Hard to win over the ratepayers when they’ve waited so long

Cr Rodney Wangman said council needed to cast its net wider than that, with food, shelter and compassion just as important as the basics.

He also flagged that issues such as poverty, domestic violence, isolation and homelessness needed to be on the radar if council were to be “a genuine council of concern”.

The commentary was part of a discussion on social enterprise – a conversation that has been a very long time coming since a trip to South Korea last year by council chief executive Patience Harrington and Cr Lisa Mahood.

The pair attended the conference in October last year at a cost of $13,600. 

The only report previously tabled on the trip by Ms Harrington was almost entirely plagiarised and copied from several websites, including Wikipedia.

She later apologised.

But here it is, almost a year since the Seoul expedition, and Monday night’s council discussion marked the first time Cr Mahood has had a single thing to say about the trip despite many requests to make comment on it.

Cr Mahood spoke, finally, of her efforts since returning from Korea to follow social enterprise principles in tackling youth unemployment.

She wants council tenders to encourage the use of social enterprise principles, and said council should support those willing to hire “disengaged young people”.

Cr Wangman said last night he had wanted Cr Mahood and Ms Harrington to attend the Seoul conference because he believed the concept of social enterprise was central to council’s role.

If that is a priority of council, then well and good – it is up to ratepayers to determine if they believe that is council business.

Many of the issues spoken of on Monday night are issues that could benefit from a “community solution”, and so it would seem fitting for them to be on council’s radar.

But ratepayers could be forgiven for being cynical in light of the long wait for answers. The whole matter was handled appallingly and the hope would be that lessons have been learned.