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Is local government capable of responding?

By Robert Gibbons - posted Friday, 28 January 2011


the system beat me in that there is too much to do here to balance my own business requests. Must say after the (retail) decision there are not many in my circle who wish to focus on council issues. Whatever is done the system beats the individual and our day to day work still needs to be done. I think I have just joined the apathetic majority.

Maybe having long-term mayors is not such a good idea. Is it luck or good judgement that folk demonstrate when they vote for reformers like Soorley and Lerner?

How will Albanese make such situations work? Will he consult after more than a decade of consultations? Will he impose a decision on a state-owned facility fasomehow, and if so what would the cost of the sweetener be? What will other cities and regions think about that?

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To come back to the nub, no structure can be imposed on St Leonards, Hurstville, Bondi Beach or Newcastle that will enable federal collaboration. No amount of persuasion will salve historical wounds.

Floods and fire produce an esprit de corps that is rare to find in normal life, that is, in the absence of leadership. If Albanese and Australia are to succeed, it is not enough to only unite after the problem has become apparent, rather than inspire communities as Soorley, Lerner and earlier Australian leaders did.

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About the Author

Robert Gibbons started urban studies at Sydney University in 1971 and has done major studies of Sydney, Chicago, world cities' performance indicators, regional infrastructure financing, and urban history. He has published major pieces on the failure of trams in Sydney, on the "improvement generation" in Sydney, and has two books in readiness for publication, Thank God for the Plague, Sydney 1900 to 1912 and Sydney's Stumbles. He has been Exec Director Planning in NSW DOT, General Manager of Newcastle City, director of AIUS NSW and advisor to several premiers and senior ministers.

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