Nambour’s $5m streetscape upgrade looms

Nambour’s long-anticipated streetscape upgrade is about to move from plan to reality, with Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli telling a packed Nambour Chamber of Commerce breakfast the town is on the cusp of significant investment.

Speaking at the chamber’s International Women’s Day event at Small Change Espresso, Mayor Natoli said the works, expected to start soon, would reshape the town centre and make it easier for people to gather, dine and move around the CBD.

“We will have those wider streets near the Namba and the Royal George so we can encourage outdoor dining,” she said.

“And then you won’t have to do that crazy dog-leg to cross the road three times. How great will that be? Just to be able to walk straight across the road.”

The project represents nearly $5 million in funding through a partnership between Sunshine Coast Council and the Queensland Government and forms part of the broader Nambour Placemaking Plan.

Mayor Natoli said council was already pushing for the next stage – an additional $8 million – with funding requests submitted to both state and federal governments.

“So that has been written. We have sent documents to the state and the federal government for that next stage of that Namba Placemaking Plan,” she said.

The mayor also praised Division 10 councillor David Law for continuing to champion the hinterland town. “He is relentless in making sure that the whole council knows and understands,” she said.

2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Mayor Natoli said the planned improvements were just one piece of a much larger picture for the Sunshine Coast, with the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games acting as a catalyst for regional investment.

“It is what is making sure that the governments really do focus on this area,” she said.

“It’s the trigger. It’s the catalyst for all of this investment going forward.”

She said Nambour would play a role in the region’s Olympic story, particularly with the Parklands Mountain Bike Centre expected to become a long-term eco-tourism drawcard.

“Nambour will also be right in the centre of that exciting buzz that will really envelope the whole Sunshine Coast,” she said.

“The Sunshine Coast will be alive. The eyeballs of the world will be on us and we will be ready.”

For Nambour, the former sugar town that anchored the region’s early growth, Mayor Natoli said the coming decade offered another chance to shine.

Women must step forward to shape the future: Mayor

Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli has urged more women to step into leadership roles, telling a Nambour Chamber of Commerce gathering that women had much more to offer.

Speaking ahead of International Women’s Day, Mayor Natoli told the audience of about 80 people that women were central to the region’s economic and social future.

“We know that women are drivers in our economy,” she said. “We know that women are innovative, creative, resourceful.”

The mayor said the progress women had made should be celebrated, but the next step required more women to put themselves forward in leadership and decision-making roles.

“If we think of balancing the scales, which is the theme for this year, I’m on a council where there are three out of 11 are women,” she said.

“We have a long way to go to balance that scale, don’t we?”

The mayor joked that while representation was still catching up across council, the mayoralty itself was firmly in female hands.

“But the mayor is 100 per cent one woman,” she said.

She also noted progress within council’s executive leadership team, where half the positions are now held by women.

“Great news on our executive of six, three are women,” she said.

“But unless women put themselves forward, and unless we support that all the way through the ranks, it can never be a reality.”

Mayor Natoli thanked the businesswomen in the room for the role they already play in shaping the region.

“Thank you for the work you do as business women here in Nambour for helping make that reality true,” she said. “There are young women across the Sunshine Coast looking to you as role models.”

She said the achievements of women past and present were something the community should be proud of.

“We can stand on the shoulders of the women who have gone before us and who come after us,” she said. “And we are changing the way of the future.”