Four things Local Councils should do right now.

Trust in government is collapsing.  A drop from from 45% to 37% last year, reflects our doubt in governments’ capacity to deal with the biggest challenges we face, such as climate change and inequality.  It also demonstrates we are experiencing politics as something external to us, increasingly handed down by establishment elites from above.

The following ink gives some excellent IDEAS to answer the question…

 “What can councils do become trusted institutions in their communities?”

WATAG believes that local councils’ Active Transport aims in particular would benefit from:

1. Having collaborative discussions and by supporting participatory networks
2. Doing things. Having lots of surveys and strategies sitting on a shelf doesn’t mean anything has actually been done.
3. Having a vast community of real-time experts in the community which are not utilised fully (if at all)
4. Facing the future head-on and openly talking about what needs to change

How are things in Whitehorse?

Whitehorse Council developed a Community Engagement Framework in 2014.
Note: The Council website has been redeveloped since then so if the above link no longer works, view the document here.
It’s unclear whether this was adopted as official Council policy.
It’s an excellent framework to begin with, however there’s more work to be done.

This graphic is taken from the Know Your Council website with the data being for the 2017-2018 year.

It shows that Whitehorse is very similar Councils and to all other Councils as well, and that ALL of them could do much better.

WATAG hopes to engage with Council at a much deeper level than in the past.
We hope that Active Transport becomes far more “normal” in Whitehorse, as a result of the needs and expectations of the whole community being considered.