JUNGLE DRUM: A message to our new Councillors

COLUMN

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Councillor discussion in the latest Jungle Drum. Picture: Michael Warren

Years ago, I read ‘The Lucky Country’ by Donald Horne.

While it challenged Australians to be more open minded, less provincial, and less dependent on our past, I don’t remember Horne challenging our basic belief in a fair go, or our innate generosity.

Around the same time, I watched 'Yes Minister' and 'Prime Minister', enjoying the humor, but not really believing it was possible for bureaucracy to go that bad.

Afterall, Humphrey did not always win, Hacker got his way some of the time, didn’t he?

Through the 80s, and 90s there was a slow creep if bureaucratic control. Joh was the last Premier in Qld to have complete control of bureaucracy and unfortunately it was (alleged) corruption in this Government and others that has allowed bureaucrats to pick away at power.

Most recently in 2017 The Crime and Corruption Commission of Queensland found ‘widespread non-compliance with legislative obligations relating to local government elections and political donations.

This non-compliance is largely caused by a 'deficient legislative and regulatory framework.’

This led to reforms I would argue reduced the input of Councillors and increased the power of staff, particularly managers. This is a major concern because we don’t elect the staff.

Locally, there has been little community consultation and if it is done at all, it takes the form of bureaucrats talking at the community justifying a pre-ordained idea.

There is little attempt to include ideas or data from community, and thus no change to government policy resultant from consultation.

That’s how we got, in my opinion, a Leu Council telling us two ferries is the go, no problem for permits and one ferry can’t suffice, followed by the Kerr Council saying no to two ferries, can’t get permits and one ferry is enough. The truth, a fair go, and generosity is rarely a factor in this process.

Couple too much bureaucratic power with an ineffective Council, and poor governance, and your community may suffer.

You might even get to a stage where disaster staff allegedly have onsite masseuses while denying basic human rights to communities in a disaster.

You might find that funded bridges are left to go mouldy in storage while years are wasted with the project going backwards according to reports tabled to Councillors.

You may find landslides still sitting on roads not just in the Daintree but at Finlayvale for months or years. It's possible a ferry would be purchased for four times its value then run at loss.

The risk of basic infrastructure like water not being up to scratch would be high.

Good luck to the new Councillors.

Please don’t rely on luck though; our wonderful Shire needs hard work and commonsense to navigate the next four years.

It needs solid committed public service leaders who consult properly and widely and supervise staff effectively. And most importantly, rally the community behind them, not go up against them.

Any rot at the top runs quickly down through the rest of the structure. Be generous to your constituents and give them a fair go.

A new way of looking at how Council functions can repair the rot in our once great Shire. Please hit the ground running with new ideas in April. It’s desperately needed.

*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.

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  • A reminder the views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and author only and do not reflect those of the editor or Newsport staff.

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