ABC Radio again visited the City of Logan last week for a fantastic showcase of what our great community has to offer.
From the get-go at breakfast with Loretta Ryan and Craig Zonca, through to Steve Austin, presenters tapped into the people and organisations which make our neighbourhoods tick.
On the breakfast show, I was asked an interesting question by Craig Zonca.
He asked how the new council was settling in after its period in administration.
I said that I felt people in the City of Logan were looking for positive “intent” by their council to effectively manage growth.
Administrators in a number of councils have put strict processes in place to negate any possibility of misconduct, or in worst-case scenarios, corruption.
These processes can become an excuse to slow progress – not necessarily by councillors, rather the bureaucrats who are there to advise them.
Residents should be looking for “intent” by councillors to genuinely engage their communities in decision-making processes, and to listen to the ideas around them. In the past, councils have been found guilty of box-ticking their way through public consultation phases.
Residents should be looking for “intent” by councillors to debate issues of importance in a transparent and public forum. In the past, councils have been guilty of over-using “commercial in confidence” as a mechanism to shut out the public, particularly if council is divided on a particular issue.
If re-election becomes the motivation for process-related and decision making policies, the “intent” becomes poor, and the system breaks down.
In my humble view, so far so good.
