At the crossroads of relevance

Local councils are key to the wellbeing of their communities, says David Adams

COUNCILS in Tasmania stand at the crossroads of relevance. When considering the future of local government, we look at either narrow efficiency arguments (resource sharing) or simplistic structural changes (amalgamation). We call this reform, but it’s not. Tasmania is not going to move forward by fiddling around the edges.

The starting point must be how local government can play a vital part in Tasmania’s future. From that will follow how best to organise local government.

Let’s begin with some very basic propositions.

Firstly, most Tasmanians value the idea of local democracy — someone local who can represent them, especially in a world increasingly dominated by distant big businesses and governments. Councils are close to the people, nimble, interested in our overall wellbeing, responsive to our wishes and accountable to us. They are the only level of government with a legislative mandate for the general wellbeing of the people. When state governments try to amalgamate councils, we arc up. So let’s agree that the ideal of local democracy is a good thing.

Secondly, the historical boundaries of local councils don’t make as much sense as they used to. A hundred years ago most people lived their lives within council boundaries; born there, lived there, died there. People identified with local areas as central to their wellbeing and prosperity. Councils provided services that could not be provided from afar. But with modern transport and communications, and the mobility of people in their social and economic lives, these old boundaries don’t make as much sense.

Our third proposition then is local government needs to find valued distinctive roles which also retain a local focus. Our councils should organise around matters of local importance to our future, matters that other levels of government or the private sector cannot do as well. There are already signs across Tasmanian councils, and regional Australia more broadly, about what these roles might be. So let’s name some up.

Local entrepreneurship and innovation

Most innovation doesn’t come from big businesses and expensive research laboratories. It comes from people on the ground with a good idea but often not the wherewithal to create the value. Much of Tasmania’s social and economic drive will continue to be about local entrepreneurs creating local innovative businesses that are globally competitive. They don’t have to be big — just look at the local fermentation and spirits industry.

Councils are in a great position to identify, stimulate and connect this spirit of entrepreneurship to opportunities. This creates jobs and attracts others to visit and live, a valuable multiplier effect.

Liveability and population management

When it comes to attracting tourists and new residents, Tasmania needs a team approach to offset its small scale and scope. Many visitors see our small towns in the rear-view mirror. We need to be smarter in understanding how to capture value from the growing flows of people. For example the Tourism Tracker associated with the Sense-T program can profile in some detail the characteristics of tourists, which helps us understand what might encourage them to stop and spend time.

Rather than worrying about young people leaving we should be focusing on the conditions under which they might return, to live, to invest, to play, to visit.

Resilience and security

In the last decade security has become front of mind for many Australians — food security, energy security, resilience in natural disasters, security of local services. Most recently we have seen Tasmanian councils moving towards their own sustainable energy supply. The role of councils in fostering this sense of security is coming to the fore internationally, and is reflected in the idea of ‘stewardship’ of community.

Cities and the rest

Cities: Increasingly Australia is being divided into cities and ‘the rest’. The Launceston City Deal is an attempt to coordinate efforts around the growth of the city and includes several adjoining councils. It aims to better ensure the benefits of city growth are captured both in the city and the adjoining communities — where much of the economic value for cities is generated.

As the boundaries between outer urban areas and traditional regional communities merge, it makes sense to look at the sharing of infrastructure and services such as sporting facilities,

investment attraction, population strategies, and planning. Discussions of a greater Hobart strategy are in the same vein — a coordinated approach to infrastructure and population planning. The rest: In Tasmania we have 90 towns of fewer than 5000 people and 52 settlements of fewer than 1000 people. The issues are both common and profound. An alliance of these communities would make a lot of sense. Their futures are about leveraging local assets in new ways, creating connectivity between such communities locally, nationally and globally. This might include tourism, jobs transfers and leveraging innovation.

Local know-how, local assets, local support and local leadership are the keys here. Not the traditional heroic male ex-sportsperson leader but the broader diverse group of thinkers and doers.

Catchment management

If there was one clear trend globally in local government boundaries it would be organising around catchments. Catchments matter in economic and social terms, and, most importantly, in sustainability. In Tasmania we have about seven logical catchments. For example, the Tamar Valley is part of a catchment and would logically group Launceston, George Town and West Tamar.

These catchments are crucial to understanding the sustainability prospects for Tasmania and reflect social and economic boundaries for many communities and businesses.

These are just some of the future roles for councils that get away from roads, rates and rubbish (although they will always matter) to matters of substance that will shape our future communities.

None of this will be easy but it is where local government’s real future lies — if it is to have one.

Councils are the only level of government with a legislative mandate for the general wellbeing of the people