Opportunity knocks for Brighton

Resilience and climate change are as crucial to the disadvantaged as to those called latte-sippers, says James Dryburgh

AS Tasmania, Australia and the world respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic there will be a battle of ideas not only to meet the great challenges of today, but to seize the opportunities that will be presented.

Some will want to charge back full-steam to the old ways to get the economy pumping. While that may provide some early relief, the status quo is far from perfect and may leave us vulnerable to the next crisis, be it resurgence of coronavirus or any other challenge.

A more forward-thinking approach is to view this as a chance to make adjustments. We cannot assume there won’t be a crisis around the corner and we can be quite sure our future will involve climate change-related disruption. Given the pandemic’s social and economic costs, it is important to take lessons from this shock and build a stronger society. That is the approach we are taking in Brighton and it is already bringing positive results for the community.

On Hobart’s northern outskirts, Brighton is one of the fastest growing municipalities. This means it is changing not only physically, but culturally and economically, and this is generating opportunities. Brighton Council is in a unique position to provide the leadership to realise these opportunities. Brighton is a diverse community and often characterised by having some of the most disadvantaged populations in the country. We challenge the notion that such communities can’t be progressive, innovative and leaders of change.

Crisis always has the greatest impact on the most vulnerable and issues such as climate change, sustainability and social resilience are as relevant as to those some refer to as urban elite latte-sippers. The most disadvantaged tend to miss out on opportunities of disruption. In any big shift in the way society does things, there are great opportunities. Taking a triple bottom line approach, Brighton can position itself to benefit from the changes society and the economy need to make. These include developing as a hub for circular economy developments such as renewables projects feeding local industries and being part of the green hydrogen transition for Tasmania’s road and rail fleet. This way, we can reduce real and perceived disadvantage. We’ve already taken steps to reduce disadvantage. In the past few years Brighton has developed high-quality parks, walking trails, attractive streetscapes environmental improvements and restoration.

Brighton has collaborated with Hobart Airport Corporation and Spring Bay Mill to plant native trees and bushes to create a native ecosystem and habitat on the banks of the Jordan River.

We are progressing investment attraction and business development, greater opportunities for educational pathways and employment and social support for locals. As a result, there is a strong sense of community, with ever more activities from local groups and clubs.

The council unanimously endorsed a Climate Change and Resilience Strategy that links interactions between economy, society and environment for long term outcomes for community.

The challenge is to adopt future thinking. Councils do this better than state or federal government because they are not as shaped by party politics and polarisation. Legally, councils have to work to longterm infrastructure plans and understand what is likely to expand and what is likely to contract in their regions.

If we succeed, as we must, our communities will be stronger, more sustainable and better prepared to meet the challenges of the future.