Mel Yuan for Brunswick

This is the first version of my introduction to the Brunswick Residents Network meet the candidates forum, which I did not give. So it’s here for your comment instead.

Today, I want to make the case for better governance. The truth is, we agree far more than we disagree on what we want for Moreland. 

But.

I gave up counting the number of policies and strategies on Council’s website. So I looked at the Council Plan – which looks to me a like a “winners list” of funded infrastructure projects plus references to yet more policy.

Moreland needs a single rolled-up and cascading-down view of goals, objectives, strategies, actions and most importantly – outcomes – for everything. Not just the thin slice at the top, but covering all Council operations. 

Councillors must demand that every part of the organisation is focussed on a day-to-day basis in delivering on these strategies. 

I am well aware that good governance requires strategy, while “operations” is left to the bureaucracy. But structure and operations must follow strategy. 

When I look around this room I see a tireless and dedicated community of policy enthusiasts working hard week-by-week, year-by-year to implement safer walking, better green open space, more humane planning policies, practical traffic solutions, and a real responses to the climate emergency.

But when I look out the window from my house, or walking along the street, or (god forbid) driving around the neighbourhood – things look pretty much the same as they did when I first moved to Brunswick in 2002 -although with a lot more multi-storey developments. 

Something is wrong with this picture. 

We know we have some of the most progressive policies around, but could you really tell from what you see around you? Climate Action tell me that we have only average uptake of PV or recycling. This tells me there is a massive gap between what we want and what is actually happening. 

It is painfully obvious that different silos in Council “stick to their knitting” and lack any sense of an overall sense of purpose to guide their actions. 

The Planning Department needs to stop being the “approve new high density development department” and start doing some actual planning. 

The Infrastructure Department needs a thorough review of its capital works to ensure that each of these has some “transformational” elements and is not simply replicated the same tired, old design patterns. And that each of these projects has a genuine benefit. 

Open Space are subject to so many policies that their own staff are barely even aware of them. 

The less said about the Maintenance Department, the better. 

We also need a strong, long-term Mayor to keep the bureaucracy in check and advocate for Brunswick on a long-term basis. We can’t afford the time lost each time the Mayor changes and the new one gets up to speed. This is a recipe for lack of accountability. 

We can’t give up on our policies to make a cleaner, greener, safer Moreland but we must have a top-to-bottom re-orientation to get this done and respond to the massive challenges brought on by the pandemic.