Friday, 11 February, 2022
There’s only one
NOOSA 12534958-JW06-22
and only one ...
Hospital hit by storms
Sandy has skin in the game
Survivor puts love to the test
40-page liftout Property Guide
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INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
School year begins School returned for all students across Noosa this week after an extended holiday due to Covid. On Monday Noosa Today spoke to some students and parents and almost all expressed their excitement to be back. For some it was the first time, others were happy to see friends again and some had moved to
the area from southern states and faced some changes to their former routines. At Sunshine Beach State School parents and some students were wearing masks and none Noosa Today spoke to voiced concerns about Covid. More pictures on page 2
Acacia with dad Trey and brother Slater. New to the area from Sydney the family was very excited about her first day at school.
Picture: ROB MACCOLL
Revved up on river By Phil Jarratt
12497020-DL22-21
North Shore resident and Noosa River veteran Nick Hluszko is putting his considerable influence as chair of the Noosa River Stakeholders Advisory Subcommittee into a campaign to reduce the speed limit on the river to six knots, no wash year-round. And it is by no means a one-man stand. Currently a six knot limit applies to the river downstream from T-Boats only through December and January and over Easter, but the speed limit reduction was part of a raft
of recommendations presented by NRSAC to Maritime Safety Queensland last September, including introduction of a four knot limit around the narrow canals of Noosa Sound. MSQ has since completed its own review of safety and compliance issues on the river, and is understood to also favour a speed limit reduction. Its findings and a call for community consultation are expected by the end of this month. Meanwhile, a hectic holiday season and increased patrols by MSQ and Water Police have produced statistics that seem to support the calls for lower speed limits.
Noosa Today understands that over 13 days between 3 December and 18 January MSQ intercepted 125 vessels for compliance checks. Of these, 34 drivers were juveniles. A total of 15 infringement notices were issued with the vast majority being for speeding. Water Police patrolled eight days between 6 December and 2 January and issued 48 infringement notices, 29 (60 per cent) for speeding. Nick cites South East Queensland’s phenomenal growth spurt outside of Noosa as a major reason to act now. “SEQ’s current population is about 3.3 million, representing 66 per
cent of the state’s population in just 1.3 per cent of its area. With the state population expected to grow from 5 million to 7.16 million over the next 20 years, it’s logical to expect that we will cop the lion’s share of that, with a population of over 500,000 on the Sunshine Coast alone. Then consider the boating population. There are currently 250,000 recreational boats in Queensland, most of them in SEQ, with annual growth in boat sales between 13 and 15 per cent. The pressure on our waterway is going to be immense.” Continued page 3