THIS MONTH we said hello to an old friend – the sun!! I hope you have all been soaking up the Vitamin D (with sunscreen and hat!) and sensational sunsets while they are available to us?
The sunshine radiated into a month of joyful occasions! At our annual Noosa Qld Day Awards, we recognised those Noosans who go above and beyond, giving back to our community through their selfless volunteerism. Always such a special night, with 39 recipients acknowledged, all of whom I finally got to congratulate with a hug after two years of COVID-19 restrictions. Thank you once again to all our incredible residents who do so much for our community, and to Cooroy RSL who has become a sponsor of this important annual event.
We were also excited to notify our not-for-profit organisations who were successful in their applications for our Seeds for Change grants. There is a number of ‘changemaking’ projects, including our first indigenous learning centre, wildlife signage and a share house program. To see the list of successful applicants and their initiatives, head to my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SandyBoltonNoosa.
The clean-up of the polystyrene from the floods is going to be an ongoing issue and the vacuum deployed by Noosa Council has been busy at work trying to rectify this pollution. Next month, Council will be hosting a round table to discuss this and future measures, alongside Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) and the Department of Environment and Science (DES), and we will update to our 360 the key outcomes.
The CSIRO has just released a research paper on the dioxin testing of Noosa River, which was in response to our three years of advocacy. The paper indicated that there is a strong correlation between our dioxins which have a unique ‘signature’ and the amount of kaolinitic clay in the sediment samples. If you are interested in reading, please head to 360 at www.sandybolton.com.
At the time of writing, I am continuing to dissect the QLD 22-23 budget, which I have posted a summary of to 360 at https://www.sandybolton.com/budget-2022-23-update/. Among the good news, was that our advocacies since 2019 regarding the outdated School Transport Assistance Subsidy (STAS), will be rectified by an injection of $18m, to include students from shared care families.
As always, please keep up to date via our Facebook page, as well as via our monthly newsletter, which you can subscribe to via my website https://www.sandybolton.com/. If you have any questions regarding state-related matters, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 5319 3100 or email noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au.
Blessings to all, and enjoy the remainder of our ‘chilly’ months!