She is doing what she wishes she had done in 1991. She is organising family carers into a political party. The sleeping giant is waking: http://www.peoplepower.org.au.
Unlike the radicals of the 1960s and 1970s who began with “Power to the People” and ended up in managers’ offices, Dell Stagg aims to empower people like herself without any hint of personal ambition or careerism. Those things have passed her by.
If empowerment is the objective, Dell’s steering committee (which is currently gathering members for federal registration) is the real deal. Its statement of Core Principles contains a radicalism that would embarrass the New Left and economic rationalists alike:
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Government and public policy should be built around:
- Person-centred arrangements (services and institutions should be tailored to meet the personalized needs of individuals and their families - the “one size fits all” model belongs in the dustbin of history)
- Empowerment of persons and their families (transferring resources and power to persons, their families and their representatives, enabling them to grow in community and capacity, not isolation and powerlessness)
- Choice (individualised funding arrangements should become the norm throughout social and community services so that persons and their families can build the lives they want)
- Subsidiarity (authority should be devolved to the lowest level of practical decision-making)
This year’s federal election will come and go. It is a highly theatrical clash between the two establishments in our country – the establishment of the Right (the big end of town, corporate power) and the establishment of the Left (public sector bureaucrats, trade unions, and the cultural elite).
It is the election after this one that many family carers are looking forward to.
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About the Author
Vern Hughes is Secretary of the National Federation of Parents Families and Carers and Director of the Centre for Civil Society and has been Australia's leading advocate for civil society over a 20-year period. He has been a writer, practitioner and networker in social enterprise, church, community, disability and co-operative movements. He is a former Executive Officer of South Kingsville Health Services Co-operative (Australia's only community-owned primary health care centre), a former Director of Hotham Mission in the Uniting Church, the founder of the Social Entrepreneurs Network, and a former Director of the Co-operative Federation of Victoria. He is also a writer and columnist on civil society, social policy and political reform issues.
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