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USC student to help Whitsundays plan future
An award-winning 24-year-old University of the Sunshine Coast student will become a planning officer with the Whitsunday Regional Council before he graduates this year.
Michael Hanisch will start work at Proserpine on Tuesday 14 September. He expects to gain his USC Bachelor of Regional and Urban Planning by November.
Mr Hanisch, of Coolum Beach, also has been working for local firm Adams Sparkes Town Planning & Development.
He said he appreciated the University’s flexibility in enabling him to complete his Sustainable Futures subject online and finish a research project from his new location.
“This council position will build on similar work I was doing at South Burnett Regional Council, where I spent six months after gaining a place in the Planning Institute of Australia’s rural work program,” he said.
“It will include processing development applications for commercial and residential projects, as well as helping create a new Town Planning Scheme to guide the future development of their region.
It is similar to what the Sunshine Coast Regional Council is doing at present.
Mr Hanisch expects to gain great insight into the profession, as writing a new scheme can take up to three years.
“To participate in such a long-term, influential and strategic project is a fantastic prospect for a town planner, especially in an area such as the Whitsundays which has a unique environmental and social identity.”
He said his USC supervisor Associate Professor Johanna Rosier was supportive of his new challenge.
Mr Hanisch recently was one of two USC students selected among 100 nationwide for the Brightest Young Minds summit in Sydney.
He received a Planning Institute of Australia Prize last year for being the best third-year student in his degree.
– Julie Gatehouse