Today I was invited into the 92.7 Mix FM studio for a short interview with Mark & Caroline about the forthcoming local government elections. They graciously provided me with the recording, which is below. Below the recording is a transcript.
Thank you so much for your generosity Mark and Caroline.
Mark:
Seven Mix fm. It’s Mark Caroline for breakfast. It’s nine past eight and it’s thanks to the team that’s going to save you money on your energy bills. First Choice Solar. Visit them today, First Choice Solar fcsolar.com.au. More chances to check out the Bob Marley bio pick very soon. One Love double passes to that on the line today, but we’re going back to politics, Carolina.
Caroline:
We are indeed. Look, we have brought you the people who are in the race for the mayor of the Sunshine Coast Council. We are now switching our attention a little further north to Noosa Council and first have off the rank. Frank Wilkie. Councillor. Frank Wilkie. Good morning.
Frank Wilkie:
Good morning Caroline. Good morning, Mark.
Caroline:
So you’ve got it all on the line. You are going for Mayor.
Frank Wilkie:
I’m going for mayor. That’s right.
Mark:
Because you are the Deputy Mayor
Frank Wilkie:
Deputy Mayor at your service.
Mark:
How long have you been deputy?
Frank Wilkie:
Eight years.
Mark:
Eight years. Two terms. I guess it’s natural to sort of go from deputy to the top job here. I mean, this is it.
Frank Wilkie:
We’ve got the experience. I want to step up to the next stage, which is the mayor, and I believe I have to do it. I feel compelled. It’s like, I think the old term was a vocation, a calling because I have the experience. I know how local government works and how it can work best for communities, deliver for community,
Caroline:
The heart of the people of Noosa. Now, one of the conversations that was being had on the radio last week was about a congestion tax. A councillor has proposed that people should be, if they’re not local, be charged for driving inside the tourism area of Noosa. How would that work?
Frank Wilkie:
Yeah, look, congestion tax is one of the ideas that it’s going to be investigated next term. What it is, and it works in cities around the world, is there are number plate recognition cameras set up at entrances to various precincts, and if you choose to continue past that point, your number plate is recognized and you’re automatically charged a fee or a toll. We are hoping to investigate that and see if we can make how it would work in Noosa and how we could make residents exempt. Because one of the things we’re trying to do is look after residents interests first, and we acknowledge that Noosa will always be a visitor destination, but we want to make residents the priority.
Mark:
Well, it’s much more than a visitor destination. People’s homes, for instance. That’s right. With the recent price rises, workers are finding difficult to even find a place to live so they can work there, let alone landowners.
Frank Wilkie:
That’s right, and that’s a complicating factor. I mean even more than about half or slightly more of Noosa council staff no longer live in Noosa Shire. It’s a big problem.
Caroline:
It’s a really big problem is that this used to be a story that was told about New York, that the trains were full of people coming into work in the homes of rich people in New York. We actually, we have that problem now,
Frank Wilkie:
Even on the Sunshine Coast. People are living further and further out.
Mark:
So we’ve seen the likes of Airbnb and those kind of places, renting places out left, right, and center. I know there’s been a lot of talk about whether or not there should be more of a local tax on those kinds of businesses. Where do you stand on that?
Frank Wilkie:
There’s no doubt that the rise of Airbnb and short-term accommodation businesses in residential neighborhoods has diminished the supply of homes available for permanent residents, whether it’s long-term rental or families living there. And the impact of families or groups coming in, visitor groups coming in, having, you can understand they’re in a holiday mood, that there’s more noise. It disrupts the neighbourhood. Neighbours don’t know, people don’t know their neighbours anymore, and we have rated those properties higher and we’ve also introduced Queensland’s, first short-term accommodation, local law to manage the impacts of short-term accommodation in residential neighbourhoods. I’ve met people who are absolutely long-term residents who are contemplating moving away. Some have, because they’re at their wits end.
It’s a party house next door.
With the relentless churn of visitors coming through and they’re naturally in high spirits and they’re disturbed and they can’t get peace in their own home. If you can’t have peace in your privacy of your own home, you don’t have anything.
Mark:
I’ve got to say the only confrontation I had, I rented so many places the short time I’ve lived in the Noosa region a couple of times. One time was at Peregian Beach and I got harassed by some visitor to town that thought she’d hired our unit and she had it wrong.
Frank Wilkie:
Double booking.
Mark:
She had it wrong. I we’d been living here for six months, Lady, I don’t know who told you, and she’d hired the unit above and she thought she had ours as well. That was a week of delightful conversation with a visitor to the Sunshine Coast. That’s right. But that’s what you get. You can cop that, but this is your life. This is how you live. Yes. Some stranger can come along and really ruin your day.
Caroline:
You are also talking about economic diversity. Obviously it’s a tourist town. What does economic diversity look like for Noosa?
Frank Wilkie:
Okay, so we’re trying to encourage the development of industries that don’t rely on tourism or construction. They’re seasonal, so any business that deals in the digital space is very low impact. But high yield people are trading in goods and services all around the world via the internet and living on the Sunshine Coast and Noosa. You’ve got a similar sort of thrust in terms of the economic development strategy of the Sunshine Coast Council, I believe, with the international internet cable coming across the capacities greatly increased. And even Fortune 500 executives living on the Sunshine Coast in Noosa now because they can. They can zoom meetings and with Covid, a lot of people move from Sydney and Melbourne because they could work remotely. We understand now that Covid is fading into the distance, although it’s still very much out there. A lot of people are being called back to their positions in Sydney and Melbourne. So we’ve got a bit of a reverse migration happening as well.
Caroline:
Oh, then, so yeah, you want to make some,
Mark:
Well, you just want to make sure that there’s other industries apart from tourism and construction. That’s ultimately the goal. And the technology industries, that’s the expanding one. I mean, you only have to look at the American stock market, and the only companies that are making billions are the big tech companies.
Frank Wilkie:
And the digital hub at Peregian Beach, they’ve got a Sunshine Coast Screen Collective working out of there. They’ve got various digital marketing, coding. They’ve got a thing called the Athena Program, which trains young girls in science and engineering and maths, and it’s teaching the next generation how to make a living, to be digital entrepreneurs. So they don’t need to leave the Sunshine Coast or Noosa if they wish to. They can code from home and a lot of them are doing that already.
Mark:
So the Queensland local government elections are coming up Saturday 16th of March. Don’t forget, you’ve got to get registered to get on and enroll to vote. If you’re new to town like you just mentioned. Those people that are new to town want to have their say. Of course. That’s for Noosa, Sunshine Coast, the whole region.
Frank Wilkie:
All Queensland
Caroline:
And Frank, where can people find you?
Frank Wilkie:
FrankForNoosa.com or Frank@frankfornoosa.com or 0413530587. Happy to take a call anytime
Mark:
I wrote all that down. Frank, thank you so much. We’re very excited to have you in the studio. Glad to see good people running for council and yeah, good luck, mate. Good Luck
Frank Wilkie:
Thanks for the double shot coffee so I can keep up with your fast pace of talking.
Mark:
We’re not that quick. It’s not that fast, is it? 17 past Eight. It’s 92.7 Mix FM.
