PUNCH Magazine weekly

Issue 67

Meet your division 3 candidates for the Sunshine Coast Council

Meet your division 3 candidates for the Sunshine Coast Council

Mike Jessop I forgot to mention what could happen unless we come down hard on the human living statues in the district!? https://youtu.be/HtkIgG8XTC4

There follows a transcript of ABC radio interview

Peter Cox has that tonal upturn when he should be making a statement but instead is answering a question with another question

Do we really want this guy in for the next 15 years!? The Volume was a little low and the speakers were a little muffled and inaudible and so I have had the interview transcribed

On the subject of homelessness what is quite audible from Peter Cox is "homelessness isn't really a typical council issue" - "not in our remit" "So it's very difficult to, um, over promise and then under deliver"

With the full gamut of State government and federal government finger pointing I give you the full unredacted transcription below and a precis of what I Mike Jessop SCRC QLD Division 3 spoke of - enjoy

There follows a precis transcript of ABC radio interview that I Mike Jessop SCRC QLD Division 3 spoke of - enjoy

Rob Blackmore ABC
You're listening to ABC sunshine coast and I'm Rob Blackmore. Good morning on Facebook this morning for the division three candidates forum here on ABC sunshine coast for the council area of the sunshine coast. And it's great to welcome into the studios this morning. Mike Jessop, Division three - can we start by just going around the table and asking everybody what you're interested in, in terms of running for this election, what you stand for a couple of minutes only just to give us a bit of an introduction

Let's go to Mike Jessop finally. Mike, this is your, how many elections have you tried for today?

Mike Jessop
Yes this is my eighth now it'll actually be since 2009. Anyone in business will know what needs to be done and there's no one doing it at any level of government. I haven't actually considered Local Council Elections before but there is quite a lot you can do at this level of government I've run in the State and the Federal government before it's just something I can't resist once I got the bit between my teeth.

Rob Blackmore
So what's your background prior to running in these different elections?

Mike Jessop
I've had my own electronics manufacturing company and boat building company. and I can tell you that the mayor has said he's generated 59 jobs in the last 10 years in manufacturing jobs and 1,630 public administration jobs. That gives you some idea of the complete disconnect there is between government, even local government and business.

Rob Blackmore
Just on you though, just initially on yourself, why do you want to be a Councillor? What do you want to do? You know, what's brought you to this place in time?

Mike Jessop
Definitely to regenerate it. People are doing it so tough out there and they're being completely ignored, and there's no other word for it, about what needs to be done (about) which is government charges.

You know, you've got to reduce the government charges as every year you get 12 government charges between $200 and $900 bucks a month. You know, this is a tax on employment. This is stifling everything that goes on here.

Rob Blackmore
Can I just ask you not to be banging the table that's coming through on the microphone. They can also ask Mike Jessop why is Independent written under your name tag?

Mike Jessop
Oh, that's definitely to emphasize exactly what I am

Rob Blackmore ABC
A big part of today is answering questions that people have provided through Facebook for these forums, gentlemen. So we might go straight to those. Uh, and it's about the town plan. Can you all talk about your intentions around voting within the town plan and you might like to reference some of the more controversial developments that are currently in the courts.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Okay. Just before we go to, you Mike Jessop on that. Can I get you gentlemen to tell me a little about the other two candidates? 'Cause at one point Peter Cox you were going to be the only runner in this, in this seat. So you gentlemen these other two people, can we just get a sense of who they are? Have you met them, do you know them? Ronald McDonald - Michael Ronald McDonald and Pamela Merico. Does anyone know anything of them

Mike Jessop
Great, no I've never, never heard of them

Rob Blackmore ABC
and the date or the moment in which You two thought you'd run because as I said, there was a chance there that Peter was going to go uncontested Michael

Mike Jessop
I heard that he was going to step down anyway after eight years. And um, you know, that's,

Rob Blackmore ABC
That's why you chose that division. Do you live in the division?

Mike Jessop
Yes I do certainly live in the Division 3

Rob Blackmore ABC
And to you Mike Jessop on that question from previously the town plan, staying within it, challenging it, your view on that.

Mike Jessop
Yes well definitely (being) Christian orientated, that casino has got to go. I don't know where that is.

Rob Blackmore ABC
What casino?

Mike Jessop
There's plans for a casino in Maroochydore going on, that's the worst thing that could possibly happen I'm afraid

Rob Blackmore ABC
The Councillor would suggest that's not the case but anyway

Mike Jessop
You only hear what you hear

Rob Blackmore ABC
There was some discussions.

Mike Jessop
That's right. Yes definitely that's a complete, no, no. You can be sure that won't be happening on the sunshine coast, personally, as a business man, I know that there's a complete lack of availability of commercial premises - somewhere to operate. I don't know. The assumption seems to be made that everyone that moves to the Sunshine Coast is a retiree - they're not. And even if they were they still need to store and operate from somewhere. There's a complete shortage here. I will change all that.

Rob Blackmore ABC
I think the question though goes to development in particular people have issue with developments that are being put through that are outside the town plan that require a legal fight that ended up in the land, land and environment court, the planning environment court that then suddenly, you know, why can't we just do things that are within the plan that has been, um, you know, mandated for that, for that council area. What's your view on challenging that and changing that as developments come through? Mike Jessop
Yes well, I'd say there's a huge number of people coming to the coast and you know, you've got dwellings and no problem. There really are, there's plenty of that taking place.

It's the business and commercial side that's completely lacking. It really is. Especially for the homeless. There's nothing in that plan at all encouraging the development of properties that homeless people would otherwise occupy such as backpackers.

There's one backpackers in Caloundra, you know, you need one in each division. You really do. The homeless problem on the Coast is something like 1,600 ( people) you know, sleeping in their cars or sleeping rough and they're completely - there's nothing in the plan about that. There really isn't. They just, they're just unsightly to them. They don't even want to know, you know, soup kitchens, that sort of thing. It's a, it's a favour. There's a huge problem. You go down the beach any night at all, in the evening you can see them setting up

Rob Blackmore ABC
All right, let's go to a related question on the development question. You're listening to the Division three and watching the Division three forum on Facebook this morning for ABC sunshine coast, Peter Cox, uh, Stan Nowroski and Mike Jessop are sitting with us talking about issues impacting that community and hoping for your vote. Just just following on from the question around town planning and so on. These forums predominantly have been about transparency and how perhaps the sentiment in the community is that it doesn't exist. That there was transparency in the last council. Uh, again, Peter, let's start with you. Do you think he got it right as a council this time around closed door sessions, committee meetings and so on? Uh, if you had your time over, would you have had a few of those more open to the public and less closed?

Rob Blackmore ABC
Why do you think the sentiment is there then? Why don't you, why don't you think people understand that and accuse you of non-being nontransparent

Peter Cox
I'll look over that.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Whatever that term means.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Do you think Mark Jamison will be returned?

Rob Blackmore ABC
You worked with Chris Thompson, didn't you cope with that first term? Was he in the Council with you?

Peter Cox
He was the deputy, yes. Yup.

Rob Blackmore ABC
How did you get on with Chris?

Peter Cox
Chris sat in the next division to me and yeah, look, Chris did great job. Um, I just think though, out of the four contenders that are there, you know, you look at the report card and that's what I'd encourage all of the, the voters for the sunshine coast to look at the vision. I mean we've got population growth coming our way, whether we like it or not.

And you need to save someone that's got a vision and a plan for the future because if, if we don't elect the right person, our lifestyle will be certainly compromised over the next 15 years or so.

Rob Blackmore ABC
How have you, uh, thought of Mark Jamison's performance over his term hazmat?

Stan
Yeah, I like the, what Mark Jemison has done. Um, maybe at one end of it with the talk of casinos and that sort of stuff. Maybe not. Um, because I'd really like to see the sunshine coast stay as the sunshine coast, not turn itself into something totally different. Yeah,

Rob Blackmore ABC
totally different.

Stan
Like the gold coast

Rob Blackmore ABC
probably could have answered that question.

Stan
You could have answered that for me. Uh, and you know, if you want to gamble, you can gamble anywhere you like. We really need another building to [inaudible]

Rob Blackmore ABC
Mike Jessop?

Mike Jessop
Thank you. Yes. Well I think it's from the lips of the past incumbent Councillor at the moment. NOT IN OUR REMIT. This is, I don't remember any sort of public consultation on any of the major planning stuff at all. And you know, I'm not aware of any, I've lived here 20 years and that just doesn't happen.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Let's talk about that. So we might come back to you on that Mike, with the new town plan that'll be created. Um, do you anticipate it to change direction dramatically.

Peter Cox
No,

Rob Blackmore ABC
I mean we use, the second city example is a case study. Like if that was to, if it all gets approved and that kind of development is then seen as appropriate in that kind of an area, could we see bigger parts of the coast open to that kind of more intense development?

Rob Blackmore ABC
Okay. All right. Mike, we jumped back. We jumped away from you mid, mid answer. Let's return to you.

Mike Jessop
Yes. Well indeed. So going from Caloundra City Council to Sunshine Coast Regional Council, it's just been so apparent that the input has been removed really entirely. I mean, Peter Cox has been been there for the last eight years. I'm sorry. We're no nearer at all. Anything like the, you know, the light railway, nothing's happened or materialized at all.

What, what has been done in the last eight years as far as planning is concerned? I prefer to see Caloundra break off again from even Maroochydore. She, it already was session. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. That'll be right on my agenda

Rob Blackmore ABC
Just like Noosa We'll have Caloundra in the South and Noosa in the North.

Mike Jessop
Caloundra City Council was a, you know, operating fine. It was a huge area. It went right into, you know, Maleny and beyond successfully, you know, but we, we've just been totally ignored really. And there's no benefit at all. We've still got the same three council buildings we're paying rent on and you know, to operate. There's been no savings whatsoever in actually merging them. So I, I definitely, yeah.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Happy for you gentlemen to interact, interrupt each other and argue if you feel there's something you need to say. Um, but let's go around again for another round of answers.

Rob Blackmore ABC
If you were elected as a main priority for the division, what would you, what would you like to achieve?

Well, let's go to Mike on, on things to achieve in that, in that first term if elected.

Mike Jessop
Definitely. Well, we're never gonna get to restore the Currimundi's to the Queensland beach of the year award under councilor Cox, unfortunately.

Rob Blackmore ABC
And what does that mean?

Mike Jessop
Well, basically Currimundi Lake is a sewage farm. As, as we speak, you can't even kayak there. I'm sorry. This is one of, Councillor Cox's achievements in office. The second one is a course.

Peter Cox
Can I just have him explain what he means there because

Rob Blackmore ABC
Sewage farm overflows.

Peter Cox
Unity Water had the recent breakage. That's not a council asset. So I don't know how that's my fault.

Mike Jessop
Well, I'm sorry, I beg to differ. Currimundi Lake is the main asset in a division three, which you're not aware in case you weren't. And also the cleanup, the cleanup of it. You can't even, you know, you can't even swim or surf there. There's that. There's been no cleanup by the council or anything like that. And we're certainly not going to get Australian tidy towns award with all that toilet paper. That's it. But I'll be aiming for both of those in my, in my term,

Rob Blackmore ABC
you'll instruct a unity water to do a better job.

Mike Jessop
Oh, definitely. I mean, there'll be, however that's happened, I'll be going straight into it. I really will. The third thing I'd like to, Oh, there's a humorous one there, so I won't do that.

Uh, business charges, charging $95 a square meter to operate a kayak hire company for heaven's sake and uh, you know, a boat hire business is uh, you know, there's absolutely no, what's the name? Jamieson wants to create employment. You're never going to do it every month. You've got some charge between 200 and 900 every month. This is a tax on employment - two of those are the council rates or business tax. I will abolish business rates. That's it to actually generate as a start what needs to happen in the business community to regenerate. What's going next?

Rob Blackmore ABC
What are the business rates that you're referring to these accounts?

Mike Jessop
The Council collects the rates

Peter Cox
I've got no idea. I'd like him to really explain what there's rates

Mike Jessop
Certainly, yeah, definitely. We're spending far too much money on things like submarine cables for heavens sake. You know, the, the actual service supplied by council is just nonexistent. You know, you've got, you've got the waste, which is, you know, hardly anything. And obviously the roads and the, you know, making the place look tidy. Uh, and that, that will be my priority. But basically business rates, that's a tax on employment. It's not, council doesn't have to charge that and it doesn't have to charge half the other ( charges) I mean $10,000 to run a coffee shop for heaven's sake in a caravan its just ridiculous Councillor Cox does not seem to be aware of the actual number of government charges .

Peter Cox
Mike I'm very aware of government charges

Mike Jessop
And what have you done about this? And that's what I'm going to do about it straight away.

Rob Blackmore ABC
I'm happy for you just respond to some of that,

Peter Cox
I'm not quite sure if Mike's referring to our sort of, um, uh, our permit systems that allow people like coffee vans and the like to operate in. Um, say for example, uh, a car park or something like that, which is a community asset. So they certainly do need to apply. And have those uh, regulatory sort of processes in place. It's, it's $95 a square meter for the per annum. So for someone to occupy a car park for example, to sell coffee from, you know, it's a very cheap um, form of rent

Stan
I'd have to disagree with you Peter $95 a square meter for a piece of park land is pretty high. Uh, I was paying $135 a meter in town in a Henzell's building. Uh, so $95 a metre down there where it's almost a tourist attraction for someone to go there and have a coffee down there. We should be encouraging and we shouldn't be charging them an arm and leg to do it.

Mike Jessop
Absolutely. And there's nothing and this is Caloundra and Currimundi now - There's absolutely nothing that you've got - the Twilight zone face(-stuff), you know, the things that go around the whole Sunshine Coast. That's about it. In the whole of Caloundra there is nothing at all for tourists to come and do. There really isn't. I mean there really isn't. Both the Kayak and the Boat Hire. They're being slapped with these ( $95 per square metre charges). They're thinking about packing in. I know them. They're thinking about packing in. They really are, there won't be anything to do at all.

This is a tax on employment They're individuals, they're, you know, flesh and blood, human beings - do you pay $10 grand to go into work!?That's basically what you're asking them to do. And this should not be, there's a whole lot, I tell you, there's about 12. There's at least a dozen charges per annum that you've got. If you run a business that's more than your operating costs, it really is.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Is Moffat Beach ( Blackwater) brewing in your division?

Peter Cox
No. No.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Okay. Because they were talking on the radio this morning about some huge charge for material change of use for a zoning issue for where the brewery is going to be.

Peter Cox
But yeah, look, microbreweries have sort of popped up

Mike Jessop
We're just not here ( for Council) to make money out of us. That's it.

Peter Cox
Yeah. microbreweries, um, typically if they want to brew a on site, generally that's gotta be in a commercial zoning. Um, so typically they will have a shop front or commercial sort of, um, you know, licensed retail area. Uh, and then they might have a, a separate sort of brewhouse which is zoned at appropriately. So in an industrial area generally. So there's some of the complexities that, um, I certainly, uh, tried to work through with your mates when they were relocating from off, uh, Moffat beach up to Warana. So yeah,

Rob Blackmore ABC
Chaps, the, Time's going to get us, we might go around for a, a, a final session from each of you on, um, I guess talking to the voter that's sat through this conversation and listened to what you had to say, talking to them about what your going to provide for them on, you know, on voting day, what you provide.

If you're elected, you can talk about, again, some of those more aspirational things that you're hoping to achieve. But um, yeah, to the voter, your pitch. Uh, and some final comments. Stan?

Stan
Yeah, reading the annual report's going to be a nice thing to do one evening. But with me it's more all about uh, regular consultation with the community to see what in division three they want bringing you back and somehow trying to make the cost of living on the Sunshine Coast less than it is now. Whether that's through free green waste, I guess. If you're don't have to pay for the truckload of stuff down there, you got another 20 bucks to spend on coffee on the road. Er curbside collections I think is another thing that should come back. So that that's me. It's an, and all I want to do is just put something back into the community that I've lived for 20 years.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Thank you Stan. Mike, final comments from you?

Mike Jessop
Yes definitely this is only the beginning. This is the start of what I intend to do. Uh, and frankly, I mean the 5% reduction in domestic rates per annum for the next four years. That is what I will deliver because of the profligate overspending that takes place in council. That's the first thing

On the planning strategy, I'll input the planning strategy - we've mentioned the homeless; On the commercial, the primary focus will be in my time on the council will be in promoting commercial premises.

We've had the area size of a small town outside Courbould ( Park), which is hardly even set up because you know, it's just so expensive and

I will abolish business rates. It's not hard that most, I'd say 80% of the rates come out of um, domestic. You, you pay rates at home, you go to work, why should you have to pay rates again? AND everyone else that comes there, I can't see why we have business rates. I really don't.

And then lastly with the planning strategy that will be definitely to maintain. It's not a problem. You know, it's mostly dwellings, areas in and around sunshine coast. That's why people come here, but they're not all retirees. These people have to operate from somewhere. You need to service that.

All these, you know, air conditioning, for example, there was a complete, absolute shortage. It's cheaper to rent somewhere in Brisbane or Sydney than rent on the Sunshine Coast because there's been no provision for commercial premises. I'm talking about factories.

The 59 jobs, SIC 59 that had been generated in manufacturing in the last 10 years by mayor Jamieson and latterly ( in the last eight 8 years) Mr. Cox is a complete farce, I mean, it really is.

There is just way, way too much overspending on public administration staff and basically it's a complete neglect of what actually really matters, which is regeneration of the economy.

Rob Blackmore ABC
Okay. We'll take that as a, as a final comment from you, Mike Jessop so thank you so much, gentlemen. Thank you for attending. Mike Jessop Peter Cox and Stan NeuroSky sitting with us here for division three. And, uh, good luck on voting day, gentlemen, thanks for coming in.
Thank you.

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