The Good Oil by Rod Brown*
‘Nugget’ Coombs was the chief adviser to a string of Prime Ministers a few decades back. And old timers still sing his praises. He was quoted on occasions as saying that a “good bureaucrat makes other people’s dreams come true”. Nice romantic ring to it. But these days Federal officials basically lay out the programs that have funding, trot out some jargon and incomprehensible acronyms, and then refer you to their website. Task completed. This is the 21st century after all.
But there is an element of truth in what Nugget was saying. I think the problem these days is that we’ve lost the people who can massage ideas, and to coax and prod people and agencies to a common position.
Let me explain. I am currently helping different councils to mount cases for funding of community centres, an agricultural college, an environmental/tourism interpretive centre, an industrial park, water recycling plants and green precincts.
The common factor in all of these projects is that the alignment of the funding is so uncertain – the Federal programs are patchy and have lengthy and mind numbing assessment procedures, the State programs are mostly miserly, and Local Government looks to the others or is too nervous. When I approach Federal officials to get past the website information and acronyms, it’s like prising a bone off a Doberman.
Why are these Dobermans so prevalent? The reason is that the program machinery is now so tight that very few Federal officials are willing to assist in delivering dreams. Careers are at risk if there is a taint of picking winners, or getting too close to companies or local stakeholders.
The blowup of the Regional Partnerships Program hasn’t helped. So the end result is a Federal bureaucracy that has lost its ability to shape ideas, to bring fresh information to the table (and it does have the information!) and to be a player.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is a good example. Its ‘constituents’ are doing it tough – agricultural industries are crying out for value adding agendas, food exports are modest, farmers are walking, regional infrastructure and investment need a stimulus.
It has a young, smart and ambitious Minister, but his portfolio has so few programs that it doesn’t need Dobermans. I can’t understand why he’s keeping such a low profile. (His name is Tony Burke.)
The take home message is to circle around the Dobermans, and look after your local champions and economic development managers, because they are the closest thing to a dream deliverer (and the Cockatoo Network of course!).
Rudd to make $600M local infrastructure play?
PM Rudd is reportedly fast tracking $600 million in spending on small infrastructure projects such as local roads and bridges to bolster economic activity and counter the global financial crisis.
The reports point to the Feds bankrolling local councils to deliver small projects with short lead times. The new regional and local community infrastructure fund will replace the Regional Partnerships Program, and it will possibly be announced at the Local Government Summit on 18 November.
I have been doing some checking around Canberra, and there seems to be some substance to these rumours. The take home message is to get your best projects up to scratch – commission feasibility studies, undertake local stakeholder consultation and align your champions.
Personally, I wouldn’t be getting too carried away – any offer will be spread over three to four years, and it will be a piddling amount across a national landscape crying out for upgraded infrastructure and economic capacity.
Mayors attending the Summit might send a message to Mr Rudd to firstly begin some regional planning at the Federal level and secondly leverage support from his State mates – NSW being the prime example!
Uproar in Sydney’s north-west as
squinters rebel
Premier Nathan Rees has vetoed Sydney’s biggest infrastructure project, the Northwest Metro rail link from the CBD through to Baulkham Hills and Rouse
Hill – a 38 kilometre line with
17 new stations and interchanges to bus, rail and light rail.
According to the Telegraph, one senior Government source said ‘it would take years to build and no one believed we were going to do it anyway…it would just suck up too much capital and jeopardise other more needed projects’.
The budget committee has reportedly decided on a new package to deliver more buses and train carriages to existing stations in northwest Sydney. PM Rudd is rumoured to have told the NSW Government that it would not get Federal funding as there were no votes in Sydney’s northwest for Labor. This is nonsense.
What has clearly happened is that the NSW Government has failed over the last decade to enunciate a clear vision for Sydney’s future transport system. It has the cream of the nation’s infrastructure financiers in its midst, the highest population density in the country, and citizens crying out for some leadership and long term thinking.
My daughter and her boyfriend are happily ensconced in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He was chortling the other day about the ‘Sydney squinters’.
Replying to my please explain, he said, ‘They squint into the sun as they drive in from the western suburbs in the morning, and they squint into the sun as they drive home in the afternoon’. Somehow I think Sydney residents are beyond the gag stage.
*Rod Brown is a Canberra-based consultant specialising in industry/regional development, investment attraction, clusters and accessing Federal grants. He can be contacted at apd@orac.net.au or phone (02) 6231 7261. Go to our blog at www.investmentinnovation.wordpress.com for 400+ articles on issues relevant to Local Government.
