Category: Behind the Byline

The Woodcraft Group showed leadership when Council did not

I have done more leadership and negotiation courses than I can count. They do not make me a good leader. They do not make me a good negotiator. What they do give me is the ability to recognise leadership when I see it, and to recognise when it is missing.

And looking at this Woodcraft Group mess, leadership has been missing from the very people who should have shown it.

Here is the truth.
There were phone calls.
There were meetings.
There were chances to resolve this early, quietly and respectfully.
None of it made a difference.
Those conversations ended up being a waste of time because the people in the room were not prepared to act.

Leadership is not complicated.
It is not a twenty page report or a confidential motion.
It is not silence dressed as process.

Leadership is the ability to say, I hear you.
It is the courage to face a mistake, even a small one.
It is the strength to stay open when closing ranks feels safer.
It is the discipline to choose honesty over convenience.

The Woodcraft Group did not receive leadership.
They received delays, contradictions and closed doors.

And yet the most powerful leadership in this story came from the people with the least influence.
The people who stayed calm.
The people who kept asking fair questions.
The people who followed their values when they had every reason to give up.

That is leadership.
That is integrity.
That is character.

Leadership is not a title.
It is a behaviour.
And in this case, the only real leadership came from the people who had no authority at all, only a belief in doing the right thing.

#Kiama #KiamaCouncil #Leadership #CommunityLeadership #Transparency #Accountability #LocalGovernment #Jamberoo #KiamaWoodcraftGroup #CommunityAdvocacy #CouncilCulture

Council thought they’d close the lid. But you can’t lock out a community that knows right from wrong

“Integrity is doing the right thing even when the process is stacked against you.”

It has been in the newspaper. It has been on TV. All of Kiama knows about it and, thanks to WIN News, most of Wollongong does too.

And still, somehow, this simple matter became secret squirrel business. Council pushed it behind a confidentiality motion and the community was shut out. What happened behind those closed doors that led every councillor to vote against giving the Kiama Woodcraft Group two and a half thousand dollars. It is a question that deserves an answer.

The Kiama Woodcraft Group never asked for a fight. They asked a simple question. What happened to their library module. A heavy, lockable box they were told would be kept safe during the Joyce Wheatley Centre refurbishment. They returned months later to find it gone. Read the background story here 

What followed is a study in how a straightforward problem becomes something much bigger.

They were given shifting explanations. First, that the box fell over and burst open. Later, that it was opened with keys at the Works Depot. Books were placed in a skip under a disposal order. Some were salvaged by a staff member who recognised their value and later returned them. Others turned up at a Lifeline book fair. The rest were lost.

Throughout this, the outdoor and maintenance staff who were involved have been honest about what happened. Leadership has not shown the same clarity. That contrast is at the core of this story.

When the Group tried to find out what had happened, communication slowed, then stopped. Emails went unanswered. Calls were not returned. Councillors said they could not discuss the matter because it had been declared confidential.

A councillor reportedly suggested the library may never have existed. That is the moment a small loss becomes something much larger.

The Group was later told no books were taken, despite the fact that several had been returned and identified by the Group’s own library markings. They were told there was no liability. They were told the matter was closed.

They persisted anyway. Not because they enjoy conflict, but because they know right from wrong and they were not prepared to be dismissed.

 “Council controlled the motion. The Woodcraft Group controlled their character.”

When an organisation struggles to admit small mistakes, everything becomes harder than it needs to be. Staff learn to defend decisions rather than discuss them. Questions that could be answered in a day get pushed into process. Confidentiality becomes a default shield, even when openness would resolve the issue instantly.

The community sees this. People know when they are being stonewalled. They know when a simple problem has been made complicated.

They know when they are being treated as the problem, rather than people seeking a fair response.

This case shows what happens when the balance of power leans too heavily to one side. When a major venue raises concerns, partnerships are formed to resolve the issue. When a volunteer group raises concerns, the doors close. You cannot miss the contrast.

It is enough to make any resident wonder whether the Kiama Woodcraft Group should hire the same professional negotiators or public relations support that Jamberoo Action Park used. The difference in response is striking.

At one point the suggestion was made that the Woodcraft Group had invented the entire story. As if a community group would spend months gathering evidence, obtaining legal guidance, retrieving returned books and speaking to media outlets for the sake of two and a half thousand dollars. The idea does not withstand a moment’s scrutiny.

When an elected representative accepts a story like that, it reveals a deeper issue. It shows how easily people adopt the most convenient version of events. It shows how uncomfortable it can be to challenge information presented from within the system. This is not personal. It is cultural.

I am not a lawyer or the police but I know people who are and this is what they told me

Fault Clarification

  • Police role: Police investigate whether a crime has occurred (e.g., theft, fraud, misappropriation). Their conclusion that council was not at fault means they found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
  • Council responsibility: Even if no crime was committed, councils can still be responsible in a governance or civil sense. For example, failing to manage property properly, poor communication, or not resolving issues with the previous council.
  • Key point: Police findings clear the council of criminal fault, but they don’t resolve questions of administrative responsibility or duty of care. Those are matters for the council itself, or potentially civil claims.

Insurance Responsibility

  • Community group insurance: Councils often require groups to insure their own property when stored in council facilities. That covers risks while the group has custody or use of the items.
  • Council custody: Once the council removed the property and stored it at their works depot, the risk shifted. At that point, the council had custody and control, so they assumed responsibility for safeguarding the goods.
  • Damage at depot: If damage occurred while the property was at the depot, it would generally fall under the council’s insurance or liability – not the group’s. The group’s insurance wouldn’t reasonably apply to items outside their possession.
  • Key point: Responsibility for insuring and protecting the goods transferred to the council once they took possession. Damage at their depot becomes a council issue.

Summary:

  • Fault: Police cleared the council of criminal fault, but governance responsibility remains a council matter.
  • Insurance: Once the council took the property into their depot, they assumed liability for any damage.

I think often about councillors who entered public life because they wanted transparency, fairness and a better way of doing things. Many ran on that promise. Many told me they wanted to lift the standard. Yet here we are. A simple matter spiralled into silence. People with good intentions have found themselves surrounded by the very habits they hoped to change.

The Kiama Woodcraft Group’s experience is not isolated. It is part of a broader pattern in which bureaucracy attempts to control the narrative and shut down dissenting voices instead of addressing the issue directly.

I know this pattern well. I raised concerns of my own in the past. I was assured the matter would be investigated. I provided every document and every detail. Council already held information confirming what had taken place. Yet when a councillor tried to raise fair questions, they were silenced. That was the day I realised what I was dealing with. I left a job I cared about because it became clear that truth was negotiable and silence was preferred.

I will not be silent now.

The Woodcraft Group has shown what accountability looks like from the ground up. They stayed calm. They stayed factual. They stayed polite. Their account has been consistent and supported by several sources. They kept going when the system hoped they would give up.

They were treated as if the real problem here was their persistence rather than the mistake that caused it all. Yet they kept going. And that, more than anything, is why this story matters.

Addendum

A councillor reportedly said to the Woodcraft Group, “You cannot even prove the books existed.”

For the sake of accuracy, here is what the Group can prove.

They have a full catalogue list maintained by their librarian, showing every book and magazine stored in the library module. They have long term members willing to sign statutory declarations confirming the library’s existence and contents. They have 45 books returned by a Council employee, all carrying the Group’s own library markings. They have another eight books retrieved from Lifeline, also marked as belonging to the Group. They have staff witnesses who saw the module opened, saw the books inside and saw what followed. And they have a valuation list that was shown to the CEO, who agreed it was fair and reasonable.

If the books never existed, none of this evidence would exist either.

The Woodcraft Group has provided everything a reasonable person would accept as proof.
The issue was never the evidence.
The issue was the willingness to acknowledge it.

#KiamaCouncil #CommunityAdvocacy #LocalGovernment #Transparency #Accountability #Kiama #Jamberoo #KiamaWoodcraftGroup #CouncilCulture #NSWLocalGov #CommunityVoices

Kiama Council cannot fix decay by polishing the enamel

Kiama is flossing the symptoms while the infection spreads

Kiama Council has spent years patching over problems that sit far deeper than any one budget line, policy decision or change of leadership. The most important question right now is whether anyone is willing to look beneath the surface and address the actual root cause of the mess.

That point is captured perfectly in a line from Sydney barrister and Liberal Party officeholder Jane Buncle, writing in today’s Sydney Morning Herald:
“This time…. it is a struggle over what the party stands for. And a new leader won’t fix a party that has forgotten what it stands for. The problem is the horse, not the jockey.”

Kiama knows that feeling.

When the council’s dire financial position finally came into view, the response was not to examine systems, culture or long term risks. Instead, the former mayor and the CEO called a meeting with several former mayors and former CEOs. Not to seek advice. Not to draw on their experience. Those who were there have told me the purpose was to tell them they were all fools. The exact word may not have been used, but the message was the same.

The Mayor at the time and the CEO wanted the world to know –  This crisis was not theirs. It was decades of other people’s mistakes. Decades of mismanagement. Decades of problems created by everyone except the people now in charge.

The message was clear and it was repeated over and over again in the press until our current councillors said “enough”

It was much easier to point backwards than to own the present. Easier to ridicule those who had left than answer for decisions being made now. Easier to perform strength than practise accountability.

And for anyone thinking this is overstated, it is not. The former mayor has publicly confirmed the attitude behind it. Only this week he said that serving on Council requires “a strength of character you simply do not possess”, as if the real problem is ordinary residents daring to ask questions instead of the decisions that landed us in this position.

From a leadership perspective, this is the classic mistake. Best practice tells us you cannot solve structural problems with blame, defensiveness or personality politics. Root-cause leadership begins with the opposite: curiosity, humility and a willingness to sit with the evidence rather than distort it.

Modern governance frameworks call this systems thinking. High performing organisations use it every day. Instead of polishing the enamel to hide the decay, they ask:
• What created this problem
• What conditions allowed it to continue
• What blind spots did we protect
• What decisions were made for short term comfort rather than long term stability

When leaders default to blame, the culture becomes fearful. When leaders choose clarity and accountability, the culture becomes stronger. It is not complicated, but it is confronting.

And as for calling a roomful of former leaders fools, one could only observe that it is certainly a way to begin a working relationship with people who might have been able to help you. Not wise, not strategic, but a choice.

Kiama will not recover through reshuffling faces or repeating old speeches. It will recover the moment it commits to understanding the actual problem and fixing it at the root.

Rider
Everything in this piece draws on what is already on the public record and on conversations I have had with trusted voices directly involved. These accounts are consistent, clear, and supported by public statements made over several years.

#Kiama #LocalGovernment #Accountability #Leadership #CommunityVoice #CouncilCulture #RootCause #Transparency

The Local Scandal That Proves Communities Need Their Own Watchdogs

This story is about the evolution of political narrative, the rewriting of history, and the impact on communities who live with the consequences.

All the flying kicks were in the headlines. The real fight was locals landing truth where it counted.

There are moments in your life when you discover that the people holding power are not the ones holding the line. My time as the civics reporter at our local newspaper taught me that over and over again. It gave me a front-row seat to people who were brave, stubborn, principled and sometimes exhausted, and it showed me how far federal, state and local governments can blur the lines long before anyone steps in to hold them accountable.

Writing about these issues was never simple. But it introduced me to some extraordinary individuals, including three men whose names deserve far wider recognition: former MP John Hatton, community investigator Peter Alison, and researcher Alan Burrows. For more than 16 years, they have tracked, analysed, documented and repeatedly raised the alarm about one of the most extraordinary corruption scandals in regional NSW. Their work was sitting in folders, waiting to be shared, waiting for someone to pick it up again.

If Cat Holloway had not made the decision to publish their research on Spark Shoalhaven, that story would have slipped quietly into silence. See  her first exposé and the follow-up that dug even deeper   It certainly would not have been given oxygen by people like me, or debated on local platforms, or forced into the sunlight once the Shaolin abbot’s arrest made it impossible to ignore.

And this is the point. When we start handing out state funerals to figures like Graham Richardson, we shouldn’t be surprised that so many people feel powerless. We have normalised a culture where political misbehaviour is excused, sanitised or quietly forgotten. Communities watch this pattern repeat and begin to wonder whether anything they do matters.

A group of journalists and community advocates have decided it does, and I’m proud to stand with them. Over the next 12 months we will be spotlighting the people who refuse to give up, the people who keep speaking even when they’re ignored, the people who still believe integrity matters. These are the researchers, whistleblowers, campaigners and everyday residents who know their voice can cut through.

We have had enough of corruption being normalised. Enough of governments ignoring detailed, painstaking evidence while dismissing those who gather it. Enough of communities being told to move on.

This next chapter belongs to those who didn’t.

And now, for anyone who enjoys contrast, here’s a short chapter in “Things Said Out Loud Then, and Things Said Very Carefully Now.”

Then versus now: what they said in 2007 vs what they’re saying in 2025

Matt Brown — Then (2007, Sydney Morning Herald)

As NSW Tourism Minister, he championed the Shaolin proposal:

“It will be the first time in 1500 years that another Shaolin Temple will be built and to have it built in Australia is a huge coup.”

He assured the abbot the NSW Government would “do whatever it can for the project.”
He helped connect the monks with Shoalhaven Council and began the land conversation.

Matt Brown — Now (2025, ABC Illawarra)

Eighteen years later, the tone has shifted:

“There were just some practices I felt a little uneasy with… discomfort with what was said and then not followed up.”

A huge coup in 2007.
A vague uneasiness in 2025.
This is how political memory is revised.

Greg Watson — Then (2007)

When Brown told him the monks wanted land, Watson, then Shoalhaven Mayor, replied:

“Have I got a deal for you.”

He led delegations, promoted the land, and moved the project forward with enthusiasm.

Greg Watson — Now (2025)

His current position is that criticism is:

“politically-motivated electioneering to re-write history.”

But the history is written in their own words.

What happens now

Now that the Shaolin story has burst wide open, every key figure will step forward with their carefully crafted lines. Their PR advisers will try to airbrush the past, soften their role and retreat into the language of misgiving and hindsight.

But communities are smarter than that.
They remember.
And they recognise the people who kept the truth alive when no one in power wanted to hear it.

The real warriors weren’t performing flying kicks.
They were locals landing truth where it counted.

Disclaimer:

And because public commentary in NSW seems to require a legal pre-emptive strike:
I am not accusing anyone of wrongdoing.
I am not alleging corruption, misconduct or illegal behaviour by any person named or quoted.
Everything referenced here comes from individuals’ own publicly recorded statements , from 2007 media coverage and from interviews given this week

#Shoalhaven #NSWPolitics #IntegrityMatters #DemocracyInAction #PublicInterestJournalism #CommunityPower #PlanningFailures #Accountability #LocalGovernment #TruthTellers

Respect is not selective. Accountability applies to everyone

Every community conversation reveals patterns. Some are constructive. Some are revealing. And sometimes the contrast between past behaviour and present claims becomes impossible to ignore.

Recently, on Facebook, former Kiama mayor Neil Reilly responded to one of my posts in a way that questioned my integrity. His comments were the only personal remarks made in the entire thread. All other community members stayed focused on the issue at hand, which was the impact the Akuna Street development will have on Kiama’s CBD.

What makes this notable is not the comment itself, but the context.
Several readers have reminded me of something important. In 2019, Kiama Council formally censured Councillor Neil Reilly under the Code of Conduct. This is a matter of public record. The investigation substantiated multiple allegations, including social media comments that were disparaging of Councillors and disparaging of Council staff.

The relevant report is found in the Council agenda of 22 October 2019.

It documents:

• social media comments that were disparaging of Council
• comments that were disparaging of other Councillors
• comments that were disrespectful to staff
• conduct that brought Council into disrepute

These findings make his comments to me in 2025 all the more striking.

On one hand, the public record shows he was formally censured for disparaging comments about Councillors and staff. On the other hand, years later, he is telling the community that questioning Council decisions is “disrespectful” and that raising concerns is inappropriate.

The Bugle’s December 2023 article also raised serious concerns about the way Mayor Neil Reilly publicly characterised Councillor Karen Renkema Lang’s comments to ABC Radio. The article shows he initiated the complaint that led to her censure, despite her simply raising community concerns about the Blue Haven reclassification and incomplete or unclear information provided to Councillors. His public statements criticised her personally, yet the ABC audio makes clear she neither blamed staff nor claimed to speak for Council. This pattern of misrepresenting legitimate scrutiny sits uncomfortably beside what happened next, when the Supreme Court found her censure to be invalid and Kiama Council was ordered to pay more than two hundred thousand dollars in legal costs, as reported by the ABC.

and lets not forget As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald

Source  

So a clear pattern emerges.

  • 2016 “inappropriate” text messages
  • In 2019 he was formally censured for disparaging remarks about fellow Councillors and staff.
  • In 2023 he pursued a censure of Councillor Karen Renkema Lang that was later found to be invalid, costing ratepayers more than two hundred thousand dollars in legal fees.
  • And in 2025 he chose to question my integrity rather than answer a straightforward planning question about parking and CBD disruption.

This is not about personalities.
It is not about revisiting old grievances.
It is about consistency and credibility.

When someone with a history of breaching Council’s Code of Conduct for disparaging comments, and someone whose actions have cost the community hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, publicly accuses others of disrespect, it raises a reasonable question.

What standard is being applied, and why does it only seem to apply when the questions are directed at them?

For me, the issue remains the same as it always has been.
The community has the right to ask questions.
The community has the right to expect answers.
And the community has the right to be treated with respect by anyone who has held public office.

Accountability is not a one way street.
Respect is not selective.
And the public record matters.

Please see my blog post responding to former  Mayor Neil Reilly’s Facebook comments here

#KiamaCommunity #Accountability #PublicRecord #LeadershipMatters #CommunityFirst #AkunaStreet #KiamaCBD #RespectInPublicLife

When political mates, mystery mortgages and a billion dollar quarry collide

When old decisions cast long shadows

Every so often a story surfaces that reminds us how decisions made not so far from home can shape the lives of ordinary people for generations. The Spark Shoalhaven reporting that on the work of long-time local investigators on the ill-fated Shaolin Temple deal at Comberton Grange is one such story. It is sprawling, unnerving and at times unbelievable, yet it is built entirely on documented history.

At the heart of this saga lie two names familiar to people in our region. Kiama Councillor and former MP Matt Brown, and Shoalhaven City Council CEO and former MP Andrew Constance. Their actions sit at opposite ends of the timeline. One helped open the door that led to the sale, the other tried to slam it shut before the damage was locked in.

How it all began

Buried in the Spark chronology is the moment the Comberton land deal took its sharpest turn. Then Shoalhaven Mayor Greg Watson proudly declared he had an opportunity thanks to a conversation with Kiama MP Matt Brown, whose Chinese contacts were looking for land.

From that one exchange came a race to sell off 1200 hectares of public land for five million dollars, wrapped up in a nine-year mortgage arrangement that allowed the buyers to delay payment until 2015.

A quarry that had been identified by state and federal surveys as strategically important for road building was then swept into the deal after an obscure council resolution reversed earlier protections.

When the warnings started

This is where the story takes an important turn. The deal did not unfold in silence. It was challenged by someone with a long record of standing up to entrenched power: John Hatton AO.

A former Shoalhaven Shire Council President and independent MP for the South Coast, Hatton initiated the Woods Royal Commission and served on ICAC’s oversight committee. He recognised risk when he saw it, and he saw plenty in this deal.

Hatton produced a detailed series of videos outlining the dangers of the Comberton arrangements and the unanswered questions around the quarry sale. Former Mayor Greg Watson attempted to silence him through a defamation action, but Hatton defended the matter and won costs. His persistence helped bring years of buried documents, failed oversight and questionable decisions into the daylight.

Placed alongside Matt Brown’s early introduction of the buyers and Andrew Constance’s later attempts to intervene, Hatton’s role stands as a reminder that people did try to stop this. They were ignored.

The parliamentary alarm bell

Back in 2006, Andrew Constance, then a young state MP, took the extraordinary step of moving a formal motion in NSW Parliament. He called out Mayor Watson for a lack of community consultation, secrecy around the contract signing and the broader risks to Shoalhaven residents. He urged the Ministers for Planning and Local Government to intervene and counsel the Mayor. He wanted the sale scrutinised and the public protected.

His efforts made no difference at the time. The land was sold for a fraction of its value and the contract terms were never revisited.

The cost of getting it wrong

This is where the story becomes staggering. The quarry under Comberton Grange, once in public hands, was valued by local experts at close to a billion dollars in road building material. It could have rebuilt the entire Shoalhaven road network almost twice over. Instead, Council became dependent on lower-quality material from Tomerong, where 300,000 tonnes of potentially toxic waste, including asbestos, was dumped and mixed with road base.

The result is visible every time a tyre blows, every time a rate notice increases and every time someone asks why our infrastructure feels held together by hope.

Why this matters now

What makes this saga so pointed today is the full circle it has taken. Constance is now CEO of the same council whose financial position is shaped by a deal he once tried to challenge. Brown now sits on Kiama Council during a period when communities are demanding greater transparency and stronger safeguards around public land.

This is not about assigning personal blame. It is about understanding how decisions are made, who influences them and what happens when scrutiny falls away. The Comberton story is not only a Shoalhaven concern. It is a warning for every regional community where deals can move faster than public oversight.

Sunlight is catching up. It always does.

Read the full story here 

#Shoalhaven #Kiama #JohnHatton #AndrewConstance #MattBrown #PublicLand #ICAC #Governance #LocalPolitics #CommunityFirst

When the question is bigger than blame. Let’s invite our Kiama community to be part of the solution

If you have been following my recent blog posts, you will know how we arrived at this moment. It began with a simple and reasonable question about what will happen to Kiama’s CBD once construction begins on the Akuna Street site. The more people asked the same question, the clearer it became that this is a conversation the whole community wants and deserves to have.

So I set out to explore what good planning looks like, drawing on world leading models such as Singapore where community involvement and long term vision guide every decision.

That work was never about debating the past. It was about understanding the situation we are now facing, because hindsight alone will not solve this. Akuna Street is going ahead, and the CBD will be disrupted for years.

The real question, the one that matters now, is this.

What can we do together to learn from places that have faced similar challenges and come out stronger?

Kiama is not the first town to lose its central parking.
We are not the first community to face a long construction period in the heart of the CBD.
We are not the first to feel let down by decisions made without clear long term planning.

So instead of sitting in frustration, let us shift the conversation to the shared work in front of us. Let us ask what other towns and councils have already learned, and how we can apply that knowledge here.

If we were sitting around the table together, where would we start

If I were a local councillor facing this situation, the first thing I would do is invite the community into the problem solving. Not as a gesture, but as a genuine partnership. Kiama is full of smart, resourceful people who care deeply about this town. We do not need to wait for a single expert to hand down answers. We can build them together.

Here are a few places we could start.

Identify examples of towns that have survived CBD shutdowns
Regional centres, coastal towns and small cities have all faced similar situations. Some handled the disruption well. Others did not. We can learn from both.

Look at temporary parking solutions that actually work
Examples include park and ride systems, business priority spaces, off site options, shuttle loops and temporary decks on cleared land. These solutions already exist. We do not need to invent them from scratch.

Keep the CBD alive during construction
Other towns have protected their small businesses with coordinated activation programs, weekend events, pop up markets and targeted support. Kiama’s traders deserve the same level of care.

Advocate for staged or sequenced construction
Councils elsewhere have negotiated construction conditions that avoid full closures or allow parking to be phased. Could we secure something similar.

Design a communication plan that treats residents as partners
Timely information, plain language updates and clear explanations are not optional. They are essential for keeping frustration down and confidence up.

Build a shared, forward looking vision
Instead of reacting only to the disruption in front of us, we can also ask what Kiama will need in ten years. What will traffic look like. What will our population need. What will businesses need. We can plan for that now.

Why this matters now

The CBD disruption is coming. That is a fact. How we respond as a community is the part still within our control.

We can choose frustration or collaboration.
We can choose blame or solutions.
We can choose to repeat the mistakes of others or learn from the places that got it right.

Kiama deserves a plan that draws on global best practice and local wisdom. It deserves leaders who look outward, learn widely and plan with courage. And it deserves a community that has a genuine voice in shaping what comes next.

Your turn

So I am asking you, as neighbours, ratepayers and people who love this town.

Where would you start.
Which ideas do you want on the table.
Which towns should we study.
Which solutions could work here.

I am listening. I know you are too. And judging by the speed of recent media releases, Council is watching this page just as closely as the rest of us.

#KiamaCBD #CommunityFirst #AkunaStreet #KiamaFuture #SmartLeadership #LearningFromOthers #FuturePlanning #LocalGovernment #CommunityVoice #PublicTrust

Kiama Is Sleepwalking Into a CBD Meltdown. Here’s How We Could Stop It.

This awesome image was created by Steve Hughes in Photoshop. This is how he did it. He went in search of a 14-storey building and found the perspective he needed for Terralong Street then superimposed the two images  It shows why transparency matters. Our community cannot weigh up the future of Kiama without seeing what that future might become.

If you were handed a magic wand and told to fix Kiama Council’s parking crisis, what would you do?

I pondered that very question after raising concerns in a recent blog post that was debated on Facebook  about what will happen once the Akuna Street construction begins and our main car park disappears. The former mayor jumped into the conversation, not to answer the questions I then asked him, but to challenge me to stand for mayor. Part of the Facebook exchange is below  and you can join the conversation here 

So here is what I think.
No wand, no theatrics.
I would look beyond Kiama’s borders and learn from places that have done it properly.

An example we could do what Singapore does. Visit the website – its extraordinary

FYI I’m not suggesting Kiama should look anything like Singapore. Our landscapes, our scale and our community expectations are entirely different. I’ve referred to Singapore because I’ve seen firsthand how they communicate with residents, how they plan years ahead, and how they make complex information accessible. It’s an example of best practice in community engagement, not a blueprint for how Kiama should be built. What matters is the principle: people deserve to understand what is coming, how it will affect them, and how decisions are made in their name.

We would look outward.
We would study cities that have solved the problems we are now facing.
We would bring home the ideas that are proven to work.
And  we would start planning for the Kiama that will exist in twenty years, not the Kiama that existed twenty years ago.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The images in the slideshow in this post were taken at the Singapore City Gallery, located at The URA Centre. See footnote below

Kiama does not need leaders who claim to know everything. Kiama needs leaders who know how to learn. Leaders who read widely, ask questions, answer questions test assumptions and welcome new thinking. Leaders who see beyond the next news cycle and prepare for the people who will live here long after we are gone.

Our community deserves vision.
It deserves honesty.
It deserves leadership that looks forward, not inward.

Kiama is worth that level of care.

Footnote: About the Singapore City Gallery

The images in the slideshow in this post were taken at the Singapore City Gallery, located at The URA Centre at 45 Maxwell Road. The Gallery is created and run by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the national planning agency responsible for the long term physical development of the country.

The Gallery is one of the world’s most sophisticated urban planning exhibitions. It explains how Singapore plans for its future in a clear, structured and community focused way. Displays walk visitors through fifty years of transformation and map out the next decades of planning, covering housing, transport, green space, industrial development, heritage conservation and coastal resilience.


#KiamaFuture #LeadershipMatters #CommunityFirst #SingaporeModel #PlanningAhead #PublicTrust #CivicCourage #SmartCities #AkunaStreet #KiamaLeadership

Akuna St Development. When progress pushes people out of town

Image Illawarra Mercury 

When the Akuna Street developments go ahead, Kiama’s main car park, the one locals and shoppers rely on, will effectively vanish. In its place will come a major construction site that could choke the town centre for years.

Parking gone. Roads blocked. Dust, noise, and heavy vehicles moving through streets never built for this level of traffic.

It is hard to imagine anyone choosing to shop in Kiama under those conditions when there are easier, quieter, and more accessible options just up or down the highway. I already avoid the CBD unless I absolutely have to, and I know I am not the only one.

Kiama Council had a duty to plan for this before selling off our main parking area. They could have created alternative parking, staged the development, or at the very least communicated a clear plan to manage the disruption. None of this has happened yet.

For years, the car park served locals, shop owners, and visitors alike. It was more than a slab of asphalt, it was what made the heart of Kiama accessible. Selling it without a real plan for what comes next feels like a decision made with eyes firmly on developers, not on residents.

We were told the Akuna Street sale would help Council fix its financial mess. It was sold as the big solution, the quick cash injection that would ease the debt burden and set the books straight.

But nearly 20 percent of the 28 million dollar sale price has already disappeared in legal settlements and court costs before a single wall has gone up. That is not revitalisation, that is reaction.

This is what short term thinking looks like.
It is selling off an asset before you have a plan for what replaces it.
It is banking on one deal to fix years of mismanagement.
It is hoping that a private development will save a public balance sheet.
And it is assuming that the community will carry the cost quietly, in lost parking, lost access, and lost trust.

If Council had thought long term, it would have staged this project, planned alternative parking, and protected the town’s economic heartbeat during construction. Instead, we face years of disruption for a payoff that might never reach the people who actually live here.

This development is also  a prime example of what happens when the  leadership culture is fixated on the PIO and financial manoeuvring above all else, instead of focusing on what really matters to residents, liveability, services, and sensible planning.

Progress is not about shiny buildings or quick financial fixes. It is about protecting the fabric of a town while it grows, making sure people can still live, work, and shop here without feeling pushed out.

Right now, Kiama’s future is being built on lost parking spaces, lost patience, and almost one fifth of the sale price already gone in litigation. The question is no longer whether this project will revitalise Kiama, but whether Kiama can survive the cost of Council’s short term thinking.

You cannot build a thriving town on empty streets.

Thanks to everyone who has shared questions and comments on this issue. I have added extra detail as I received more information to help answer those and keep the community in the loop.

Read my follow up blog Kiama Is Sleepwalking Into a CBD Meltdown. Here’s How We Could Stop It.

Read previous blog posts here and here

#KiamaCouncil #AkunaStreet #KiamaPlanning #CommunityFirst #PublicTrust #LocalBusiness #RatepayerRights #ParkingCrisis #ShortTermThinking #TownCentre #CivicAccountability #Kiama

“We’ve Already Told You Once:” Kiama Council’s Bizarre Response to CCTV Questions”

You couldn’t make this up……

Last week we were talking about Council silence on the CCTV issue. This week, out comes a media release titled “CCTV in Kiama and Public Vandalism”  complete with a reminder that “we’ve already told you this once.”

Apparently, we’re all meant to have memorised the August business papers.

For those catching up, Council’s CCTV along Terralong Street has been broken since a storm. in 2024 It hasn’t been repaired, and they’re now seeking grant funding to replace it. Meanwhile, vandalism across the LGA has increased, including toilets, post boxes, and disability-access facilities, one repair alone costing $8,000.

So after a week of public chatter about missing cameras and mixed priorities, Council has spoken, by telling us off.

Maybe they’re right. Maybe we should have paid closer attention.
Or maybe, when the community has to raise an issue twice before it’s addressed, it says something about who’s actually listening.

#KiamaCouncil #CCTV #LocalGovernment #CommunityVoice #Accountability #PublicSafety #CivicEngagement #Transparency