Jim has no plans for council
HASTINGS St business leader Jim Berardo has scoffed at suggestions he would be a powerbroker in any new Noosa Council, saying he would happily go back to running his restaurant after the local independence movement broke away from the Sunshine Coast council.
Mr Berardo said any speculation that he and high-profile Friends of Noosa de-amalgamation proponent Bob Ansett will be running the show - either in or out of a new council - could not be further from the truth.
"The day we have the vote and pass the resolution (for a new Noosa Council), after we've had the biggest party of our lives, then I will be retiring from all that," Mr Berardo said.
Mr Berardo said he and Mr Ansett had only ever stepped up to the plate to oppose the blatant injustice of the forced coast amalgamation and then ensure Noosa got its own say again, after the rot set in with an over-sized regional council.
"I don't want to see any one group trying to run council - I want to see a range of interest groups getting involved," Mr Berardo said.
"There has to be a balance and I'd like to see a council that represents business - not just Hastings St - the local community, the Noosa Parks Association and all the other areas."
He said having a Hastings St-centric enclave trying to call the shots had never been what the battle for a new Noosa had ever been about as far as he was concerned.
"Bob and I have only ever stood up because we wanted to see all of Noosa get a fair go."
As for the prospects of him actually running for a position on council should the promised LNP State Government boundary review result in fresh elections for a Noosa Council, he said it would never happen.
"Being as politically incorrect as I am, I wouldn't last a day in council," Mr Berardo said.
"The new council will need fresh, young talent in there, not older guys like me."
Meanwhile, newly re-elected Noosa Coast council representative Cr Russell Green has reconfirmed his interest in standing for mayor of a new Noosa council if a possible referendum cleared the way for such an opportunity.
"I would just about have to be the most experienced person in council, so it's certainly something I'm interested in," he told the Noosa News.
Cr Green reiterated his commitment to working for the coast region as well as the Noosa divisions while the regional council remained intact.
But he has been at de-amalgamation public meetings staged by the Noosa Independence Alliance as an interested observer and backs an eventual return to Noosa's self-determination.
