January 31

Another interesting day in Moreton Bay Regional Council!  Like most days these days, actually.

Today we made a big leap forward in getting a buy-back scheme for flood-prone properties.  Dale St residents came to Council today, and their presence made a strong and silent case for the scheme.  Their quiet resilience and determination spoke volumes.

And they need to be resilient.  This is the third year in a row Dale St has flooded.  Three years in a row muddy waters have come in under the houses of Dale St, and left a layer of mud on their ground floors.

I have seen four families come and go from one house due to the floods.  It is the fifth time in about four years that one family has had to move out their gear from under their house.

But they cannot go on. They are at the limit of endurance.

Each year they have to put their life on hold as they move out of the way of flood waters. One family had just got their house sorted out two months ago, following the last flood.  Relationships have broken down under the stress.

This is not about houses and property.  This is about ordinary people, and the trauma and stress they are suffering. And that is why I plead with my fellow councillors to do the right thing and adopt the flood buy back scheme.

Can't wait 'til next week ...

Yesterday, I was asked if I minded that the Queensland local government election was being held back one month.

Yesterday, that seemed to be a minor issue, as I was dealing with  the confronting plight of local residents affected by a new round of floods.

I heard about the Queensland election shuffling yesterday at Beachmere, when I was visiting a property that was literally awash. The ground floor underneath this family's Queenslander house was a pool. The pool itself was a brown dam. And the dam was a lake across the property.

All their belongings they couldn't get up from the floors of the shed or underneath the house were under water.  There was the old Jag he is restoring, their mowers, a motorbike.

A lady who lived close by broke into silent tears when she described how their granny flat has just flooded for the third summer in a row.

And this is the essence of the  trauma faced - this flooding keeps happening. There is huge mental stress suffered by individuals as their flood nightmares are re-lived each year.  In the last three summers, their houses have flooded, and the water has hit the previously-rare Q100 mark.

The stress on people facing a continuous cycle of inundation can shatter families and relationships. Kids get agitated or cry whenever it rains. One  Burpengary family told me that they had only got their house in order two months and two weeks ago, following last January's flood.

How can you live a fulfilling life, when your life is built around a cycle of floods that invade your home each year?

So that is why I am unfussed by putting back local government elections, due ultimately to the floods and Flood Commission.  There are bigger issues for me and my local residents.

In fact, I'm quite prepared to fight an election on the question of how we deal with floods.  

After the last floods, I stood up and said the response of our Council was not good enough. Our communication was inadequate, and we had disturbing problems with the creation of our evacuation centres.

I then calld for a Council flood buy back scheme, and an SMS-based warning system for residents.  Council is still considering the flood buy back scheme, but we have a new SMS warning system for floods and severe weather.

This year and last year, I have waded through flood water to visit residents, moved their furniture, listened to them, and hugged them. And this year, I went to bed the other night with a hollow dead heart, thinking about the residents who faced another flood where brown water is lapping inside their walls.

We need to do more. There are areas of Beachmere that have become virtual creek overflow paths within the last three years.  People still do not have faith in the ability of this Council to look after them or protect them.

So holding back an election for four weeks so we can deal with the Flood Commission and a State election is really not important, compared to the huge burden of flood recovery some residents are facing.

In fact, it may be good thing for our whole community if people want to determine how they vote according to who best can handle this annual cycle of flooding.

I know that as our weather continues to alter over coming years, people will be looking to Council, or any government, to protect them from the impact of flooding and storms .

 

15 November

Sometimes the best policy ideas come from the simplest and clearest starting points.  Take for example this letter I received from one of my residents, Hans-Dietrich Mielke of Beachmere:

I’m writing this letter in desperation of recognition as a rate payer of this Council for precisely 23 years. My problem is the kerbside “big rubbish” collection in Beachmere! I’m disabled and don’t have a trailer or towbar to carry my unwanted rubbish to the tip. I request a collection as soon as possible as summer is coming fast!

So here's what i'm promising as Mayor -  to bring back a free kerb-side rubbish collection for Moreton Bay Regional Council residents.

The free rubbish collection was a feature of Council services in Caboolture until it was cut under the newly-amalgamated Council.

Still, it wasn't just Hans who has spoken out about this. Other rate payers have consistently told me they want to see a return of the kerb-side collection for big items of rubbish.

The elderly, disabled residents, and those without a car or trailer have been calling for a return of this valued Council service.

The service will give them a chance to get those large household or garden items to local transfer stations.

It is part of my plan to deliver a better customer service to rate payers.

At this stage the service will be delivered once every two years for Moreton Bay Regional Council residents.  It will be available to residents who have the weekly wheelie bin collection service.

Council is more than rates, roads and rubbish - but you've got to get those right before you do anything else.

September 18 - Why school concerts are important

For many parents of new kids in Prep or year 1, the thought of spending hours at the annual school concern must be, well, disconcerting.

Yet at the recent Burpengary State School concert, the time seemed to slip by as I watched and listened to these kids sing and dance.

I did not expect to get so much pleasure out of the concert, and what I found so grin-inducing and heart-warming was the reactions of the kids on stage.

I saw children spot their parents, and their eyes light up and they wave madly, or another tries to wave discreetly.

I saw kids of astonishing talent, with booming voices and serious stage presence.

And the best to see is their faces when they get the applause.

Some have a look of astonishment.  I realise it may be first time they have heard adults outside the family give them applause, loud and sustained applause.

As a new father, I find I have greater awareness of reactions of young kids and new parents.

I can appreciate why my school concerts were such an event for my mother.  She still talks about them.

In a nice piece of synchronicity, she recently found the program from my year 2 concert.  I have it here, and there is listed C. Whiting and D. Romagnolo as “A Couple of Tramps”, and we sang “Side By Side”.

I even have the picture of us singing the song, focusing on the microphone, straining forward to get the volume from our seven year old throats.

David was one of my closest boyhood friends.  We were at school together from kindergarten to year 12.  He was quiet and determined, and in our teenage years he developed a raucous and absurdist sense of humour sparked by “The Kenny Everett Video Show” and Monty Python.

I always envied his precise talent at drawing, and his finely-practiced cricketing abilities.  Yet David followed his father into a respected local accounting firm, and I now see he is a director of the company.

David, if you are reading this, go and tell your kids that you sang “The LumberJack Song” in the school concert in Year 12.  Better than that, sing it to them.

I hope in the years to come, the children at Burpengary State School can remember their friends in their school concerts.

A little sadly, they will be hard to remember from photos, as no photos were allowed during the performance.  I think that makes the photo I have even more special.

So I hope the parents can hold onto their memories, as has my mother.

For the parents who are baulking at being seated in an auditorium for hours, do not begrudge it.  Keep the program for when your child grows up.

And keep talking to them about the concert songs they sang when they were seven.

11 August

NATURE is a wonderfully inventive thing.  What we screamingly describe as catastrophe and disaster, Nature makes it an opportunity.

It may be an ice age, a meteor whacking into earth, or CO2 pumped by humans into the atmosphere.  Whatever it is, some species adapt and find themselves survivors and masters. 

This is happening now.  Species are looking at the rubbish we have left around and thinking, "Hmm, we can use this stuff".

The thought occurred to me when I caught a glimpse of gold fish-like shapes in Sheep Station Creek as I cycled down Morayfield Road.  It wasn't a school of escapee gold fish - the shapes were handles of escapee shopping trolleys.

What a brilliant evolutionary strategy - disguise yourself as rubbish.  Use the accumulated stratum of junk to survive and prosper as a species.  Here is a list of newly-emerged species that are using the cool stuff we leave everywhere.

Nappy Crows.  Crows are picking up disposable nappies flung out on the side of roads to construct their nests.  The brilliant thing is that they are using the same strategies they have for eating cane toads.  They are flipping them over so the yucky stuff is on the outside. 

Paper Redbacks.  These live in the creases of crumpled yellow pages of the Courier Mail blown around the landscape, hence the sub species name Murdochia.  It is distinguished by aggressive reaction to health bureaucrats and anyone associated with the Bligh or Gillard governments.  A new British sub-species has been found to be causing havoc with phone lines.

Longbeach Yabbies.  This species is not named after the beach where they are found, but after the washed-up cigarette packets they prefer as their homes. They are distinguished by the square shaped bodies that fit in the corner of the box, and their hacking coughs heard in the morning.

Gobbledock Bandicoots. These lovable creatures are growing fur markings that look like empty chip packets.  Once they nestle amongst the chip packets blown up against fences, they can't be detected.  Their survival may be assured by the fact they refuse to eat any of the chips they find in the packets.

 

The only real threat to these newly evolved species is, ironically, ourselves.  On Clean Up Australia Day each year, armies of well-meaning humans strip the landscape of any rubbish they can find, robbing these creatures of their habitat.

Nature is indeed clever, and can evolve into adverse conditions we leave for them.  So let us not react hastily and take away this lovely new habitat we have graciously gifted them.  They may need it to adapt to world that is up to ten degrees hotter.

HAVE you read the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report? No surprises, but interesting reading nonetheless.

What will be up for debate is how we move forward from here.  What can we do to be better prepared for the next one?

What I have done as candidate for Mayor, and in response to the report, is release two new policy positions.

I have proposed an SMS-based early warning service for floods and severe weather, and committed to a flood buy back scheme for flood-prone houses.

These are positive plans to make sure we are better prepared if we get more severe flooding in the future

The Early Warning Service is an innovative plan that will help residents ensure they are not caught out again.

And the buy-back policy helps residents ensure they are not subjected to continuous flooding of their houses year after year.

Both policy positions are based on initiatives that are already working well in Brisbane.  You can read them in the two posts I have published today

The residents in the Dale Street area have been calling for a buy-back of flood-prone properties as based on the criteria in Brisbane City Council.

I first raised the possibility of a buy-back scheme for regularly flooded properties soon after the January floods, and I am committed to implementing such a scheme as Mayor.

I’m pleased to see MBRC is now putting together a draft buy-back policy.

The recommendations in the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report show I was on the right track with my criticisms of management of floods on January 11.

The report states that "Moreton Bay Regional Council did not provide well for isolated communities", and the "local disaster management group was not in a position to provide information about what particular area should be evacuated or the location of any evacuation centres".

The Early Warning Service would help meet Recommendations 4.2 and 4.3 of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report.

Let me know what else I can propose to better our disaster management in the future.

1 August - Early Warning Service for floods

The MBRC Early Warning Service for Flood and Severe Weather.

Providing better warnings for residents at risk from floods.

As Mayor in 2012, I would introduce a service for MBRC residents to receive free flooding and severe weather alerts by SMS.

This initiative would help meet Recommendations 4.2 and 4.3 of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report issued today.

Residents who register for the service would receive free alerts by either SMS, email, land line, fax, the web, Facebook or Twitter.

MBRC would partner with the Early Warning Network (EWN) to provide the service.  EWN is a dedicated operation which continuously monitors threats and issues warnings and updates.

Brisbane City Council and the Townsville City Council have both partnered with EWN to provide their households with free severe weather alerts.

An MBRC Early Warning Service for Floods and Severe Weather would work along similar lines to the system in Brisbane.  Costs would be met by MBRC as part of a better service to local residents.

Residents will register with the service either online through the Council website, or fill in a form.

EWN would monitor Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather warnings and information from Council’s own flood gauge system.

Alerts would then be sent about potentially dangerous weather events such as hail and severe thunderstorms, destructive winds and cyclones, floods and tsunamis.

Alerts are sent by email, SMS (optional), or recorded message to your landline (optional).  If you choose both the SMS and landline options, only extreme alerts will be sent to your landline.

These alerts are targeted to areas that are specifically going to be affected by an event.  They are not a wide spread general type of alert.

The alerts are location-based, so you receive warnings if your residential address may be in danger.

The alerts would provide MBRC residents with greater levels of up-to-date information and the added security of early warnings so as residents can determine their courses of action in the case of a flood.

You can use the free Early Warning Service if you are a MBRC resident, you register your residential address, and no-one else in your household has registered for alerts.

August 1 - Flood Buy-Back Scheme

The MBRC Flood Buy-back Scheme.

Providing relief for residents living in frequently-flooded homes.

As Mayor in 2012, I would introduce the MBRC Flood Buy-Back Scheme to purchase residential houses at risk of frequent flooding.

It would be a voluntary scheme based on the eligibility criteria already in use in Brisbane City Council for their scheme.  The criteria would be similar to the one below:

1. The home is predicted to flood once every two years. This means that the home must be within the extent of a predicted two year average recurrence interval (ARI) flood event, or be proven to have a history of flooding at this recurrence.
2. The property must be in a residential zone.
3. Floodwaters must inundate the residential dwelling on the property.
4. There is no other solution to stop the property flooding.

Residents would apply for voluntary purchase of their residential property under the Flood Buy-Back Scheme by submitting a request in writing.

Council would obtain a valuation from an independent valuer for all properties considered for purchase.   Council and the property owner must agree on a price before the home could be purchased.

Decisions on which properties to purchase would be based on the frequency and depth of predicted flooding.  A property that experiences flooding over the habitable floor will be prioritised higher than a property that experiences flooding over utility areas such as a laundry or garage.

Council would use the latest flooding information being prepared by Council as part of our investigations into the flooding characteristics of local catchments.

Properties purchased under the Flood Buy-Back Scheme may be used by Council for conservation, drainage easements or parklands.

There would be an annual allocation under the Council budget to fund the scheme, and the size of the annual allocation would determine the extent of the scheme for that year.

July 26 - Sports Plan

“Support Our Sports”

The sports plan from Cr Chris Whiting

Introduction

The more I listen to my local community, the more I see how important junior sports clubs are to our community.  In fact, I’m wondering if supporting junior sport is one of the most important things we do as a Council.

Junior sports clubs are where we build what we are now calling “social capital”.  This is where we see Mums and Dads meeting other parents, learning to work together, and building a club to support their kids’ dreams of playing for Queensland and Australia.

Families lead such busy lives these days.  We work longer and harder than just about any other developed nation.

Yet Mums and Dads will sacrifice their weekends and drive for hours so their child can play a sport for their local team.  They will change their shifts so they can mark the lines and staff the canteen.

These parents and volunteers are the people who are building something bigger in our communities.  If they put up their hands and say they need help, we need to hear them and act.

And they need help from Council. 

The “Support Our Sports” policy

The aim of the “Support Our Sports” policy position is to meet the needs of our community sporting organisations, to deliver the best possible service to them.  That includes creating facilities (fields and buildings) that meet their needs, and providing a better level of support (grant applications, club development).

Specific initiatives within “Support Our Sports” include a new approach to sports field maintenance, a review of the region’s built facilities in partnership with community sports, and a new model of operation for regional sports facilities, creating a Sports unit within Council that is easy to deal with and has a high level of customer service.

The following listed initiatives are the current features of the “Support Our Sports” policy position, and the policy will be expanded upon future consultation with sporting associations.

A.      Council’s Sports Unit

Currently we have about four staff and a manager in the Sports section, doing everything from liaising with every sports club, helping them with club development and assisting with their grants applications.  They have to oversee the development of sporting strategies and planning, provide advice to Council, and liaise with Parks over the fields.  They liaise with about four Council units to do all of this.

I propose a unified and centralised sports unit within Council.  Staff in this unit would include

·         sports development officers who would work with community sports groups,

·         dedicated sports grants officers to work in close co-operation with sports groups on grants for Council and for sports groups,

·         specialised sports field maintenance staff,

·         a small team of sports planners to oversee a joint community-Council analysis of gaps in our sporting facilities and other strategic plans and analyses,

·         a small team to finalise the land management plans and leases needed by clubs, and

·         crucially, customer service officers within the unit to be the first point of contact for sports clubs.

B.      Regional Venues.

For a regional sports centre to best meet the needs to the community sports groups, it should provide the best level of service to the local organisations.  This means:

·         We need to create the best possible grounds and facilities that can carry the heavy demands of the sports associations of our expanding population, and

·         we need to cater for the emerging elite level athletes from our region, as they develop their craft.  This includes being able to host high-level competitions and carnivals in our area, so as to develop our athletes.

I propose that the regional sports parks would be sporting and recreational venues managed by broad-based boards. 

The venues should be managed by joint Council – business – community boards. 

The boards or the commercial operators on site should be enabled to explore and develop commercial opportunities at the park.  Commercial income delivered to the boards should create a capacity to fund a higher maintenance of the sporting fields and facilities.

The boards would be responsible for the higher level of grounds and facilities services and maintenance.

C.      Sports Field Maintenance

Many of our sports, especially junior sports, are played on grass or turf fields throughout the region.  The quality of these fields is varied, as there are different maintenance regimes in the different areas.

To reach the highest practicable level of quality for these fields, I propose Council will take over the maintenance of all turf playing surfaces for community sporting groups.

This will take away one of the most costly and time-consuming activities for local sporting groups, as well as improving the quality of the field.  For the clubs in the Pine Rivers area in particular, it would free up their funds and volunteer hours to concentrate on the other needs of the sports and junior players.

Clubs and sports groups would still be responsible for line marking, and Council would negotiate with clubs who want to carry out an even higher level of maintenance.  Clubs responsible for maintaining grounds outside of the playing surface would keep that responsibility.

D.      Strategic Review of Infrastructure

Council has already started a strategic review identifying the gaps in sporting infrastructure throughout our region.  I propose to continue it and build on it by also focusing on the condition of the sports buildings.

In this strategic review of the sporting infrastructure, I propose a more comprehensive community engagement.  There would be open consultation with community sports groups and state sporting bodies.  Both will be partners in developing easy-to-follow, action-orientated recommendations.

The review of our infrastructure will be driven by the philosophy embodied in the policy – that our primary focus must be on developing grass-roots sports and local sporting facilities, not simply providing large, expensive buildings.  That is the best way to develop the “social capital” within our sports clubs.

E.   Outdoor Recreation

The growth of outdoor informal recreational activities has been largely unrecognised in our area.  Indeed, the number of people participating in activities such as bush walking, jogging, cycling and canoeing outweighs the number of residents involved in organised sporting competitions.

We have some of the best natural areas that are the perfect settings for such informal outdoor activities.  However, we need better infrastructure for walking, cycling canoeing and running that is placed through and alongside our landscapes, rivers and foreshores.

Council’s new active role in providing new outdoor recreational infrastructure will be driven by an Outdoor Recreation Strategy, and will also be guided by trail strategies already developed for previous Councils.

Chris Whiting

July 11 - Chris Whiting for Mayor

Today I announced I will run for Mayor in 2012 at Moreton Bay Regional Council.  I've put the whole text of speech here for you to read for yourself:

“It is an honour and a pleasure to be here today.

“It is a glorious day, a day that reminds me why I came to live here in the first place.

“I first moved here in 1998, to Deception Bay, to start a new chapter in my life.

“Soon I was captivated by potential of the place, and the fierce pride felt by the community.

“I soon adopted that pride, and championed the virtues of my community to everyone.

“But I could see that things needed to change.

“In 1999, after many hours of listening to my opinions on how we could improve our community, my late friend Ian Burgett said ‘Well, why don’t you run for Council?’

“I did, I won, and I hope I have served you well.

“I still serve my community as Councillor because, simply, I believe in it.

“I still believe in our region, and in our communities.  Twelve years on, I feel even stronger about serving my community.

“I know there is no better place to call home and settle down.

“Nowhere else is more secure, more peaceful, more affordable, for you and your family.

“Nowhere else gives you such potential to make a great start in life.

“Then why is it that many of my fellow neighbours and fellow residents are uneasy about the direction of our local Council?

“They still believe in our region.  They still have that fierce pride.

“They still have high hopes for our local communities, but they feel something is not right.

“They feel we are slipping behind.

“I share that concern, and that disquiet.

“I cannot allow our communities to slowly slide backwards and see other regions move ahead of us.

“Many residents share with me a strong belief in our region, but I see many residents are losing faith in this Council.

“They look at the management of disasters, the level of support for local sport, even the simple filling of potholes on local roads.

“They shake their heads and yearn for real action, real change and real leadership.

“They think their local council can do better.

“I believe I can change things for the better.  And that is why I am running for Mayor in 2012.

“Here is why I believe I am the best choice for Mayor in 2012.

“I have proven I will stand up for residents.  I have spoken out about the water rebates and water prices, supporting local sports, and disaster management.

“I will prove I can lead, and I am resolute and determined to succeed.

“I have the experience, I have the energy.  I have been a councillor for 11 years, but I feel energised and ready for the next step.

“But I am the best choice for Mayor because of the direction I have in mind for this Council.

“Here are the three things I offer to you as Mayor.

“One.  Better service to the community.  Residents feel their level of services has dropped.

They feel their parks are not maintained as well as they were before, roads are being left as pothole patches, and it takes months to take down a simple sign from a tree.

“Two.  More say in your Council.  That means better engagement with our community.  We will let you set priorities, not just tell you what Council is doing.

My Council will belong to the people, not developers.

“Three.  Better financial direction.  As your rates and water bills have climbed, so has Council debt.

Tens of millions are being spent on projects you did not vote for.

Yet where is the investment in the areas that need new community centres?  Where is in the investment in your local sporting facilities?

“When you think about me as your Mayor, think about what I stand for.  And that is ‘Community First’.

“Families in our communities, businesses in our communities, are telling me they are doing it tough.

“They want new leadership, they want things to change.

“If you want a change for the better, you start at the top.

“And if you want that change, lend me your support and give me your vote.”