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Summary of Conference Notes by Alderman Kerrie Christian
A number of speakers of different backgrounds backgrounds gave papers reflecting differing aspects of open local government; a process involving: elected councillors, unelected public servants & community directly; but also the State Government indirectly.
TED MACK , Federal MP and former Mayor of North Sydney, spoke of the crisis of public trust in government, the need for openness in councils and how this was achieved in North Sydney.
GAYLE RUSSELL , Precinct Committee Liaison Officer Sutherland Council, and MARK LATHAM , Mayor of Liverpool, related how precinct committees were established, constituted & functioned in their council areas, also their relation to progress associations.
BARRY O'KEEFE , QC & former Mayor of Mosman, raised concerns of disempowerment of councils, and consequently the community, under the new Local Government Act.
ROS CRICHTON , Director of UTS Centre for Local Government Education & Research & former Mayor of North Sydney, spoke of open council decision making processes at North Sydney; and also of the power struggle between the elected councillors and unelected bureaucracy in councils generally.
DR GARRY SMITH , Principal Environmental Scientist Sutherland Council, described aspects of openness and integrity as it applied to environmental issues & environmental officers in councils.
JEFF ANGEL , Acting Director TEC, covered the need of the community for adequate access to information on council issues, and how this access could be achieved.
HELEN O'LOUGHLIN , Town Planner South Sydney Council, presented a detailed account of South Sydney Model for genuine, widespread community involvement in Strategic Town Planning across the city.
STACY MEIRS , Leichardt Council, gave a provocative talk which emphasised that openness in councils should not only apply to the articulate middle class residents, but also provide the mechanisms to empower, and thus include, the disadvantaged.
ANNE JONES , Manly Residents & Friends, and KEITH MUIR , TEC, presented the views of organised community groups on open local government through case studies on Manly and Helensburgh.
COMMENT/RECOMMENDATION Unfortunately the development of PRECINCT COMMITTEES in Wollongong Council has to date appeared to be the preserve of the unelected administration, with little or no reports on progress provided to, nor consultation with either elected councillors or the community. Thus, when this alderman has been asked about the introduction of precinct comitttees either by the community, or by councillors from other areas, the answer has had to be one that suggests prevarication by the council administration. However, very recent advice from officers suggests that some genuine progress is being made. Thus it is recommended that a report, detailing the consultation & progress towards implementation of precinct committees, should be provided to aldermen as a matter of urgency.
OPEN LOCAL GOVERNMENT - TEC CONFERENCE - 25 JULY 1992 - SYDNEY - Conference Notes by Alderman Kerrie Christian
TED MACK - WHAT IS OPEN GOVERNMENT? WHY IS IT NEEDED?
- crisis of public trust in governments at all three levels
- warned councillors of councils' "seductive club mentality"
- representative vs participative democracy
- "In reality there is no such thing as a closed meeting."
- North Sydney - all files (but not letters) & meetings were open to the public
GAYLE RUSSELL - PRECINCT COMMITTEES - HOW THEY WORK
- precinct committees can assist councillors gain better information on community views
- makeup of precinct committees is a minefield, including their role in relation to progress associations
- committees should prepare their own reports & minutes to be supplied to council staff and aldermen, ie not reports written for them by council officers, which may be edited
MARK LATHAM - PROBLEMS
- entrenched attitudes of senior staff re Precinct C'tees "They cost too much & are too time consuming" "We know best"
- need to make sure Precinct C'tees are not hijacked by vested interests
- Precinct C'tee costs are a good investment to counter indirect costs associated with contentious issues, eg D/A's & leads to better quality decisions
- should encourage developers to meet with Precinct C'tees
- copies of Council Business Papers are supplied to Precinct C'tees at the same time as to elected councillors
- Councillors should restructure their organisation to get the Senior Staff who will implement the Councillors' goals
BARRY O'KEEFE - LOCAL GOVERNMENT & THE LAW
- covered evolution of Local Government Acts & Environmental Planning legislation
- concerned that Councillors & community will be disempowered by the new Local Government Act, ie more power to unelected bureaucracy
- concerned at removal of NATURAL HERITAGE from new HERITAGE ACT, ie forcing this area onto Councils but without providing the financial resources needed
ROSLYN CRICHTON - PROCESSES FOR COUNCIL DECISION MAKING
- concerned at the philosophy that elected councillors should only be involved in policy & leave the rest to the bureaucracy - this is contrary to increasing desire for more community involvement
- covered North Sydney processes in open local government, etc especially B/A's & D/A's - notifications, site meetings, etc
- DELEGATED AUTHORITY APPROVALS
- faster delegated approvals do not necessarily mean better quality, more effective decisions
- public community participation can lead to better guidance, rather than well-informed guesswork of public opinion by councillors
- ONLY where the application complies with all codes & policies & where there are no public objections lodged are there delegated approvals
- density of development & pressures for development in North Sydney mean that there is greater potential for adverse impacts & thus delegated approvals are less feasible - could apply to Wollongong - flooding, landslip
GARRY SMITH - ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICERS IN LOCAL COUNCILS
- need for scientific integrity of environment officers
- environment officers need good science-based training
- " " " " communication skills to deal with council management, councillors, media, public
- covered human health risk assessment re industrial dev't
- " public's RIGHT TO KNOW - public can play a key role in environment protection given their unique access to local knowledge & their fundamental investment in protecting their ecosystem
- computer GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS are powerful tools for environmental analysis
- environment policy involves a no. of factors
- complex science-based analysis
- strong, often controversial, political components
JEFF ANGEL - INFORMATION ACCESS & ADEQUACY - COUNCIL COMMITTEES
- information is power - environmental impact studies / - local environmental studies
- Council mistakes
- independent research is suppressed
- information is presented as a puzzle only understood by "experts"
- a hidden agenda influences EIS terms of reference
- in principle agreement to dev't proposal before research is done
- staff involved in public participation are not really listening
- suggestions
- advertise terms of reference - consultation between developer & community at concept stage
- establish a register of EIS consultants
- check background in community consulting
- " competency & independence
- " no on-going interest in proposed project
- resource documents
- available in easy to read form, early on to community
- value judgements in EIS should be exposed
- EIS may be "coherently contaminated" by value judgements eg scientific data not presented objectively, or concern at adequacy of scientific data
- developers should provide the funds to produce LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
- timetables - must allow time for community to respond in practice, especially if complex issues are involved
- post consent environmental monitoring
- make this a condition of consent
- assess how accurate were predictions in EIS/LES
- overseen jointly by developer, council & community
- criticisms of public participation
- leads to institutional paralysis, inefficient, antidevelopment - irrational
- favours well organised minority environmental groups
- advantages of public participation
- if no participation may mismanage social change
- short term economic gains may not be worth long
term environmental damage
HELEN O'LOUGHLIN - STRATEGIC PLANNING IN THE COMMUNITY
- strategic planning is an approach which offers opportunities for public involvement in setting directions, identifies long & short term options, resolves differences between local & regional interests, & provides a framework for coordinated decisions on priorities & funding
- strategy plan is a document which provides an integrated framework for future planning of land use, transport, the environment & human services; it establishes long & short term strategies to achieve those goals
- public participation in strategic planning
- needed because of significant shifts in community values & also fundamental changes in way in which urban areas are managed
- where decisions have far reaching implications for communities, question of who pays & who benefits should be answered from a more diverse perspective
- resource intensive in short term but leads to long terms savings by minimising commissions of inquiry & litigation
- should start at initial planning stage
- must be genuine
- careful not to raise community expectations
- South Sydney Model
- interactive sharing of skills, knowledge & expertise to produce a strategy to guide future planning of South Sydney
- invited nominations from 90 resident, business, peak issue & professional groups for Precinct & Peak Planning Teams
- skills used by meeting facilitators
- getting agreement at start of meeting as to length of meeting, time committed to tasks, only one speaker at a time
- using questions to prompt people to get to point
- repeat statements to ensure you understood what was said
- provide meeting with options on how to proceed, with pros & cons outlined, so that the team can decide itself
- trialling time limits for discussion - realities
- had to accomodate an extra Peak Team meeting in agenda
- precinct groups may meet more often than initially planned
- despite some frustration participants have favoured more active participation at an earlier stage rather than responding to a Draft Plan
STACY MIERS - COMMUNITY REACTION TO, & PARTICIPATION IN COUNCIL COMMITTEES
- people get very frustrated because they get inappropriate development right next to them
- particpatory democracy should enable the "have nots" who are presently excluded from political & economic processes, to be deliberately included in future decisions ie not just the middle class involved
- bureaucrats & political structures can inhibit participatory democracy
- need equity, access to research & information sharing at earliest stage
ANNE JONES - COMMUNITY NETWORKS, COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT CENTRES
- bureaucracy is too distracted or disinterested to truly represent community needs, so pressure groups must continue
- Manly Council since 1985 in response to pressure groups
- established precinct committees
- introduced a Tree Preservation Order
- become a more open & accountable council
- introduced green business awards
- revised DCP - formed an Environment Community Committee which
puts recommendations to council
- opened the Manly Environment Centre
- celebrated environmental events
- clean air month
- World Environment Day
- Waste Busters Day
- become top recycling council in Sydney
KEITH MUIR - HELENSBURGH - A CASE STUDY IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
- 1985 Wollongong Council was committed to a process of public consultation, FOI, public comment on various proposals for urban expansion of Helensburgh by 20-30,000
- PITFALLS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT
- being placated by community consultation but without involving the community in setting planning agenda
- reactive campaigning - opposition to inappropriate development, rather than pursuing positive objectives
- failing to take the initiative - community can be involved in discussions but meanwhile developers & decision makers have already acted
- organisation must live beyond its founders - eternal vigilance
- in Helensburgh community environment groups have
- pursued positive objectives
- enforcing existing water quality standards,
- urban consolidation within existing township
- protection of all bushland in Hacking River Valley so as to double amount of rainforest in the Royal National Park
- link forest of the valley with Illawarra Escarpment
- remained eternally vigilant
- intensively lobbied local and state politicians with high quality information via meetings & letters
- taken a bipartisan approach during state elections, but run their own candidate in a state by-election
COMMENT/RECOMMENDATION
Unfortunately the development of PRECINCT COMMITTEES in Wollongong Council has to date appeared to be the preserve of the unelected administration, with little or no reports on progress provided to, nor consultation with either elected councillors or the community. Thus, when this alderman has been asked about the introduction of precinct comitttees either by the community, or by councillors from other areas, the answer has had to be one that suggests prevarication by the council administration. However, very recent advice from officers suggests that some genuine progress is being made. Thus it is recommended that a report, detailing the consultation & progress towards implementation of precinct committees, should be provided to aldermen as a matter of urgency.
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