NOOSA Independence Alliance spokesman Noel Playford said he hoped LNP Leader Campbell Newman’s strong commitment towards letting Noosa decide its local government future would put the rumours of a political backdown to bed.

“Obviously we’re absolutely delighted,” Mr Playford said after Mr Newman gave a promise for a locals-only vote on a new Noosa council, rather than a Coast-wide ballot.

“We have an ongoing commitment from the LNP and their leader to allow the Noosa people to have a say in their future.

“That’s what we’re looking forward to after the next election. We’ll be working co-operatively with Campbell Newman and his team and with the shadow minister David Gibson.”

Mr Playford said the NIA was satisfied with the LNP’s demands for a boundary commission review, with voters informed of the full financial costs involved in de-amalgamation.

“If Noosa people are going to pick up all the costs, they need to know what they are exactly and to have an independent person verifying that,” Mr Playford said.

He said a Noosa de-amalgamation vote “takes the ground out from anybody who wants to argue that this isn’t a democracy”.

“I can understand that the alliance could be just a group of half a dozen people who have a bee in their bonnet, and don’t have the support of the people."

Mr Playford said before sanctioning such a major change as worked out by an independent commission, you would undertake to determine how the community feels about it.

Noosa MP and LNP member Glen Elmes said “we all think it is a fit and proper process for this community, and for indeed the rest of the Sunshine Coast as well”. “I tell you what the day we have that vote, it will be carnival day in Noosa.”

NIA member Dr Michael Gloster described Mr Newman’s decision to ratify the LNP promise as one of the big calls for Noosa over the past 30 years.