Our city needs a new start
Graham Larcombe26-Jul-2008
Voters across NSW will elect their Council representatives on 13 September. Residents of Wollongong and Shellharbour, however, will be excluded from voting. Both cities have had their democratic rights removed. Whilst other councils in NSW vote in local government elections, the residents of Wollongong and Shellharbour are to be ruled by unelected bureaucrats. The New South Wales Government has installed Administrators to run both Councils until 2012. The Government was wrong to take away our communities democratic right to vote. This is not the solution. Whatever our political views, it is important that our community insist on our democratic rights.
Residents in Wollongong were angered at the revelations of corruption in our city. But few were surprised and most believe we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. We have learned to expect very little from our elected representatives. There is a perception in the community that many of our local representatives lack morality. A culture of deal making and political donations has damaged democracy in our region and NSW.
In a packed public meeting held in Wollongong earlier this year, people voted unanimously to call for a Royal Commission into political corruption in our region. The ICAC Inquiry was too narrow. Months after the inquiry finished, ICAC has yet to release its final report into the Wollongong corruption scandals. The ICAC hearings make it even more essential that the local government elections proceed in Wollongong as soon as possible. Suspending elections adds insult to injury by attempting to sweep the scandal under the carpet. This denies local people an opportunity to voice their opinion in the only way that many feel they can have an impact.
We all agree that Wollongong and indeed NSW must change. WAC has been drafting a Wollongong Charter for Ethics and Good Governance. It is being developed through consultations with local residents and inputs from anti-corruption legend John Hatton. The Wollongong Charter is designed to safeguard and strengthen democracy. One of the lessons of the Wollongong fiasco is that representative democracy is not enough. Broader and deeper forms of participation and empowerment of communities must be developed.
The Charter sets out the rights and responsibilities of elected representatives, public officials and the broader community. We asked the Minister for Local Government to return our right to vote and to work with the Wollongong community to develop and implement the Wollongong Charter for Ethics and Good Governance. We hope he will respond positively.
The way our region is governed has resulted in systemic corruption, inefficiency and social injustice. Governance in this region has been from the top down, either through political representatives or bureaucrats enacting decisions made elsewhere. Ordinary people are locked out of decision making. Consultation is a form of window dressing rather than a genuine process to empower our communities to participate and be listened to.
Reform is urgently needed to make sure that the shocking events exposed in Wollongong can't easily occur again. Disclosure of political donations is only one aspect of protecting communities against corruption. The other side of the equation is to avoid the concentration of decision making behind closed doors without transparency, public accountability or right of review.
WAC believes that the best way to fight corruption and incompetence in our region is by deepening community democracy, and improving accountability and transparency. WAC is organising an inaugural Making Community Democracy Work Conference in Wollongong on 16 August to bring together communities from across the state and our region to explore ways to strengthen democracy and governance in localities and regions. Strategies include looking at how more resources and responsibilities can be devolved from higher tiers of government to communities and neighbourhoods.
The Conference will look at how relationships between developer donations and elected representatives can be severed. We will also examine changes to legislation to limit the time a state Minister can sack a Council before calling for new elections. Importantly, it will focus on new models of community democracy, where informed and engaged communities have a greater say in planning for the future and identifying priorities. The Conference looks at more inclusive ways of making decisions, with particular attention to people who have been left out of making inputs in the past.
Wollongong and the Illawarra are facing massive challenges – a faltering economy, poverty, environmental degradation, lack of affordable housing, third world public transport, and lack of support for residents with poor health including mental illness – to name but a few. These problems can only be solved through an empowered and engaged community, not by bureaucrats and political leaders who take our community for granted.