February 11th, 2010
Community Input: A part of good governance.
The Local Government Act 1993 predominantly sets out what Local Government is to do, how some things are to be done, and the responsibilities of various stakeholders.
For example:
CHAPTER 2 – WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF THIS ACT?
CHAPTER 3 – WHAT IS A COUNCIL’S CHARTER?
CHAPTER 4 – HOW CAN THE COMMUNITY INFLUENCE WHAT A COUNCIL DOES?
Chapter 4 notes as follows from the LGA web site “Under this Chapter, meetings of the council and its committees are required, as a general rule, to be open to the public.
The Chapter provides for public access to information held by councils. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Donella's Desk | No Comments »
January 31st, 2010
Evans Head goes to Ballina
I attended a meeting of Ballina Shire Council on Thursday, its first meeting for 2010. What a pleasure!
The venue was good with gallery seats not far from the councillor table. It was a meeting ‘in-the- round’ with some of the intimacy of a Padua theatre as the gallery seats were higher than the councillors’ table. You felt as if you were part of the meeting, not isolated in some public gallery far away from the action, as is the case with the Richmond Valley Council Chambers layout where there is, sadly, a barrier between the public and councillors, making it very much a ‘them-and-us’ arrangement.
While the public part of the meeting went from 9am until 4:30 with a 40-minute lunch break and 20 minutes for morning tea, a long day to sit and listen, it was well worth the effort. After 12 years of attendance at Richmond River Shire Council meetings and the amalgamated Richmond Valley Council it was refreshing to see a well run meeting where the level of debate was an order of magnitude better than you will ever see at Richmond Valley Council meetings. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Valley Watchdog | No Comments »
January 24th, 2010
Return of the Dog
Since the demise of the Richmond River Sun last year there’s been no vehicle to put a regular ‘Valley Watchdog’ column to the people of the Richmond Valley Council area and it looks as if this is not about to change. The Sun is not about to come up tomorrow (with apologies to the philosopher David Hume).
Judging by the feedback (heavy pestering is closer to the mark!!) from a number of readers it’s time to resurrect the Valley Watchdog.
Quite apart from the pestering there is, in my view, a real need for some critical reporting on the activities of local, state and federal governments.
The popular media frequently serves up the spin-doctored or ‘sexed up’ (thank you Tony Blair) press releases of government without critical comment or review. Often the article is just a ‘cut and paste’ from the release with appropriate quotes inserted to make it look as it there has been a genuine interview when it is not so. The quotes are in the release. Not a word is exchanged over the phone or face-to-face. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Valley Watchdog | 3 Comments »
Community Input: A part of good governance.