The favorite thing about living in this community is the welcoming culture and this kind of multicultural environment actually helps our family and my daughter to adjust to this new environment very easily in South Korea there are so many people lived packed in very narrow areas so I actually like the idea of living in a low population density area that's why I chose this Sunshine Coast area at first but ironically I actually found the community really family-like environment so I actually fell in love with this community and living in this community with our neighbors like a family-like environment. It's important to recognise the Glasshouse Christian College team who won the Telstra Innovation Awards this year and I want to congratulate Charlie, Arno and Josiah for their success and all those that contributed to what was a really great Telstra Innovation Awards. While I'm on the awards i want to recognise Ebony Quinlan who was recognised as the emerging entrepreneur and was awarded for her success. My project's name is Heart Attrack and it is a portable ECG monitoring device for people with recurrent heart attacks, cardiac conditions or diseases worn on the chest of the patient to notify the patient of their cardiac rhythms and their levels if the levels were to change notifications would be sent to the devices to let the patient know and a notification will be sent to the closest ambulance base if something was to change rapidly and to a dangerously low level. My inspiration for Heart Attrack came from my passion for cardiac surgery
and one night while I was working at a local restaurant a man had suffered his second heart attack after being worried about leaving the house because he was unsure of what his levels were so that influenced me to find a solution that would notify them before things were bad. Me and my team were working on LED plates a fully electronic solution to the normal L and P plates that you see lying on the road. LED plates is easy to see it's easy to use and it's a lot more durable than the plates we have on the road now. LED plates makes it safer for everyone in the community driving because it means for our open licensed drivers they're able to see that people are just learning to drive especially at night when it can be harder to drive and it's safer for our L and P plate users because people know that they're still learning to drive and will give them more leniency.
In the future we would love to see our LED plates everywhere around the Sunshine Coast and even the world. The Delorean project and programs like the Delorean project are influential into us starting our careers at an early age so we have insight into what we would actually be doing and it influences us to connect with the community and get out there and talk to people that are willing to help us get out into the field and start our careers early. Being recognised through both the Sunshine Coast business awards and Generation Innovation has really helped us to put our idea out there and show that what we have is a viable solution. Young people shouldn't be underestimated by their capabilities just because they're young, we have great ideas and we should be able to use those and expand to the community and bring our ideas to life. I'd like to see the Sunshine Coast continue to develop its
technology and its ideas to become one of the most technologically advanced places on the planet. I think my favorite thing about the Sunshine Coast is the level of opportunity that we have especially as young people to demonstrate our idea and share it with the world. I would also like to recognise Dr Bridie Kean. Bridie is a Paralympian who calls the Sunshine Coast home and she's been selected as our chair for the community reference group for the Olympic and Paralympic games and the legacy that we leave on the Sunshine Coast and I'm delighted that Bridie has accepted our invitation and she will lead a community group to assist council in determining exactly what the very best legacies across community, environment and economy will be post the Olympics and Paralympics.
I'm a Sunshine Coast local and this year my role was to be the Paralympic athlete representative on the 2032 bid process. I went down to Brisbane for the announcement was on stage with the likes of Dawn Fraser and other athletes bringing in the announcement so I think even though we at that stage were pretty sure that the cat was in the bag it was still a surreal moment to actually hear it announced and know that we'll be bringing home the Games in 11 years time was just incredible. I'm really excited to see what the Sunshine Coast is going to become over the next 10 years. What I want for the Sunshine Coast is for it to continue to be an amazing place to live, study,
work and play sport. The Games are going to bring so much to the Sunshine Coast, I don't think it's even set in what this means for our region. I think initially we think about the opportunities it will bring for our emerging athletes who will go on to compete at the 2032 Games. To think about
our young athletes on the Sunshine Coast and what this means for them is really exciting but that's only the beginning of what this will mean for the region. It's going to basically showcase our part of the world to the rest of the world and what we are is already amazing but what we can be is just limitless and I think that that to me is what the games is all about. I'm so excited about what the home games will mean for para-athletes and young kids with a disability who may not even have discovered parasport. First it's just going to open up their opportunities to play more parasport.
Paralympics Australia has already committed to 500,000 more people with a disability playing social and inclusive sport as a result of the legacy of these Games and that means that some of those young people with a disability are going to go on and actually wear an Australian jersey or uniform at our home games and that's just going to change their life, they might not even have discovered sport yet and in 11 years time they're going to be our home heroes and what sport can do for a young kid with a disability I know from personal experience is just life changing and i think that's one of the most exciting things about what we're going to see happen. The legacy part is what we need to be thinking about now and I think what I want the legacy of the 2032 Games to be is that we know and we see Sunshine Coast as the most accessible region in the universe. What that means is we can leverage these Games to make our already quite accessible region a place that people with a disability can go on holiday, can come and visit, can study, can work, can be educated in a place that's completely barrier-free and I think that that is the the true legacy that I personally want to see the 2032 Games have. So another busy year filled with many highlights and challenges as we stood shoulder to shoulder with our community before we close I'd like to cast an eye to the bright future that lies ahead for our Sunshine Coast region. As many of you would know, our Council is a major delivery partner with Brisbane in the staging of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it's an honour of which we are incredibly proud and a commitment we have taken seriously, given the substantial social and economic dividends which we forecast will be delivered to our region. A key plank of the 2032
Games master plan is a series of event precincts and clusters across southeast Queensland connected by transport corridors which link the three primary centres of Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. That connectivity within and between these three clusters will be absolutely critical to the success of the entire games experience but more importantly as we've always said public transport connectivity is crucial to the functionality and economic prosperity of southeast Queensland generally and to our Sunshine Coast directly irrespective of the hosting of the Games. The Games must be the catalyst for delivering significant improvements in our community infrastructure which is why Council is partnering with the community to develop a Sunshine Coast legacy plan that will inform and guide the identification of the key priorities and opportunities that the region will pursue to ensure we will be positioned to secure the 10 plus 10 plus 10 legacy intent of the Games and may i express my earnest hope and aspiration that the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games offers an opportunity to showcase the culture, history and contribution of our First Nations People to a global audience. There is incredible enthusiasm and excitement that Olympic and Paralympic Games events are proposed to be staged across the region in 2032, I look forward to sharing many milestones with you as we progress planning to host the greatest show on earth. Thank you for joining the State of our Region 2021. you
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