Letter to the editor in The Daily Examiner on 5 June 2010:Who does CVC represent?
FIVE Clarence Valley Councillors need reminding of who they represent.
I would like to make a comment in regard to Cr Pat Comben's McDonald's opinion and the general McDonald's issue.
First of all, congratulations to the three young men from Yamba, who along with the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, stepped outside their comfort zone and drove the "No McDonald's" campaign.
Community campaigns and lobbying at a grassroots level take great courage, time and effort and usually come with a steep learning curve. To the uninitiated who blindly believe we have numerous rights soon find out that a lot of those rights are, in actual fact, constantly being eroded away by our very own local, state and federal governments and corporate greed.
We also had the Yamba Chamber of Commerce, who represent the local Yamba business community and has an obligation to its members, also involved in this campaign. Nobody knows or loves the Yamba business community better than they do and council's "Yes" decision is a slap in the face to them. The chamber would have not gone down the campaign road unless it had the support of its own members.
What I find interesting from a community perspective is those people involved in trying to save the Grafton and Maclean hospitals must be shaking their heads and wondering how to harness the energy of those 6000 people who made their feelings known about McDonald's in Yamba when they can only muster a couple hundred for their issue.
The good news is we need to be reminded there are numerous examples from around the world and Australia that people power is still alive and well and can move mountains, stop wars, affect change and bring governments and companies to account. The trick is to inspire people to stop being armchair critics and apathetic and become involved in their community.
Now for Cr Comben's comment. A former Queensland Cabinet Minister in the Goss era, Cr Comben obviously hasn't read his own "councillor guide", published by the NSW Department of Local Government in co-operation with the Local Government Association of NSW and the Shires Association of NSW when elected to Clarence Valley Council.
Cr Comben's comment: "The view of some individuals that councillors or any elected representative must vote as the majority of the ratepayers or electors wish... is not a requirement of Australian democracy", maybe that is how Queenslanders think and do things, however, it appears that is not the preferred style within NSW.
Excerpt 2.1 - Roles and Responsibilities of a councillor: "To represent the interests of residents and ratepayers, provide leadership and guidance to the community, facilitate communication between the community and the council. A councillor's role as a democratically elected representative provides an essential link between the community and council."
In my humble opinion, CVC and the five councillors who voted "yes" have been negligent in their duty of care to the Yamba constituents and the Yamba Chamber of Commerce involved in this matter by not enabling the Local Government Act 1993, which contains important mechanisms to enable a council to more formally consult with its community.
For example, a council may conduct a poll on an important issue to get an understanding of the community's views on a matter. Consultation is a mechanism to assist councillors to understand and incorporate the public will and community concerns into decision-making.
From the outset, CVC knew this was a contentious issue. Surely it would have been in the public and community interest to conduct a poll, public meeting or at the very least an education campaign as to what legal framework was available that could have been adopted to assist the Yamba community to resolve this issue in a more amicable fashion.
DEBRAH NOVAK, Yamba
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