Here's A Vote That Will Affect Your Life
The Age
Saturday November 8, 2008
OVER the next week, ballot papers will be sent out for local government elections, and you'll have the chance to cast a vote to determine who will represent your neighbourhood over the next four years.
Occasionally, local government councillors conduct themselves in ways that make it hard to take them seriously. In my first year on the council in Greater Dandenong, one councillor had the seating arrangements adjusted because she didn't like the person she was sitting next to. Leaks of closed-door discussions often appeared in the papers. Occasionally, our meetings degenerated into shambolic sessions of finger pointing and name calling.But then, we also reformed the delivery of home and personal care to older, disabled and vulnerable people, creating the best service in the state. We built a performing arts centre for the outer south-east. We invested in quality housing, worked to rejuvenate the Dandenong city centre, and reduced crime through community safety initiatives.We worked hard as a diverse, dynamic - though imperfect - team.Casting your vote isn't a decision you should take lightly. Victorian local councillors probably wield more power than you realise. With budgets of tens of millions of dollars, councils provide social services, help local businesses and are critical partners in major infrastructure projects. They balance the need for housing, industrial areas, and open space around your suburb. They run community health centres, swimming pools, libraries and sporting grounds. They provide immunisation and child care.Even when the stakes are relatively low, local government is responsible for issues that affect your day to day happiness. The state of your park, whether your street is well lit, the quality of footpaths, the support for your sporting club. Small issues, that have a real impact on quality of life.In determining whether your local council does these jobs well, the person you elect as your representative really matters. Your local councillor will never sit on a back bench. Local government in Victoria is structured so that from day one, each councillor shares equal power over council decisions. On every vote, for four years, the voice of your local representative is one of a handful that will determine local outcomes.If you choose your representative well, your councillor will remain closer to you than your state or federal MP can. Local government is built to be responsive to individual and local needs. In part, this is a matter of arithmetic: in most council wards, you are one of a few thousand voters rather than one of 100,000 in a state or federal electorate. The nature of the issues also lends itself to grassroots engagement. It's not easy for every constituent to participate in debates about foreign affairs, but when it comes to what's happening in your street, you really do know better than anyone. Just by virtue of where you live, you are an expert in most issues coming before council.Despite this, many Victorians choose not to engage with local government because they don't like what they see when they look at their council. Admittedly, some councils provide fodder for tabloid exposes. But throwing your hands in the air and declaring the system a futile mess is the wrong response.It's when the caring, sensible people in a community disengage that local government makes the descent into vaudeville. Councils become dominated by fruitcakes and egomaniacs. Decision-making becomes arbitrary, debate discourteous. When it's not working, local government can really get ugly.But when it does work, local government is the rawest, most energetic, and dynamic form of democracy in Australia. Most Victorian councillors govern effective, responsive organisations. They are good people, who will spend hours dealing with a constituent's concern. They will remember your name, return your calls, and bring the issues that are important to you to the decision makers.This month, you get to decide which of these stark pictures resembles government in your neighbourhood. It's a chance to take responsibility for the quality of local democracy by investing an hour or two in talking to your neighbours, reading about the election and selecting the best candidate. That person really will affect your life - for better or worse - in the four years to come. -- Clare O'Neil is a Fulbright Scholar. She was a city councillor in the City of Greater Dandenong from 2003-2005 and was mayor in 2004, when she was 23 years old.
© 2008 The Age