Edited remarks by Professor John Cole in closing the Western Queensland Alliance of Councils Annual Assembly (2023), Winton Shire Hall, 75 Vindex Street, Winton, 1:15 pm Thursday 29 September 2023.
“Know the way, Go the way, Show the way.”
Thank you, Mayor Andrew Martin, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
When Greg Hoffman first spoke to me about participating in this year’s WQAC Assembly, he suggested I come along and observe and provide a “balcony view” about proceedings, drawing out some of the key themes and debates and possibly suggesting areas for further focus in future.
I’ve been here for nearly three days listening closely to the discussions, looking for the content patterns, and distilling the themes that emerge in a local government conference in a part of the world for which I have great affection.
My job now is to give you some of the takeaways I gathered from proceedings with some observations and reflections that might help in the follow up.
I have worked with western Queensland communities going back to 2014 when I first engaged with RAPAD.
I remember coming out to Longreach as an ambassador for the Queensland Plan to speak and give a presentation to the mayors.
At that first meeting, I recall speaking to the mayors about thinking and planning for the long-term future of central western Queensland and how at the height of the drought we could develop a vision that would frame a positive pathway for the region and engage the community through their involvement.
The emphasis was very much on engaging RAPAD’s communities and mobilising the interest and resources of its people, including especially its young people.
Before I get into the detail of the conference let me mention just a few of the standout comments I’ve heard over the past few days.
David Elliott and the value of compelling vision
It’s very rarely do I stop in my tracks because I’ve heard something outstanding.
But up at the Age of Dinosaurs Museum the other night, and I think most of you that were there with me, its owner and developer, David Elliott articulated a compelling vision for the future when speaking of how he saw the museum becoming over time an international centrepiece in regional Australia.
He plans a facility that will document and exhibit the evolution of life on this planet over 4 billion years.
It would be a museum and centre of excellence out here in Winton that would not only be of state and national significance, but it would also be something attracting and interesting people from all over the world.
And you know, I thought about that, and the magnitude of his vision struck me. It is thinking big.
But that’s the type of thinking we need when we look for great organising concepts for the future of western Queensland and you know.
It’s compelling because he has a track record of achievement already.
David Elliott hasn’t done it alone, of course. I know the Shire of Winton, the State Government and others have been involved, particularly local volunteers.
But it shows you what can be achieved when there is clear vision, local determination, and resourcefulness.
So how we think, when approaching the challenges and opportunities of the future of western Queensland, really matters.
How we think will be a key theme running through my commentary today on matters short and long term.
David Elliott reminded us that you can do the incremental stuff one step at the time.
David Elliott explaining his vision for the Age of Dinosaurs Museum to WQAC delegates and Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers.
Look how they physically removed and transported the Dinosaur Stampede footprints from a site 80 kilometres away and re-established it in its own world class facility at the museum.
David showed all the improvisation of a farmer, as far as I’m concerned.
He’s established a world class museum with $8 million.
His example shows there’s something to be said for being close to the ground and the balance sheet.
Mayor Rick Britton and the essential value of clear systems strategy
The second comment I wish to mention reminds us about the importance of having a clear and focused strategy for succeeding in this part of the world and it’s something Rick Britton said to me when we were talking about the sustainability of the pastoral industry in western Queensland.
Rick said his father told him there were three vital ingredients for surviving and succeeding in the pastoral business – cash, grass and cattle.
Things were best when you had all three and you could get by with two of the three, but you couldn’t with just one.
To me, Rick’s father was saying that vision is not enough for strategy to succeed, you have to know and manage the key ingredients and their interactions. Call it systems thinking at the enterprise level.
Mayor Jane McNamara and the value of including newcomers
The third comment I wish to call out was Jane McNamara reminding us of a very important cultural ingredient for successful welcoming communities when she said “you become a local the moment you step onto a committee”.
I thought that was gold as a succinct summary of what we should look for, recognise, and celebrate when newcomers join our communities.
As leaders I suggest you should make that point clearer to people that when newcomers do come to our regions and want to become part of our communities, it is incumbent on all of us to make them feel welcome and their involvement appreciated.
I’ll take the type of person who jumps in and helps any day in preference to those who think just living somewhere gives them special entitlement.
You become a local the moment you step onto a committee.
Director General Chris Sarra and the value of government working with people
The other comment that resonated with me here on the balcony was made by the State Government’s DAF Director General, Chris Sarra, whose wisdom I first noticed many years ago when he was an innovative school principal at Cherbourg.
In his remarks to the Assembly, he provided a mantra for government at all levels and for people in public life in his statement that he thought government worked best when it did things with people, not to people.
He added that working with people brings them along and that complexities are best resolved in Vindex Street not in George Street.
I recall saying something similar when talking to the RAPAD Mayors in 2014.
Don’t look to George Street or Canberra to define the future of central western Queensland. That definition, that vision must start here. It must be from the ground up.
There’s so much work to do and a lot of the issues we’ve talked about over these past few days cannot be addressed without fully involving the community and getting buy in from them.
If you as leaders are going to have any traction and make any progress across a range of things the folks must be with you.
Beyond accountability and transparency, fiscally restrained local government must lead with ideas and detailed policy work
The past two days have also prompted some balcony reflections on the nature and essential dilemmas of local government.
You are in fact a bit of a hybrid creature. On the one hand, you are the level of government closest to the community and the people in this room are the local leaders and doers, the people that make things happen in your part of the world.
But as institution you sometimes sound almost like an extension of a state government department, give your reliance on Federal and State funding, the vertical fiscal imbalance between the levels of government, and the ubiquitous State laws and regulations which define your operating ambit.
Funding determines the financial viability of the local government sector and if ever there was a reminder of the great vertical fiscal imbalance it was shown yesterday by Local Government Grants Commission Chair Paul Bell in his reference to some bush Councils having to make do with as little as $10 million annually.
Along with funding we heard much, too, about accountability and information flows between levels of government.
Starting with the Treasurer we were told about the need for transparency in funding decisions, a point reiterated by Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Local Government.
Well, of course, transparency and accountability should be a two-way process and there were invitations from both Federal and State Ministers for proposals that aligned with the policy and overall strategy.
So, the message is never look a gift horse in the mouth.
The more organised and prepared the WQAC is in policy and program development, the better prepared your will be in arguing your case to other levels of government.
This all happens in the context of the Australian Federation which encompasses a large country, but which is immensely different across its cities and regions.
It is a point that emerges from the reality of your regional alliance and collaboration spanning an area larger than France and Germany, covering two thirds of Queensland, but with just one percent of its population – each one of which three or four times average per capita GDP.
It’s a point that certainly resonated with the Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers when reminded of it over dinner with the Mayors on Tuesday evening.
WQAC Councils cover two-thirds of the Queensland landscape, an area as large as Western Europe with a population of just 67,000 people.
In return, I think we can confidently conclude that he signalled this year’s $3.1 billion in Financial Assistance Grants to local government, notwithstanding, the formula for determining the quantum is not going to revert to 1% any time soon.
Interestingly, even though the Treasurer was doing his bush blitz yesterday, the most important federal announcement made yesterday potentially impacting this region in the longer term was the announcement by the defence minister that more components of the army were moving to northern Australia.
From the balcony, I thought it was a lost opportunity for the Assembly having the Treasurer share a session with three other panel members who could well have contributed to the proceedings afterwards.
It’s not every day that you get someone so crucial to economic and national policy in the room with you.
A panel session diluted the opportunity to press the Treasurer on economic and fiscal policies and put forward crowd sourced propositions relevant to western Queensland in the longer term, not just today.
Escaping the confines of the inter-governmental process to find the best way to the requires a different way of thinking
A feature of this Assembly, like many conferences focussed on development issues, was the competition for focus between short and long-term thinking and the need to ensure there is alignment between what we do today and the needs of tomorrow.
The conference theme, “Know the way, Go the way, Show the way “suggests the notion of a road map for our region that together we might plot, starting from here, moving forward together.
A useful roadmap would be grounded in long term vision and would have a clear strategy.
The challenge at gatherings like this is to get above the here and now.
Much of the discussion these past few days has been about the process of intergovernmental relations and while of course there has been a focus too on the people of western Queensland, much of that focus has been on the communities as they are, not as they might be.
I think one of the challenges we have is that we find it very easy to be in the today stuff.
It’s harder to do the tomorrow stuff and particularly the stuff beyond tomorrow.
If we take as an example the assessment of long-term climate risk to the region out to say 2100, it will be a mix of modelling and science-based observation and knowledge, but requiring too a different kind of thinking, one that can accommodate the unexpected, the directly challenging to everything we know, the non-linear, and the unimaginable.
Now that kind of thinking is not something that people elected to government at any level have much luxury in indulging themselves, because your accountability and we’ve heard that word a few times over the past two days is very short.
People expect you to do things for them now and in the next little while, and it’s hard to create the space to get that long term thinking happening, importantly with your community engaged in it too.
But if the regional roadmap is to have any purpose and value, such engagement in the long term is essential.
Roadmaps and targets present their own risks
Because the question I have for you is where does your regional road map take you to?
And why should your people want to go there?
Associate Professor Simon Smart’s presentation this morning on the magnitude of investment, infrastructure construction, and national development if net zero by 2050 is to be achieved was a fairly confronting and challenging a presentation.
The team from the national Net Zero Project whose report was released back in July this year are highly expert and credible and they are arguing that if we are serious about the target then the work to be done will have to be bigger, broader, and smarter than what is currently underway.
There are risks in setting targets including unintended consequences and perverse outcomes.
At current rates of development toward Net Zero, we cannot be confident of reaching it until beyond 2100.
If we are to set targets, there must be a strategy for their achievement.
The Net Zero Transition provides a good reminder of the challenges of launching major change and development strategies without some of the key details pegged down.
Achieving net zero demands an enormous energy transition in a relatively short space of time involving infrastructure investment equivalent to four contemporary Australian economies.
That’s the spending requirement behind the target.
So, reconfiguring our energy system between now and 2050 is a big deal, much bigger than is being communicated by the Federal and State Governments, more difficult, costly and of a magnitude that will the challenge the country to step up a gear or two.
That said, one can reasonably ask why are we doing it or even attempting it?
Let’s get clear about climate change
And we’re doing it, of course, because there’s something called climate change.
Let’s get beyond the euphemisms and political code words.
The climate is changing. It is happening, I’ll put it out there.
We don’t help ourselves or our communities by avoiding the discussion or denying the issue.
Because while the subject of climate change is controversial, by now it should be beyond politics.
And it’s not, because, sadly, this vital issue has become caught up in all the other cultural arguments dominating our politics.
But it is a scientific reality. And anyone in this room who knows anything about landscapes and natural systems knows what’s happening.
The thought occurred to me this morning when Andrew Roach recalled the first cyclone passing over Norfolk Island recently.
That remark made in passing about local government governance could also have been a reminder of the threat of climate change and the uncertainties and changes that are happening in the world.
The point is not to get all “doom and gloom” about it or get caught up in the politics.
Addressing climate change responsibly actually requires you to get on your front foot and start thinking about how to build and manage our futures in the reality of uncertainty and change.
We’ve talked a little bit about the issue at this assembly, but I don’t think we talked enough about it.
With such an important and defining risk, we need to get much more real and direct in our communication and action.
On a lot of things, there is no lack of clarity or reality about the way we discuss and act on the issues.
But with climate change and its impacts and risks for our regions there’s seems to be some background static impeding open, constructive, and effective dialogue and action.
We need to challenge that and do more ground up work in that space.
Regions need more than symbolic action
I got a sense particularly from some of our federal and state speakers that their announced actions were full of symbolism, affirming commitment and interest in remote and regional Queensland.
But really when you look at the substance it was more planning, more intention into the future through existing intergovernmental processes – all accompanied with a clearly declared belief in the importance of the regions.
There’s a lot of planning but planning is wasted if it ends in symbolic action.
Greg Hoffman’s discussion about possible housing solutions for western Queensland was a different discussion because he spoke about a vital housing initiative that has been obviously generated with evidence and engagement with communities.
Institutional innovation and collaboration create solutions for housing people
Nothing is more vital to facilitating regional development than housing for people, especially newcomers and people wanting employment locally.
Local business has enough difficulty in attracting people and when they get interest, often there’s no place to house them.
We know the difficulties regional and remote Australians have securing loans for housing and the bank valuation methodologies that actively discourage investment.
The housing initiative Greg Hoffman outlined yesterday was developed against that backdrop.
Queensland’s housing minister Megan Scanlon is not going to solve the housing challenges of the western communities of Queensland.
That is not going to happen, because your communities are competing with a host of other places with more people and votes.
If there is to be an effective achievable housing strategy for western Queensland, you will have to prepare it and implement it – lead the process.
The State Government can contribute, but George Street will better contribute when there’s a template to which they can contribute – as will be the case, too with federal funding.
In other words, the conceptualising and organisation of key initiatives framing your future must come from the ground up.
To enable regional Australia, we need regionally developed housing strategies and institutional innovation that does more, quicker, more efficiently, and with less risk.
So aggregating your Council-owned housing into a single housing entity, working together and with funding agencies like QTC, creating a capital base and thinking and acting strategically sufficient to attract the interest of an experienced private not-for-profit partner like CHP potentially – to my mind, that makes a lot of sense.
The WQAC housing proposal shows too the importance of regional self-reliance in generating ideas and strategies and investable propositions to attract partnerships and potentially support from other levels of government.
Resilience is more than a buzzword – it’s an embracing strategy
Ensuring adequate and attractive housing for people is a crucial plank in ensuring regional resilience right now, right across Australia.
Self-organisation, situational awareness, local initiative, and mobilisation – these are key principles of resilience, and they matter very much.
I acknowledge that some people are beginning to see “resilience” as a buzzword and are being turned off by its usage, but I use it unapologetically because it remains the great operating concept for communities like those found in western Queensland.
Yes, it is occasionally used patronisingly, particularly by city-based politicians talking about country people being “resilient”, as if it is the standard compliment to be offered when starting a speech.
But resilient regions, resilient communities are successful and are centrally involved in building their own futures.
The housing proposal is an example of WQAC initiating institutional innovation – creating scale in capital and capacity, leveraging taxation and other sources of investment incentive, drawing on local inputs, constraining costs as much as possible and drawing on all possible sources of funding – including the Housing Australia Future Fund.
It’s resilience in action because it’s showing that you are mobilising your resources, you’ve organised yourselves, you’ve got a strategy that is informed by robust modelling and evidence, resulting in a rigorous investment proposition.
It’s powerful stuff with a lot more detail than what we heard from the Treasurer yesterday who restricted himself to headline references to the Jobs White Paper with its 90 recommendations for regional Australia.
Treasurer painted the big picture which will define the future playing field for Australia
In his speech Jim Chalmers reminded us how most urban Australians see regional and rural parts and listening to him I was reminded of the observation by Professor Andrew Beer at the University of South Australia.
Beer points out that Australia is the only country where the term “regional” refers not specifically to regions but more generally to anything outside the major metropolitan centres.
We are a nation of two peoples – those who live in the cities and those who live in regions.
And the Treasurer reminded us too that regional people are part of Australia’s “national identity” and that other Australians admire regional people for their for “consistency and constancy”.
Some might argue that in many respects some of the charismatic elements of the so-called regional Australia are somewhat mythical, but I am not going to knock it particularly if it results in more tourists and visitors spending in local economies.
The Treasurer made passing mention of the Albanese Government’s local government agenda but seemed most engaged when talking about megatrends and the five “big shifts.”
These shifts which are of global magnitude ultimately shape the playing field for all of us. He outlined:
- the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables
- the technological shift from IT to AI
- the ageing of the people and the rise of the caring industries
- the shift within industries to advanced manufacturing and services, and
- the economic and cultural shift from globalisation to fragmentation.
Noting the current geo-political instability, the Treasurer affirmed the importance of maintaining our trading relationships while diversifying our export markets overseas.
Sensibly, I thought, he spoke of de-risking our supply chains without decoupling the close linkages Australia has with crucial trading partners.
The Treasurer indicated that it was a government priority to make it easier for Australians to adapt and adopt new technology, pointing to the productivity and competitiveness benefits enjoyed by a technologically capable and creative country.
Now the tectonic shifts highlighted by the Treasurer are important for all Australians including right here in Western Queensland.
The infrastructure investment in the energy transition presents great development opportunities for the regions represented here today and while we have witnessed over recent decades the transformative impacts of digital technology and communications, the potential of AI is even potentially far more impacting.
We are reminded too that this part of Australia as with other parts of northern Australia is becoming more important in our defence and security thinking and I expect that the defence security discussion will have an impact here in the longer term.
Away from the coast, inland regions are safer and more secure. It’s a feature both in climate and defence terms I commend to your future thinking.
Moving on from the Treasurer, the other critical point offered by our federal guests was that by Senator Chisholm regarding the role of education and the government’s further investment in university centres in regional Australia.
A systems approach to regional development is built on the foundation of knowledge
Knowledge and understanding are essentially in shaping the situational awareness we need for our communities to build their own resilience strategies and future opportunities.
Whether it be in fields as diverse as data management and governance systems for good local government administration, enabling communities to diversify and develop their local economies, or helping people live healthier lives, education, skills and human diversity are vital.
When we set up the Institute for Resilient Regions at the University of Southern Queensland, we did so knowing that there were three main areas that would be the focus of our research and extension activities – regional economic development, the health and well-being of regional Australians, and the skills and adaptive capacities of regional communities.
At the most general level, the health and well-being of regional Australians is not as good as in urban Australia with a higher incidence of co-morbid diseases and a shorter survival span for cancer.
Unsurprisingly, an area we looked at closely was the lived experience of regional Queenslanders in the health system, particularly those travelling for treatment and having to navigate the complexities of a health bureaucracy while being sick away from home.
While health care is not technically a function of local government, it is a function of community interest and support.
And despite your best efforts to not assume more unfunded responsibility from State and Federal levels, there will be many times when people look to you more as a community leader than as Mayor or Councillor.
Community development is at the heart of a regional “succession” strategy
So, the question becomes in the local community setting, what’s the best action for a local government to take beyond the formal province of its charter and accountability?
How much authority or capacity might be loaned or leveraged from the local government sector to community initiatives that mobilise social capital and other non-governmental resources on issues like public health and well-being?
Already in western Queensland we see the ubiquitous presence of local government in supporting, mobilising and facilitating initiatives way beyond its formal remit.
Rachel Webster pointed to chronic disease in the regional population as something WQAC could not ignore with a diabetes death rate twice that of the cities and 38% of kids in western Queensland being obese or over-weight.
This is a cohort that is still largely at school and hopefully one day will be the leaders attending an assembly like this.
So while the health of our young people might not technically be a responsibility of local government, in our strategies for renewal it becomes very important to proactively involve local young people in civic and community affairs to provide a sense of belonging and opportunity.
That means doing everything also to help those in the community tasked with promoting better health and healthy living through schools, education, local sports and amenities enabling better health for our young people.
Yesterday we had wonderful examples up here in Sam Fryer and Beatrice Todd, young people contributing to their communities in Hughenden and Cunnamulla, who reminded us that young healthy educated people are essential to the sustainability and vitality of a region.
Both pointed to health care, education, and housing as critical challenges inhibiting younger people moving to or returning to regional centres.
If regional western Queensland is to have a succession strategy for the next generation, these three factors must remain essential priorities – and yet technically they are not core responsibilities for local government.
But we know with successful regional development more times than not we will find at its core the vital ingredients of good community development.
As a highly educated and skilled young woman from Italy, Beatrice Todd, highlighted too the importance of communities actively welcoming and supporting newcomers, particularly those without family, so that social and physical isolation does not become an issue.
It struck me that when we talk about innovation, having a welcoming community and an effective strategy for integrating newcomers and attracting people is just as important as any other component of regional development.
Building the future here requires long-term thinking and a leadership compass point
Over these past few days there has been much talk about local government as the so called third tier of government and this was reflected in the way representatives from the Queensland Government especially have been questioned as delegates sought clarification about State policies and programs in play right now.
The focus is the here and now and its very short term.
The need for longer term focus and more attention to strategy is something I have picked up more in informal discussions on the sidelines than has been heard in the formal proceedings.
And yet as we observed in the penultimate session, what’s the point of having a robust economic future if the public health of the population is poor.
Such observations, to my mind at least, bring us back to the ‘why’ question.
Why are we here at this assembly and what are we trying to achieve as delegates and collectively as the western alliance of councils?
Can I suggest that your leadership compass point for western Queensland is that you want to see a better future, investment and jobs, infrastructure, and thriving communities?
It’s because you care about the people that matter, your families, neighbours, and communities.
And so as local government leaders, the need is to deliver short term but also, importantly, not ignore the longer-term issues and opportunities.
Going back to that charismatic image of the hardy regional Australian, I think we can sometimes present too light an image of the importance of things like education, skills, and health in shaping our regional realities.
There is no reason why regional leaders should not demand an equitable focus by Federal and State Governments in creating opportunities through university centres, local training, and better health care.
Never sell yourselves short by expecting less.
Narrowing the urban-regional divide in quality of essential services must remain an ongoing preoccupation here because it is possible to achieve progress.
Digital connectivity is one example, because while there is still much to be done, in Augathella they have faster Internet speeds than I have in Brisbane.
And while many enhancements to regional economy and life will be enabled through technology, people living in remote communities still need facilities for social engagement and interaction in life experiences such as education – which makes those university centres vital community functions.
In closing, let me return briefly to the Treasurer’s opening remarks when he pointed to this region’s strong identity as the Outback.
Identity, leadership, and the people who matter most
You do have a strong identity, but my message is don’t let your identity get in the way of progress or action by limiting the options and different pathways your community might travel.
Leadership is more than projecting an identity or image of what we want people to believe or see.
Effective leadership also certainly goes beyond good systems and process too, which while so important to good government and inter-governmental cooperation, in itself will not bring your community along or live up to the challenge of change.
Leading your communities effectively through the uncertainties and changes ahead requires a willingness on your part as leaders to be part of the change – learn, adapt, move on.
There’s no point dying in the ditch about things you cannot control or influence.
You will do yourself and your community a disservice if you ignore, downplay or pass off to others responsibility for dealing with the major changes and shifts occurring in the world including your part of it.
An important element of leadership in these challenging times is ensuring the flow of information to your communities to enable informed civic discussion and more informed self-organisation by crucial local players.
The scope of local government leadership is determined ultimately by the remit from your electors and an informed and enabled citizenry is more likely to be up to the challenges of further regional development.
As leaders you will succeed best when you remember your regions are systems – economic, social, and ecological – and that the parts and their interaction – like the example of health and work – are crucial to shaping the success of your ventures and quality of life here into the future.
So much of government and public policy and activity in Australia is top-down generated and delivered, but I will always argue for the alternative – the grass-roots up, the locally conceived and initiated ahead of the bureaucratic plan from the capital city.
The stuff that really matters comes from the bottom up.
Greg Hoffman’s proposed housing venture is an example or what I am talking about as is Andrew Martin’s visionary woollen mill for Blackall.
I spent ten years in the state government working on all kinds of innovation, and I am here to tell you the best ideas always walked in off the street.
As local governments and leaders in your regions you are entitled to be part of the discussion right from the start.
The future will not be found in the rear-vision mirror
The logic and focus of this conference and its platform have been couched against this reality of unending, uneven, and fast paced change.
The mantra “local initiative, regional coordination, and state facilitation” is always a good place to start with the bigger ideas and projects.
The way you think matters, especially in distinguishing between long term and short term, working collaboratively, and seeking inspiration.
You won’t find the future by looking to the past, it’s like driving a car by looking in the rear-vision mirror.
Accept that the future will be different, that there are many uncertainties and unknowns, and that outliers and things we don’t know about will have an impact on our future, possibly as much if not more than the things we know about.
Resilience thinking enables you to live with that while planning for and embracing the future optimistically, because if you are building resilient regions, it means you are always building your capacity to change, to lead adaption and to seize opportunities for innovation.
Resilient regions mean dealing with the shocks, disruptions and disasters on terms set by your prepared capacity, not having the future defined for you as a limping survivor.
Yes, there will be difficult choices to be made but when your community has its eyes open, heads up and not in the sand, and ready to have a go, then you will know you are succeeding as a leader.
It follows that the WQAC roadmap for “Know the way, Go the way, Show the way” must always be about working together, working with others, but most importantly working side by side with your communities, building a future together that will happen here in western Queensland and not somewhere else.
Thank you.
Professor John Cole 