It was interesting to read of the decision by Strathbogie Shire Council to appoint a local contractor for its waste collection services, having taken part in the same process for these services as Greater Shepparton City Council.
Strathbogie’s decision appears founded in the admirable aims to “encourage regional investment in people, sustainable infrastructure and innovative services” and to build “local service provider capability, resilience, and supplier diversity”.
This is a notion that seems beyond the decision-making capacity of our current council executive, which we trust to lead our community.
While we read of Cleanaway (the contractor recommended by the council executive) being embroiled in an industrial dispute with its staff and unable to deliver on its contractual obligations with Hobsons Bay City Council, we should note that just five short months ago Foott Waste (the local contractor overlooked for the contract) was out in our community donating the time of its staff and its waste bins to the flood recovery effort.
This was but one example of many contributions Foott Waste quietly makes to our community, without ever seeking payment or recognition.
The contrast is astonishing, yet one that appears beyond the ability of our current council executive to appreciate.
One wonders if the council executive recognises the value local organisations bring to our community — their people who sit on our region’s school committees, volunteer their time to our local sporting clubs, purchase their cars and groceries in our towns, and many other similar community-minded contributions.
Furthermore, these contracts are intended to allow successful operators to make a reasonable profit. One would anticipate that a locally headquartered company would spend that profit locally. A contract awarded to a national company ensures almost zero prospect of that happening.
Waste management is an area needing investment, innovation and capacity to trial new methods if we are to turn waste into the resource most experts are predicting it can be. Foott Waste already demonstrates high levels of its own investment into innovation in waste management. For example, it sorts skip bin waste from building sites and recycles over 80 per cent of the content. Most other skip operators simply dump it in landfill.
The region has steadily lost ‘agency’ over the past 30 years, as locally headquartered companies have increasingly been taken over, sold or merged into national and even internationally headquartered companies.
Examples include SPC, Bonlac, Tatura Milk, Phillips Transport, Murray Goulburn, Kraft Strathmerton and many others that no longer have chief executives, senior management or major decision-makers living or spending locally.
It is our region and its people that provide the profit. We have no say or influence, however, in how or even if these companies contribute any of the profit back to the community that generates the profit. In simple terms, profits are exported out of our community.
The accounts of organisations from outside our region finding our council helpful — while local organisations encounter mounting difficulty when dealing with council on similar matters — are incredibly disappointing for our community. Instead of encouraging that regional investment in people and services, and building on that local service provider capability as Strathbogie has, our council executive appears increasingly besotted by the promise of shiny new toys and outside appointments.
Justification for these decisions is a cavalcade of weasel words that obscure an inability to both work with local business and to make nuanced decisions requiring leadership based on good advice. Instead, we have a leadership culture that would prefer to abdicate its responsibility for decision-making to a consultant’s report.
One wonders if this culture stems from a succession of poor decisions, or a lack of insight into — and appreciation of — the value that local organisations deliver. In any case, our community is being poorly served.
Our elected councillors play an important role as the voice representing our community, as well as scrutinising the decision-making of council executive. Their wise decision to defer awarding the contract is to be commended.
Many good decisions are being made by the executive, which are in turn supported by our councillors. Our community is the beneficiary when this occurs; the many successful events hosted by our city being obvious examples.
Regrettably, on matters involving planning or those of commercial nature, our community is too often being subjected to poor decision-making by our council executive, which comes at great cost to our community in both tangible and (often) intangible future benefits.
Our elected representatives should be congratulated on their leadership in calling a pause to the recommendation on waste collection services. Hopefully a review by councillors may result in a wise decision to “invest” locally to “encourage regional investment in people, sustainable infrastructure and innovative services” and to build “local service provider capability, resilience, and supplier diversity”, as all of the Hume councils agreed they should do.
Further, I urge all concerned citizens to push strongly for an expectation from council when awarding contracts to give preference to local appropriately credentialed companies that demonstrate capacity, experience and willingness to invest in innovation and sustainability.
Jim O’Connor, Shepparton