Reforming NDIS : Online Consultation - First Round : Revolutionising Disability Services : Reforming Mental Health : Breaking the Inertia in Reform

National Reform Series 2016 | Civil Society Australia Reforming NDIS: Fulfilling the Promise to Revolutionise Disability Services       Online Consultation - First Round   What Do You Think? The following are proposals for reform of NDIS. There are twelve (12) proposals on which comments are invited. We want to know what you think. Our aim is to receive comments on these proposals so that refined proposals can be presented to the National Conference on Reforming NDIS on 21 March 2016.  1      Participants' Plans  2      Participant-Controlled Information Tool  3       Local Area Circles and Networks  4      Registered Providers of Supports  5      Monitoring and Protection of Self-Direction  6       NDIS Board and Advisory Council  7      Election of 50% of NDIS Board by Participants  8      Control of Management and Administration Costs  9      Participant-Driven Employment Assistance  10    Small /Micro-Business Development Grant  11    Family Support Entitlement  12    Advocacy Voucher for every NDIS ParticipantIf you have suggestions for reform of NDIS and its operations, processes and culture, you have until the end of January 2016 to send them in.  CLICK HERE to submit a proposal. People with disabilities, families, friends, support organisations, community groups, services and policy makers are invited to contribute to this people-driven process to ensure NDIS delivers on the promise to Revolutionise Disability Services. Reforming NDIS: Process and Timeline 1 December 2015 - 31 January 2016 Submit your suggestions and proposals for reform of NDIS. Proposals will be distributed  for consideration. Participants consider various suggestions and proposals for reform, and offer their assessments. 1 February - 21 March 2016 Refinement of proposals based on participant feedback. 21 March 2016 Conference participants assess proposals for NDIS Reform and establish mechanisms for driving an ongoing reform process. CLICK HERE to register your interest in participating in this process.  CLICK HERE to submit a suggestion or proposal for reform.  CLICK HERE to read the submitted proposals and add your comments.  CLICK HERE to register for the 21 March 2016 national conference.

Two Days in March 2016This process and conference on Monday 21 March 2016 forms part of a series of reform events hosted by Civil Society Australia in 2016. Two events will be held in March 2016. Participants may attend one or both of these as they wish. Monday 21 March 2016  Reforming NDIS Revolutionising Disability Services Tuesday 22 March 2016  Reforming Mental Health Breaking the Inertia in Reform CLICK HERE for further information. Venue The Angliss Conference Centre is located in the Melbourne CBD, on the corner of LaTrobe and King Streets, on the fifth floor. It is close to train and tram services. Flagstaff railway station is one block away in LaTrobe St, and Southern Cross station is three blocks away in Spencer St. Trams 23, 24, 30, 34, and City Circle run along LaTrobe Street. There are numerous accommodation options close by, to suit all budgets. Start and Finish Times Both events begin at 9.15am, finishing at 5.00pm.  CLICK HERE to register for one or both of these events.  Further Information CLICK HERE for further information. CLICK HERE for Civil Society Australia website.

Civil Society Australia.

What Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory want : Rebuilding from the ground up - an alternative to the NT Intervention

REBUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP

AN ALTERNATIVE TO 

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY INTERVENTION

We're not getting the real deal - First Nations recognition in the Australian Constitution - just another Act of Parliament.

Hello all, The Government announced today plans to introduce an Act of Recognition into the Australian Parliament before the end of the year, as an interim measure to holding a referendum on Constitutional Recognition. This means that a referendum will not go ahead by the next election, as was the original commitment. The ‘Act of Recognition’ would have a two-year sunset clause, in the expectation that a referendum will be put by the next government, irrespective of who wins (see The Age and Australian articles below). RecVic’s initial response to this announcement, largely consistent with Reconciliation Australia and ANTaR responses, is: We welcome today’s commitment to legislate an Act of Recognition as a step on the road to Constitutional Recognition We await further detail about the proposed Act of Recognition, but hope that it reflects all elements of the Expert Panel’s package, including the inclusion of a prohibition on racial discrimination.  We urge the Parliament to provide a firm and bi-partisan commitment on the timing of a referendum. What we’ve learnt from the ’67 referendum campaigners is it took 10 years to reach out to the majority of Australians to touch their hearts and minds. We don’t expect it to take that long but the research conducted by You Me Unity suggests that awareness isn’t high enough to hold a successful referendum yet. We support the Expert Panel’s advice that careful consideration of the timing of a referendum on this issue is crucial to ensure the best chance of success. We are happy that the Government, Opposition, Greens and Independents are talking to one another because for a referendum to be successful we need the support of the whole Parliament, along with states and territories and the Australian people. We must continue our efforts to engage more people in the conversation. Building up recognition of the histories and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at the LOCAL level will create a foundation for achieving recognition at the national level. PM plan for indigenous recognition Michael Gordon Published: September 20, 2012 - 3:00AM THE Gillard government has embraced a new strategy to recognise the ''unique and special place'' of indigenous Australians after conceding that a referendum proposing constitutional change could fail if it is put at or before next year's election. It now plans to legislate an ''act of recognition'' before Parliament rises this year in the hope that it will build momentum for constitutional recognition of indigenous language and culture in the next two years. The legislation will have a two-year sunset clause in the expectation that a referendum will be put by the next government, irrespective of who wins. The retreat is likely to be endorsed by indigenous leaders who feared a referendum campaign would be overwhelmed by the political contest between Labor and the Coalition in the lead-up to the election due this time next year. ''The last thing you would want is for this to fail,'' Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin told The Age last night. The Prime Minister agreed to the goal of a referendum before or at the next election in separate minority government agreements with the Greens and with independent MP Rob Oakeshott after the 2010 election. But, in a report to the government late last year, a 22-member expert panel urged caution on the timing of the referendum, saying a failure to have it passed would result in ''confusion about the nation's values, commitment to racial non-discrimination and sense of national identity''. Ms Macklin said the decision to hold back followed strong advice from indigenous leaders that there was not yet sufficient awareness or support to ensure the success of a referendum, which needs to be passed by a majority of votes and a majority of states. A preliminary report prepared by Reconciliation Australia found that while there was strong awareness among indigenous Australians, only 39 per cent of the non-indigenous community had heard about the proposed referendum. Ms Macklin said she had held preliminary discussions with the opposition, Greens and independents on the planned legislation and would continue to work with all parties to develop the legislation. ''We are committed to recognising indigenous people in Australia's constitution and want meaningful reform that reflects the hopes and aspirations of indigenous people.'' The panel proposed changes to the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and languages, prohibit racial discrimination and remove the last vestiges of racism in the nation's founding document. Co-chairman of the expert panel, Patrick Dodson, said the change in strategy made sense. ''There should be a clear distinction between the election and the need for statesmanlike behaviour to resolve a 200-year problem - the lack of recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.'' For extended article: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-plan-for-indigenous-recognition-20120919-2672z.html You can also vote in today’s Age Poll at http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-plan-for-indigenous-recognition-20120919-2672z.html Julia Gillard switch on first peoples BY:PATRICIA KARVELAS   From:The Australian  September 20, 2012 12:00AM THE referendum to acknowledge indigenous Australians has been shelved for at least three years amid fears the failure to build community support before the deadline of the next election would see it defeated. The Gillard government will instead ask parliament to pass an "Act of Recognition" to acknowledge "the unique and special place of our first peoples" as an "interim" measure until there is enough support for a constitutional change. Julia Gillard has talked to Tony Abbott and the Greens about Labor's intention to introduce the symbolic act in a formal admission that a referendum would fail if it were put to a vote next year as planned. As part of Labor's 2010 power-sharing agreement with the Greens and independents, Labor agreed to hold a referendum on indigenous constitutional recognition before or at the 2013 election. The Greens are understood to be disappointed at the delay, but acknowledge it is necessary. It is understood all parties are prepared to follow Labor's path towards an act. They want the act passed by the end of the year. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said a sunset clause on the act would force the parliament not to neglect the issue. "We have a sunset clause in the bill of say two or three years so that the next parliament really has to look at it and make sure that we maintain the community awareness and continue to have a discussion for the need for constitutional change, not just in the area of recognition but on the other matters the expert panel raised," she said. "Whoever is in charge in the next parliament will have to either decide to continue it or the parliament will need to discuss it." The government will today reveal that the Act of Recognition will be worded to reflect as closely as possible the recommendations of the expert panel the government had develop options for constitutional change. In January, the panel recommended that the Constitution be altered to remove racist sections Continued on Page 4 and create power for the advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the protection of language and culture. It also called for a clause against racial discrimination. The panel wanted the constitution changed to empower the government to make laws for the "advancement" of indigenous Australians. The government is keeping an open mind on the introduction of a specific non-discrimination clause in the Constitution arguing it is too early to decide whether it would gain support at an election. And instead of a clause for the "advancement" of indigenous Australians they prefer the Constitution to be changed to acknowledge that laws can be made to "close the gap". The recommended insertion of a clause to prohibit racial discrimination was described by Tony Abbott as a "single-issue bill of rights". Ms Macklin said a preliminary report prepared for the government by Reconciliation Australia found only 39 per cent of the non-indigenous community had heard about a proposed referendum. "The Australian government agrees with the findings of the expert panel that it is important a referendum is held at a time when it has the most chance of success," she said. Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said the vote should not be held under Julia Gillard, arguing that the Prime Minister's advocacy would ensure defeat of a referendum. The RecVic Team

Being Bush and Black counted in yesterday's Northern Territory election

Networkers, I am sure you will have tuned in last night or this morning to hear the results of yesterday's Northern Territory election.

Here is the report from Tracker. 

Before I go on, let me give some full disclosure.  From 1993 to 1997, I was the electorate officer for Maggie Hickey, the then Member for Barkly (ALP) who later became Leader of the Opposition in the NT. The seat of Barkly has two major towns - Tennant Creek and Borroloola.  When I went to work for Maggie, she held the seat by 93 votes having won it from a former CLP Chief Minister. In 1997, our teamwork meant that we made Barkly a very safe Labor seat.  After fifteen years, it still is and Gerry McCarthy, the current MLA, held on to his seat last night.

While it galls me to have to say that I am thrilled with the election result and the CLP victory, the fact is that I am - for all the reasons that Chris Graham outlines.

After all my years in politics, I don't believe that longstanding safe seats - or taken for granted constituencies - are good things.  My favourite political slogan is "Make it marginal".  In short, keep politicians on their toes and working for you.  It is a shame that it has taken two horrendous pieces of public policy affecting adversely the lives of Aboriginal people to shake Labor to its core in the NT.  

While some people whom I don't like may get a seat in the new NT Parliament  - Bess Price may win the seat of Stuart and she favours The Intervention, and then there is Alison Anderson who I wouldn't trust from A to B - I am proud of what Aboriginal people have done in this election.

The seat of Barkly was always ignored - the Berrimah line and, in my view, a Mount Nancy line by which Tennant Creek was ignored by Alice Springs as well as Darwin. The northern suburbs of Darwin, until now, had always been the significant political vote changer. Probably for the first time in Australian political history, we have seen the vote of people in remote areas change a government.  The remote area voice has triumphed over the urban voice.  And not only was that an Outback vote, it was a Black vote.  How significant is that!

I found Clare Martin's comments in the wash up last night astounding ... and if that is a true reflection of ALP thinking, then the party has a long way to go in coming to an accurate analysis of what went wrong for them.  Martin said that there has been more money than ever before put into Aboriginal communities with The Intervention/Stronger Futures program.  Sure, she said, there were some problems in the housing area but there had been a substantial amount of new housing built. 

This goes back to what I call the old "achievement by dollars" syndrome.  I remember when Bob Hawke was met with ridiculing laughter at a World Council of Churches Congress event in Canberra for a similar statement.  The ridicule hit home and after that, attached to information about dollar spending, reports from the Aboriginal portfolio used to speak of outcomes.

Politicians must realise - and I wonder if the major parties will - that it doesn't matter how much money is poured into electorates, whether they are black or white. Unless there is honest consultation with people and people's views are acknowledged and worked with, all that those dollars will deliver is but shifting sand.

The big decider for Aboriginal people was The Shires vote.  Out in white Australia most people will not have a clue about this policy area and its significance on the ground.  Opinion has been divided in Aboriginal communities with regard to The Intervention.  It is my guess that there was no division in relation to The Shires.  What the CLP will do with this knowledge remains to be seen.  It is almost certain that they will abolish the current Local Government system... and then we will have to see what comes next and what the results of any new policy are. 

Picture from here

See also NT News Article

There is another factor which may be significant.  From what I have seen of the new Chief Minister, Terry Mills, he seems a nice man.  Now this comment may seem a bit twee in the political context but I have to say that the old CLP which lives on in my memory was horrible: it was corrupt, racist, played the racist card election after election, was riddled with cronyism, and had some very nasty and vicious players.  Back in those days, to get anywhere in the NT it was advisable to be a member of the CLP ... and you were assured of preferrment if you were a member of the Silver Circle.  I suspect this may have changed and, if it hasn't, it will now with the significant Aboriginal contingent on CLP benches.  However, one must not ignore the fact that family relationships (what we whitefellas may call nepotism) plays a significant part in Aboriginal ways of doing things.  In fact, these relationships have been discussed in political commentary in relation to Anderson's electorate success.

Lastly, I wonder if this will have any bearing on Federal Labor's ambitions (as well as Fed LibNats ambitions) to establish a radioactive waste site on Muckaty station, north of Tennant Creek and in the seat of Barkly.  The majority of the Traditional Owners are against the proposal.  However, the Northern Land Council has done a deal with Amy Lauder and her family to establish the dump with the NLC and Lauder set to receive millions of dollars in the deal.  Currently, the TOs have a case pending in the High Court.  

Further reading:
Federal Labor talks down NT loss

Bob Gosford:  The CLP Brings Bush Politics Back To The Town

Labor loses territory with a dose of bush medicine

Northern Territory cry over  loss of faith in progressives

Left sent message as Northern Territory  Labor rule ends

Federal Labor distances itself from MT loss

Bush calling the shots after NT election

Bushwhacked

Related articles

• Blackfellas vote themselves into a gulag

Multicultural Arts Victoria: bringing their Emerge Cultural Hubs Consultation 2012 to Ballarat

Dear Friends,

You are invited to attend a Ballarat Arts community consultation session with Multicultural Arts Victoria on Tuesday 28^th August from 6pm – 8pm at the Ballarat Town Hall.

MAV will be seeking community feedback on the following:

1. What are the barriers to participation in the arts for refugee and emerging CALD artists and communities in Ballarat?

2. What can we do to increase opportunities and access for refugee and emerging CALD artists and communities in Ballarat?

EMERGE CULTURAL HUBS CONSULTATIONS 2012

Multicultural Arts Victoria will undertake a series of 6 consultations over a 2 week period in August to review and inform the development of its Emerge Cultural Hubs program. Emerge Cultural Hubs is a unique model for arts development, programming and capacity building of emerging refugee artists and communities in regional Victoria. Through a partnership approach and ongoing consultation with communities and stakeholders, the program identifies local needs and develops locally based, sustainable arts initiatives that are aimed at increasing refugee and CALD communities’ participation in the arts.

Regards,

Elizabeth Hardiman | Cultural Partnerships Officer

City of Ballarat | PO Box 655, Ballarat, Victoria, 3353

P: 03 5320 5831 | M: 0438 205 620 | http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au

Related articles

• What will it take to welcome people with disabilities? - a multifaith and disability event
• Rally to Save Ballarat Tafe - Thursday 6 September 1pm
• SAVE TAFES FROM TED'S CUTS - Actions continue to build across Victoria
• Ballarat strikes gold - Named the number one location for domestic IT services delivery in Australia by capioIT.
• TAKE IT TO TED: Join the campaign wherever you are in Victoria to save TAFEs.

Wayne Swan, Rob Hulls and Pat Comben and seekings answers to questions

In the long ago when Miss Eagle was a very politically involved person, she took this picture with some of her then comrades-in-politics. I am re-posting this post - original publication September 25 2009 - because to-day, January 27 2012, Rob Hulls has announced his resignation from state politics in Victoria.

Rob has been an excellent Labor Attorney-General. Please note that of the three in the photo, only one is still in office. That's the one in the glasses - Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia Wayne Swan. Wayne, to me, is a good old-fashioned Labor politician and is employing traditional Labor methods in keeping Australia out of the financial difficulties afflicting the world. So far these methods are meeting with great success.

From Miss Eagle's archives.

No, these three lads are not triplets 

cutting a birthday cake.

From left: Wayne Swan - then State Secretary of the Qld Branch of the ALP, 

now Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia;

Rob Hulls - then Federal Member for Kennedy, a North Qld based seat,

now Victorian Attorney-General;

Pat Comben - then Minister (several portfolios) in the Labor Govt of Wayne Goss,

now an Anglican priest and Registrar of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton

and has the nomenclature of The Hon & Revd Pat Comben.

The date was 15 March 1991.

The place was Charters Towers.

The occasion was the Centenary of the ALP.

Charters Towers was one of the very first branches.


~~~~~~~~~

I am taking the opportunity of putting this picture up

because Rob Hulls is doing a live Q & A on line 

this afternoon at 2.30 pm here.

You will need to be quick about getting your

Qs on or you won't get any As

Miss Eagle has asked how we can legally get out of Water Trading

and

rebundle land and water once again.

Let's see if she gets an answer to that.

She might if Rob recognises the name attached to the Q.

The Proposed Basin Plan documents and fact sheets. Enough here to make your eyes glaze over!

An ordinary mortal in coming to grips with the material put forward by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) in regard to the Proposed Basin Plan is quite a hurdle. I have been remiss in the timeliness of getting these documents to you on line, Networkers.  So.. I hope you have been over at the website.  I have been battling all manner of ill health this past month and this week has been taken up with all manner of medical and allied medical visitations ... and there is a biggy next week.  I am having yet another mammogram but expect this one to enable me to celebrate ten years free of breast cancer!

~~~~~

There is a mountain of material on the MDBA website.  There are the comments from Minister Tony Burke and the Chairman of the Authority, Craig Knowles.  There's a decision to be made about whether one can get to any of the listed consultations.   The consultations appear to be less numerous and widespread than those held by the Authority when the Guide to the Draft Plan last year.  However, I am advised that the current list is only for consultations prior to Christmas.  In the New Year, a new list will appear with more extensive consultations, including Melbourne, on the list. I was able to attend the consultations in Shepparton and in Melbourne last time....but, while the spirit is very willing, the body has got somewhat weaker in the ensuing year.

I did this week attend The Low Down held at Environment Victoria this week.  Lead speaker was the marvellous Juliet Le Feuvre.  She was ably followed by the more than capable Domenica Settle.

These two women are the Rivers Campaigners/Experts for Environment Victoria.

~~~~~~

However, I will begin at the beginning.  The material below is available from the the Authority website.  I download it here, because for some it is more accessible and may prove easier to locate in the longer term.  

I do commend the authority on the document regarding the individual catchments of the Murray Darling Basin.  The individual maps provided are valuable and, I have to wonder, whether teachers might take a good look at the document for classroom use.  In addition, I wonder if localised tourism could be enhanced by marketing catchment tours so people can learn about their rivers, the environment, agriculture, and irrigation.  I have lived in a number of these catchments and have travelled in a number of others.  But what better way to get to know your country than by getting to know the Murray-Darling Basin - people could be encouraged to gather a clutch of catchments in an interlinked regional tourism push.

Basin Plan implementation pathway process

Proposed Basin Plan


Knowledge behind the Plan


The draft Basin Plan: catchment by catchment


The proposed "environmentally sustainable level of take"
for surface water of the Murray-Darling Basin: method and outcomes


Climate change and the Basin Plan


FACT SHEET:
The proposed 'environmentally sustainable level of take'
for surface water of the Murray-Darling Basin


Flooding and the Basin Plan


Hydrological modelling


Managing Australia's water resources


Sustainable diversion limit compliance


Transitional and interim water resource plans


Water Quality and Salinity Management Plan


Communication products for draft Basin Plan release

Delivering a healthy working Basin

Questions answered

Now if you aren't worn out, asleep, or thoroughly bored witless
I won't download any more docs.
HOWEVER,
please go to these linked documents
Supporting Documents
Environmental Watering Plan - What's in it and how will it work?

If it were 1 June, I would suggest gathering the family around the fire for a reading session and you could each take a doc and read snippets to each other over a succession of nights.  This should only take about three months so that on 31 August you can quiz each other and see who passes the comprehension test.  On the first day of Spring collapse in a heap and then hibernate until Christmas.  

Instead it's December. It's hot. Some catchments have had floods already this season and some are keeping an eye on their rivers for more of the same.  The documents have been out for just under a fortnight and there's just over a fortnight until Christmas.  Oh, well. Forget the Christmas Cards.  Give everyone in the family a store gift card.   Who has time to shop?  Merry Christmas and we'll see if we can get this sorted in the New Year.

Maria Riedle: Demanding open, inclusive community engagement on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan by Craig Knowles AND the MDBA

Maria Riedl is a hardy and experienced water campaigner.  She lives in the Mildura district and has written this letter to her local paper:

Dear Editor,

With the draft Murray Darling Basin Plan set to be released on the 28th of November, it is time for Victorian communities to contact the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and let them know how you would prefer to be consulted. I encourage my community, both sides of the river,  to contact MDBA directly through their email (engagement@mdba.gov.au), their phone line (1800 230 067) or their on-line blog (http://freeflow.mdba.gov.au). 

And perhaps contact council to ensure that anyone who wants to attend can even if this means more than one meeting in the day in a large venue, when the MDBA is here!

My name is Maria Riedl, I am on the Victorian Water Minister Peter Walsh's Advisory Committee for the MDB Plan as a community member, and I just received this. We need to have public meetings as we did last time with the MDBA about the Basin Plan. I urge the community to ask that there be a proper, open and inclusive consultations held by the Murray Darling Basin Authority here, and to ensure that hard copies of the proposed Basin Plan are available before the community meeting for everyone that wants one. Perhaps council can ask that the MDBA send a very large number and make them available to everyone, so we know what is proposed.

Community consultation is vital and it must not be limited to interest groups only,  but include the entire community; anyone who is interested in making a submission to the proposed Plan. Being informed, by having all the information in front of us (this includes Mr Knowles and the MDBA and the relevant supporting documents) allows us to participate in decision-making, resulting in a better outcome for the environment, for irrigators and for all who rely on the Basin's natural resources; both underground and surface water. 

Our natural resources provide totally free benefits and this must be acknowledged. 

It is time to ensure that the balance between environmental and human usage is fair and equitable, and will stand the tests of climate change, increases in population, in human usages such as mining, forestry and other. It is no longer possible to go along a 'business-as-usual' path, it never was!

I encourage all my community, both sides of the river, to take an interest. Ask for full community meetings (more than one if needed because of interest)  with the MDBA to inform and to debate. This is how democracy works. This is participatory democracy, not decisions handed down from politicians and others with vested interests. Government by the people for the people!

THERE'S A MORATORIUM........ on speaking freely.

Governments, dear Networkers, think they are consultative and give you a say.  Not on your Nellie.  Governments control, marshall, prescribe and sift through how you apparently can have your say.

The Resource Buccaneers are intruding into every avenue of private and community life in parts of NSW and Queensland.   Talk of a moratorium on Coal Seam Gas (CSG) makes very interesting reading.  


Please note the word "However".  That "However" should have been printed in bold letters and in warning-sign red.  Here is one of  the ways governments restrict the ability of the community either individually or collectively in having their say and in being able to enter into consultative dialogue with the government.  This, dear Networkers, is unadulterated window dressing.  

Communities not only have to protest the cause 

but protest the methods of government consultation 

(or lack thereof).

However, Minister Garrett's assessment is limited to impacts on threatened species. According to Ms Waters, an environmental lawyer, without a trigger in our federal environment laws, the full impacts of CSG mining on farmland, groundwater and climate change cannot be assessed. The laws are inadequate to have the full impacts comprehensively assessed.

Minister Garrett is not considering the impacts of CSG mining on prime food producing land.

What is not mentioned is that it helps to be able to speak Bureaucratese with a Scientific accent.   I am a member of (or on the fringes of) a number of water campaigns.  The only successful campaign of which I am aware where Garrett said NO is the Save the Mary campaign.  The campaigners were assisted by an endangered lungfish.  Not every threat can single out an endangered specie to join the campaign.  Too bad, so sad.  So while the dam on the Mary appears unlikely to proceed, I am cynical enough to believe that the Queensland Government will find a way to exert its will in the end.  

In the meantime, responding to government invitations is like drafting sheep as in the picture below.  Sheep come down a race or an ever narrowing corridor and someone sits atop a series of gates opening and closing them and deciding which sheep goes through which gate until they are all siphoned off into the required pens.


It is high time, dear Networkers, that we not only protested our cause/s but the methods of decision-making, consultation and dialogue.  Currently, this is what happens:

1. Governments decide what the response will be in regard to.  (In this case only threatened species; not on the most important issue of what is happening or to happen to prime food producing land.)
2. The method of response - namely by submissions individually or collectively.  (This means that it is unlikely that respondents will ever meet unless they are part of a group submission and, in most cases, will not get to hold true cosultative dialogue with a politician or a bureaucrat.)
3. Submissions need to be well written, to the point, and only in reference to the points stated (in this case namely the threatened species.)  One cannot guarantee that any particular submission will catch anyone's attention at all but respondents are behind the eight-ball altogether if they do not have a certain skill in formulating such submissions.  

Communities need to be active in their own self-interest.  They need to be clear on how politicians and bureaucrats are to consult with them and when and for how long the consultations take place.  At the moment, consultation is fake and, such as it is, is a one way street - not a two way process of communication, consultation and active response.  If this does not happen, all we like sheep have gone astray and we are prime targets for slaughter.

Related reading:

The Rules of Engagement - Seven Keys For Effective Community Engagement

Engaged Passions. Searches for Quality in Community Contexts

Communication and Community Engagement

The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation (Theory in Practice)

Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement

Managing Civic and Community Engagement

Creative Community Planning: Transformative Engagement Methods for Working at the Edge (Tools for Community Planning)

Further reading and listening:

Gas Rush

Community consultation the way forward: Gunns

Community engagement

What is community engagement?

(Warning: read the stuff but DSE is a poor role model)

Community engagement in context

(Warning: read the stuff 

but the Qld Govt doesn't seem to be

 a good role model at the present time)

Community consultation checklist

Consultation and engagement

The Change Agency

Social change

Six degrees