‘Honesty and integrity’ was number one on the list when members of the Port Macquarie Hastings community recently put forward their views on what they would like to see in our future Councillors.
The ‘Councillor Key Specifications’ list and subsequent community rankings were facilitated by the independent members of the Port Macquarie Hastings Council Governance Review Consultation panel.
The process kicked off in May with an invitation to the community members to nominate the personal attributes, skills or specifications they want to see in our future councillors.
The most nominated specifications were then put back to the ommunity for consideration and ranked to determine which were seen as the mostimportant.
The results are now in and the top specifications, as ranked by survey participants, are as follows:
1. Honest and has integrity
2. Free from the control of special interest groups
3. Financially literate and fiscally responsible
4. Not politically aligned, or if so, transparent in alignment
5. Consults with the community
6. Has common sense
7. Good communicator and listener
While ‘honesty and integrity’ was the standout specification, the issue of independence or alignment was also prominent.
Chair of the Panel, Liesa Davies noted, “The issue of alignment with special interest or political groups was raised consistently.
“There were some variations in how people categorised or described this issue in the first phase of the process but, from the final ranking of the key specification themes, it’s clearly one that is of significant concern to those who responded.
“We also heard that people want to see Councillors with good financial acumen, who are consultative, have common sense and communicate and listen well.
“So really, there are some very strong and common themes that Councillor candidates would do well to take note of.”
Panel members were pleased with the level and quality of participation in the process, with most participants having taken the time to rank all 15 of the most nominated specifications in their order of importance.
“It was clear that the community members who engaged with the process are very concerned to see a good field of quality candidates on election day and good governance and leadership in our elected Council,” said Ms Davies.
The panel members initiated the consultation process to promote a wide-ranging and open discussion on Candidate qualities and platforms in the lead-up to the Sept 2012 election and ensure the community had an opportunity to outline their wishes for our new Council governing body.
With the key specifications now revealed, prospective Councillors are being encouraged to demonstrate how they meet them, as well as putting forward their key platforms. In addition, all who engage with Councillor candidates – be they media outlets or community groups holding ‘meet the candidate’ events — are encouraged to refer their discussions to the key specifications so that the community will be well informed of prospective Councillor qualities prior to casting their vote on September 8.
Further, the information was shared with more than 60 people who attended the Residents Action Group (RAN) council election candidates’ information afternoon at the Westport Club on Saturday afternoon.
Liesa Davies and Neil Black from the Council’s governance working group reported the responses to their questions to the public, asking what attributes are desirable for our new elected representatives.
Fourteen Candidates then had a short time to address the meeting and were open to question from the public present.
Discussion on these identified community opinions, particularly the role of party politics in local government.
They were asked if they had attended the council information sessions and if they had any political alignment.
The responses were: Lee Fitzallen, Darren Walsh, Reg Pierce, Jeff Styles, Trevor Sargent, Adam Roberts and Carol Koopmans were not aligned with any political party; Luke Hadfield was previously Nationals now non aligned; Drusi Meggert with the Greens; Fred Lipps with Country Labor; Tom Ferrier with the Greens; Tin Hta Nui with the Greens and Ian Oxenford with the Greens; Cody Boylan was also not aligned with any political party.
Lisa Intemann then addressed the group and discussion and questions were taken about procedures for standing and legal requirements for councillors and was then available for individual candidates to ask questions.
