Letter from Ian (not Harvey!) Bryce
Dec 5 2006
Sir,
It is with a sense of deja vue
that I see Councillor Don
Smith is upto his old tricks again – or is it just that he wants to
repay the debt to his mentor, Aldous, for having him restored to the
Deputy position again. I vividly recollect when in the debate as to
numerical representation for the 2000 Council elections both he and then
Councillor Gazzard separately put to me a proposal to reduce the number of
Councillors to 6.
The argument was that Councillors
remuneration could be increased from $36,000 to about $50,000 and that
Councillors could be better resourced with personal electoral staff.
History shows that Smith was successful in getting Councillors the $80,000
plus they are now receiving. I wonder if we are also getting value for the
about $100,000 he is receiving in total from the public purse.
Frankly anyone who believes
that reducing the number of Councillors will mean a saving in expenditure
also believes in the tooth fairy. Smith is pushing for better resourcing
also – that will not come for free and I have only met rarely elected
officials who don’t want extra money.
The next absolute furphy is that
less Councillors will keep the State Government at bay from amalgamating
Sunshine Coast Councils. The Government will do what it wants – Beattie
is no shrinking violet – and the less Councillors to pension off the
easier it will be. Unfortunately I have an uneasy feeling that fact is
already known to some of our decision makers who probably see major roles
for themselves in a coastal council.
Then
there is the one from Mayor Aldous that the people he talks to think it a
good idea. That leaves the impression that he only talks to people of his
viewpoint or that he does not explain the ramifications properly.
Those
ramifications are pretty evident to any one involved in Local Government.
Firstly there is the electoral process. A multi member division is first
(and second) past the post voting. No preferences. Yes! you get one vote
but there are two candidates elected. Each divisional election becomes a
mini mayoral contest. These cost money – a mayoral contest costs more
than $30,000 these days so a cost for 3 divisions would be about $20,000.
per candidate. This means that only sitting councillors, political party
teams, or developer funded teams (or a combination of all three) can
afford to stand. Pity the poor independent. Then there will be no more
doorknocking – who can get round 20,000 electors – so TV and daily
newspapers will become the medium. Big cost there for anyone not in a team
plus the problem of
resourcing polling booths – especially in the hinterland – and getting
all the supporters active before and after the event. Don Aldous probably
has not suggested to his listeners that such a scheme means the certain
end of electing independents. Nor has he probably explained that the Mayor
has a casting vote as well as a primary vote. The next Caloundra Mayor
(many of us are hoping that the 1991 history will repeat itself and he
will be soundly thrashed at the next poll) has available the scenario that
the absence of one rusted on supporter from a Council meeting would mean
that even with only 2 supportive councillors and three against present
that the mayor would have his way on an issue. What power to have!
Perhaps
the saddest point is residents have given up caring how the Council treats
them. (The same also holds true for state and federal issues). Thus an
operative Council of 6 elected members like most of the current lot would
continue to be unable to discern issues, especially social and
environmental, delegate everything to staff, and survive as economic
rationalist mushrooms being fed the appropriate diet. Nothing will change.
Hopefully,
this proposed action, which some see as being just a putative action to
get rid of some Councillors who do not toe the Aldous/Storch line, will
fail and sanity will prevail. There is an underlying intent in Smith’s
motion to excise hinterland representation given the numbers game. That
would be a pity as over a long period of time independent observers have
agreed that most of the intellectual base of the Council has come from the
hinterland. Then again I am intrigued as to why this is being put forward
now when in the next term of Council there will be a need for strength and
effective decision capacity as the Caloundra Council absorbs the planning
and infrastructure development for another 100,000 residents which the
State Government has decided will be entering the city over the next 14
years – and most in the next 7. Bet the TWO DONNIES have not included
that in Caloundra Council’ s spinsheet.
Ian
Bryce
Councillor
1994 –2000,
Caloundra
City Council
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