Submissions recently closed for the tender process to prepare Edward River Council’s Growth Strategy 2050.
Council says this strategy “will provide a clear blueprint for growth and investment in housing, industry, recreation, the arts and culture in a strategic and planned approach to manage growth to 2050”.
While we agree that a Growth Strategy is a worthwhile exercise, experience suggests it could be another waste of ratepayers’ money.
It is pointless having a strategy if it is not followed.
Take, for example, the ‘Our Region, Your Say’ community consultation report, a process in which more than 450 people across the Edward River Council area were involved.
While council has not disclosed the total cost of this undertaking, we suspect it was a considerable investment of ratepayers’ money.
The investment could be considered worth every cent if key recommendations were followed. Instead, they continue to be ignored and as a result the value of the report must unfortunately be questioned.
In the ‘Our Region, Your Say’ foreword, titled ‘A New Approach’, author Robbie Sefton stated: “The community is calling for courageous leadership and a clear way forward.
They want greater involvement in decisions and more information and communication about Council activities and priorities.
The participants were passionate and generally positive about the future, while taking the opportunity to raise some concerns and frustrations.
They could be justifiably aggrieved that not only has Edward River Council failed to make progress in these key areas of leadership and communication that were identified, it has in fact gone backwards.
Lack of leadership and failure to adequately communicate continue to be major issues that need to be addressed for a council that is at the crossroads.
It should take note of the strategic outcome underpinning its 2018-2030 Community Strategic Plan, which states an aim to be: “A community working together to achieve its potential”.
That is not what we have at present and for this the current council must take responsibility.
Instead we have a council that is almost bereft of the effective communication the community called for.
It does not want the respectful exchange of ideas and opinions that is vital for strong government at any level, in particular local government in a community of our size.
Leading the charge is CEO Phil Stone. He refuses to meet with anyone from the Pastoral Times because he did not like our reporting on a small number of council issues.
For someone in his position, that is a petty approach. How does he expect a respectful relationship that engenders positive communication of council activities with that attitude?
We also have councillors who are discouraged from expressing their opinions publicly, and were recently ‘reminded’ of the ERC media policy in what was seen as an attempt to gag our elected representatives.
Do they need to be reminded who elected them and who they are ultimately responsible to?
At the Pastoral Times, when we try to obtain information from council to ensure stories are balanced, it is difficult getting timely answers.
Deadlines are ignored and responses take longer than any media outlet would consider reasonable.
Yet if we publish without a council response, there are cries of ‘bias’ and ‘unfair reporting’.
It is just another example of council’s failure to understand what is required to adequately communicate with our community.
Our CEO needs a fresh approach, starting with an acceptance that at times there will be differing opinions on issues and activities, and opposing views should be respected.
Effectively, from the perspective of our reporting, it seems he wants it all to be favourable to council.
Too often, issues that may be controversial or present a different argument, including commentary from the public or elected representatives that does not meet his approval, is not well received.
That is not how communication and collaboration work in a strong democracy.
An adversarial approach is not the leadership culture our community needs, nor does it provide the ‘strong and courageous leadership’, as highlighted in the Sefton Report, which the community was seeking.
In addition to a reset in its communication, Edward River Council should also look to address shortcomings in leadership.
For example, at a public forum to discuss the budget and operational plan, when legitimate questions were asked in a respectful manner by local business leaders, the response from Mayor Peta Betts was to complain about negativity and leave the meeting.
That is not the level of leadership our community should expect.
When the mayor was soundly defeated in the March state election, after running what many considered a poor campaign with some basic mistakes, she complained about media bias, which was a bizarre and unfounded accusation.
Strong leaders take responsibility for their decisions and failings, rather than trying to lay blame.
So, what does the future hold for our council and its leaders?
At the Pastoral Times, our goal is always to work collaboratively with the plethora of organisations and individuals which make up this unique part of Australia to build a strong and prosperous future for us all.
Like many, we continue to be disappointed with the inability of Edward River Council to identify areas that could be improved and get proactive in addressing them.
Even the council’s staff are generally aware there are problems. In a survey last year, only 43 per cent of staff believed the future of Edward River Council was positive.
We wonder when our council will realise that change is needed.
Some councillors can see the problems which exist and are keen to have them resolved.
Others appear either reluctant to upset the status quo, or are too ensconced in a council ‘echo chamber’ to accept the obvious.
There is a view in some quarters that unless we see a fresh approach there could be ministerial questions and perhaps even intervention.
ERC’s performance has already been raised with the Minister for Local Government by Member for Murray Helen Dalton. Ministerial intervention is not what we want.
A better solution would be a council that started showing the leadership the community expects by acknowledging present problems and then genuinely collaborating with our community, including business leaders and the media, to start laying foundations for the positive future that those who participated in the Sefton Report are keen to see.
Only then will we be in a position to develop a Growth Strategy that can start setting us on a better path to 2050.