A case study in 'broken democracy': the Blue Mountains, NSW

The "remedy" is arguably along localism lines:

1. Legislate to increase local accountability, create misuse of public office penalties, and enforce skills in community engagement processes
2. Impose an independent audit bureau on councils that are in crisis, to separate managerial from community interests and help government to set outcome-based KPIs
3. Fund an independent regional policy and strategy unit, with budget for engagement.

Detroit was faced with earth-shaking unemployment due to the winding-down of car manufacture. The civic, business and community leaders said, put all our resources into a coordinated pool, use our retired people creatively, and focus on things we can do well. That is not yet working (and Baltimore is dealing with deep issues slowly) but is similar to Newcastle's recovery where excellent civic design and setting-up 8 industry clusters promoted appropriate replacement activities – and that has worked even though its civic governance remained dysfunctional.

In Britain's "vibrant" cities, as in Newcastle, did the people, acting locally, achieve the unexpected? In the Mountains there is a disconnect between resources and community, between parties and people, between community pain and Big Business resources. There is a need for genuine, disciplined Localism reforms to overcome institutional impediments. As Malcolm Turnbull put it in July 2014, "If you want anyone to change, you have to persuade them they have a problem. Then you have to explain the solution".

The current Mountains malaise can be replaced by State leadership and local reforms.