Category: Behind the Byline

Have We Learned Anything? Reflections on Local Council, Then and Now

In the second half of the 19th century, when Kiama’s citizens weren’t happy with how they were governed, they didn’t just complain. They seceded.

They formed their own municipality. Twice. Jamberoo and Gerringong both separated from Kiama Council when they felt their needs were being ignored. And while the politics of secession were messy and sometimes opportunistic, they were also a bold assertion of local self-determination. People weren’t content to be governed poorly. They expected more.

And here’s the part that stays with me, they acted not from strength or surplus, but while they were broke. Struggling. They made the best decisions they could under hard conditions, and sometimes they got it wrong. But the stakes were understood, and the community took responsibility for its choices.

Fast forward to now, and I find myself wondering, have we learned anything?

Because if history has a habit of repeating, then so does complacency.

Now

🏘️ Our Housing Strategy: A Missed Opportunity

Our current council has just made the most important decision of its elected term: our housing strategy. This is the document that will shape how and where people live in our region for years to come.

And what do we have?

  • No social housing.

  • No affordable housing.

  • Housing affordability isn’t even on the table.

But the gaps run deeper than that. Our housing strategy:

  • Sets no targets for affordable or social housing.

  • Offers no solutions for renters or people experiencing housing stress.

  • Contains no actions or incentives for local affordability.

  • Doesn’t plan for infrastructure to match growth.

  • Fails to connect housing approvals to service upgrades.

  • Offers no real tools to ensure housing diversity actually gets built.

  • Provides no clear guidance on where housing types should go.

  • Includes no sustainability standards or climate resilience planning.

  • Fails to integrate green infrastructure, bushfire buffers, or water sensitivity.

  • Doesn’t follow up on public feedback or create future accountability.

  • Leaves renters, youth, and low-income voices out of the ongoing process.

It’s not just underwhelming, it’s dangerous. Because while the housing crisis deepens, we are left with a document that looks busy but delivers nothing.

🔍 Leadership Doesn’t Come With the Role

This is not just about policy. It’s about leadership. And we’re not seeing it.

But I don’t blame individuals so much as the system that pretends leadership is instinctual. It’s not. We aren’t all born leaders—but leadership can be taught. It can be mentored, supported, nurtured. We have extraordinary people in our community. We have access to world-class facilitators, democratic innovators, and frameworks that help communities think through complex decisions.

We have what we need to lead wisely. So why are we still afraid to use it?

💡 What Are We So Afraid Of?

Maybe this is the question worth asking.

What do we fear?

Do we fear letting go of control?
Do we fear what the community might say if we give them space to deliberate?
Or are we simply afraid that the answers they offer will make us uncomfortable?

Because here’s the truth: There is nothing more powerful than a community of citizens who are equipped with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions. Not just opinions, judgement.

And if we want our councils to reflect the best of who we are, then we need to invest in that capacity, not just for leaders, but for all of us.

🧭 Look to Our Past to Guide Our Future

We’re are still broke. And maybe, just maybe, it’s time to remember what our forebears already knew: that when governance fails, the people must step forward, courage, vision, and the willingness to lead differently.

#LeadershipMatters #CommunityLeadership #LocalDemocracy #DeliberativeDemocracy #EmpoweredCitizens #CivicEngagement #BetterCouncils #LeadershipTraining #PeoplePowered #DecisionMakingTogether #DemocracyInPractice #LeadersAreMade #CourageToLead

How to Master the Fine Art of Bureaucratic Spin (No Soul Required)

Satirical representation. No actual clowns were employed in the making of this council.

Looking to pivot away from meaningful communication and into a career where vague language, circular logic and passive voice reign supreme? You might just have what it takes to become a spin doctor in local government.

At Kiama Council, we’ve seen the craft honed to such dizzying heights, it really ought to be a university major. So, for those inspired by recent exhibitions of bureaucratic ballet, here’s a breakdown of the essential skill set, and the degree you’d need, to enter this murky but marvellously well-defended world.

📚 Degree: Bachelor of Arts (in Obfuscation and Delay)

Double major in Strategic Ambiguity and Circular Consultation

Core Subjects Might Include:

  • Intro to Passive Voice
    “Mistakes were made.”
    Learn how to strip agency from every sentence so no one ever knows who did what, or why.

  • Advanced Euphemism
    Translate “we stuffed it” into “unexpected budgetary variance within a dynamic delivery environment.”

  • Spin Cycle 101
    Turn every negative into an ‘opportunity for growth’, preferably in 600 words or more.

  • Community Engagement (Optional Elective)
    Because listening is optional. But looking like you’re listening? That’s gold.

  • Excel Acrobatics
    Essential for hiding real meaning inside colourful bar graphs with zero context.

  • Public Speaking for Politicians and Possums
    How to appear calm, cute, and a little bit confused, while firmly refusing to answer the question.

🛠 Real-World Skills Required

  • Deadline Evasion:
    An internal clock that knows how to stall until after the next election cycle.

  • Email Mastery:
    Say everything while saying nothing. Bonus points for including the words “noted,” “strategic,” and “ongoing.”

  • The Long Pause:
    Perfected by council spokespersons everywhere. Gives the illusion of deep thought while waiting for legal to respond.

  • Meeting Bingo:
    Learn how to use terms like “framework,” “lens,” “alignment” and “stakeholder pathways” in a sentence without blinking.

At Kiama Council, we don’t just admire this art form, we live it. From “monitoring future needs” to “aligning with state frameworks,” every missed opportunity is neatly packaged and returned to sender with a bow and a hyperlink to a 72-page PDF no one asked for.

So if you’ve ever read a council report and found yourself more confused than when you started, don’t worry, it’s not you. It’s working as intended.

#KiamaCouncil #BureaucraticSpin #LocalGovLife #PassiveVoiceMasters #StrategicAmbiguity #StakeholderBingo #YouveBeenFrameworked

The Suggestion Box at Kiama Council Looks a Lot Like a Shredder

There’s a photo doing the rounds, a paper shredder with a sign that reads “Suggestion Box.” It would be funny if it didn’t feel so familiar.

Because when it comes to Kiama Council’s Housing Strategy, that’s exactly how community consultation feels to many people, invited to speak, only to watch their input disappear.

Since the release of version three of the Housing Strategy, a wave of feedback  has landed on councillors’ desks. Policy experts, community advocates, planners, and long-time residents have stepped forward. Some are offering bold ideas, like a Kiama Housing Innovation Team to tap into local knowledge and test new models. Others are raising concerns, that the document still ignores public feedback, lacks affordable housing solutions, and reads more like it was designed to tick state boxes than reflect this community.

But here’s the bigger question,

❓What stops a Council from welcoming innovation?
❓From inviting in the people already doing the work?
❓From trusting the community it serves?

It’s not a lack of expertise, we have that in spades.
It’s not a hostile public, we’re showing up, offering ideas, asking to be involved.
And it’s not the community’s fault that Kiama is only now getting a housing strategy. That should’ve happened 15 years ago.

So, what is it?

In many organisations, fear plays a quiet role. Fear of losing control. Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of opening the door to something that can’t be neatly managed. But the truth is, there is more to gain than there is to fear.
Innovation doesn’t weaken an organisation, it strengthens it.
Collaboration doesn’t dilute leadership, it deepens it.

Kiama is one of the most informed, engaged LGAs in the state. The expertise is here. The ideas are here. The willingness is here.

What’s missing is the invitation.

The solutions aren’t waiting in a future consultant’s report. They’re already here, in our community, in our builders, renters, designers, youth workers, social entrepreneurs, and retirees. They just need to be brought to the table.

This isn’t a call-out, it’s a call in.

Let’s stop shredding the feedback and start building the trust.

#KiamaCouncil #KiamaHousing #HousingStrategy #CommunityVoices
#PlanningReform #LocalLeadership #HousingJustice #CollaborativePlanning
#ListenActBuild #InnovationNotTickBoxes #UrbanDemocracy #InclusiveGrowth

Are we being gaslit by our own Council?

Moving On Without Looking Back Isn’t Leadership. It’s Evasion.

There’s a growing call within Kiama Council to “move forward” on developer contributions, to focus on new frameworks, technical capabilities, and future improvements. That instinct is understandable. For newly elected councillors, the pressure to defend decisions they didn’t make must be exhausting. No one expects them to carry that weight alone.

But the issue here isn’t the future. It’s the refusal to face the past.

The latest Council report into Section 7.11 and 7.12 developer contributions presents itself as a review. It’s not. It’s an administrative summary, a carefully curated narrative that avoids the most troubling questions.

  • It does not explain why Council allowed legally required contribution plans to lapse without replacement.
  • It does not acknowledge the nearly $1 million in lost infrastructure funding from developments like Golden Valley. See previous blog post: How Kiama lost $970,000 in developer contributions and no one explained why
  • It does not explain why staff continued applying 7.11 levies after the plans had expired, resulting in $1.5 million in overcharges.
  • And it certainly does not address why this information was omitted from the CEO’s public statements earlier this year.

Instead, we are told that everything is under control. That staff have the skills to prepare new plans. That forward planning is happening “across all departments.”

But if no one inside Council can admit what went wrong, how can we trust that the same systems and staff will get it right this time?

While the report confirms the repeal of the 7.11 plans and notes that overcharges have been refunded, it still fails to address the most critical issues:

  • Why the required five-year review process was ignored

  • Why Council allowed the plans to lapse without any replacement

  • Why the Golden Valley development, with its $1 million 7.11 condition, is excluded entirely from the analysis

  • Why the CEO’s earlier response omitted this development

  • What steps are being taken to prevent this kind of governance failure from happening again

  • Why the review ignored key issues raised by councillors and the community, including those I raised in good faith

  • It also fails to acknowledge the damage caused when a CEO publicly undermines the credibility of an elected councillor, then commissions a review that examines only what suits the executive agenda. This was not a full or independent review. It was a tightly controlled exercise in reputation management, not truth-telling.

The people responsible for these failures should not be allowed to rewrite history with a few carefully worded lines in a report.

If Council is serious about moving forward with the community, it must first confront what went wrong, tell the truth, and start rebuilding trust from there.

BTW If you’ve ever read a council report and found yourself more confused than when you started, don’t worry, it’s not you. It’s working as intended.

#KiamaCouncil #AccountabilityMatters #DeveloperContributions #GoldenValley #PlanningFail #Governance #LocalGovernment #TransparencyNow #CommunityDeservesBetter #InfrastructureFunding

Housing Strategies and Hollow Promises and Why Listening Isn’t Enough

It’s time to stop drafting strategies that sit on shelves. Let’s start building the courage to act.

If you’ve ever read a local government housing strategy, chances are it felt familiar, even if you were reading it for the first time. They tend to follow a pattern:
✔️ They acknowledge the issues.
✔️ They summarise the feedback.
✔️ They speak the language of care, equity, and inclusion.
But scratch the surface, and you’re often left asking: Where’s the action?

The latest Kiama Municipal Council Draft Housing Strategy in our region is no exception. To its credit, it captures what matters to people: housing that’s affordable, developments that respect the character of our towns, and planning that keeps pace with infrastructure. It admits where voices were missing, renters, younger people, Aboriginal residents, and it publishes community feedback clearly and transparently. That’s important.

But recognition is not reform. We don’t need another document that nods along with community concerns, only to drift into safe territory, generalities, delays, and vague promises of “sensitive growth” and “further consideration.” We need something braver.

Our housing problems aren’t unique, with communities across the country  grappling with rising prices, stagnant wages, rental insecurity, and generational lockout.

And in many places, solutions are already being tried. Community land trusts. Build-to-rent models. Tiny home villages. Prefabricated homes built by social enterprise. Councils developing and retaining their own affordable housing stock. There are people doing incredible work, often outside the traditional planning system, because they’ve had no choice but to act.

So why isn’t that reflected in our local strategy?

There’s no commitment to identifying what’s working elsewhere. No plan to pilot innovation. No acknowledgement of the community-led efforts already happening here. And no tools, no inclusionary zoning, no local affordability targets, no plan for securing housing for workers or renters or older people wanting to downsize and stay close to family.

Instead, we get the usual safety net of “alignment with state frameworks” and “monitoring future needs.” It’s the language of delay.

Listening should be the starting point  – not the end.

This is about ambition – not just process.

A genuinely community-driven strategy would do more than summarise feedback. It would:

  • Name and support local innovators already making change.

  • Seek out bold ideas from elsewhere and ask: could this work here?

  • Test small-scale pilots and learn from them.

  • Move beyond consultation and into co-creation, especially with those most affected by housing stress.

Transparent processes and pretty reports are not enough. People need homes,  and they need leaders ready to do more than listen.

It’s time to stop drafting strategies that sit on shelves. Let’s start building the courage to act.

#HousingStrategy #AffordableHousing #CommunityLedPlanning #InclusiveGrowth #LocalVoices #BuildBetter #PlanningForPeople #HousingJustice #PolicyToAction

When leadership fails, culture tells the truth

As I’ve said before, you can do all the leadership training in the world. It doesn’t always make you a leader. But what it does do, importantly, is help you recognise the difference. It helps you identify real leaders when you see them. More importantly, it sharpens your ability to spot toxic cultures. It teaches you to recognise when someone has enough self-awareness to grow, and when someone doesn’t. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Leadership is hard. Public leadership is harder. But when harm is done, whether through action or silence, real leadership requires something more than defensiveness. It requires self-reflection.

If a CEO were to pause and look inward, here is what genuine self-awareness might sound like.

How did I get here?
I have spent my career navigating complicated political environments. I have seen corruption up close. I have worked in organisations where things went very wrong. I was not charged, but I was part of that system. I saw what unchecked power does. I know what it costs communities. I know what it costs people.

Did I bring that culture with me, even unknowingly?
Did I carry forward habits shaped by survival in a dysfunctional system? Did I seek control where I should have encouraged transparency? Have I mistaken compliance for leadership?

Have I confused being right with being in charge?
Leadership is not about managing perception. It is about creating space for accountability and trust. When people around me challenged decisions or asked difficult questions, did I see that as threat instead of engagement?

What role have I played in the harm others say they’ve experienced?
When people say they felt targeted, silenced, or undermined during my leadership, do I hear that as a personal attack or as something to sit with? Have I considered that harm does not require intention, that impact matters more than defence?

What am I afraid will happen if I admit I got it wrong?
Is it fear of looking weak? Fear of being held to account? Or is it fear of stepping into the unknown, into a space where control is replaced by vulnerability?

What would it look like to lead differently, now?
It would mean opening space for truth. It would mean commissioning an independent review. It would mean picking up the phone to those who were hurt and saying, “I want to understand.” It would mean listening, not defending. Owning, not spinning. Rebuilding, not retreating.

Because surviving a broken system is not the same as transforming one.

And if we do not break the cycle, we become it.

#LeadershipMatters #ToxicCulture #CouncilAccountability #TrueLeadership #CommunityWellbeing #EthicalGovernance #PublicTrust

When Kiama Council stops listening, the community steps up

In Kiama, we pride ourselves on being engaged, fair-minded, and not afraid to speak up when something feels wrong. So when members of this community take the time to submit formal complaints to Council -backed by evidence, dates, and clear requests for action – it’s not done lightly.

It comes from a belief that our local democracy still matters. And that someone, somewhere inside the system, will listen.  to put their concerns in writing, cite documents, ask for a review  – there’s a basic expectation: that someone, somewhere, will respond.

 

A simple acknowledgement.

A record of receipt.

A sign that the system is functioning.

But that didn’t happen here.

 

I submitted a formal complaint to Kiama Council about the handling of the ICAC referral. So did others. We raised questions about process, timing, and accountability. We asked for a review.

 

The response? Silence.

Not even a note from the Public Officer to confirm the request had been received. No response from the CEO. No indication that the concerns were being treated with the seriousness they deserve.

And this is what makes people give up. Not disagreement. Not debate. But the sense that no one is listening.

 

So let me say this clearly:

We are listening to each other.

We are keeping records.

We are not going away.

The community sets the standard.

We expect better.

 

We expect that when three councillors are referred to an anti-corruption body and then cleared, someone in Council will have the decency to correct the record — not leave a misleading notice online for months, casting doubt long after the facts are known.

 

We expect that formal requests will be logged, replied to, and dealt with transparently – not ignored.

 

And we expect that those tasked with upholding the integrity of the system will do more than protect it when convenient. They will protect it when it’s hard. When it’s messy. When it means holding powerful people to account.

The question is not whether councillors or community members are brave enough to raise these issues.

 

We already have.

The question is whether Council is willing to deal with the answers.

 

#KiamaCouncil #LocalDemocracy #CouncilAccountability #ICACReferral #GovernanceMatters #CommunityVoice #TransparencyNow #PublicTrust #LeadershipStandards #CivicEngagement

When silence becomes complicity in local democracy

If you are new here, welcome. I write about issues affecting local democracy, governance, and accountability in the Kiama local government area, with a focus on asking the questions others might avoid.

Three councillors. A high-stakes development vote. A referral to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. An election three months away.

These are the facts. What followed was silence.

It is now publicly known that three Kiama councillors were referred to ICAC after a unanimous vote to reject a controversial development application. That referral became public knowledge not through formal channels, but through the media. The councillors themselves say they were not notified by Council. ICAC has since dismissed the referral.

No action. No investigation. No findings.
And still, no public correction.

For those watching closely, the timing felt less like coincidence and more like interference. A reputational blow landing just as the election campaign began, targeting councillors who had been vocal on governance, transparency, and community rights. If that was not an attempt to influence the election narrative, then what was it?

And yet here we are. New councillors have been elected. Fresh mandates have been claimed. And not one formal effort has been made to review what happened or ensure it never happens again.

This raises a harder question: why?

Why would any incoming councillor, elected to represent the interests of their community, not want to investigate a potential misuse of process? Why would they not want to protect future candidates and colleagues from the same kind of political weaponisation?

This is not about loyalty to the past council. It is about the future of local democracy. If elected officials can be referred to an anti-corruption body without due process, then left to wear the reputational damage even after dismissal, something is deeply wrong.

And if that damage can be timed to land just before an election, we are not talking about governance. We are talking about manipulation.

The community deserves better. Not in whispers, not behind closed doors, but in public.

If there is nothing to hide, there should be nothing to fear in a review. Silence may feel safe, but over time it corrodes trust. And trust, once lost, is difficult to regain.

Local democracy does not fail overnight. It fails when decent people say nothing because speaking up feels too risky. The real question now is not what happened then, but what our current leaders will do with what they know now.

This article reflects my personal views and interpretations, based on publicly available information and in the interest of fostering open and accountable local government. It is not my intention to accuse any individual of wrongdoing, but to encourage reflection and action on matters that affect trust in our democratic processes.

#Kiama #LocalGovernment #CouncilTransparency #DemocracyMatters #PublicTrust #AccountabilityNow #ICAC #Governance #CivicEngagement #CommunityVoice #LeadershipMatters

Local democracy shouldn’t feel like defiance

Why did it have to come to this

That’s the question I keep circling back to.

 Why was it necessary to write a blog post in the first place?

Why did councillors feel they couldn’t speak freely?

Why was silence the safest option for so many, when the real damage was being done out in the open?

 If local democracy was working as it should, none of this would’ve been needed. There would have been transparency from the beginning. There would have been open dialogue between council and community. And there would have been clear lines between power and accountability—not blurred ones.

But the moment I stepped into a role that involved naming what I saw and asking questions about how power operates, it became clear what kind of culture I was stepping into.

I’m not brave. I’m persistent.

And I’m someone who understands the value of truth, even when it’s inconvenient.

 Anyone stepping into a civic reporting role, especially in a small town, should expect to be met with pushback. But what they shouldn’t expect is silence from those with the power to make things better.

I wrote because I believe in democratic process.

Because I believe a community has a right to know how decisions are made, who is making them, and whether the process is fair.

 This shouldn’t require courage. It should be normal.

It should be part of how our systems work.

Instead, we have a system where saying something out loud feels like an act of defiance.

 I spoke up because I care too much to pretend nothing is wrong.

 And here’s the thing: if someone is willing to put in the hours, do the reading, follow the trail of decisions and connect the dots – why would anyone think they’re going to give up now?

#Kiama #RegionalMedia #CivicVoice #CommunityAdvocacy #LocalDemocracy #IndependentJournalism #GrassrootsLeadership #DoDemocracyDifferently

When a woman leads with policy and a man hears “lovely morning tea”

You have to laugh. Or you’ll cry.

A strong, clear media release goes out: factual, future-focused, and full of integrity. It speaks to leadership, collaboration, and the kind of good governance our communities are crying out for.

And somehow, somewhere between inbox and interpretation, it becomes… “she said they had a lovely morning tea.”

Of course she did.

She didn’t speak – but she still got quoted

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Mayor hosted the event.
He spoke with clarity and warmth.
He was the only male councillor in attendance.
He honoured the seven women being recognised for their extraordinary contributions.
And he said this:

“Volunteers are the bedrock of our community. We’re proud to recognise these remarkable women and grateful for the legacy they continue to build.”
– Mayor Cameron McDonald

That quote was in the official media release.

It did not appear in the published article.

Instead, the only quote included was from the Deputy Mayor, a woman who did not speak at the event, and it was about morning tea.

So let’s be clear:
The man who did speak,  and said something meaningful , was erased.
The woman who didn’t speak was given a flippant quote about catering.

This isn’t inclusive storytelling. This is careless distortion.

It undermines everyone involved. The Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and most of all, the women being honoured. It suggests that what mattered most wasn’t the decades of service, or the formal recognition, or the collective legacy of women shaping community life – but the muffins.

That’s why it makes you cringe.

Because we know this move. We’ve seen it before.
A woman is made visible, but only in ways that soften and shrink her.
The men who show up with leadership? Erased.
The women who deserve to be quoted for courage? Rewritten.

And what makes it worse is this:

You had the facts.
You had the quotes.
You had the truth.
And you still chose the scones.

You can read the article in The Bugle here. Then ask yourself: why did the only quote we see reduce this important event to something twee?

Women don’t need front pages if all they get are crumbs.
We need stories that reflect who we are and what we bring – not the leftovers from someone else’s narrative.

So next time, tell the truth. All of it. And read past the biscuits.

She’s not here to decorate the room. She’s here to help lead it.

#SheLeads #HiddenTreasures #RespectHerVoice #WomenInLeadership #Kiama #TheBugle #TheBugleNewspaper #TheBugleApp #CommunityChampions #ChangeTheNarrative #EqualityMatters #VolunteerVoices