ALMOST two years since a majority of Sunshine Coast councillors unilaterally decided to thumb their nose at the community and scrap the Australia Day Awards, the gongs are back.
It was the wrong call to begin with and has remained a bugbear among the community since the decision was made in late 2023 without any wider consultation.
It reflected a growing tendency for council to decide what’s best for the community without asking the people directly affected – when decisions of this nature should always go to the community that lives with the outcome.
It was another example of how easily the autonomy of local volunteer groups can be chipped away.
And wouldn’t you know it, the council was fairly pilloried for it.
Worse still was the attempt to – very quietly – replace it with the UNESCO Biosphere awards, which further shifted the focus from community volunteering to environmental sustainability.
Efforts to frame those awards as community-based were always going to fall flat under such a narrow environmental banner, regardless of the good intentions.
The issue became front and centre in the council elections, with passionate questions fired at councillors and mayoral candidates who all said the right things.
That included now Mayor Rosanna Natoli, who asked the question voters were asking while out campaigning: “Who would want to be a Biosphere Award winner?”
Now the council is relaunching the Australia Day Awards with a bit of help, it seems, from new CEO John Baker and some persistent lobbying by Fisher MP Andrew Wallace.
We give Division 5 Councillor Winston Johnston the Australia Day Award for best quote: “Their absence left a gap in our community spirit.”
This paper’s position has always been that their axing showed a lack of respect for the community the awards were meant to honour.
Let’s hope the damage is temporary and that both the community and the council can get behind the relaunched awards in the spirit they deserve.
The Biosphere Awards will live on, but separately – sparing both programs from the confusion and dilution that came from trying to combine them.
Senior’s Month and more
That story and plenty more make up our bumper 40-page edition as we spring into the warmer months.
October is also Seniors’ Month, and a special shout-out to the sponsors of our first six-page feature for the month: Mark and Sylvie’s Home Care, GemLife, Glasshouse Mountains Medical Centre, Sunshine Coast Ophthalmologists and Top Nosh Meals.
Their support – and that of all our advertisers this and every other week – helps us cover the stories that matter in the hinterland.
If there are topics you want to see covered or news you want to share, please let myself or Sonia know at editorial@gcnews.com.au
Happy reading!