By: Darlene Irvine, FNQROC Executive Officer...

"Learn to ride a bicycle...you will not regret it if you live" - Mark Twain

By the time you are reading this I am hopefully back safe and sound after riding a bike from Cairns to Cooktown over the Queen's Birthday weekend.    I am pictured left with Tablelands Regional Council CEO Ian Church at the finish line in Cooktown.  Together we rode in a Cairns Regional Council team pack.  That's a great example of regional resource sharing for you!  Firstly, thank you very much to all those who have sponsored any of the riders, all funds are going to a very worthy cause being the FNQ Hospital Foundation.  Many of you will be aware that I have been riding for a couple of years now but I generally ride solo and have learnt to hate the Captain Cook Highway riding North to South against the head wind.  In training for this event, I have been riding in a pack, each of us sharing the lead.  When out front it is hard going, but when it is your turn behind the leaders, the ride is much easier, faster and less taxing on the body.  This got me thinking about work and the benefits of Councils and staff working collaboratively - when we all work together, the journey is a lot easier with each of us sharing the load.  Trying to work on your own is a harder, takes  longer and before you know it, the pack has overtaken you with a smile and a wave!

September again has been a busy month for all with the proposed amendments to the Local Government Act, the Sustainable Planning Act and the proposed removal of the State Planning Regulation Provisions which sit behind the FNQ2031.  This is occurring quite rapidly and Council staff are having to make the appropriate changes to processes and procedures to meet these changes when they are finalised (many being in November).

As well as the comments from the Coordinators, from my end, October will also be a big month.  We will see our first:

• FNQROC Board meeting in Yarrabah on Monday 8 October 2012
• Regional Local Government Economic Development Technical Committee meeting on Friday 12 October 2012, under the deliverables for Advance Cairns
• Taskforce meeting for the Regional Masterplan for mountain biking on Thursday 4 October (I have never seen so many organisations in such alignment of direction before...it is very exciting) 

As part of our funding agreement with the Roads Alliance I will present our Regional Procurement Project to the Regional Road Group Technical Committee Assembly and Regional Road Group Assembly.  Regional Procurement Coordinator Steven Cosatto and I have entitled it “Regional Procurement, a Really Good Idea But…” and it will be about the pitfalls we faced and mitigation actions we put in place.

LGAQ will also hold its Annual Conference and several motions will affect member Councils.  There are many motions before the conference, but of note are:

1. Our own motion related to NDRRA
2. Hann Highway as a State priority
3. Gilbert River Irrigation as a State priority, and
4. Removal of biosecurity precept payment.

And finally, I would like to say a sad farewell and thank you to Lauren Stiles who was assisting us in the planning realm on a casual basis.  Cairns Regional Council has picked up a great asset in her.  Good luck Lauren! 

(Editor's note: all this talk of crazy bike riding expeditions led me to an online cycling joke site.  I cannot resist sharing this parting joke...Why can't a bicycle stand up on it's own?  Because it's too-tyred.  Boom boom!)

By: Lauren Stiles, FNQROC Planning Projects Officer...

Regional Planners Group

The next FNQROC Planners Group Meeting will be held on Friday 19 October 2012. The focus of the next meeting will be on knowledge sharing about the recent changes to the planning framework including the proposed amendments to the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, as well as updates from our DSDIP and LGAQ colleagues.

Planning Institute of Australia 2012 State Planning Conference

FNQROC is a sponsor of the Tablelands Food Security site tour as part of the Planning Institute of Australia 2012 State Planning Conference “Reinvigorate” which was held in Cairns on 3-5 October 2012. The State Conference is the premier event for planning professionals across the state. The three day conference will bring together more than 200 delegates from across Queensland, including leading planning and legal professionals, councilors and local government representatives, developers and community groups, making it a great networking opportunity for planners in the region. The conference will provide presentations from a range of speakers including keynote presentations from Gordon Price, Malcolm Middleton, Kirsty Kelly, Peter Richards, Tim Williams and Karl Kruszelnicki.

This year’s conference challenges the traditional presentation format and provides a fresh look at current issues faced by the planning community by exploring three key themes - “My Self. My Place. Our Future”. 

Farewell from Lauren…

I would like to take this opportunity to say farewell, as my time with FNQROC is coming to an end.  I have really enjoyed my time here and it has been a pleasure working with you all.  I would like to say thank you again to the planners from Cairns Regional Council, Cassowary Coast Regional Council and Tablelands Regional Council for assisting me with the scoping study to investigate the potential need for a standard conditions template for the Far North region.

Whilst I will no longer be working at FNQROC, I will not be going very far.  I am very excited about my new position as a Planning Officer with the Development Assessment team at Cairns Regional Council and I’m sure I'll see you all again.

Proposed changes to the Sustainable Planning Act 2009

There have been numerous changes to the Queensland planning framework over the past few months and it seems many more to come. It is an exciting time of change with the Sustainable Planning and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 being introduced into the Queensland Parliament on 12 September 2012. The key changes to the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 include:

FNQROC has recently completed a scoping study investigating the potential for a standard conditions template for the far north region to assist local government planners in development assessment.

Dealing with Development Approvals Seminar

MacDonnells Law (Cairns office via webinar) will host the Queensland Environmental Law Association's 'Taylor Made' Series 4 - Dealing with Development Approvals Seminar on Monday 8 October 2012. The seminar will discuss some of the issues which arise when dealing with development approvals, including:

By: Frederick Marchant, Regional Sustainability Coordinator (Acting)

Sustainability Scorecard

One of the topics which captured everyone’s attention at our last FNQROC Sustainability Group meeting in August was a presentation by Maree Grenfell (Coordinator Sustainability & Climate Change for Cairns Regional Council) about Cairns Regional Council’s ‘Sustainability Scorecard’.  

Maree explained the scorecard is a user friendly tool which allows consideration of sustainability in everything Council does each day.  It also provides a way in which to measure and communicate Council’s sustainability performance.

Maree was able to provide us with a live demonstration using the interactive questionnaire, taking us through the simple step by step process to produce a scorecard report in a matter of minutes. 

The Sustainability Scorecard framework is structured around four themes which reflect the intents of Cairns Regional Council’s Corporate Sustainability Policy and the Corporate Plan.

By: Frederick Marchant, Regional Sustainability Coordinator (Acting)

Community Plans show regional benefits

The FNQROC Community Planning Group met in August and discussed the potential to identify common issues and formulate a regional approach to dealing with the issues and opportunities raised by Community Plans.

Councils across Queensland completed community plans last year as part of a requirement under the Local Government Act 2009.  The planning process gave communities the chance to list and prioritise issues and opportunities with a 10 year timeframe.  In turn this has provided Councils with valuable information regarding their communities expectations to assist in preparing corporate and other strategic/business plans.

Furthermore, other regional organisations have been able to integrate community plan information into specific regional plans. The benefits of community plans have obviously stretched beyond individual community boundaries.

FNQROC has reviewed Councils' community plans and has identified common issues and opportunities across the region, looking at options for further cross boundary collaborations.

By: Gerard Read, Regional Infrastructure Project Coordinator...

What the State Budget means to Regional Road Group (RRG) funding

With the State Budget now brought down, I thought it timely to provide a brief update on issues pertaining to the Roads Alliance Board and in particular TIDS funding, based on advice received from the Roads Alliance Board.

By: Steven Cosatto, Regional Procurement Coordinator...

MacDonnells Law and Ipro Solutions presentations

The FNQROC Procurement Committee met in Cairns on Friday 14 September 2012. On behalf of the Committee I would like to thank MacDonnells Law and Ipro Solutions for making presentations on the day.  Read more on both presentations below.

By: Travis Sydes, Regional Natural Asset Management Coordinator...

Regional NRM Update

Cassowary Coast Mayor and FNQROC Chair Cr Bill Shannon and Cr Mark Nolan joined myself and other stakeholders to workshop the future directions of of the National Siam Weed Eradication Program after the announcement the program in its current form will cease (see my August newsblog).  We are in the process of preparing a follow up to the brief outlining the regional position and will circulate it in the coming month.  Overall it was agreed by stakeholders that a targeted program should continue and to this end we received good feedback from the State that they are on board.