I am heartened by David Harris’ comment in the article “The biggest challenges we face this year” (CCN 425) in respect of the upcoming council elections in September.
He said “I would encourage good people to stand” and “It’s up to us to know who we are voting for”.
In order for us to have the knowledge to judge who are “good people”, we must have a process whereby every candidate must provide a comprehensive and accurate picture (affidavit, if necessary) of their suitability.
By that I mean their background skills, education, work experience and a statement as to why they would be a “good” councillor for the Central Coast in a managing and decision-making role.
The Central Coast Council has a multi-million-dollar budget, managing a workforce, infrastructure and resources much bigger than some large corporations, and serves more than 300,000 people.
Being a councillor is a heavy-weight job.
You need to be up there with directors of big companies.
Before the 2017 election, the Wyong Chronicle had several pages with a statement by each candidate.
Unfortunately the statements were motherhood stuff, with no indication of specifically how they would go about their plans, or what experience, skills, or professional qualifications they would bring to the table to get these things done.
My point is, anybody can spout off statements (that) sound wonderful.
But they are worth nothing unless we can see that the person making them has the credibility to actually carry them out.
We need people with financial skills (not from running a three-person business), people who have worked on large scale construction projects – in any capacity, people who can negotiate, have proven ability to successfully work in a high-powered team, and people who are willing to listen and modify their views.
Maybe then we will “know who we are voting for”.
Email, Feb 9
Geoff Robertson, The Entrance
Thanks Geoff.
what a great article. I wholeheartedly agree. I hope we have candidates that are suitably qualified and not just political lackies who only vote along party lines.
So your ideas about suitably qualified are people from the real estate development industry haven’t they already destroyed the CC enough, didn’t their cryptic activities lead to the dissolution of a democratically elected council. And in the absence of any representation haven’t they gotten to enough of a free hand laisser faire environment to destroy what we used to have.