Last night I attended an event by the development arm of Council about the community and area in which I work. It was a well run event, a panel of articulate people, preceded by a mix and mingle with elegant cocktail foods and alcohol freely provided.
The intentions and plans for the area are all good, well meaning and hopeful. However, I couldn’t help notice that the demographic of those attending and those on the panel were not representative of all the community. There were voices missing, those that would benefit the most from the development and whose voices should be heard.
I had thought there would be opportunities for audience feedback but there was not. We could submit questions via an online medium to the panel, but these were moderated and only 3 were chosen. I did submit some in the hopes that the missing voices might get some air time but none were chosen.
I came away with mixed feelings. On one hand the event felt like a self-congratulatory “haven’t we done well” and on the other it was an event that could have been a lot more inclusive. If that was an attempt by Council to get real community engagement, it was not a representative sample.
Yes! I've been in local government 26 years and it's always hard to get true representation. But noticing the problem, and trying to fix it, matters.
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