Notes from Noosa Meeting 21st Nov.
This was a meeting that brought different groups together which I believe we need more of. It is great for us to know what is developing in our region.
Hello Everyone 😀
Go grab yourself a cuppa and make yourself comfortable... quite a bit of reading... :0)
I have put together some information from the My Place Noosa meeting held at the Tinbeerwah Hall on Monday 21st November.
A group of us - Joel, Lori, Shelly and myself (Debbie) travelled to Tinbeerwah where we met up with other custodians from the study group - approxmiately
six people.
We recognised familiar faces, greeted one another and made new friends from the Sunshine Coast, Maleny, Imbil and Noosa area including Saz (Commonwealth Custodians) - NSW.
The hall was nearly to
full capacity with 60-70 people and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming with a comradeship of like-minded people.
A table at the entrace to the hall was lined with informaiton and forms for people to fill in -
- Contact list - name, address, email address
- Skills list - list your own skills for future reference
- Information leaflets
Plates of food, tea/coffee was provided by everyone including fresh food for sale from a local grower in the group.
Organic honey, medicinal native bee honey, dried mango and cherry tomatoes.
Report
Greg from My Place Noosa chaired and opened the meeting at approxmiately 6.30pm and thanked everyone for coming and gave a brief description of how My
Place Noosa evolved and the connection with Spiros (as later discussed in the report below).
Various interest groups connected with My Place Noosa each gave a report on how they were progressing and presented information at the meeting.
- The first two speakers Brian Williams (Electrical Contractor - 40+ yrs) and Trevor Walz (Electrical Engineer - 42yrs) introduced the Energy and Transport Group and presented a power point with information about electric vehicles and the comparison between
consumption of energy and cost. Surprisingly there is very little difference and they emphasised the importance of government using 'power failure/blackouts' as an excuse to turn to green energy.
- Debra spoke next explaining her position in the Noosa group as a liaison with Spiros through zoom meetings while learning about litigation in relation to the structure of a peoples council. She sits in on the zoom meetings weekly.
The meetings are held by a group called
- The Power Is Ours - www.thepowerisours.com
Spiros emphasised that the council remain small - three people - Mayor, Treasurer, Admin (one person to liaison with Spiros regarding law/constitution).
He also pointed out that the Corporate Council selects (not elects) people to represent the council including shareholders. Thus where the money comes into play and holds the power.
Debra also highlighted other topics discussed: land title, constitution, not paying rates, Peoples Council Frankston.
3. Tara from the Health Group spoke next and shared her experience and knowledge as having a background as a Nutritionist and Mental Health Worker. The
group covers areas relating to Mental and Physical well being, Dietry and Nutrition, Environmental (protection from chemicals, EMF etc). Other projects include:
- Directory of services provided by people in the area - similar to Local Exchange Trading System.
- Collating information together electronically as well as hard copies ( if there was to be a power failure).
- Growing herbs and using as medicinal medicine opposed to pharmaceutical.
- Home Health Kit - CBD oil, Tea Tree Oil, Vitamin D, natural antibiotics etc.
- Animal Health - dietry, vets.
4. Food Group - Matt - introduced himself and referred to a painting on the wall behind him as an ideal community and as a reminder to everyone as to what can be achieved.
- The group works with Green Harvest based in Maleny and uses their heritage seeds and resources eg, seasonal chart for growing.
- They aim to involve children, grandchildren with various projects.
- Organising to set up a cold room for storage of fresh produce - tied in with shop. Used an example, Winton - farmers in the area deliver fresh vegetables, fruit etc to where cold room is located and people buy
produce.
- Exploring option of working in with Aldi - manager willing to assit had since resigned from the store.
Joel was invited to speak and explained to
the group how he had been working with NBCCSG and Dallas on the topic of letter writing. An example of this was his most recent letter written to the CEO of Energex in relation to the installation of a smart meter at his house. The outcome was successful and a prime example of how the pen is mightier than the sword.
Everyone stopped for a break and the meeting was resumed by Greg.
Greg presented a power point display with two separate presentations.
The first presentation focused on how to set up a My Place group and the second presentation explained how to set up a Peoples Council.
He made a very valid point of emphasising that the structure of MyPlace be developed first, followed by the development of a Peoples Council.
The reason being, without a strong community foundation and connections, the people’s council is unlikely to have the required community support.
In the near future Greg will be providing the information as a learning tool and
resource for people wanting to start a group in their local area. It will be set up as a National framework.
Greg has kindly provided PDF documents with the relevant information and these will be presented at the next meeting held on Monday 28th November - 7pm - 8pm at Joel and
Anneke's house.
As the meeting is for one hour I have attached an agenda so the items for discussion are covered.
If you have any further questions please let me know so we can add them onto
the agenda.
We look forward to seeing you Monday. 😀
Kind regards
Debbie
