Sunshine Coast Council has locked in its Legacy Action Plan 2026-2031, a 40-point road map for what the region gets to keep once the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games have packed up and gone home. Councillors voted unanimously in favour at the 23 July ordinary meeting, marking exactly six years until the opening ceremony and close to five years since Brisbane was named host city at the 2021 IOC vote in Tokyo.
Four Years in the Making
Games delivery lead Grantley Switzer noted the co-host announcement itself was made at a ceremony on King’s Beach in July 2021, and told the chamber the plan grew out of four years of work by a legacy community reference group chaired by Paralympian and University of the Sunshine Coast academic Dr Bridey Keane, backed by a citizens’ panel and rounds of consultation with schools, sporting clubs and local businesses. It builds on the region’s 10+10 Vision from 2023 and dovetails with the state’s Elevate 2042 legacy strategy, while carving out priorities Mr Switzer described as distinctly Sunshine Coast.
The 40 actions fall under five headings: transport, community facilities, local business opportunities, grassroots sport and support for artists and young people. Switzer said 35 are already funded through existing budgets or committed projects, including the Sunshine Coast Stadium expansion, a new mountain bike centre, the athletes’ village destined to become housing, and the Wave public transport corridor.
Speaking to the motion, Mayor Rosanna Natoli said the games were a catalyst for infrastructure the region had waited decades for, but argued the true test of success lay well beyond the closing ceremony. “When the party’s over, what will we be left with?” she asked councillors, adding that the measure of the plan would ultimately come down to “what’s still standing, what’s still working, and still serving this region long after the flame goes out.”
Not every councillor was ready to declare victory. Councillor Bunnag pressed the case for indoor sporting courts, an item twice validated by independent review and still, in his view, missing from the plan. Councillor Landsberg pointed to housing affordability figures buried in the report, warning that delivering 40 actions over six years will demand serious budget discipline. Councillor Burns asked what had become of the cultural olympiad, told by Switzer it remains early days, with the Brisbane 2032 organising committee not expected to take the lead until 2028.
Councillor David Law struck a more grateful note, thanking Switzer’s team for steering the sporting legacy through what he called “government reviews, more than one of them” without losing sight of commitments made before the Games were even confirmed for the coast. He said some of that early planning had since been “unravelled and taken apart,” making the work ahead harder, but backed the plan as the region’s best shot at ensuring, in his words, everyone shares in the benefit rather than just some.
A National Award and a Healthier Bottom Line
Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Natoli marked Sunshine Coast Council’s win in the regional growth category at the 2026 National Awards for Local Government for Library Plus Caloundra, the conversion of a former administration building into a combined library and customer service hub. Project managers Ben Wallace and Brian Dale, and library services coordinator Jane Stronach, were welcomed into the chamber for applause.
Council’s finances are also looking better than expected, for now. The interim financial report to 30 June showed a preliminary deficit of $8.3 million, $5 million ahead of budget, on the back of stronger revenue and lighter spending. The figures come with caveats: a $26.5 million hit from asset disposals, a waste levy shortfall tied to fewer tonnes crossing the weighbridge, and delayed capital works that Councillor Broderick warned could pile pressure onto future budgets once projects catch up. Final audited figures land in November. Councillor Winston Johnston welcomed the stronger cash position, crediting a run of difficult budget decisions over the past 12 months for the improvement.
Housing and Short-Term Rentals Head to State Conference
Council signed off on four motions bound for October’s Local Government Association of Queensland conference. The headline ask is for housing to be formally recognised as a human right in Queensland, a status Councillor Law noted the state shares with every jurisdiction bar the ACT. Law argued housing security underpins access to health and education alike, and pointed to a broader pattern of homes being treated as investment assets rather than places to live, a concern he linked directly to the short-term rental motion. He said he would push to have the human rights motion resubmitted on its own if the wider package failed to progress. A second motion, co-developed with Noosa Council, targets short-term rental accommodation in low-density residential zones. Councillor J Natoli, who moved it, said the aim was narrow and deliberate: residential streets, not tourist strips. Councillor Bunnag backed the push, describing a Sunshine Coast home surrounded by eight short-term rentals as the kind of case the motion is meant to fix. Two further motions would widen how dog registration fees can be spent and extend breeder regulations to cover cats.
Petitions: Crabs, Traffic and a Speed Limit
Three petitions landed on the CEO’s desk. Councillor Landsberg tabled one calling for extended dredging and crab pot restrictions in Pumicestone Passage at Golden Beach, citing bull shark risk, and a second asking council to make permanent the temporary one-way traffic system on Golden Beach’s Esplanade. Councillor Johnston brought a 205-signature petition for a 40km/h limit on Jubilee Drive at Palmwoods, arguing growth at the Sundale retirement village and nearby sporting fields has made the Margaret Street intersection increasingly risky for elderly residents.
A Tribute to Jerry Bell
The meeting opened with Councillor Landsberg paying tribute to former Landsborough Shire councillor Jerry Bell, who died recently. Bell represented division five for nine years from 1970 and helped secure land for facilities including the Caloundra Aquatic Centre and Kawana Recreation Centre. He was Queensland’s youngest licensed surveyor in private practice when he opened his Caloundra business in 1956.
Council’s next ordinary meeting is Thursday, 20 August.
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