Jenny Mckay watches over one of the largest divisions in the Sunshine Coast Council and, as we move into the new year, she tells the Hinterland Times of her determination to find ways of stimulating the economy of her predominantly rural electorate.
Our challenge up here is what to do with these large blocks of land that are no longer being farmed. For example, we’re starting to see economic hardship and increasing problems with weed infestation and wild dogs. The problem is that our rural lands are now too expensive to buy for farming. They have either got to be handed down to you or else you are looking for a different form of economic generation.
There isn’t one single solution and I’m getting all kinds of suggestions for diversification. I think we have to revisit some of the old ideas of the retirement blocks and the family transfers. The most favoured option for diversification on the land is cabins. They are popping up everywhere, but I wonder how many more can be viable up here. Group titling is another proposal – the idea of being able to have your hundred acres or whatever with a self-contained community like Crystal Waters.
But the core rural people, they’re just asking for the government to lay off and to make things a little easier. For example, if you just want to have a few Dexter cattle on a small acreage, when you want to sell your cattle, you have got to have all your cows tagged, and all the state rules and regulations in place. It’s ridiculous.
We have the same problem with Council rules and regulations that prevent initiative for growers up here. For example, a man told me he wanted to sell avocadoes on the side of the road and Council said that it would cost him $2000 for a permit. There has to be some acceptable system of self assessability in cases like this. We need these people to be able to use their properties profitably without being stymied by Council red tape.
We don’t have a markets policy either. Maybe we can incubate people with smaller blocks of land. I don’t think council should run markets. I don’t think that’s our role. But we can be an enabler and support our communities. We haven’t even got a signage policy so people can’t advertise their tomatoes or their strawberries. If we had self assessable rules then the signs could be out there when the various crops are being harvested but then removed and not left out there every day of the year. We’ve got to loosen the strings of bureaucracy.
As for the new year, it’s going to be a tough time together. The way we can move forward is working together. We have to enable people to try new options more easily and less costly. We really need a change in attitude to facilitate these options.
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