August 2023 TAPP AGM and General Meeting

AGM Minutes of TAPP Inc. August 1, 2023

Held at the Caloundra Power Boat Club

All welcomed by Ken Mewburn  President of TAPP

Ken acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which we meet

Member attendance: – as per attendance book (17)

Apologies : – as per attendance book (2)

Minutes of Previous Annual General Meeting

Motion put that the minutes of last year’s AGM  be accepted as a true record.

Moved: Helen                                   Seconded: Tony                                Carried

Presidents Report

Ken summarized his report for the meeting – the full report will be on the web page and attached to the minutes.  Ken mentioned a number of important points from his report.

Firstly a quote from Lewis Grizzard that “Life is like a like a dog sled team if you aren’t the lead dog the view never changes.”  TAPP continues to be a lead dog in the issues we pursue.

Thanks to the executive for their involvement and support during the year.

Special thanks to John Roberts who has decided to step down from the executive after 13 years of continuous support and hard work. John will stay on as our Inter-Urban Break subcommittee leader.

TAPP does not have a plan of succession – this is an issue for TAPP and needs consideration. Ken welcomes the new members to the executive and believes that they will have a fulfilling and enjoyable experience. Ken reluctantly agreed to accept the position as President for one more year, not because it has not been enjoyable – “it has been an incredible learning experience and it has been a decade of immense personal development”.  He thanked the members for their amazing support. Ken feels that a new leader is needed to guide the group, be active in modern day communication, social media and face book etc. and not be distracted by ‘nuts and bolts’ issues. One who is perhaps younger, who can better assess the changes in community and spend time growing the organisation, to make an efficient community group. TAPP should have a long valuable future with good leadership and member support.

Members applauded Ken for his efforts again this year and thanked him for his continued hard work and passion for the Passage.

Motion put that the President’s Report be accepted.

Moved: Carla                                     Seconded: Helen                              Carried

Treasurers Annual Report

No Annual report was presented but it will be attached and on the web page.

Sub Committee Report 

Water Quality in the Northern Pumicestone Passage – Peter Kamen

Peter gave the group a very detailed report on the concerns of the water quality subcommittee and the testing in which he and Ken have been involved. They intend to get a baseline of information. The testing will be based on physical clinical measurement and microscopic examination of the samples.

Peter’s report will be attached.

Election of office bearers for 2023- 2024

All positions for the executive roles in TAPP were declared vacant.

Paul Harney took the chair and oversaw the election of the new positions

As there was only one nomination for each position, the nominations were presented to the group to be voted upon.

Nomination for President received for Ken Mewburn

Proposed:      John Roberts                          Seconded: Helen Crook                    Carried

Nomination for both roles of Vice President  received for Wendy Davis

Proposed:      Helen Crook               Seconded: Jan Oram                                     Carried

Nomination for Secretary received for Denise Carew

Proposed:      Lynn  O’Connor                     Seconded: Graeme Smith                  Carried

Nomination for Assistant Secretary received for Carla Clynick

Proposed:      John Roberts              Seconded: Helen Crook                                 Carried

Nomination for Treasurer received for Lynn O’Connor

Proposed:      Helen Crook               Seconded: Ken Mewburn                              Carried

Nominations received for the position of Committee members for Jan Orem, Peter Kamen, Graeme Smith and Don Ritchie

Proposed:      Helen Crook               Seconded: Ken Mewburn                             Carried

Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to John Roberts who is leaving the Executive Committee after 13 years of continual support. We thank him for his commitment and passion for the Passage. John has been chairperson of our meetings for a number of years and has ensured the smooth running of these meetings. John meticulously kept our records as treasurer and we are thankful that he will still be active in the group as leader of our IUB Subcommittee.

Motion to confirm that as there are now nine committee members a quorum will be made up of four committee members and one paid up member.

Motion  put that an amendment which states that the executive and the committee meeting quorums be listed separately in the motion

Moved: Tony                                     Seconded: Graeme                           Carried

The new motion reads as follows

Motion to confirm that as we now have five TAPP members on the executive and four general  committee members, a quorum for an executive  meeting will be made up of three committee members and a quorum for a general meeting would be four committee members and one paid up member.

Moved: Tony                                                 Seconded: Graeme                           Carried

Motion put that TAPP pay our fees to Office of Fair Trading so we remain an incorporated body and continue to follow the rules as set out by the Qld Incorporated Association.

Moved: Carla                                                  Seconded: Paul                                Carried

 

 

Minutes of TAPP Inc. Meeting August 1, 2023

Welcome to Country – as per the AGM

Member attendance: – as per the AGM

Apologies : – as per the AGM

Minutes of Previous General Meeting

Motion put that the minutes of the July meeting be accepted as a true record.

Moved: Graeme                                   Seconded:   Helen                                              Carried

Correspondence – Ken

Emails in – 73

  • Water quality information and subcommittee information
  • Peter Armstrong Retirement
  • Information regarding South East Qld Underwater Ecological Survey Teams (SEQUEST) they began a project in 2021 to monitor the recruitment of invertebrate species. They use Automatic Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) that they placed in 2 locations in Moreton Bay. See picture below. These devices study anthropogenic stress from boating etc. on invertebrate species and these are sent to University of Qld.
  • Shorebird Welcome Event to be held at Golden Beach on 23 September from 4 – 8pm SC Council will screen the Flyways movie on a largish screen at 6pm and TAPP will have their marquee set up. Volunteers welcome.
  • Division 2 Meeting to be held on 9 August (let us know if you would like our TAPP rep to mention anything specific)
  • Bribie Island Environment Protection Association (BIEPA) news – re 4 wheel drive campaign.
  • SC Environment Council re the AGM on Sat 5 August 2.30 Ken and Wendy will attend.
  • Northern Inter-Urban Break (NIUB) information, strategy and documents
  • Transport and Main Roads (TMR) requested a volunteer for their Stakeholder Interest Group (SIG) This is a commitment to attend several meetings over months to help inform TMR projects. Ken has volunteered

·      Environment and Livability Strategy (ELS) online information session that Ken attended ·         You can have a say about the strategy till 15 August by following this link – (takes about 10 minutes and worth commenting on!) <https://haveyoursay.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/ELSrefresh>

Emails out 32

  • Member information and responses to incoming emails

Motion put that the correspondence be endorsed and accepted

Moved:    Ken                          Seconded: Carla                              Carried   

Treasurer’s report not presented at the meeting as the bank statement had not arrived at the time of the meeting.

Treasurers Report for Take Action for Pumicestone Passage August 2023

TAPP Bendigo Bank Cash Management Account

Opening balance as at 30/06/2023                                                     $ 14358.48

{Including the Bells Creek Fund                                                          $   1950.81)

Incoming

Interest 1/8/2023                                                                                    $          0.12

Membership renewals                                                                           $      310.00

Donations                                                                                                $       80.00

Incoming Subtotal                                                                                 $     390.12

Balance brought forward add Incoming subtotal                            $ 14748.56

Outgoing

Plankton Net                                                                                            $    381.74

Balance-TAPP General Account as at 31st July 2023                        $ 14366.8

 Matters for Information

  • SCEC AGM as mentioned in correspondence.
  • Mail Chimp familiarization meeting on Friday has been cancelled and will be rescheduled

Matters for Discussion

Water Quality – as per report in AGM

Peter reiterated that the process to look at the water quality in the Northern Pumicestone was following

Strict guidelines set out in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Guidelines for Managing Risk in Recreational Waters

Inter-Urban Break

  • The Draft SEQ Regional Plan amendment was released on Tuesday and this means we have 6 weeks to respond. There was a briefing with Qld Conservation Council on Wednesday night, which discussed some issues. EDO have provided a screed on how to deal with EPBC Referrals but they have not yet provided a template for Regional Plan submissions. We will need to have another subcommittee meeting when there has been time to digest the contents of the Regional Plan amendment to develop group submissions and individual submissions.
  • John sent the TAPP? information brief and the pamphlet out to 20 different organisations.
  • Moreton Bay has been releasing land for development in the southern section of the inter-urban break. Elimbah has the go ahead so this area will now also be developed. The link to this development – https://yourneighbourhood.com.au/elimbah-east-master-plan/
  • A moto-cross track seems to have been approved as well for the area near Coochin Creek that our Council had a hand in approving.
  • Apparently, the approval for the Motocross will depend on HQ Plantations as the access to the motocross will be through the pine forest.
  • It was suggested that we write to HQ Plantations.
  • Our concern is that all our queries regarding water quality are sent to state government officers who pass our query on to other officers and, presently, we are not getting any concrete or relevant answers.
  • Suggested we contact the Dept. Environment and Science (DES) liaison officers – Katrina and Daniel – here on the coast.
  • Mike Ronan may be a DES officer who might listen to our concerns.
  • Maritime Safety Qld (MSQ) is now spending more time on the Pumicestone Passage to manage safety issues. Perhaps water quality will be regarded as a safety issue?

Guest Speaker for September and November

  • Suggestions –  Mayor and/or SC Council CEO and /or Cr Baberowski difference in government responsibilities
  • Mike Ronan – DES
  • First Nations representative – difficult to organise/expensive
  • Someone to explain the structure and responsibilities of the different State Departments and how this relates to Local Council
  • John Groves –   a historian of our area
  • War on Waste
  • Peter expressed an interest in finding out more about what the Passage was like prior to development – perhaps research documents. Larsen, Genevieve Ruth(2007) Modelling hydrodynamic processes within Pumicestone Passage, Northern Moreton Bay, Queensland.

Books like Living on the Coast by Kathleen McArthur and historical books by John Groves were mentioned.

Decision was made to have John Groves, and perhaps Janet Groves and Ann Wensley, to talk about the history of the Passage – What it was like pre 1950.

Around The Table:

Peter

Peter requested that TAPP members ask friends what they feel ‘water quality’ is. This is important when negotiating with Council and State Departments about what the community expectations are about water quality.

Discussion continued about this question.

Jan – Is there a way of finding out what is coming into the Passage from different storm water outlets.

Graeme – Debra Robinson, an executive member of the SC Council who has storm water, as part of her brief will be talking at the Caloundra Residents Association Meeting.

Tony – Grey Medallion Course Free Course on resuscitation and first aid – 19th and 20th August – information attached

Helen – Helen is now storing the TAPP equipment. It will soon be moved from Ken’s garage and can be collected from there before events. Don Ritchie has kindly offered to collect the relevant boxes, Thank you Don. Thanks to Helen for providing this space for TAPP equipment.

Paul – As the inter-Urban Break is TAPP’s next big issue it might be a good time to bring in the Pumicestone Catchment Management Group – all the major stakeholders in the Catchment.

Graeme – The Inter-Urban break subcommittee has developed a draft strategy and part of this was to have discussions with the Moreton Bay Shire councilors and SC Councilors in light of the development in Moreton Bay Shire and the impact on the previously agreed southern borders of the IUB. Both Councils will make decisions regarding the Break – its borders and its use – TAPP needs to make sure we have as much input as we can.

Water Quality is going to be extremely important to the viability of the Happy Valley and Bulcock Beach area.

Jude – Some places left for Ben Bennet walk. For information, please contact sunshine@wildlife.org.au

Helen – we need to keep trying to get more young members – not necessarily to be active but to support our group.

Gerry – Very interested in water quality – feels that good water quality for swimming is water in which you can open your eyes above and below the water without getting an infection.

Mentioned the water issues on Bribie as their water comes from underground

Peter – Stonefish are also an issue at the moment – one puncture a week in the Bulcock Beach area and fish are caught once a month.

Jan – Is it worth doctors recording whether there is an increase in illness due to water degradation?

Peter responded that illness often has several causes therefore hard to definitively state that water quality was the problem. If there is an algal bloom, it can cause simple issues such as a rash or more serious medical problems. Storm water management is not a Health Department responsibility but the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Guidelines for Managing Risk in Recreational Waters to gauge the water quality was designed by many professionals including doctors and these guidelines will determine water quality and be able to advise those responsible.

Peter requested that we consider what water quality is and respond at the next meeting.

The meeting closed at 4:45 pm. Next meeting will be at 3:00 pm Tuesday 5th September.