Listen: In a quest to learn more, the Living on the Sunshine Coast Survey ran during May for its fourth year, with almost 2000 responses received.

Which factors are most important to our quality of life? And how do locals feel about climate change?

Key points

• Being well-connected to our natural environment and feeling safe continued to be high priorities for our community.
• “Council is working to improve our region’s resilience to the impacts of climate change,” Councillor Burns said.
• Listen to the full conversation in the player above.

In a quest to find the answers to these questions, the Living on the Sunshine Coast Survey ran during May for its fourth year, with almost 2000 responses received.

Councillor Tim Burns caught up with Salt 106.5’s Jordana to chat about the findings.

“The survey explores factors that influence how we live in our communities, how we value our environment and how our local economy can support us,” he said.

Being well-connected to our natural environment and feeling safe continued to be high priorities for our community.

“These factors, including housing, health, transport and recreation are all important aspects of our Sunshine Coast Biosphere and all influence the sustainability and liveability of our region.”

Councillor Burns said being well-connected to our natural environment and feeling safe continued to be high priorities for our community.

“Almost 90% of respondents indicated that they think that climate change is already happening.”

Our top five themes for liveability

In 2024, our community identified the top five themes of importance for liveability as:

• feeling safe
• access to the natural environment
• a lack of road congestion
• affordable decent housing
• high quality health services

What we loved the most

In 2024, our community identified they had the best experience with:

• access to the natural environment
• high quality health services
• feeling safe
• the ability to view and participate in sports and recreation
• equal tie between sense of community and high-quality education opportunities.

“Council is working to improve our region’s resilience to the impacts of climate change, and this includes helping residents prepare their homes and communities against increasing climate hazards like heat, storms and flooding,” Councillor Burns said.

“That’s a journey we need to take together, and these community insights are a starting point.”

“Council is working to improve our region’s resilience to the impacts of climate change,” Councillor Burns said.

Explore the full Living on the Sunshine Coast survey findings online, along with many more local data insights.

Listen to the full conversation in the player above.

Feature image by CanvaPro