You’ve got to make some brave decisions: Mayor reflects on legacy

by Janine Hill

Mark Jamieson: “You’ve got to make some brave decisions for the greater good of the community. Not everyone appreciates that.”

MARK Jamieson believes the majority of residents are happy with the Sunshine Coast Council’s performance during his time as mayor despite mass objections relating to some projects and decisions. 

Mr Jamieson decided not to re-contest after three terms as Sunshine Coast mayor. During this time, hundreds laid their towels on the beach in a protest against the council’s light rail proposal and thousands of people put their names to petitions against the Sekesui development at Yaroomba, which was approved by the council. Additionally the Twin Waters West development was approved by the council second time around, and a Point Cartwright master plan and by-law changes have riled dog owners. Lately council has been criticised for “not listening” and for putting feel-good, green agendas before people.

Mayor Stands firm on decisions 

Mr Jamieson said important projects would never have got off the ground if protesters had their way, and brave decisions sometimes had to be made.

“I respect people’s right to protest and put forward submissions and ideas, but if I’d listened to all those people, we would never have completed the international airport, we would never have developed the solar farm site, we wouldn’t have pursued the international broadband submarine cable, we would have been really challenged to get the city centre underway,” Mr Jamieson said.

“So, whilst there are a number of people who have expressed their alternative view to what’s been the decision of council, I’m still confident that the majority of citizens are supportive of what council has been doing.

“I don’t need petitions or people telling me on social media in pretty blunt terms what their view is because I engage with people face-to-face in shopping centres, at the footy, at the racetrack, and generally they’re supportive of what’s going on because they appreciate the fact that their families can stay together because we’ve now got better opportunities, better work opportunities.”

Follow-through is part of leadership 

Mr Jamieson said he had an obligation to follow through on projects he had campaigned on.

“You’ve got to make some brave decisions for the greater good of the community. Not everyone appreciates that, and I get that, but if you go back to the earliest days of my campaigning, and at each election thereafter, I made it very clear after my own public engagement that these are the things that I stood for, these are the things I intended to do,” he said. 

“I can’t after being elected become frightened of what people might think and not do those things.

“That’s the truthfulness in being a community leader, that you do what you say you’re going to do.”

Asked why many election candidates were reporting that voters felt the council was “not listening” he said: “time will tell in terms of whether they can demonstrate being able to do that better” and he queried whether or not any of them had engaged in any of the council’s consultative processes themselves.

The outgoing mayor did not feel like he had left anything incomplete after three terms but said there were significant “inter-generational projects”, such as the Maleny ecological park, the Blue Heart, that others could run with.

Growth is good

Mr Jamieson took it as a compliment that some people thought the Sunshine Coast’s growth had jumped ahead of where it should have been under his leadership, saying it otherwise would have been “delaying opportunity”.

He said a population increase of 200,000 in the next 20 years would put pressure on housing and prices, and while there were still development opportunities in areas such as Beerwah East, “ultimately our community has to make a judgement call on whether we continue to sprawl or we consider higher density opportunities, particularly along key transport corridors that enable people to live in whatever style of housing they want. But generally in higher density housing or apartments, where it would be my desire in the future that people don’t need to have a car because of the public transport system that we have available and the options they might have to hire a car or use public transport that can take them beyond the Sunshine Coast boundaries when it’s required.”

He pointed out that the Coast’s economic credentials had improved since he started in the job and said higher wages meant young people could continue to live on the Coast.

“People living on the Sunshine Coast are now not having to forfeit a decent salary. Where 12 years ago, we were 22% below the state average, household incomes today, we’re about on a par. This means families can be confident that they kids can keep living in the same community that they live in and participate in if they wish. If they want to get away and advance their skills in other areas they can do that and come back and now they’ve got a great place to come back to.”

He visited all of the offices and depots in his last week in office to thank the employees for the great work they had done over the past 12 years and would continue to do, describing them as the “essence of a good council”.

“I’m proud to have been the leader of those people, proud that I’ve been able to convince three elected councils and the councillors that working as a team is what delivers outcome, and you won’t get always get what you want but if you think of the greater good and we can work together and on behalf of our community deliver the things that we are expected to do, like better sporting facilities, like enhanced stormwater investment, like keeping roads in good order.”

Life after Mayoralty

Mr Jamieson plans to spend more time with his wife, Lorelle, and family but also has business interests and a farm to keep him busy.

Asked if he would miss the role of leader of a large organisation, he said “that’s a risk you take when you make your decision to hang up your spurs but I’m confident that I’ll continue to keep myself involved in different things”.

“I’m going to take some time out to start with and just take it easy, enjoy some things with my wife and family and I’ve got some other interests that’ll keep me going.

“I do think that my corporate knowledge, particularly with that engaging with the federal and state governments is in some ways lost as a consequence of me moving on but no-one lasts forever and the people coming through who want to take up the challenge, they’ll have to do what I did and build those relationships from scratch and maximise those relationships in terms of outcomes for our region.”