Noosa Today - 26th January 2024

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Friday, 26 January, 2024

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Selling more than the next 4 agencies combined $600M

AGENCY 2 & 3

$300M

Australia Day honours for locals

Ongoing battle to seal road

Riding the wind for regattas

20-page lift out Property Guide

PAGES 4, 5, 6, 7

PAGE 12

PAGE 39

INSIDE

AGENCY 4 & 5

PR OP ER TY

Smiles and tears

Mali is excited to join her Prep class.

Picture: ROB MACCOLL

Bags packed, uniforms on and excited, with just a touch of nervousness, was how the new cohort of preppies approached their first day at Sunshine Beach State School on Monday. It was with mixed emotions as parents lingered outside the classroom after saying their goodbyes. “It’s our last child to go to school. It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. It’s very exciting and it’s taking a little piece of my heart,“ said mum Nat. The occasion marked another chapter in the lives of parents Marty and Ella whose daughter Mali is their third and final child to attend school. “It’s a big milestone,“ Ella said. A spokeswoman for the school said the school’s Prep Transition Program had been a “game changer“ in creating a smooth transition to the classroom for its youngest students. From term one the program hosts a number of events throughout the school year to help the following year’s Preppies connect with the environment, staff and their fellow students. Continued page 3

LNP targets Noosa

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Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli believes Noosa is one of 14 electorates LNP can and needs to win at the October election to take charge of the State Government and will be throwing the party’s weight behind its campaign to place retiring Mayor Clare Stewart into the seat now occupied by Independent Sandy Bolton. Speaking to Noosa Today on Monday, Mr Crisafulli said while he believes people are calling for a change of government, he had no criticism of Noosa’s current MP. “Politics so often becomes a personality contest, you won’t hear me here say a bad word against the state member here because I don’t have a bad word to say, and I won’t,“ he said. Cr Stewart reinforced his sentiments saying, “I’m not going to bag Sandy but I’m cer-

tainly going to say if the community want a change of government, we need to win seats and they can vote for me“. After a visit to local markets with Cr Stewart, Mr Crisafulli said “the overwhelming view (he) got from people here is a strong desire to change the government“. Three things overwhelmingly we got hit with - youth crime, the hospital and the inefficiencies of that and your (SEQ) planning scheme, he said. In relation to crime Mr Crisafulli said “youth crime is definitely the pinch point in Queensland“. “The number of repeat offenders has gone from 10-20 per cent in the last 18 months. The increase in crime has been just mind boggling.

In the last eight years statewide break and enters are up 50 per cent, unlawful entries up 100 per cent and all have increased in the last 12 months,“ he said. “It’s not about locking them up, you’ve got to give kids hope and love, that’s important. At the other end of the scale, you’ve got this group of hard core - on repeat - round and round. They are the ones who just keep getting turned back into society, and it’s not working. “The number that worries me is the number of victims and that’s increasing. When asked if he would wait for the results of the bipartisan inquiry currently underway by the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee being chaired by Ms Bolton, Mr Crisafulli said: “any step in the right direction we’ll embrace, a couple of things can happen immediately“.

He said a provision in the Youth Justice Act says detention must be the last resort. “That does not make sense when you’re dealing with someone who has had 80 offences. We believe that should be removed immediately. At the other end of the scale, the government keeps talking about how much they’re spending on early intervention, it’s not working. “We need to work out what we need to be doing a lot more of and what’s the best around the world and get it here now and turn kids around.“ In relation to the Noosa Hospital, Cr Stewart said: “Nothing’s been done to the hospital since 1998 when it was first built. We need more services, we need expansion there and that’s what the hospital is asking for.“ Continued page 6


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