CHARLES WOOLEY
Five years ago, Derby was a ghost town. And, like many other regional and remote Tasmanian communities without an industry to rely on, it was declining fast. Now it hosts up to 1000 tourists a night, and is about to stage the national summit of perhaps th
Ihave long suspected Tasmania, regardless of who is in power, usually has the silliest government in the Commonwealth. But last week I had to reconsider my position.
To be fair, “The Silliness Stakes” was always a closely run national race, with Tasmania the favourite. But last week Queensland, ridden by its Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, cut through the field with an amazing plan to reduce the $1.5bn per year Queensland spend on consultants.
Her brilliant scheme was to hire yet more consultants to advise the government on how to cut back on all those other consultants.
Beat that Tasmania!
Do we all agree this easily trumps Peter Gutwein’s ingeniously counter-intuitive idea of cutting $50 million dollars from the Royal Hobart Hospital to make our hopelessly over-burdened health system even better?
But the Queensland consultant-cutback-strategy took the prize because it was so wonderfully askew. Even Ms Trad recognised that the very concept of saving money on consultants by employing more of them, sounded “really weird”.
“I know that sounds really weird, but I do have to say, we want external experience to help us do this job, so I’m really confident about the team we’ve got looking at how we’re spending Queensland taxpayer dollars better,” she explained — while really explaining nothing.
What Ms Trad really wanted to say was, “Look, we only got into this mess because our public servants are such duds, and we had to hire consultants to do their work for them.
I’m a politician not a businesswoman. Politicians are always too flat out getting elected and then watching their backs within their own party.
Politics is such a full-time job, how can we be expected to run the multi-billiondollar business of government as well? Clearly, we need people smarter than we are. And they are not in our public service.”
Was what Ms Trad didn’t say out loud, unfairly harsh? And how does Queensland compare with the situation way down south, here in Little Cuba?
A reliable source, a long-time contract public servant, now retired, told me: “I have for years dealt with public servants in senior jobs on as much as $200k who wouldn’t have a bloody clue. If I had the choice, I wouldn’t hire them to sell ice cream. But they are permanent and untouchable, so all you can do is hire someone else to do their job for them.”
Tasmanian Labor last week attacked the State Government’s “profligate” use of consultants. Shadow Treasurer David O’Byrne pointed to $93,000 spent on a “botched” infrastructure strategy. He drew attention to another $250,000 spent on the unpopular Westbury prison project.
Unpopular in Westbury, that is, but popular everywhere else, which really says a lot about the clever business of consultancy.
The truth is, in business and politics, consultants are often “consulted” on the expectation they will deliver a desired recommendation.
Yes, I know it’s not really a consultation if you already know the result — but then what’s the point of hiring a consultant who tells you something you don’t want to hear?
So, although “community engagement” is always part of the consultant’s public brief, there will be times the consultancy that won the job will be advising on the best way to “disengage” from all the unhelpful community sentiment they stumble across.
The Westbury community could have hired a consultant of their own to deliver a very different recommendation. But my own consultancy advice to Westbury would be not to do it.
Our Government is so deeply into secrecy and second-term arrogance it would be a waste of money.
Instead, call in Jacqui Lambie. She’s fearless and — even better — she’s free.
My former public servant friend, who was less than complimentary about the depth of the PS talent pool, wisely doesn’t want to be identified.
He doesn’t want to miss out on his Order of Australia nor on being re-hired on bigger money as a consultant, after it becomes apparent no-one else can do his job.
In an unusual take on the issue, he disagrees with Labor’s attack on consultants. “I think Tasmania should be the biggest user of consultants because, by and large, our public servants are the dimmest and least skilled in the country,” my anonymous source confided.
“People who wouldn’t make Level 2 on the mainland are running the department down here.
“Given that we’ve got politicians nobody deserves, the only way we can get intelligence into the system is to hire it from outside.”
(I’m sure everyone already knows this, and I’m not giving away state secrets. I wouldn’t want the local wallopers coming through my window and rummaging around in my sock drawer).
But, just in case, let me cravenly express that none of the above is to say there aren’t top-rate people in our public service. It’s just that there aren’t enough of them.
In Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, you will find many Tasmanians in top administrative jobs — and we miss them here.
Opportunity and greater financial reward on the mainland has always sucked the best talent out of our state.
The big question remains — how to reverse that trend?
But don’t ask me. Hire a consultant.
Northern Tasmania’s Blue Derby mountain bike trail officially opened only three years ago — and already it has hosted two Enduro World Series events and a number of smaller comps. The construction of the $2.9 million, 80km Derby trail network changed the North-East Tasmanian community from ghost town to boom town virtually overnight, creating about 100 new jobs, leading to an influx of tourism and a new local economy built around bike shops and hospitality.
The Dorset Council estimates visitors to the Blue Derby network, comprising trails from Derby to the Blue Tier, have pumped more than $30 million into the state’s economy since it opened — $12 million of that going directly to Dorset.
Before Blue Derby opened, mountain biking tourism accounted for 27,899 people a year. In the 2017-18 financial year that figure soared to 46,260. There is no doubt there is good money in mountain bike tourism and, following Derby’s remarkable transformation, St Helens on the East Coast is set to start reaping the same rewards.
The 43km Bay of Fires Descent is set to open to riders on November 22, the new trail linking with the existing Blue Derby network, allowing riders to continue from the Blue Tier all the way down to the internationally famed beach of the Bay of Fires, and on to the new 66km Stacked Loop network of trails at nearby St Helens.
Needless to say, Break O’Day Mayor Mick Tucker is extremely excited about the town’s future. “People are already booking in to come and stay here while they do the ride,” he says. “Jobs are already being created, shuttle bus companies are being set up, booking offices; everything is going mad, the investment coming in here is mind-blowing.”
St Helens does have a significant head start over Derby in one respect, in that it is already a well-established tourism hot
spot. The state’s East Coast is a highly sought after tourist destination, and is already well-resourced in terms of accommodation, restaurants, service stations and other essential infrastructure. And this tiny coastal town hit the national spotlight in a massive way a year ago when it was chosen to host Triple J’s annual free music festival, One Night Stand, which attracted a staggering 20,000 concertgoers. Thousands more were turned away at the gate, making it the best crowd in the event’s history.
St Helens has not shied away from capitalising on this newfound attention, and the addition of these new mountain bike trails marks St Helens’ entry into an industry that is rapidly becoming one of the state’s most important.
Tourism Tasmania data shows that in the 12 months to June 2019, 25,417 visitors to Tasmania went mountain biking while they were here, staying an average of 14 nights and spending an average of $2634 each, representing an injection of around $67m into the state’s economy.
It is no wonder St Helens is keen to get in on the action.
“We are the action-packed capital of Tassie,” Tucker says. “You can go game fishing, mountain biking, golfing, walking on the beaches, surfing; there’s a multitude of things to do if you stay here and this is giving people one more reason.
“In a normal summer period the population of St Helens goes from 3000 up to about 15,000 or even more, and I expect we will see that only increase from here.”
“The Blue Tier to Bay of Fires descent is the last stage in the Blue Derby network — and it will be iconic. It starts in the subalpine altitude and finishes at zero altitude, at the beach, the Bay of Fires, which has been featured by Lonely Planet twice now, and was named the best beach in the world. That’s unique.”
And just to ensure a cracker of an opening for the new trail, two days before the official opening of the descent, Derby will host this year’s Australian Mountain Bike Summit, where representatives of state governments and municipalities from around Australia will hear from local business operators, world class track designers and community leaders about how this corner of Tasmania turned a sport into a new industry.
Colin Lester, owner of St Helens sporting goods store East Lines, is at the front line of the expected two-wheeled invasion of the town and he is champing at the bit. He says he has already seen an increase in biking visitors since Blue Derby opened and expects it to only get bigger.
“There are definite, visible benefits,” he says. “We’re seeing more bikes around town and on the back of cars. Even though some tracks aren’t even open yet, word is clearly out that this is the place to go.
“We already have that great flow-on from Derby because people who come to Tassie to ride Derby end up staying on in Tassie and visiting other trails and tracks all over the state. A lot of them even stay in St Helens and base themselves from here to do Blue Derby.
“We have a great bike track along St Georges Bay already, and people flock to that, riding in families, so it’s already an attraction here. And in the last couple of years we’ve seen a big increase in the number of people coming in here to buy spare tubes, lube, asking for advice; and after riding the existing tracks they’re coming here to ask where else they can go to do more.”
Lester’s shop, a local institution, is the only sporting goods shop in St Helens at the moment, but that is all about to change as well.
“There are three other bikes shops opening up in St Helens, I can see them getting ready,” he laughs. “But they say competition is healthy, right? And really, it is a great sign for the place, seeing that kind of confidence and optimism, it’s fantastic.”
Tucker says his dream is to see St Helens become a mountain biking hub in the region.
“Between Derby and St Helens there will be about 250km of track in total, all linked, and it will take a week to ride it all, so we hope people will stay in St Helens while they do it. Every one of those trails has something different to offer, all different difficulty levels, all the different styles and scenery. Each trail will be seen as a must-do because each one is so unique.”
He hopes the East Coast’s famously good weather will become both a selling point and a practical advantage for visiting riders.
“On the East Coast, unless there’s a major flood, you can still ride the trails in pretty much any weather. The soil drains really well and because of the terrain water tends to wash away quickly. Even in midwinter the temperature here during the day sits on about 15 degrees, which is much more attractive than other parts of the state in the cold months.
“And then in the summer, can you imagine starting that descent trail high up in the Blue Tier and jumping into the waters of the Bay of Fires to cool off at the end of the ride?”
And Lester is excited to ride the new track for himself. “I’m a cruising mountainbiker, myself, so that descent will be fantastic for me and my family. We do the old Gardens Road as a family. My kids are in their 20s and they all ride too. I’ve done a couple of the Derby tracks and the new one is definitely on my itinerary!”
Over in Derby, essentially ground zero for Tasmania’s mountain biking boom, Dorset Council general manager Tim Watson is still pinching himself over the change the region has experienced since hitting the world stage with its internationally renowned Blue Derby trails. “We have seen a massive amount of investment in Derby in the last few years, new accommodation and new buildings,” Watson says.
“One hundred beds have come online in Derby in the last six months of this calendar year alone as a result of that investment.
“And it isn’t just visitors to the state, either. Derby has become a holiday destination for Tasmanians as well.
“We have hundreds of people there over every long weekend now, and that’s on top of the constant stream of interstate visitors, and it has been consistent since the day the trails opened.”
Watson says Derby was a ghost town five years ago, in terminal decline like many regional and remote Tasmanian towns that have found themselves without an industry to rely on.
He says a lot of the working families left the town simply because they needed to seek employment elsewhere, which steadily sucked the life out of what remained of Derby. He described the town’s revival as nothing short of a miracle — and says it is an example other towns in similar peril can look up to.
“None of this is an accident, it has been the result of careful planning. Our trails were designed by world-class designers.
“We wanted them to be the best in the world, and now they are attracting the best riders in the world.
“In peak periods we have as many as 1000 people staying in the town now, and so many new businesses have sprung up to support the mountain bike industry, new families are moving back in again.
“We’ve had babies born in the town for the first time in 20 or 30 years.”
Tara Howell is part of that new rush of energy coursing through Derby, having established a boutique tourism experience that piggybacks off the Blue Derby trails.
The Blue Derby Pods Ride has been described as the Three Capes Walk of riding, allowing visitors to ride the trails, enjoy fully catered meals, and stay overnight in luxury architecturally designed “pods” in the forest overnight in between rides.