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The numbers game

5/5/2022

13 Comments

 
Picture
Cartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak
​By Ali Wastie
 
WE KNOW the game. Politicians promise to govern for all Australians, but the reality is they care a lot more about you if you are lucky enough to live in one of the marginal seats which are their path to power.
 
They know it - and it has now become so obvious I reckon we all know it.
 
Now this is not a whinge about one particular party versus the other. It plays out across Australia in every election and is prosecuted by parties of every colour.
 
They’re all up to it.
​The Federal Government should focus on the big issues, not who gets a new pool or carpark, writes Bass Coast CEO Ali Wastie
 

 
Of course, this is fantastic if you live in a marginal seat where the road to your latest new sports stadium is paved in taxpayer-funded gold.
 
Here’s a fun fact. The northern Tasmanian seat of Bass, held with a slender 0.4 per cent margin by Liberal MP Bridget Archer, has 78,000 constituents and each of them has already been promised the equivalent of almost $6000 in spending commitments in the opening stages of this election campaign.
 
And there’s still another three weeks to go before election day on May 21.
 
Let’s compare that to Bass Coast within the federal seat of Monash, which is considered a safe seat for the Liberals.
 
I’ll declare my complete bias here as chief executive of the Bass Coast Shire Council, one of Victoria’s fastest growing regions.
 
Monash, an electorate with 112,000 voters, hasn’t had a single cent committed in this campaign. No new swimming pools, no new community centres, no recreation ovals, and you won’t find a single new federally funded carpark in Wonthaggi, Inverloch or Cowes.
 
What’s in a name? When it comes the federal seat of Bass versus Bass Coast it seems it means quite a lot when it comes to pre-election commitments.
 
Do we just roll our cynical eyes and shrug our collective shoulders hoping that one day some federal funding scraps might fall out of the pork barrel as it rolls on to the next marginal seat some backroom political party guru with a built-in pork barrel algorithm has targeted as a gettable seat?
 
You know the drill. Leaders in their shiny new high-vis vests and hard hats roll up and make their promises and commitments for the TV cameras, complete with some carefully selected nodders in the back of the shots.
 
Or do we say enough is enough?
 
It seems that to improve your community, it doesn’t matter whether you vote left or right but whether you vote marginal. 
 
I have been through enough election cycles to know the system is broken. There is a prevailing win-at-all-costs culture and sadly we have all become so desensitised to blatant pork barrelling that the question of whether there is a better way to spend billions of dollars is rarely asked.
 
There is a better way, but it requires a significant shift in behaviour and of course courageous leadership. It demands our leaders put the interests of community ahead of themselves. Pre-election campaigns have to end cash splashes for votes and dedicate their time and media attention to the contest of ideas; where policy is fiercely debated and performance of incumbents scrutinised.
 
We need a federal government focussed on issues of national interest and importance; climate change, reconciliation, foreign affairs, immigration, health and education.  Having a Federal Government concerned about which community receives funding to build a swimming pool or upgrade a football club is ridiculous.  It is not their domain.
 
Community infrastructure and federal funding for local services is absolutely essential but why not address the inequities of the current council rating system to deal with this shortfall?
Alternatively, the Federal Government could provide significant and equitable funding through the existing Financial Assistance Grants Program to local governments so they can direct resources appropriately on behalf of their communities. 
 
Local government is often referred to as the government closest to the communities it is there to serve. Legislation requires that councils engage with communities to develop key council plans and strategies. This means that when councils spend money on big ticket items like pools and community centres, they have been through significant community engagement and feasibility. Therefore, they are wanted and as a result far more likely to be used and to deliver the community benefit intended.
 
Most metropolitan and certainly regional councils can’t afford this infrastructure on their own. As a consequence, they are currently forced to play in a broken system bartering to secure pre-election commitments. Councils also spend significant time and money to make applications into Federal Government grant programs whose transparency and fairness has too often already been compromised because ministerial interference is also part of this game.
 
If all electorates were as close as Tasmania’s Bass or as safe as Victoria’s Bass Coast, there would be no pork barrelling. We must address the inherent problems in plain sight. If we don’t, the only change we will see at the next election … will be marginal
 
 Ali Wastie is chief executive officer of Bass Coast Shire Council.

13 Comments
Sally Conning
6/5/2022 02:01:41 pm

Well done Ali ..
but listening to the candidates at last wednesdays meet the candidates forum, i really dont think its a safe seat

Reply
Jeni Jobe
6/5/2022 03:50:05 pm

I agree we have three candidates in the group with real potential, we just need to spread the word and vote based on policies, tic toc Russell…

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
7/5/2022 11:14:57 am

Thank you for your enlightening article Ali Wastie.
Your article highlights the serious rorting issues that we have in Federal and State governments. Politicians are seen not be trusted in allocating funds.
So what can we do?
1. Establish a federal integrity commission with full powers to investigate any cases of suspected wrong doing and recommend prosecution where necessary.
2. Establish a Royal Commission into how federal and state funds for infrastructure projects be allocated on a fair basis.
3. Involve the federal and state treasuries to assist in establishing a fiat system for the fair distribution of infrastructure funds.
Cheers

Reply
Geoff Ellis link
7/5/2022 09:08:26 pm

# ;-) Nailed it!

I'm with you Frank except 3 needs to be delayed - a flat, 'so much per head' allocation would need to be preceded by a needs analysis based funding model to redress all the rum or pork barrels rolled out since 1788.

Reply
Michael Nugent
13/5/2022 10:08:30 am

Frank and Geoff - totally agree. Perhaps if we get a minority Labor government with Greens and Independents in balance of power on 21st this might happen?

Reply
Felicia Di Stefanp
13/5/2022 02:49:30 pm

I agree, Michael. That appears to be the best way forward.

Catherine Watson
8/5/2022 04:46:50 pm

Thanks for spelling it out, Ali. I’m mystified that the blatant bribery of electors doesn’t result in criminal charges.
The system is broken and until it’s fixed Monash will be ignored – unless it becomes marginal.
We have two current Bass Coast councillors to thank for turning the state seat of Bass from very safe Liberal – ignored by both parties – to marginal. It involved an Independent (shades of 2022) and it was the culmination of a four-year plan and a lot of very hard work.
Clare Le Serve stood as an Independent at the 2014 election, with Michael Whelan as her campaign manager. With a strong local following Clare nabbed 10.8 per cent of the vote, almost all of it from the Liberal candidate. The Liberal Party majority dropped from 12.5 per cent in 2010 to 4.5 per cent in 2014.
Bass was now officially marginal and we soon saw the results. Bass Coast stared to see the infrastructure it desperately needed, including a new secondary college and a virtually new hospital.
In 2018 Bass voters elected an ALP MP for the first time since the seat was established in 2002. The margin was 2.4 per cent. Exactly where we want it!

Reply
Anne Heath Mennell
9/5/2022 05:41:32 pm

Thank you, Ali, for this considered summary from the local government perspective. The entire system is broken but no-one seems to be making it a priority. Hopefully, the establishment of a powerful integrity body would be a good first step so my vote will be going to candidates supporting that action. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst ...

Reply
Lyn Bennett
9/5/2022 06:54:15 pm

I am concerned that there are overtones in Ms Wastie's observations that there may be a suggestion that the voters in Monash, in order to get due recognition and support for the electorate, vote against the sitting Member and vote non Liberal.
She is a public servant (correct me otherwise) I do not think it appropriate, that she expresses her subtle poiltical opinion.
I do wish the independent candiates well. I stood against PM Bob Hawke in the electorate of Wills in 1987 (Lyn Teather). You may not win but you may influence policy. Although, unfortunately, there are still children living in poverty in Australia, we did have an influence and the policy for Youth Allowance was changed and my kids at the atlteranive school in Brunswick had a win.

Reply
Lyn Bennett
9/5/2022 07:14:46 pm

I am adding to my post. That I did, to comply with the Constitution, resign from the eduacation department for the required period. Years later studying Constititutional Law, it was quite ironic studying case law on that matter.

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Stephen Andrews
14/5/2022 06:44:40 pm

I think that your response speaks more of your political bias than Ms. Wastie's. She is simply pointing out that the system is broken. There would be Labor seats that are marginal all over the country that are subject to the same issue. At no point in her article does she stipulate any political persuasion. Further, this article was first published in the Herald Sun - a major statewide paper - not just specifically aimed at Monash residents.

Reply
Paul Payten link
12/5/2022 11:56:39 am

We are no longer a democracy as Australia has been corporatised and this needs to change. This video explains it well, how nothing of this system is as it seems or declared to be: https://www.bitchute.com/video/mzIs5bDo7bKj/
There are others sharing this info on other platforms.

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Michael Nugent
13/5/2022 10:04:44 am

Well said Ali. It's really refreshing that you, as Shire CEO, are willing to point out, a-politically, the logical defects of our broken political system. I am, however, a little concerned about your reference to "courageous leadership"; hopefully you did not mean this in the Yes Minister sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik8JT2S-kBE

Reply



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