One of the main arguments which reformwcc has put forward in support of the need for fair dinkum Precinct Committees (over the years) is so our communities can better address present and emerging challenges.

By way of a bonus, this would also reduce the risk of official corruption – but the main argument has always been so that everyday people can be better placed to meet these present and emerging challenges.

There is a very good reason for this – and the reason is that the present systems of governance at the local, state and national level are grossly inefficient. They are too remote from life and fail to engage with the finer levels of our lives – and our lives turn on these fine points. Scarce resources are wasted by the billions.

The need of major governance reform is long overdue, but (to date) the existing levels of government have proven themselves to be unable to reform themselves. The business-as-usual approach is not working to address the many pressing issues which confront us.

Operating at an abstract level (complex reports compiled to satisfy other agendas, with pet options promoted into favourably positions at the expense of those which originate in our local lives) these ‘higher’ levels of governance regularly fail to engage with the real lives of real people.

One analogy which appeals to me is that of the way blood is circulated in the body. You can have all the major veins and arteries but without the finer capillaries the life blood will not reach the cells where the real work is done. These finer levels of the decision-making process exist at a community level below that of modern Councils.

Due to unprecedented good times in Western life, the inefficient means of governance have been able to splash around enough of the planet’s resources to more or less meet our community’s needs. That was the 20th century. This is now.

My own take on the stage we in Australia are now going through is the end of the historical time of privilege for Western life. We are living through an age in which the balance of privileged lifestyles is shifting to Asia. This will mean some major readjustments need to be made to how we live in Australia.

The loss of our manufacturing industries is clear. Local people will have heard how we could not even keep the local industry which made school uniforms. Not much hope there. What else have we got?

While there may well be some new opportunities in what is being set in place as a result of the Prime Minister’s visit to Wollongong yesterday, making the most of those slim opportunities requires local communities which can well and truly pull together.

It will take far more than the view from the top of Wollongong University, or from within the comfort zones of the bureaucracy, to make the most of the situation which now confronts us. We need to be able to tap into the real pool of experience which is found at a far more down-to-earth and gritty level.

My bet is that, confronted by a serious challenge, the people of Wollongong will demonstrate a trait common to some species of Australian life – it takes an element of stress for them to come into flower. But it will not happen by relying on the existing system of governance alone.

With the election of a new Council on Saturday – and in the present climate – we need to see, as Lord Mayor, a person who can reduce the expensive and divisive forms of polarisation which have marked previous Councils. We – as a city – can no longer afford these wasteful kinds of indulgence.

We also need a Deputy Lord Mayor with similar qualities, and preferably selected to ensure gender balance as well (we should always have a man and woman as co-Lord Mayors I reckon).

My hope is that many of the good candidates who are running for Council will be elected and we will find ourselves with a great pool of talented people as our elected representatives for the next crucial five years.

Hopefully, too, there will be some old hands amongst the mix as there is always a need for people with real experience to complement the enthusiasm and energy of new representatives.

BUT!

Even with an ideal Lord Mayor and Deputy, and even with a balance of hard working and talented Councillors, this will not provide us with what is required to properly address the present and emerging challenges which confront us.

One of our greatest assets – and one of our most underutilised resources – is to be found in the many dedicated and concerned people who make up our communities. These include the full mix from business people, long term residents, teachers, community volunteers, workers, environmentalists, social justice advocates, newly arrived residents, younger people, a poet and musician (or two), even a resident cynic (to test assumptions) and so on from across of the spectrum we find in our local community.

We have to find an effective, open and democratic means by which we can bring this collective asset pool and these talents into ‘productive’ use in terms of properly managing community business.

The new Council needs to turn its attention to this task – fair dinkum community empowerment and community engagement – as a matter of top priority when it first meets, with the aim to having a the next model of the former Neighbourhood Committee experiment up and running by the end of 2011.

As to what form this next model of Precinct Committees should take, it is impossible to specify in advance. That improved model needs to be determined by serious Council-Community engagement process by way of a major workshop, with representatives from across the city and from Council staff as well.

The new Councillors will be presented with many demands when they first meet. Their best hope of properly dealing with those demands is to get us – in the community – up and running as fast as possible in order to provide them with the support they will need to get through it all.

We simply cannot afford to rely on the 20th century model of remote local, state and national government any longer. The crunch is here, and looks like getting much worse before it gets better.

Bruce Reyburn
Coledale

Note – reformwcc.info is not part of any political party or group and has not endorsed or announced support for any candidates in the Wollongong City Council election.

The expression ‘community service’ has been used as part of the discussion surrounding the Wollongong City Council election, as an index of the worth of a candidate.

It is interesting to think about this important expression without letting it become a glib shorthand for proven moral worth etc. Rhetoric is all part of election campaigning – and it is consistently used to persuade and manipulate – (Vote for me!). Fair enough.

A question which forms itself in my mind is “Which particular community did that person serve?” And its inverse “Which communities did that person exclude?”

One of the traps of modern times is to talk about something called “THE community” as though there is one solid and bounded entity – and as though it is possible for any one person to represent “The community”.

While there is a sort of geographical notion of a single community in the Wollongong Council area, even this begins to fall apart when subject to finer analysis. Some people (Weekenders from Sydney for example) come and go more often than others, for example.

And there are other criteria than those of geography and residence which can be applied to form a notion of ‘community’. The expression ‘communities of interest’ is a useful one for making finer distinctions.

There is a mosaic of communities of interest in the Wollongong Council area once you stop and think about it for a moment. These range from indigenous and ethnic groups, religious groups, secular sporting groups, political groups major and minor, gender, age, lifestyle, pro-development all at costs, pro-environment and heritage, and many more.

No one person can embody all of these communities of interest in any meaningful way.

What I think is a far more relevant consideration is “How committed is the candidate to a process which allows communities of interest to be able to participate in a meaningful way in the decision-making process of our local government?”

Of course, there are several communities of interest which are already greatly empowered when it comes to participating in local government decision-making. Their position is well-established.

Some candidates can simply seek to align with those major communities of interest and make some token statements about the importance of ‘being inclusive’ and the rest of the display which passes for a commitment to the wider community etc. Aligning with the perceived sources of power (markets, party, master narrative, whatever) is common practice.

One ‘acid’ behavioural test, by comparison, is – “What is their proven record in relation to empowering the most marginalised people in our city area?”

The very hard version of this test refers to enabling and empowering our first citizens – Koori people and communities – as an index of proven ability. Most candidates fail on this count since it is really a very hard issue and requires extraordinary abilities to overcome the Anglo-Australian norms of modern times.

I wonder though, given the will-to-power ambitions of those who aim only for the highest civic office – “What is the position of candidates for WCC Lord Mayor on First Peoples/Koori participation in our local government – and what do they propose to do to ensure this once elected (with timetable)?”

The softer version of the acid test looks the extent to which the candidate has tried to give effective voice to the sort of issues which have been marginalised by the development-at-all-cost attitudes of the 20th century.

This area is the fertile proving ground for the people who will truly understand the problems we are facing. Those who have been involved at this level seem to take two forms.

There are those who believe they have the answer and the only thing wrong with the present system is they are not in the positions of power. A short time in office would probably demonstrate to them that real life situations are more complex than they had apprehended.

And then there are those who truly understand that the role of elected representatives in a post-modern age is not to embody ‘the community’ but to work hard to ensure there is an effective Council-Community communication process at work. Communication and process are the keys here.

“What is the position of candidates for WCC Councillor positions on ensuring that we have an effective Council-Community communication process which will allow all communities of interest to be enabled and empowered to participate in our local government – and how do they propose to implement it (with timetable) should they be elected?”

Any candidate who says “Council has a very good community engagement framework at the moment” is a dud for sure.

Bruce Reyburn
Coledale.

Note – reformwcc.info is not part of any political party or group and has not endorsed or announced support for any candidates in the Wollongong City Council election.)

Active Community Team – Results of a Community Cafe Forum on the Future of Wollongong and the effects on its’ Citizens:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1XjDf2GYTiJpyIyoP9yTYxCJROl0t_dLSt_5bcj_SIr-CmN1nLI15iiE-GziB&hl=en

The Active Community Team document came from Len Fares, a candidate in the WCC election. For more see:

Len Fares

See http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/elections/wollongong_city_council_3_september_2011/candidates/ward_2

and

http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/94037/Len_Fares_CIS_.pdf

Amendment to original post:

As at least one reader had a problem viewing the google doc via the url (which should have worked) i am trying this:

Reformwcc.info advises all readers who intend to print out electoral material that:

1. A person who prints material from a website that constitutes “electoral material” should not distribute that material without it showing authorisation details (i.e., the name and address of the person on whose instructions the material was printed and the name and street address of the printer – clause 356G of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005). Distribution of unauthorised electoral material in the regulated period is an offence. Note: “electoral material” is essentially any material that is intended, calculated or likely to affect or is capable of affecting the result of an election – clause 356A).

2. It is an offence for a person to distribute any electoral material on election day unless the material has been registered with the NSWEC (cl.356M).

You can view the Regulation at:

http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/subordleg+487+2005+cd+0+

(Note – reformwcc.info is not part of any political party or group and has not endorsed or announced support for any candidates in the Wollongong City Council election.)

“Opportunities for New Era

The Illawarra Business Chamber have released a paper outlining what it considers is needed from the next Wollongong and Shellharbour Councils.

Paper downloadable at:

http://www.illawarrabusiness.com/resources/1134

Illawarra Business Chamber will host a Lord Mayor Candidate Lunch on Thursday August 25

See:

http://www.illawarrabusiness.com/page/news/july-2011/local-government-election-lunch/

Lord Mayoral candidates might make the most of the opportunity for a new era to ask the Illawarra Business Chamber about Council spending $14 million on the Crown Street Mall in light of the position some candidates in Ward 3 (and elsewhere).

See
CBD projects ‘soak up vital funds for southern suburbs’
BY CHRIS PAVER
Illawarra Mercury

Candidates in Ward 3 spoke out yesterday in support of greater council spending in suburbs like Dapto and Warrawong and less emphasis on the Wollongong CBD.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/cbd-projects-soak-up-vital-funds-for-southern-suburbs/2263321.aspx

(Note – reformwcc.info is not part of any political party or group and has not endorsed or announced support for any candidates in the Wollongong City Council election.)

A reply from NSW Electoral Commission regarding electoral material on the web during the regulated election period, and the need for authorisation:

“We refer to your enquiry below. You asked, ‘ Since now we are in the Regulated Election Period, do candidates need to add their authorisation details to any reply when i put them on my blog?’

Regulation 356G of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 provides that a person must not, during the regulated period, print, publish, distribute or publicly display electoral material without legibly showing on the material: (a) the name and address of the person on whose instructions the material was printed, and (b) the name of the printer and the street address of the premises at which it was printed. Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.

Electoral material is defined in regulation 356A to mean a how-to-vote card, poster or advertisement containing electoral matter, or anything else containing electoral matter. Having regard to the words of the regulation, it is considered that Parliament’s intention in passing the legislation was to limit the application of the offence to electoral material that is in printed form or capable of being distributed or physically displayed. The authorisation requirements do not extend to internet blogging.

You may also wish to consider whether you should alert visitors to your site of the following:

Ø A person who prints material from a website that constitutes “electoral material” should not distribute that material without it showing authorisation details (ie, the name and address of the person on whose instructions the material was printed and the name and street address of the printer – clause 356G of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005). Distribution of unauthorised electoral material in the regulated period is an offence. Note: “electoral material” is essentially any material that is intended, calculated or likely to affect or is capable of affecting the result of an election – clause 356A).

Ø It is an offence for a person to distribute any electoral material on election day unless the material has been registered with the NSWEC (cl.356M).

You can view the Regulation at:
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/subordleg+487+2005+cd+0+N

I hope the above information is of assistance.”

(emphasis added by reformwcc.)

Information on Liberal candidates for WCC election.

http://www.nsw.liberal.org.au/wollongong

(Note – reformwcc.info is not part of any political party or group and has not endorsed or announced support for any candidates in the Wollongong City Council election.)