Deputy Mayor Danny Gibson buys into the 'Culture Debate' at Town Hall

It's been fascinating to hear the conversations arising from the City of Launceston's community consultation on the draft Cultural Strategy.

I have been a long-time advocate for the development of a specific cultural strategy in Northern Tasmania to better understand our strengths and weaknesses and to help guide us into a more vibrant future.

Earlier this year, the council prepared a draft Cultural Strategy, and we've recently been seeking community feedback about it. With submissions having closed this week, I've been reflecting on what an interesting, long and insightful process it's been.

The development of a Cultural Strategy for Launceston is something I think all Northern Tasmanians should take an interest in, because I believe there are many future opportunities we can realise for our community in this space.

When we hear the word culture, it's tempting to think about built facilities like museums and theatres. And indeed, Launceston is fortunate in this regard to have amazing cultural institutions like the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Design Tasmania and the Princess Theatre. Enjoyed by not only residents of Launceston but from across the north (and that economic inequality is for another day).

But what I've learned is that culture is much broader than this. It's about who we are as a community, our shared values and memories, our hopes and disappointments. Our culture is embedded in the proud histories of our local sports clubs. It's in who they name their medals after.

Our culture can be found in our Saturday morning Harvest Market, at our community events, on a trip through City Park aboard the train or at the Cataract Gorge. It's the sense of community and resilience you'll find in our Northern suburbs, the pride in our local schools, the deep history of the First Tasmanians.

Culture is a bond between us all. When you look back at the history of our city, Launceston's strong community bonds and support for the arts have always been at the forefront.

This month marks the 109th anniversary of the official opening of Launceston's Princess Theatre, one of the city's greatest built cultural assets - and my favourite. Given the global circumstances - it's poignant to read The Examiner's report of the event on August 30, 1911.

"Every portion of the Theatre was full," the paper reported.

"Outside the Theatre was a blaze of light, four powerful flame arcs spreading a profusion of illumination and displaying to advantage the splendid portions of the building. The street was lined with curious folk watching people flock into the building and altogether it was a bright and animated scene. The audience was unmistakably impressed and delighted with the capacity and beauty of the theatre.

"It was not the occasion, the mayor said, for anything in the shape of a lengthy speech but he wished to express the pleasure it afforded him to declare the Theatre open, and he would be wanting in what was due to [the theatre's developer] Mr Marino Lucas were he not to shortly express on behalf of the citizens, appreciation of his indomitable pluck in placing such a glorious building at their disposal."

Over a century later, the Princess Theatre remains one of the most recognisable cultural assets Launceston has, enjoyed not only by residents of Launceston, but from across Tasmania. Built facilities like this are emblematic of the value and importance we collectively place on culture but they are only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

Beneath the surface, Launceston's culture runs deep. How leverage cultural opportunities in Northern Tasmania to ensure we grow into a dynamic and creative future is what this strategy is all about.

However, the draft Strategy we've developed is only the first step in what will be a long journey; it aims to set the parameters around what we value and who we want to be and it is clear that there are some things missing from the draft and needing to be changed.

Future stages of this project will require concrete goals and the development of specific implementation plans. In the near term, we'll begin work on reviewing the feedback that has been provided and the conversations that have been held to help us hone the strategy further.

To everyone that has taken part so far, I want to say a sincere 'thank you', and I hope that - like me - you're looking forward to the next stages of this important project.

• Danny Gibson, City of Launceston deputy mayor and advocate for the arts scene.... Source https://www.examiner.com.au/story/6898279/culture-is-life-so-we-should-be-making-the-most-of-it/ ... 30.8.2020

COMMENT: Given that anecdotally its being speculated that Cr. Danny Gibson is pondering at least his prospects as a mayoral candidate at the next elections it’s not at all surprising that he’d be out and about trying to look relevant. Yes, he has been involved ‘in the yarts’ but mostly it has been in that zone unkindly charactorised as the ‘dilettante zone’. That is where Nietzsche’s words “everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen” kind of rings far too loudly for comfort.

Cr Gibson is a brave soul to be weighing in here given that he does to go where angels dare to tread. Council’s do not become ‘players in culture matters’ rather they take the safer route of responding to their constituency’s aspirations as they present themselves. They fund some cultural activities and back away from many.

They do not try to define, shape or orchestrate ‘culture’ even when the occasional politician has the academic wherewithal or when they may be adherents within some subset, cohort or other.

The funding mechanism is a powerful enough tool when politics and cultural consideration find themselves in the same place or around the table where such things get to be trashed out.

Australian councils and governments fund cultural activity and for very good reasons they have learnt that they are not equipped to operate them. Politically, dilettantes come unstuck rather often in the cultural minefield and keeping all that at safe a distance and well away from election prospects is tried and true advice.

The most dangerous people in a community are those who are able to think things out without deference to the status quo and bureaucratically deemed taboos. All too often they inevitably to come to the conclusion that the governments they put in power are dishonest, often insanely power hungry and all too often intolerable in their decision making.

When the decision makers become subservient to ‘civil service’ alarm bells should be ringing and the decision makers, having heard them, would be well advised to pay very close attention.

Tandra Vale

CITY OF LAUNCESTON DUCKS THE QVMAG GOVERNANCE ISSUE YET AGAIN

 P11 

8.2.3 Mr Lionel Morrell (President - Tasmanian Ratepayers' Association Inc.) QVMAG Governance Issues

1. Collectively, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery's stakeholder, ratepayers and donors have accumulated collection assets in the order of $240 million, have underwritten in the recurrent budget, something in the order of $60 million plus, over the last decade; have funded significant capital expenditure that Council argues is confidential as an operation matter; has largely excluded ratepayers from taking any part in or being permitted to offer comment, criticism or critique, relative to such operational matters; and that pre-COVID-19, stakeholders and ratepayers have been underwriting the QVMAG's costs in excess of $50 per visitor per annum. Then, over time, on our assessment, Council has failed or has been unable to provide expert institutional governance and it is very concerning to ratepayers that Council has allowed for the blending of the functions of governance and management. This has reduced the QVMAG's capacity to operate purposefully and deliver on performance indicators determined collectively by governance and funding agencies, and in turn, seriously reduced its funding opportunities. Furthermore, this diminishes and devalues the trust the ratepayers and supporters have invested in the QVMAG and security of its collections and is against the interests of stakeholders in Tasmania nationally and internationally. Council has been unsuccessful in shaming our State Government into trebling the funding it currently provides. Consequent to all this will Council now consider abdicating its governance role in favour of an expert Commissioner and Board of Governors, formally charged with proactively reviewing and renewing the QVMAG Charter and a purposeful Strategic Plan; transition the QVMAG into a stand alone Regional Community Cultural Trust say, within a decade; establishing working entrepreneurial alliances with like institutions in Tasmania, nationally and internationally and consider doing this in the current financial year?

The Deputy Mayor, Councillor D C Gibson, responded by saying that the Council is in the process of completing a review of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery which will address the matters raised in your question. It is intended that the details of the review will be publicly released later this year.

THE GOOD GUYS?

WHAT is good about this development? Not much.

 It is not good for the locally owned business Begents, nor is it good for Invermay traffic congestion - let alone the traffic that will be generated by the other four unknown developments allowed by this newly-approved subdivision.

It is not good for the loss of the mature trees along Goderich Street. Somehow the shrub roses proposed in fr

It is not good for the people using the shared pathway/cycle way that will now have a major safety hazard interrupting it at the Good Guys roundabout. It is not good for employment because there will be job losses elsewhere. Local businesses with important employment levels to be impacted/lost.

All in all, this is a major national trader coming to rape and pillage what little is left of the Launceston commercial heart.

Lionel Morrell, Tasmanian Ratepayers Assoc Inc, Launceston.

SUBMISSION: LAUNCESTON COUNCIL'S STRATEGY TO HAVE A STRATEGY AUGUST 2020

FOREWORD

Albeit that the City of Launceston Council – elected representatives & city bureaucrats – have identified “five key strategic directions”, essentially the ‘purposefulness’ evident in the City of Launceston's DRAFT Cultural Strategy is to have strategy with “five key strategic directions”. On the available evidence, put quite simply, ‘the strategy is to have a strategy’ albeit that it has been determined that there will be “five key strategic directions” that might well fit as ‘objectives’ in fulfilment of a ‘purpose’.

What purpose might there be? Speculatively, it might be to ‘acknowledge and celebrate the city’s/region’s cultural diversity’ – or something other than this. Given this, then there might well be a series of ‘objectives’ flowing from such a ‘purpose’ and consistent with that, there might well be ‘rationales’ for both the purpose and the objectives. It is contestable that these elements do in fact exist in the deliberations thus far.

Against such a background the fundamentals would exist for devising ‘purposeful strategies’ that meet the constituency’s aspirations and the demands of the objectives ‘in context’ with their identified rationales.

There is nothing new in this, it is ‘standard practice’ in Public Administration 101. Moreover, typically this approach delivers ‘Key Performance Indicators’ that, going forward, are required to assess outcomes. Again, standard practice in the:

• assessment of outcomes realised –anticipated and unanticipated;
• the assessment of weaknesses and strengths –anticipated and unanticipated;
• the assessment of the identified opportunities and threats –anticipated and unanticipated;
• the assessment of perceived risks and the unanticipated risks revealed; and
• the foundations upon which ‘the strategic policy decision making’ can be implemented or revised and adjusted if required – the task of governance.

Sadly, this class of strategic foundation building is not yet to be found ‘front and centre’ in the determination to DRAFT a ‘strategic way forward’ by consulting the people who are members of many, various, layered and diverse ‘cultural realities’ in the municipality/region within which ‘the strategic policy determination’ is to be applied.

ESTABLISHING KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

The Draft Cultural Strategy laid out thus far has identified five strategic directions for the Council to determine a ‘policy or set of policies’ in Council’s ‘governance role’ to guide and direct ‘Council operations’. And they are:

1. To respect Aboriginal Culture;
2. To realise the potential of our cultural places and assets;
3. To foster creative practices;
4. Reveal our cultural stories; and
5. Build and extend partnerships.

All five are laudable considerations and to argue against the worthiness of any one would be equivalent to denigrating motherhood – too silly to contemplate in a 21^st C context.

Nevertheless, some contextual refinement might well be considered in translating ‘the draft’ into creditable, meaningful and appropriate strategic determinations. Most importantly, the clear articulation of the rationales informing the identification of these ‘five strategic priorities’ would be more than informative – given that they have been prioritised over and above all others.

Firstly, in respect to ‘Aboriginal Culture’ it would be appropriate and inclusive to “respect” the diversity of ‘Cultural Expression’ present and manifested in the municipality/region while acknowledging ‘Aboriginal Cultural expression past, present and future’ specifically. The articulation of the rationale for this would/should inform outcomes in a paradigm of inclusiveness.

Secondly, in respect to realising the potential of ‘places’ it would be appropriate to proactively acknowledge the ‘diversity’ of histories and cultural narratives linked to, indeed embedded in, ‘places, placemaking and indeed the cultural landscaping’ manifested in the municipality/region. Again, the articulation of the rationale for this would/should inform outcomes.

Thirdly, in respect to fostering – encouraging and developing – ‘creativity’ it would be appropriate to identify just which ‘creative practices’ are being deemed worthy of being prioritised and by what means. Again, the articulation of the rationale for this would/should not only inform outcomes but also contextualise the ‘strategic directives’ implemented in post draft realisation of the policy implementation. Again, the articulation of the rationale for this would/should inform and underpin policy implementation.

Fourthly, in respect to revealing our cultural stories in would be appropriate to attempt to be overtly inclusive in the revelations and ‘de-rank’ the processes via which the ‘revelations’ are facilitated. In a 21^st C context, imposing a hierarchy of culturally determined narratives with say some assumed ‘high culture’ somehow ranked above the ordinary and vernacular is insensitive if not arrogant. Rankism is abusive, discriminatory, and/or exploitative behaviour towards people because of their assumed social status, asserted cultural identity and issues such as gender and age. Again, the articulation of the rationale for this would/should inform and underpin policy implementation.

Fifthly, in respect to building and extending ‘partnerships’ it would be appropriate and informative to articulate the kind of ‘partnership building’ and strategic alignments cum realignments that are being contemplated and possibly prioritised. Like the fourth strategic direction identified there is a ‘deafening silence’ in respect to the kinds of ‘partnerships’ anticipated and prioritised as being appropriate/desirable. For example, collaborative and/or scholarly relationships between say: geography, history and theatre; natural science and cultural practice in say the co-called ‘visual arts’; musicology and anthropology; vernacular culture and the literature of Western culture; philosophy, the enlightenment and mythology; and so on. The kinds of relationships, dynamic and passive, siloed and open, obscure and Anglo-centrically traditional, colonial and post-colonial, scientific and ‘artistic’, etc. etc. etc. that typically underpins scholarship plus the ‘raison d’etre’ for musingplaces, educational institutions and hopefully the driving forces that underpin 21^st C research imperatives.

IDENTIFYING THE CIVIC CONTEXT

‘Meaning’ is always and unavoidably invested in ‘the context’ –here the civic context. Clearly, the process thus far has been driven by perceived/deemed ‘bureaucratic imperatives’ and the ‘consultation process’ this submission is focused upon comes rather late on the evidence. That the process thus far might be charactorised as being ‘bureaucratically self-serving’ is hardly surprising.

The missing factor is the articulation of a ‘SWOT Assessment’ – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats assessments – open to Council’s constituency to consider, challenge where appropriate and inform them of the ‘civic context’ with which the ‘strategy’ is being and has been framed.

To be truly relevant the ‘strategy to have a cultural strategy’ needs to be open to rigorous critical deliberation given that those to whom the ‘strategic policy’ will/should reference almost every aspect of civic life. Moreover, the constituency has been conscripted to pay for the process thus far and likewise will be conscripted to pay for the process going forward. In Launceston, and many regional centres Australia wide, typically the ‘monetarisation’ of ratepayers’ and residents’ civic contributions via rates and rents is typically in the order of 6% of a rate demand. In Launceston, in some circumstances, that can in fact be something in the order of 10%.

Consequently, it is non-trivial to look for meaning and context in regard to the ‘presumed ready to implement consultation process’ and it is especially so in regard to the Tasmanian Local Government Act 1993 with its 20^th C imperatives where increasingly it is evident that they are losing relevance in a 21^st C context. This is especially so in the context of COVID-19, global strategic realignments and the increasing evidence that ‘climate change’ is upon us rather than impending.

Moreover, given that it is now on the record that Council is disinclined to consider inclusive ‘consultation processes’ such as Citizen’s Assemblies/Juries citizen participation in policy determination is being somewhat suppressed. Given that Council has, on the record, adamantly dismissed the proposition that ‘Citizen’s Assemblies’ are proactively viable, contemporaneously relevant and progressive on multiple occasions it is now a truism that Council is somewhat antithetic to ‘inclusiveness’ in regard to policy determination and especially so in regard to ‘cultural matters’ and ‘cultural landscaping’ or indeed ‘cultural placescaping’.

Somewhat poignantly, this consultation process is charactorised by Council’s reluctance or inability to embrace accountability and transparency in regard to the process and its policy intentions such as they may be. Likewise, given the ‘cultural context’ it is concerning that there is no evidence of anthological contextualisation in dereference, apparently, to bureaucratically oriented imperatives.

STATEMENT OF INTENT

This submission is presented as my means of contributing to the inclusive community consultation process that the City of Launceston presents as being open to criticism and critique in order that Council might implement a “Strategic Cultural Policy” that informs and underpins its planning and ‘placemaking cum placescaping’ strategies going forward. Also, it is intended to contextualise the questions below.

QUESTION 1

Will, or can, the consultation process now be opened up to a more relevant and more proactively inclusive consultation process that honours and acknowledges the totality of Launceston’s/Tasmania’s/the region’s cultural realities?

QUESTION 2

Will, or can, Council now contemplate initiating a proactively inclusive community consultation initiative such as the 2001 QVMAG Search Conference – a Citizens Assembly in fact – in order to determine an appropriately inclusive stand alone, fundable network of ‘community cultural enterprises’ that includes and interfaces with the region’s cultural institutions and organisations in a 21^st C context?

QUESTION 3

Will, or can, Council now contemplate entrusting key infrastructure and cultural assets to a standalone corporate entity, ideally a trust, governed by appropriate experts, that is worthy of earning and maintaining the respect of Federal, State and Local government funding agencies, the corporate sector, private enterprises and benefactors, et al towards building upon and celebrating the region’s, the State’s and indeed the nation’s ‘cultural estate’?

Signed

Ray Norman

WHY WONT COUNCILLORS LET THEIR CONSTITUENTS HAVE A VOICE?

Politicians and their bureaucrats at every level are allergic to accountability and consequently will do almost anything to avoid any process that facilitates this dreaded aspiration held by constituents.

Weapon number one is 'confidentiality' and in times of war its understandable and when constituents 'smell a rat' again it might work but leaving people out of decision making never really works.

That famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others" is as flawed as is the attribution. Elected representative governance has failed its constituency enough times to justify a fundamental rethink. 

Governance comes in many confections from autocracy to anarchy and each has its good and bad outcomes. In the 21st C the 'need' for elected representative governance diminishes by the day as communication technologies afford quicker, more effective and more responsive decision making.

COVID-19 has upped the anti and albeit that there has been some stumbling, and surely more of that to come, information, welcomed and unwelcomed, it getting to people and places power hungry individuals and idealogical networks more quickly and more effectively. What a politician said/promised/did a year ago, 10 years ago or more can, and has, come back to haunt them now. It is the same for bureaucrats with the wisest making sure that they do not 'make the news', and if they do they're very careful about the context.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE THE LINK

Dr Google Search will tell you everything you do not want to know about a medical condition and likewise 'he/she' at GOOGLEserarch will tell everyone everywhere about your 'performance' and more still. 

Nobody offers a CV anymore when applying for a job because people who employ people can discover all the phoney stuff online. If there is nothing to see that also sounds alarm bells. So transparency of a kind exists and histories are more discoverable than ever. So only those with something to hide, try to hide their misdemeanours.

Against this emerging backdrop, local governance needs to do a Post COVID-19 Reset taking on board all that has been learned, and all that is now possible, that increasingly enabling forms of ' direct/pure democracy' models for governance generally and local governance in particular.

Direct cum pure democracy enables people decide on policy initiatives directly. The earliest known direct democracy is the Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC, albeit that it was not inclusive given that it excluded women, slaves and non-Athenians. 

Self-interest and preservation are baked into our political system. There’s not much incentive for the officials – elected or salaried –  to go out on a limb and propose novel solutions to the most pressing problems. The status quo keeps them employed and simple majorities ensure we don’t stray too far away from the 'hand that feeds them'.

Citizen's Assemblies are not popular with local governance's elected representatives or the 'powerful operatives' because they sap their authority and tend to expose dysfunctionalism, cronyism and more overt examples of 'civic corruption'. 

Nevertheless, with large number of people carrying 'SMARTphones' and with  more and more people enabled  to access information technologies, representational democracy is less and less able to meet the needs an aspirations of 21st C communities in a direct way.

Imagine a real-time technology driven democratic process – similar to town hall meetings – where everyone is invited to participate when the issues are most poignant. Leaders facilitate decisions instead of exerting their influence and the solutions are as diverse as the population that serves them up. 

Debate is transparent and contributes to knowledge growth. There are no headstrong people who stubbornly lobby for their point of view despite diminishing favour. And once a quorum is reached, everyone aligns around the decision and moves with speed as a cohesive group. 

Just imagine that and Tasmania could reduce the number of expensive, self-serving and ineffectual council to a 'single commission' held accountable by as many regional and/or 'catchment' assemblies delivering 21st C transparent and accountable local governance with access to 21st C technologies.

Australia has ample exemplars of Citizen's Assemblies/Juries but the UK exemplars below lay out the process very clearly and provide a precedence less sullied by 'local prejudices'.

What the climate assembly is

The climate assembly will bring together a representative group of the Brighton & Hove population to shape how we combat climate change over the next decade.

The climate assembly will be designed and facilitated by an organisation that's independent of us. They'll be experienced in delivering deliberative engagement processes like citizens' assemblies.

When it will take place

Following advice from the UK government in managing Coronavirus (COVID-19) and to protect the health and wellbeing of all the participants, we've decided to hold the climate assembly online in the autumn of 2020.

The climate assembly will take place over 5 sessions on:

• Tuesday 22 September, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
• Tuesday 6 October, 6pm to 9pm
• Saturday 10 October, 10am to 1pm
• Thursday 5 November, 6pm to 9pm
• Saturday 7 November, 10am to 1pm

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the shaping of the climate assembly so far and for your support during this difficult time.

How it works

Brighton & Hove’s climate assembly will bring together a randomly selected group of people to learn about climate issues, discuss them with one another, and make recommendations about what should happen and how things should change.

Around 50 residents will be selected at random to be members of the climate assembly.

The recruitment process will reflect the local population and involve residents from across the whole of Brighton & Hove.

Ipsos MORI will design, establish and deliver the climate assembly. They're working in partnership with the Sortition Foundation to recruit a broadly representative selection of residents.

The Sortition Foundation has expertise in ensuring that a cross-section of the population is represented on citizen assemblies.

Recruiting for the climate assembly

An invitation to be a member of the climate assembly has been sent to a randomised selection of 10,600 residents in and around Brighton & Hove.

If you receive an invitation, please respond by 23 August.

Those that accept will give their demographic details, and then a set of people that matches the wider profile of the city will be randomly selected, to ensure the final members (around 50) represent the diversity of the city and are from across the geographical area.

Climate assembly members will be provided with all the information they will need to take part.

The initial mailout and following correspondence will include carefully designed and visually appealing materials explaining the assembly. People will be able to sign up through the easiest way for them – either by phone or online. There is also a freephone number for residents who are approached so that they can talk to someone about the assembly before registering.

Residents selected to take part will receive £250 to compensate them for their time.

You don’t need any prior knowledge to take part as a member of the climate assembly, all that's required is a willingness to listen to the information and share opinions.

What it will be about

Transport will be the first subject considered by the climate assembly as it is one of the city’s biggest sources of carbon emissions. Over the 5 sessions the climate assembly members will hear evidence, deliberate and develop recommendations for actions the council and wider city can take to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The sessions will include presentations and workshops. The residents on the assembly will have the opportunity to hear from engaging expert speakers and discuss the issues involved with facilitators, who will make sure everyone has their voice heard.

Climate assembly advisory board

An independent advisory board of 15 volunteer experts and activists will support the climate assembly. Together with the council they will ensure there is a diverse selection of speakers to present information to the assembly. These will include policy experts, campaigners and local stakeholders.

The council will have the final decision on suggestions and recommendations made by the advisory board.

Getting involved with the work of the climate assembly

Everyone will have the opportunity to contribute views, suggestions and actions on how to make the city carbon neutral by 2030 even if they are not on the assembly or giving evidence to it.

You can send an email to carbon2030@brighton-hove.gov.uk or write to Carbon2030, Hove Town Hall, Room 166, Norton Road, Hove, BN3 3BQ.

Recommendations from the climate assembly will be used as part of wider public conversations, consultations and engagement on city strategies such as the Local Transport Plan.

The report from the Climate Assembly will be presented to the council in early 2021. It will be used to inform our carbon neutral programme and our approach on how to make transport work for everyone in the city, reduce carbon emissions and address the climate emergency.

More information

Ipsos MORI recently conducted a citizens’ assembly on climate change in Oxford.

The UK government’s Climate Assembly UK met in Spring 2020.

Greater Cambridge Citizens’ Assembly discussed transport last autumn.

Camden Council held a citizens’ assembly on the climate crisis last year.

For the latest news:

• Sign up to the Your Brighton & Hove newsletter
• Check out the climate change information on our website
• Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
• LIN

Climate Assembly UK

Find out more about the government's Climate Assembly UK.

Oxford climate assembly

Find out more about Ipsos MORI's citizens' assembly on climate change in Oxford.

Greater Cambridge climate assembly

Find out about the discussion Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly had about transport in 2019.

Camden climate assembly

Find out about Camden Council's citizens' assembly on climate change, that took place in 2019.LINK

IS LOCAL GOVERNMENT FALLING APART?

Local government is where 'the people' bump up hard against all the issues that impact upon their lives day by day. When the people get left out of the decision making there is good reason to start peeling back the layers to see why.

Mainland Australia has been having what might be called 'a rough trot' and that is never a good time to start pulling machiavellian stunts. Lismore's council is a council with elements of contention in its past but by-and-large the council has served its community well enough.

Overlay some disastrous situations and like old rope what was once good and reliable becomes less so. The situation is never helped when bureaucracy steps in and starts making decisions in isolation and insulated from accountability processes.

When the decisions have financial consequences to be born by the community and the bureaucrats deem that the community will just have to wear it, the rope is likely to get quite twisted. This is the point as often as not when politicians start looking after the stakeholders who scratch their back looking out for future favours.

And there are trickle downs that start to get diverted here and there and then the fraying starts to show when the ‘money thing’ starts to kick in.

Some time back a council in Lismore took a punt that floods were not going to 'that big again' and the community took the punt too. When the flood, the ones Lismore has every year and sometimes more often, was significantly larger, well that’s history now.

When the climate deniers called out ‘that hippie bunch’ life was sort of OK but the rainfall was down and it would rain one day – wouldn’t it because it always did. But when the place caught fire and in places it never had before ‘that hippie bunch’ might have been right and anyway there are good things happening – and they sort of were.

When everything started to change in every way it doesn’t help when the bureaucrats act unilaterally without the community, or even the council, supporting the decision making or being considered in the process storm clouds are likely to gather. 

In changing times, it is the time to change rather than pretend that it is possible to return to the past however good that was, or is, imagined to be.

......

ABC North Coast / By Bronwyn Herbert and Joanne Shoebridge Posted 6hours ago 11 Lismore Councillors posing for an official photo within the chamber, including Mayor Isaac Smith (centre) Councillors, Gianpierro Battista and Greg Bennett (centre back) have both resigned.(Supplied: Lismore City Council) 

Lismore Mayor Isaac Smith said councillors were struggling to contain their frustrations after facing a run of natural disasters and major financial challenges during the current term. ................. Veteran Councillor resigns citing a 'terrible' culture and a disconnection from decision-making Financially strapped council still struggling after $6.1 million deficit revealed in 2019 Council general manager defends governance procedures Lismore Mayor Isaac Smith said councillors were struggling to contain their frustrations after facing a run of natural disasters and major financial challenges during the current term. ................. Last week, councillors Gianpierro Battista and Greg Bennett both resigned, leaving nine elected representatives to serve the remaining 12 months of the extended term. Lismore Mayor Isaac Smith said councillors were struggling to contain their frustrations after facing a run of natural disasters and major financial challenges during the current term. ................. Councillor Battista, who has served on the council for more than a decade, said it was with sadness and relief that he was leaving. ................. But he took a parting shot at council management, saying he felt disconnected from the decision-making process in recent years.  ................. "It has been terrible," he said.  ................. "Trying to deal with a bureaucratic machine that is bent on making some of us redundant and disconnected from the decision-making process has taken its toll."  ................. Councillor Gianpiero Battista said it had become 'extremely hard' to carry out civic duties.(Supplied: Gianpiero Battista) 'Wasn't feeling part of the group' Councillor Battista cited one of his many concerns as how the General Manager and Mayor had rejected a Federal Government $2-million election pledge in 2019 to refurbish the Lismore Lake Pool.  ................. "For the life of me I don't know why the General Manager and the Mayor decided we didn't need to be informed," he said................. "I started thinking of that from a governance point of view that two people who are in charge, one is the general manager and one is the mayor … making a decision for the whole of the council.  .................  "We should have every proper document to make our decision. ................. "You can't ask people to make decisions with an hour's notice of what they are going to decide on. ................. "I wasn't feeling comfortable being part of the group."  ................. Lismore City Council's general manager  Challenging circumstances Mayor Isaac Smith agreed with this description, which he said had been brought on by the challenging circumstances. ................. A $6-million budget deficit was revealed in 2019, at a critical time when the community was trying to recover from one of its worst floods in recorded history.  ................. The local government area has also been affected by bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. . ................. "We've faced too many natural disasters, it really would have been unthinkable at the start of the term, so there's been a lot of friction amongst the elected body, that's absolutely true," Mayor Smith said. ................. "We've had 12 per cent more briefings and the quality and integrity of information before councillors has more rigour than what I've seen and what I inherited," she said.  ................. Ms Oldham said in relation to the Lismore Lake Pool, councillors had unanimously decided they did not want to spend money on a third pool in Lismore and instead passed a motion to explore other options for the land.  ................. That vote occurred before the Federal Government offered financial support for the project. . ................. Statewide council elections [NSW] will be held on Saturday 4 September, 2021.