Time to foster northern friends MAYOR Marcus Blackie is on leave in Queensland. However, he was able to make time for one official visit while enjoying his break and the northern climate.
Mayor Blackie writes:
“It is in King Island’s best interests to forge working relationships with some big best-practice councils around Australia.
“While in Queensland I was graciously hosted by the Sunshine Coast Council, namely by my old friend Cr Ted Hungerford.
“As Mayor of King Island there are a couple of best-practice councils that I want to forge personal and working relationships with to benefit our small country council and the Sunshine Coast Council is top of my list.
“In particular, and if opportunity permits, I would like some of our staff to benefit from professional development with them during my term.
“The Sunshine Coast Council is enormous, the third largest in Queensland, they just passed their first billion-dollar council budget for FY23-24 and recently opened their impressive new bespoke designed state-of-the-art $100m City Hall in the newly reclaimed Maroochydore CBD.
“Although externally looking like something out of Gotham City, it is when you tour the inside of the building you quickly understand the futuristic touches that make it totally unique, a place where staff want to work and the public are drawn to visit.
“SCC City Hall and the new CBD also boast an underground waste disposal system, the first of its kind in Australia. Over the past 50 years so many brilliant pioneering development ideas were thought of and done first on the Sunshine Coast, then widely copied all across Australia, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
“There is much we can learn from them and even a few things they can learn from us, so I am hopeful we will work more together in the future. Nicest of all was the genuine interest and enthusiasm they reciprocated about King Island; our reputation is certainly riding high in Queensland.”