Minutes of TAPP Inc. Meeting September 6, 2022
Held at the Caloundra Power Boat Club
Welcome to Country – Ken acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which we meet.
Member attendance: – 13 (as listed in attendance book)
Apologies : – 9
Minutes of Previous General Meeting
Motion put that the minutes of the August meeting be accepted as a true record.
Moved: John Seconded: Graeme Carried
Business arising from the minutes of the previous meeting
Speed limits on the passage – Graeme followed up on meeting with Jason Hunt that has not yet occurred but he will send a more formal request to meet which should solicit a response.
Correspondence
- Aura Environment Day Budget
- Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter request for article –Ken wrote an article about the Biosphere
- Qld Water and Land Care (QWALC) – this umbrella group provides our insurance free – They have just received funding from the State Govt. to continue to work with community groups. They also provided feedback about a conference in Sydney and information about grants that are available
- Sunshine Coast Environment Council (SCEC) – AGM notice
- Draft Halls Creek Campaign SCEC – to be discussed in the meeting.
- Hamish Pressland – Henzells – re the nesting boxes at Jensens Park
- SC University– would like a speaker to address a class about our TAPP Group.
- Bribie Breakthrough Study – Terms Of Reference sent to TAPP for our information
- SC Council – update re the Caloundra Transport Corridor Upgrade – through Ben Bennet reserve.
- South East Qld Community Alliance – an umbrella Group for residents in all of South East Qld will be running a community forum to discuss Planning Issues across SE Qld. At Griffith Uni, on the 15th October from 9am-3pm. Different speakers will lead three discussions on Planning Issues, specifically community involvement in planning stages as well as planning for a greener future.
- Caboolture West Development from Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (DILGP) – update and structure plan. This development will have a major impact on the Pumicestone Passage, as it will drain into the Caboolture River.
- Healthy Land & Water (HLW) Newsletter – as well as their 10 point response to Tanya Plibersek re the State of the Environment Report 2021
- Letter Bribie Island Environment Protection Association (BIEPA) sent to Government officials regarding the TAPP Speed Limit Submission and Maritime Safety Qld response to our submission.
- Email from Qld Parks and Wildlife re an upcoming review of the Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan – Dept. of Environment and Science (DES) recognizes TAPP as a key stakeholder and will notify us re any future community consultation
Motion put that the correspondence be endorsed and accepted
Moved: Ken Seconded: Paul Carried
Treasurers Report for Take Action for Pumicestone Passage TAPP Inc. August 2022
TAPP BENDIGO BANK CASH MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT As at 31 August 2022
Total Balance brought forward from 1/08/2022 $ 22,406.18
TAPP GENERAL ACCOUNT
Balance brought forward from 1/08/2022 $ 20,455.37
Interest 01/08/2022 $ .19
Credits
1. Annual Memberships: 17@$20 $ 340.00
2. Donations: $ 150.00
Debits:
1. Annual TAPP Membership to OSCAR $ 50.00
Balance as of 31/08/2022 $ 20,895.56
BELLS CREEK FUND ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNT for Healthy Land and Water
Balance brought forward from 1/08/2022 $ 1,950.81
Credits:
Debits:
Balance as of 31/08/2022 $ 1,950.81
TOTAL
TAPP General Account $ 20,895.56
TAPP Bells Creek Fund Administration Account $ 1,950.81
Balance of General Account and Bells Creek Fund Administration Account as of 31/08/ 2022 $ 22,846.37
Financial Membership: The number of Financial Members currently stands at 38
Motion put that the Treasurers Report be accepted as a true record.
Moved: John Seconded: Lynn Carried
Matters for Information
Bribie Island Breakthrough – Graeme
The break is now about 800metres wide which equates to about 100 metres a month.
The ongoing problem however is the wash-overs along the island. We will have a 2 metre tide at 9 o’clock this coming Saturday and this will cause further wash-overs in a number of locations. This will cause damage to the vegetation in those areas. Graeme and a number of others will take photos at different positions to record the water levels.
The sand continues to move around. A number of sandbanks have formed both inside and outside the Passage. Two large sandbanks have developed inside the Passage – one south of the break and quite a large one north of the break that almost stretches across the Passage and this sandbank will probably grow. Some water reaches the narrowing old bar but the current there is low and affecting the quality of the water at Bulcock Beach. The Council has apparently been testing the water. The closure of the old bar will cause further water quality issues.
The depth at the new bar is growing – last unofficial recording had it at 3.5m at mid-tide. Sand is also drifting north along the Sunshine Coast shoreline causing some problems.
The breakthrough will possibly affect the RAMSAR rating of the Passage but time will tell. As the sea grass beds have been covered in sand the birds and fish life do not have their usual food sources. The number of black swans has decreased. Sand has drifted into Bell’s Creek and caused the boat ramp to become unusable. The narrows are becoming shallower and more difficult to travel through.
Dredging at this stage has not been approved by MSQ who say it is not viable to dredge, as the constant sand movement at present will mean that the channels will fill in again almost immediately. There are a number of approvals necessary to allow dredging in the Passage so this will possibly a lengthy process.
The terms of reference for the, DES funded but independent, study into the breakthrough states that “it aims to identify the cause of the erosion that resulted in the breakthrough and to “make recommendations on further data collection or investigations considered necessary to improve certainty in our understanding of the erosion cause.”
The timing of the study has not been defined.
Elysia Andrews, who visited our TAPP group, is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Qld looking at barrier islands and how they respond to different weather conditions, changes in climate – sea level rise etc. Bribie Island is at the forefront of these issues. Part of Elysia’s PhD will look at the issues that we discussed today. She is interested in what community groups are concerned about and what we need answers to. She will also be doing some experiments involving modelling of different islands to gauge the way they respond in different conditions.
Citizen Science – Graeme will hopefully have the drifters out recording information about the Passage on Saturday night to record 6 to 8 different aspects of water- e.g. current flow and temperature. They will be placed in three locations – the old bar, Lamerough Creek and Bells Creek mouth.
Bell’s Creek Restoration Project – Ken
Two years ago we began the Bell’s Creek Restoration project. The riparian area of Bell’s Creek alongside the Pelican Waters development had deteriorated. The project saw weeds eradicated and trees planted some of which are now being inundated due to the increase in tides. There was also a Cultural Heritage study completed as this was a well-known First Nations settlement. The project was originally funded from National Land Care through Healthy Land and Water (HLW), however HLW required us to sign a contract, which was not within our scope. We are now working in the area with SC Council, the Gubbi Gubbi people and we had an offer from Shadforth Engineering to assist us with some engineering and erosion management. This has stalled, as several approvals will need to be sought.
We may be able to redesign the original project through the National Land Care group. Ken will continue to work on this.
Jensen Park planting and Hollow Log Homes – bird nesting boxes – Carla
Henzells, as part of the development of their park on the Bell’s Esplanade just south of the boat ramp have installed 45 bird-nesting boxes. They hope to install a further 150 in the state owned riparian area as well. We will help monitor these. The Qld Wader Study Group does survey this area and we will hopefully be able to go out with them when they are studying the Bell’s Creek mouth area.
Bush Care – Carla
Bush care will be on this Thursday. We meet at 8.00 on the Esplanade between Burke Street and Wills Ave, Golden Beach. We planted several trees last week. The Pacific Rotary Group has not been coming for the last couple of weeks so attendance has been low. An email from Council will go out about this soon.
Coochin Creek Eco Park/Music Venue – Graeme/Carla
Comiskey, developers of Sandstone Point Hotel and several other Hotel and music venues, have purchased Roy’s old farm along the Passage and Coochin Creek, where they will build an eco-van park. They have now also purchased a number of other farms and have applied to construct a music venue called Coochin Fields.
SC Council has recently rejected their application for the Eco-van Park due to road issues. It seems that Council is requiring him to upgrade the road to a level greater than that which was initially agreed upon. He has refused to do this so the matter will now go to court.
It was decided to keep in contact with Rob Comiskey and to meet with Council concerning this issue.
Matters for Discussion.
The Inter-Urban Break – SCEC Proposal and new action
One of the concerns regarding the Inter-urban break is the possible development of Halls Creek, which is a parcel of land south of Aura. Stockland owns a large section of this parcel and is making moves to get approval to develop this part. TAPP has been meeting with SCEC, Council and Stockland for some time about this issue. SCEC has devised a proposal for action that is in draft form at present. The basic aim is to ensure that the inter-urban break is clearly defined in the new SE Qld Regional Plan and that the Halls Creek Potential Future Growth Area (PFGA) is removed from the Regional Plan. The planned strategy is to gather the two Councils involved as well as community groups to enable us to strongly voice our objection to any development in our inter-urban break.
It was suggested that we have a core group of members to get together and develop a strategy and a document that will communicate the issues to community groups and the public generally. Rick, Carla, John, Jude, Judy, Ken and Lissa will form the initial group. It was decided to meet on Wednesday 14th at the Power Boat club at 1:00pm.
Golden Beach Neighbourhood Watch Community Event
This is a 30th anniversary event to be held at Fraser Park Golden Beach (between Beattie and McLean streets) on Sunday 16th October. It will be a family event with face painting for the kids and live entertainment for the family. TAPP will have a marquee at this event, as it will be an excellent opportunity to talk to the public about our issues. Keep this day free to come and help at our stall.
New Marquee
Motion put that Ken purchase a new marquee.
Moved: Ken Seconded: Graeme Carried
New Business
TAPP Strategic Plan
Time has passed since TAPP initially set up its strategic plan. It is felt that we need to revise the plan to reflect new issues.
Motion moved that TAPP executive work on the items that need to be on our strategic plan and present that to the next general meeting for members to discuss
Moved: John Seconded: Graeme Carried
Around The Table:
Felicity and Verne – Visitors to TAPP who live nearby on a part time basis and who are concerned with the breakthrough and the apparent lack of action to do anything about the consequences particularly the lack of dredging
Lissa – Has compiled a lot of photos and documents about the oyster leases and is continuing to collate the photos of the history of the Passage..
Jude –Wildlife Preservation Society Qld (WPSQ) The wildflower festival is just over. One of the walks was the mangrove boardwalk run by Sue Aspland which was prepared for last years WED. It is very relevant as the sand is now encroaching on the mangroves. There are 4 species at Golden Beach and one is showing signs of stress with the sand inundation.
Paul – The two key players in the inter-urban break issue are the Mayor and Jason Hunt. Perhaps TAPP could organise for them to meet.
Graeme – Great to have Elysia here at our TAPP meeting. We need science and facts to back all decision-making. Best wishes for your thesis Elysia and many thanks for taking the time to come up and meet with us.
Ken – The fact that we are now declared a biosphere is a good argument to have when we are discussing the inter-urban break, As Ken is still on the Biosphere Advisory Group it is something that he can feed back to that group.
Carla – still concerned about the speed limit issue. Should TAPP write a letter in response to the MSQ changes? The safety issues are still a concern. Perhaps we need to wait until the sand settles.
The meeting closed at 4:30 pm. Next meeting will be at 3:00 pm Tuesday 4th October.