Facebook News Block
Like many non-news sites, my councillor Facebook page has been blocked today. If you visit it, you’ll be able to see some general information but no posts. Many health-related and government pages were blocked, although some have been restored. For example, the City of Greater Bendigo page was blocked for a time, but is now restored, and I hope Facebook sorts out the health-related and government sites pronto, especially as a vaccine is starting to roll-out.
That my page has been blocked is not a big deal, in my opinion. I’m still on Instagram and I have a website, so my ability to communicate with the public through online media has hardly been compromised. But it has given me pause to consider how I communicate with people online. Even though my councillor page is not a news site, I often link to local news sites and give a related comment. As far as I understand it, these posts would be invisible because they are linking to a news site. So, I will start putting a bit more content up on this website. If you want to be notified each time I do that, then you’ll need to plug your email into the widget on the right of screen where it says “Get new posts by email.”
Reflecting more widely on the actions by Facebook, I hope that it will drive people to visit the actual websites of news organisations. Sure, you may not be able to comment on the news article, but the ability to discuss issues on Facebook is overrated – it is rare that you see a respectful yet robust discussion. Can I encourage people, when they visit a news website, to consider paying for its content, or even buying a hard copy version? It’s the only way that we’ll continue to have any journalism worth the name in Australia. Right now, our local daily newspaper is charging $3 per week to view all its content online – I know many are doing it tough, but that is cheap as chips for media content.
Have you been invited?
Posted on February 22, 2021 Leave a Comment
Have you got an envelope in the letterbox that looks like the one in the photo? If so, then congratulations! You have been randomly invited to put your name forward for a “community panel”. What is this “community panel”? It is part of the Imagine Greater Bendigo project that is happening at the moment, which is all about planning for Bendigo’s future.
If you have received an invitation, you can put your name forward to express interest, and then out of those people who have expressed an interest, 50 people will be selected to be on the panel. You’ll consider feedback received from the community, and help to form a community vision as well as considering how council will achieve this vision.
Being a panel member is a challenging yet exciting opportunity. You’ll be asked to help decide our goals for the future, but also consider the difficult elements of achieving those goals. What goals should be prioritised? What’s most important to invest money and time in? What do these choices mean for other council services? These are the questions that councillors and council wrestle with every day, and you’ll have input into this process.
I encourage you, if you’ve received an invitation, to strongly consider putting in an expression of interest. You have until March 28th to do so. If you’d like to have a chat with me first, please email me on d.fagg@bendigo.vic.gov.au.
Report to Council – January 2021
Posted on January 27, 2021
Hi all. Each month at the public council meeting, a councillor gets to give a longer report to council. This is mine from 25th January 2021.
I want to start my report with a small anecdote which I think helpfully opens up a few of the opportunities and challenges of council over the next few years.
I had a request from a resident in the Whipstick Ward – let’s call him Rob. Rob lives in an older house right next to a relatively new housing estate. Thus, the new asphalt roadside, and kerb and channel which the developer had been required to build, did not extend to his property, nor to the sweeping bend of road beyond the estate. Just a gravel edging was left. Rob contacted me with 2 concerns: a pothole was developing where the new and old road met. This was annoying for Rob as he backed out of his driveway, but he was also concerned about cars sweeping around the bend and losing control on the gravel. I visited Rob, put a request into the Council for information, and pretty soon Rob reported that someone from council had been out to assess the situation and hopefully action would be taken soon.
I think this small snapshot of a councillor’s life shows a few things.
First, the simple things we do as councillors can have a large impact on people’s trust in local government. Rob told me that he was so impressed by the quick response of council that he would be telling all his friends about it. It’s by these small actions and large that we can begin to rebuild the trust that so many of our citizens seem not to place in council.
Second, I have been impressed by the professionalism of council staff, and their hard-working ethos. I know everyone will have a story about being disappointed by council, but disappointments always speak louder than the everyday work that council staff put in to make our city a better place.
Third, we have a serious issue in Bendigo regarding the tension between population growth and liveability. Apparently, we will grow to about 200,000 people by 2050, made up of infill development but also many new housing developments. We need to be asking whether that is an outcome we want, and whether we can implement the kind of measures needed to ensure our city remains a healthy place to live.
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On a day to day level, I have really enjoyed the first few months of being a councillor. The everyday issues that people contact me about may seem mundane from the outside – parking issues for their business, safety of road crossings, noise issues, pool opening hours, an idea they have for their local area. But these small things, along with the larger things, are what makes a neighbourhood tick. It’s a privilege to try to help get a good outcome.
In particular, I have really enjoyed the listening posts Ward councillors have conducted – they are invaluable for allowing ordinary people to talk about what is important to them. I also look forward to our ward meetings this year which will allow people to come together for deliberative discussion and decision making on the issues that concern their area.
As a big picture thinker, I have relished getting my teeth into council strategies, and to putting my mind to future plans and priorities:
- for the Peter Krenz Leisure Centre development
- for a comprehensive walking and cycling network around Bendigo
- for giving local people a voice through community plans in places like Long Gully and smaller towns
- for a wide-ranging vision for how we work with young people in our city
- the necessity to keep our eyes open when it comes to the real poverty in our city.
- for the difficult and thorny issue of swimming pools across the municipality.
I must also thank my fellow councillors for the way in which we have melded together as a group so far. The more experienced ones among you have been so generous with your advice and guidance, which has made my landing into council very smooth. I hope our current ability to work together continues into the future despite the inevitable disagreements that will come.
Lastly, I want to keep encouraging all my fellow citizens to positively contribute to our civic life in whatever way you can. Join a local club or committee, object to a planning application, come to councillors with a great idea for your local area, call up a councillor to ask us to explain a decision we’ve made. It’s only by contributing in small and large ways that we will make our neighbourhoods and our city as a whole a better place for all of us.
Bendigo Council Mayoral Election 2020
Posted on November 17, 2020
Part of my intent in keeping my campaign website going is to discuss issues in our city, but also to inform residents about the democratic processes of your council. This time: the mayoral elections. I’ll look at my principles for how I will decide who I will be voting for, a few interesting details about the process, and how voting works.
This week, your elected councillors will be electing one of our number to be Mayor, and another to be Deputy Mayor. Currently, there are 4 councillors who have said they will nominate for the position of Mayor: Cr Alden, Cr Metcalf, Cr O’Rourke and Cr Fyffe, who all served as councillors. You can read a little about the position of mayor here, however essentially their role is to chair all council meetings, be the principal spokesperson for the council, and the public face of Greater Bendigo. They have no more power around the council table than the other councillors, though in cases where there is a tied vote, they have a casting vote to break the tie.
Given the ballot is secret, I will not be revealing who I vote for, either now or later. However, here are some criteria I will be using to decide my vote:
- Do they have a comprehensive understanding of the wide range of needs of our municipality?
- Do they display the qualities necessary to chair productive meetings of council? Things like: collaboration, being an excellent listener, fairness, independence.
- Do I think they can maintain a positive and fruitful, yet independent, relationship with the CEO?
- Do I think I can work with them productively to make progress on the priorities I campaigned on, for the good of Whipstick Ward and the whole municipality?
- Do I think they understand the particular challenges Bendigo faces right now?
- Would I happy for our city to be represented by them in all kinds of settings? For example civic and ceremonial gatherings, regional meetings, political settings etc.
When I look at the current prospective candidates, there are no red flashing lights according to these criteria. I will making an “on balance” decision about who I think best meets these criteria. I have also spoken to a number of community members to get their view, not on who would make the best mayor, but on what qualities and skills they believe are crucial for Bendigo’s mayor at this point in our history.
A few things about the process:
- Councillors have already had a conversation about the mayoral term, as it is possible for us to elect a Mayor for a 2 year term. We have decided a 1 year term is appropriate.
- Council does not have to elect a Deputy Mayor, but we have decided that we will elect one. This will also be for a 1 year term.
- Although the official election is on this Thursday night, a provisional decision is usually made at an informal meeting of council earlier in the week. Councillors will hear presentations from each of the candidates and we will ask them questions to help us decide how to vote.
- Then, on this Thursday night, the official election takes place. Usually, the Mayor-elect is the only nominee and so takes their place. However, it is possible for another councillor or councillors to nominate on Thursday night, in which case a vote will be held. This is extremely rare.
So how does the voting work at the informal meeting?
- A candidate must get 5 votes to become the Mayor-elect.
- The voting is by secret ballot
- Councillors write their choice of candidate on individual pieces of paper
- In the first round of voting, if no candidate gets 5 votes, the candidate with the least votes is cut from the race, and then another round of voting takes place. This continues until 1 candidate has 5 votes. Hence, it is possible to vote for 1 candidate in the first round, and then others in subsequent rounds.
