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Friday, 2 February, 2024
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INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
End of an era for Fratellini By Margie Maccoll
Andrew Powell at Fratellini’s.
Picture: ROB MACCOLL
It’s a favoured restaurant of the rich and famous and a Sunshine Beach landmark for the past 13 years. But with a site development imminent and the rising costs of running a restaurant, Andrew Powell has decided to close the doors permanently on his beloved Fratellini Restorante Italiano this Sunday. Andrew counts among his regular customers former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and wife Therese Rein, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, playwright David Williamson and actor wife Kristen Williamson. TV presenters Karl Stefanovich and Kerry O’Brien and many other famous faces have also graced his premises. Fratellini’s black-walled interior, alfresco dining, international flavour and prominent position on Duke Street make it an immediate drawcard, its good food and welcoming atmosphere have made it a regular go-to for a generation of customers since Andrew bought it as a going concern and turned it into a success. “I’ve done very well out of Fratellini and really enjoyed it and had some really loyal customers come in for so long,“ Andrew said. “I love when the restaurant’s pumping, the phone’s ringing, people standing at the counter, I’m behind the counter. There’s nothing like that buzz. Continued page 3
Olympic legacy Who knew that Noosa Aquatic Centre, regarded by many as one of the best swim venues in the country, was a legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympics? As was Noosa Equestrian Centre at Doonan and several more of our best sports facilities along the Sunshine Coast, funded so that they could provide Olympic standard training facilities before the event and a community benefit after it. Such thinking resulted in our NAQ, originally planned as a 25-metre pool, becoming a world class facility. Now, a group of current and former Olym-
pians, sporting and public officials and community warriors is hoping to spread the magic across the coast again in the leadup to Brisbane 2032. The Sunshine Coast Region 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Taskforce has a long name but a short message: the Brisbane Games must spread its legacy across the entire South East Queensland region. In the Sunshine Coast region, including Noosa and Cooloola, this would involve building or improving infrastructure that will benefit the entire community and by decentralising facilities, assist in cost of living issues and preventing the spread of youth crime.
In this mission the taskforce has a very good ally – the International Olympic Committee has now made it official policy to encourage the spread of resources across regions, rather than winning bid cities. Says taskforce member and Olympic academic and historian Ian Jobling: “That’s the IOC philosophy now, to spread the impact across regions, even to another country in some cases. So, in a sense, Brisbane doesn’t really have a choice, it’s policy.” But, as far as our region is concerned, the SCR Taskforce, chaired by Sunshine Coast Basketball chief Shane Truscott, with Dawn Fraser as patron and including such warriors of
sports and community campaigns as former Olympian Benny Pike and former Maroochy mayor Alison Barry-Jones, is taking nothing for granted. Says Shane Truscott: “The creation of events like the Olympics, as we’re seeing worldwide, is incredibly difficult to pull together, not only financially but from a legacy point of view. Governments and populations are expecting more in return for the outlay, knowing that the Games themselves potentially may not make any money, so they’re looking at infrastructure benefits. Continued page 6
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