Sunshine Coast Regional Council eNews

• Nambour Moonlight Markets
• Council tackles broadband black spots
• Networking a hit in Noosa
• Nominations are now open for Council's Australia Day Awards
• Nambour Lights Up for Christmas!
• Tiger Airways increase flights
• Nambour - Hub of the Hinterland
• Marine Industry Breakfast Forum - 11 December

Nambour Moonlight Markets

Friday 12 December is a night to head to Nambour to enjoy a special Christmas Moonlight Market from 5.00pm to 9.00pm at Centenary Square. There will be fun for all the family, food and live entertainment from Cuban styled Quartet Canta La Tumba, Allstars Big Band, Allstars Choir and more. Santa will be visiting with his Christmas gifts and cheer and kids can enter the Christmas costume parade for a chance to win prizes.

The Moonlight Markets were launched on Friday 31 October and attracted more than 3,000 people into the town. It is expected that a similar large crowd will be attending the Christmas Moonlight Market.

As hoped, the benefits of the market were felt further afield. McDonald’s recorded a near-best trading day remaining busy well into the night; Betty’s Diner, Cafe De Lamauta and the Royal George were all packed; and the Commercial Hotel had reportedly beaten its long-standing dinner meals record by 7:30pm.

The Moonlight Market forms part of Nambour Futures’ partnership with the Sunshine Coast Council to rejuvenate and revitalise Nambour through the implementation of the Town Centre Management Plan.

The market will continue as a regular feature in Nambour’s CBD throughout 2009.

Council tackles broadband black spots

The notion of black spots has been a point of contention across the Sunshine Coast for some time.

Council is beginning to tackle the sticky problem of how to eliminate broadband black spots in both business and residential premises, by identifying areas that experience poor coverage or are under served by current providers.

Research consistently links high levels of broadband penetration with significant economic benefits and there is a widely accepted view that regional communities with inferior services also risk restrictions in social, community and economic development opportunities.

To help tackle this problem council is currently working with its partners and the local telecommunications industry in an attempt to provide ideas on how to plug the gaps in coverage and to also provide high speed broadband services to businesses and residents throughout the region.

By collecting and collating this information, council will be able to:

• Pinpoint broadband coverage gaps
• Understand current service standards and what home based businesses, residents and businesses want in terms of service standards and price.
• Provide information on broadband and importantly the different ways that residents may be able to use broadband to enhance their work and home life.
• Collate the demand for broadband and pass it on to our Commonwealth Government Partner- the Department of Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy (DCBDE) in an attempt to seek a solution for improvements in these areas.

By aggregating demand for improved broadband, council will then be able to work through the technical options available or identify the technical solutions required to address the black spot area. Council will then use this information to prepare a business case for broadband providers to invest in the black spot area. Some locations may qualify for Commonwealth Government assistance in the form of the Australian Broadband Guarantee. The timing and ability of council to influence private sector investment will depend on a number of factors, including; location, topography, vegetation, number of affected premises and other particular circumstances. 

To register your interest in high speed broadband, go to the Connecting the Coast website.

Look out for next month's eNewsletter as improvements on data security will be addressed.

Networking a hit in Noosa

Council in partnership with the Noosa Chamber of Commerce held the final networking event for 2008 recently at The J, Noosa Junction.

Over 270 local business people came along to network, make new business contacts and play spin the bottle! The crowd also heard from Cr Lew Brennan who gave a brief commentary on the Noosa Business Community and the Innovation and Technology Theme and won some fantastic prizes thanks to our event sponsors.

The Coast was well represented with businesses based from Caloundra to Cooroibah in attendance, with industries ranging from interior design to mechanics.

Council is committed to providing ongoing support for economic development and networking has proven to be a valuable tool to encourage growth in the region and to support local business.

Stay tuned as we will update you with upcoming events for 2009 shortly. To be informed of future networking events and other business related events, please visit our website.

Nominations are now open for Council's Australia Day Awards

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council Australia Day Awards celebrate the achievement and contribution of individuals and community organisations in our region. These prestigious awards are designed to pay tribute to those who make extraordinary contributions to our society or who are outstanding achievers in our community.

The awards are an opportunity to publicly acknowledge the many local heroes within the community, whose dedication and contributions may otherwise go unnoticed. The judging of these awards will be undertaken by the Australia Day Awards committee.

The Awards ceremony will take place at sunset on the 25th January 2009 along the Noosa River at Lions Park (Gympie Terrace, Noosaville) and is open to all nominees and their nominators.

There are seven categories for the Awards - Senior Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Community, Environmental, Creative, Sport & Recreational and Economic.

The Economic Award recognises outstanding achievement by an individual/business that has made a significant contribution to the development of the region’s economic sector. This includes such fields as: innovative and sustainable industries, enterprise facilitation, businesses with a “point of difference”, employment opportunities for current and future generations, industry research, development and training and strengthening business that leads to a sustainable environment.

For more information and to download a nomination form, please visit Council's website.

Nambour Lights Up for Christmas!

Nambour’s first festive shop window competition ‘Nambour Lights Up!’, was held Christmas last year with 30 businesses on board and others decorated their windows as well. The project really lifted spirits and the decorations started the Christmas season on a positive note.

Nambour’s businesses are truly ‘brilliant’ this year as over 70 storefronts have signed up to ‘Light Up’ their shop windows, offering Nambour shoppers a visual feast of fantastic merchandise and atmosphere.

Local Sunshine Coast Daily publication, ‘The Nambour Weekly’, has donated a full page, colour advertisement as a prize for the winner of the competition – who will be announced at the Nambour Christmas Moonlight Markets on December 12th.

With such fantastic ‘pre-Christmas’ energy generated by the competition, and the Moonlight Markets, Nambour Town Centre Traders are looking forward to a prosperous Christmas.

Nambour shoppers can stroll the streets after dark, chose their favourite and vote in boxes in participating stores and at the Hub Shopfront office in Queen Street.

Tiger Airways increase flights

Tiger Airways has boosted its Melbourne-Maroochydore service by an extra three flights, allowing passengers to fly the route every day of the week from December 15. The extra flights were announced on Friday 21 November 2008 by the airline's board.

Managing Director, Shelley Roberts, said demand sparked the Melbourne move and could do the same to the Adelaide route, especially with the airline setting up a base in Adelaide and Jetstar controversially dropping the City of Churches from its schedule in May.

"Where better to focus on the expansion of Tiger Airways Australia than the Sunshine Coast? It is one of the airline’s favourite destinations and a jewel in the Australian tourism industry.

"In one short year Tiger Airways Australia has gone from strength to strength. From humble beginnings in a demountable classroom located in a carpark, the airline has brought true low fares to the Australian domestic market. Not only are the fares fantastic, but Tiger Airways has the best on time performance and reliability of any airline in Australia month after month after month. Passenger growth is great news for local tourism jobs and the economy as a whole,” she said.

Airport General Manager, Peter Pallot, said the move would add an extra 75,000 seats to the Melbourne route over a 12-month period, with 17,000 people already coming to the Coast on Tiger in the past year. He said that they've chosen to meet here is a great vote of confidence in our destination and in the relationship we have with Tiger Airways.

For more information and flight times, visit Tiger Airways' website.

(Supported by Sunshine Coast Daily)

Nambour - Hub of the Hinterland

Creating an attractive, functional new town centre for Nambour to stimulate retail, social and business activity is a high priority for the Nambour – Hub of the Hinterland project.

The new town centre is taking shape, along Queen, Lowe and Short Streets. Crews are working to build new kerbs and channels, increasing the width of the sidewalk between by up to a metre.

Council has received the landscape tender and will soon appoint a contractor to apply new surface treatments to the pavement, install seating, plant trees, shrubs and groundcovers along the sidewalks and in the new town square. Council advises the next stage of civil works will soon start in Lowe Street between Short and Currie Streets.

The Nambour public domain improvements are jointly funded by council, the State Government and the Federal Government.

The Federal Government has committed $1.3 million towards the streetscaping and public domain improvements in the Nambour CBD. Together with State Government funding of $1.75million and council’s commitment of $2 million there is over $5 million allocated to this project.

Great things are transpiring in Nambour. Significant investments are happening with both the Commercial and the Club Hotels recently receiving a make over. The Club has undergone a major renovation with a new slick funky interior, beer garden and new chef offering great pub food at good prices.

Combined with the investment of 23 new businesses opening this year and established businesses improving their trading, the push to shop locally and a vision to be sustainable and prosperous, Nambour’s revival is real and its happening now.

Anyone interested in the program can drop into the Hub of the Hinterland site office, 16 Queen Street, Nambour or visit council's website for more information. 

Artists impression of the new town centre

Nambour Futures Inc and council are working in partnership delivering a comprehensive revitalisation program that includes many projects such as Nambour Moonlight Markets and Nambour Lights Up for Christmas.

Marine Industry Breakfast Forum - 11 December

The Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry would like to invite you to a Marine Industry Breakfast Forum on the Sunshine Coast, Thursday 11 December. The focus of the forum will include:

Marine Industry Opportunities - Profitable, sustainable business and essential factors for success.

ecoBiz
A senior project officer from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will talk about ecoBiz, an EPA partnership program helping Queensland businesses adopt resource-efficient practices that are good for the financial bottom line and the environment. ecoBiz helps companies find ways to improve their business. A range of tools and guides is available to help businesses invest, compete and profit sustainably. They may also become eligible for ecoBiz rebates to support eco-efficiency initiatives.