UPDATED SLEEPERS AWAKE: Town Hall is now saying something about CULTURE

COMMENT
It's about time THE EXAMINER shone a brighter light into the dark corners of the goings on in the City of Launceston's Town Hall. This article is something that should have been 'in the paper' yonks ago.

Well the conversation, hopefully, has started albeit that clearly it is being kicked off heavily laced with spin rhetoric from Town Hall's 'MEDIA MACHINE'. If read carefully you'll learn quite a bit. So, be it!

IF you are a Launceston ratepayer, or indeed a Tasmanian taxpayer, or even a donor to the QVMAG over an extended time frame you really do need to pay close attention to what's going on at Town Hall related 'CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT'.

The Examiner is inviting you to have YOUR SAY, so you should. Otherwise the prospect of ongoing 'mushroom treatment' from Town Hall might be something you may need to get used to. You might want to ask the ELECTED 12 why they have seemingly abdicated any role they have relevant to all that is being flagged here?

A reconciliation action plan valuing and respecting Aborignal culture is one possible project in the City of Launceston council's Cultural Strategy.

The council said it was "long overdue" for Aboriginal Tasmanians to be acknowledged and their significance in modern day culture to be valued.

While none of the desired actions have been committed to yet, the strategy outlines possible actions to see the strategic focus areas come to life.

Another focus area aims to realise the potential of cultural place and assets by exploring further income generation opportunities at QVMAG, the Albert Hall redevelopment and a needs assessment on the city's performance infrastructure.

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Fostering creative practise is the third focus area of the strategy. The council said creative practice was an essential element of a culturally vital society. To achieve this, the council will consider developing an arts and culture grants policy and program using cultural outcomes as criteria for assessment. A cultural hub and a central place for artists and people to be creative is also a possible action.

Revealing cultural stories is the fourth focus area and could lead to developing a public art policy and program and investigate opportunities for the development of a multicultural community centre in the city centre.

The final strategy goal is to build and extend partnerships in order to deliver the greatest benefit from the cultural strengths of the Launceston community, with strong links forged between cultural institutions, the council said.

Supporting a cultural working group between the council, the University of Tasmania and the state government is one possible action from the council to implement the fourth focus area.

The five strategic focus areas are fundamental to achieving a "bold vision" for the city, the council said.

It aims to ensure Launceston is a dynamic place where people live meaningful and culturally vital lives, that are filled with stimulating activities, highlighted by aesthetically rich experiences and fuelled by curiosity. It also aims for Launceston to be a welcoming place which builds a better future by celebrating the rich cultural diversity of its people and recognising the stories of the past.

The strategy has been a work-in-progress for about three years, with the draft nearly ready to go to public consultation. The culmination of work originated in 2017 when Robyn Archer introduced the concept of culture to the council.

HAVE YOUR SAY: 

EXAMINER editor@examiner.com.au

The four week-public consultation will complete the first stage of the strategy. Step two, within the first year, is to define the actions and the processes. Step three will be the implementation and monitoring of the projects, which will be an ongoing task.

Creative arts and cultural strategy network general manager Tracey Puklowski said it was determined that the council required a strategy to provide a vision and direction for Launceston as a culturally vibrant city and destination and to proactively leverage opportunities from cultural assets and the arts to realise untapped potential for the municipality and the region.

She said the strategy acknowledged the importance of engaging with cultural activity and creates a framework for the city by positioning cultural alongside economic, social and environmental policies.

"It creates a means for the city to maximise Launceston's unique cultural opportunities and aligns the city with national and international initiatives in the cultural space," she said.

The council is expected to vote to release the strategy to the public at its meeting on Thursday. The meeting will be held at 1pm at the Town Hall.

[END]

COMMENT: Clearly this Agenda item has informed THE EXAMINER'S article, so it is worth reading in order to extract a better understanding of THE EXAMINER'S reporting and what the community understands in regard to the issues canvassed here.

City of Launceston  COUNCIL AGENDA          P/74.  Thursday 5 March 2020

CREATIVE ARTS AND CULTURAL SERVICES NETWORK ITEMS

ITEM 17.1 City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy     FILE NO: SF3547

GENERAL MANAGER: Tracy Puklowski (Creative Arts and Cultural Strategy Network)

DECISION STATEMENT: To endorse the release of the City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy for public consultation.

PREVIOUS COUNCIL CONSIDERATION: Workshop - 24 October 2019 - Our Place, Our People, Our Stories - City of Launceston Cultural Strategy Introduction and Discussion

Workshop - 20 February 2020 - Draft City of Launceston Cultural Strategy

RECOMMENDATION:  That Council endorses the release of the City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy (ECM Document Set ID 4250311) for a four week period of public consultation.

REPORT: The City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy is the culmination of work that originated in 2017, when Robyn Archer AO introduced the Council to the concept of culture as the overall encompassing feeling that visitors and residents associate with their experience from a place. It was determined at that stage that a Cultural Strategy was required to provide a vision and direction for Launceston as a culturally vibrant City and destination and to proactively leverage opportunities from cultural assets and the arts to realise untapped potential for the municipality and the region.

After a review of previous work and extensive community and stakeholder feedback, a final draft document is now ready for community consultation. City of Launceston.

DRAFT STRATEGY: The City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy acknowledges the importance of engaging with cultural activity and creates a framework for the City of Launceston to act consciously in the cultural policy arena by positioning culture alongside economic, social and environmental policy areas. It creates a means for the City to maximise Launceston's unique cultural opportunities and aligns the City with national and international initiatives in the cultural space.

By identifying the City's cultural strengths, cultural opportunities and challenges and understanding the role of culture in building a sustainable future, the City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy clarifies the role of culture in Local Government and sets five strategic focus areas fundamental to achieving the following bold vision:

Launceston is a dynamic place where people live meaningful and culturally vital lives; filled with stimulating activities, highlighted by aesthetically rich experiences and fuelled by curiosity; and

Launceston is a welcoming place which builds a better future by celebrating the rich cultural diversity of its people and recognising the stories of the past.

The final step in the development of the Cultural Strategy is a four-week period of community consultation.

ECONOMIC IMPACT: The City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy asserts that a culturally vibrant community is an attractive place to establish and grow innovative businesses and build Launceston's brand as a place of effortless living and classic culture. Enhancing the City's cultural vitality will make the region a more attractive place to settle and raise a family, increase local engagement in cultural activities, and promote Launceston as a year-round cultural tourism destination.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: While it is not the role of a Cultural Strategy to directly address the impact of environmental change, the City of Launceston Draft Cultural Strategy acknowledges the leading role that Launceston's cultural institutions have to play in terms of raising awareness of environmental change and helping to build community resilience.

SOCIAL IMPACT: The Cultural Strategy will strengthen community pride and a sense of belonging, by leveraging Launceston's rich cultural assets. It also has a key role to play in positioning Launceston as a welcoming place that recognises and celebrates the benefits of cultural diversity. City of Launceston

Strategic Priority 2: We facilitate prosperity by seeking out and responding to opportunities for growth and renewal of our regional economy.

10-Year Goal: To have realised opportunities that grow and sustain our economy, and foster creative and innovative people and industries.

Focus Areas:

1. To actively market the City and Region and pursue investment.

4. To promote tourism, and the development of a quality tourism offering for Launceston.

Strategic Priority 4: We value our City's unique identity by celebrating our special heritage and culture, and building on our competitive advantages to be a place where people choose to live, work and visit.

10 Year Goal: To sustain and promote Launceston as a unique place to live, work, learn and play.

Focus Areas:1. To promote and enhance Launceston’s rich heritage, culture and natural environment.

BUDGET & FINANCIAL ASPECTS: Not considered relevant to this report.????

DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS: The officer has no conflict of interest in this item.

TROUBLE BREWING AT TOWNhall7250

The team that let's SECTION 62/2 slip by without challenge in order to maintain the status quo’s lingering redundancy while ever they can rely upon their stipend turning up in the bank.

Ronald Reagan hit the nail on the head when he said, "The status quo is Latin for ... the mess we're in" and his observation pertains at TOWNhall7259 24/7.

Just look at the Medieval ANARCHICnonsense on display here! It's palpable symbolism of YESTERyear and everything Ronald Reagan spoke so elegantly of. It is almost comedic – except they are deadly serious!

In regard to the QVMAG these people wear the garb, collect the stipend and leave everything to the HIRED HELP. Functionally, THEY HAVE ABDICATED and any trust invested in this lot is SERIOUSLY MISPLACED.

REDUNDANT ANARCHIC NEANDERTHAL LEGISLATION

When the Local Govt. Act was framed in 1993 the first web page went live on August 6, 1991. It was dedicated to information on the World Wide Web project and was made by Tim Berners-Lee. It ran on a NeXT computer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN. The first web page address was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

How the world has changed and it seems in ways that are BUREAUCRATICALLYinconvenient for EMPIREbuiilders in local governance. IF, as it seems, you have a MACLEVIANstreak the opportunities ‘digital communication’ offers can/might put too much power in the hands of constituents. Worst of all, it opens possibilities up for PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY where ‘ordinary people’ get an opportunity to have a say an DISRUPT the status quo, that factory even Ronald Regan acknowledged was “Latin for the mess we are in.”

IT IS TIME TO CHANGE in order that bureaucratic corruption/excess can be curbed and governance can be TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE.

SEE

1. https://raynormanadvocate.blogspot.com/p/context-i-pose-these-questions-to-you.html
2. https://raynormanadvocate.blogspot.com/p/qv-bs-image.html

LAUNCESTON COUNCIL'S PUBLIC MEETING CANCELLED!

BULLETIN #18  Launceston Heritage Not Highrise 31 Jan 2020 REGRETTABLY we have to inform you that the proposed February 12th public meeting where Launceston City Council were supposedly going to inform us, and the community in general, their intentions regarding proposed changes to the Launceston Planning Scheme, particularly in respect of building heights, has been cancelled. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you. LHNH had intended to publicise the meeting as widely as possible not only with a notice in The Examiner, posters in public places around Launceston but also to erect some signs on the East & West Tamar Highways. However when we applied to Dept of State Growth for authorisation they refused on the basis of being “political or potentially contentious” but when queried, stated that permission would be given if firstly approved by Launceston City Council. A request to Council resulted in the response you can see below from Michael Stretton, CEO Launceston City Council, ‘threatening’ (?) to withdraw involvement with our Public Meeting if it was publicly advertised. It was felt that LHNH should not succumb to what is seen as standover tactics, and possible intimidation, by Launceston City Council and, as the purpose of the meeting was solely to provide Council with the opportunity to advise the community their intentions as regards the new Planning Scheme, it was decided to cancel the meeting. What precipitated the apparent change of attitude by Mr Stretton is unclear, unless he was concerned that Council could be embarrassed by a significantly high turn out of community members at the meeting all expressing concern about the possible proliferation of excessively tall buildings in Launceston? OR maybe its something to do with the comments from Mr Stretton in The Examiner on 27th Jan when he said: “..the council shared JAC Group’s frustration with RMPAT about the Gorge Hotel outcome. The council strongly supported this development and advocated strongly to the tribunal that the development be allowed to proceed. The council is in the process of developing updated planning provisions and advice to the development community designed to facilitate and encourage appropriate new development opportunities in the city. It is anticipated that these will be finalised in the coming months. At this stage, I could encourage the JAC Group to positively engage with this process so it can realise its development opportunities in the city. The council is working extremely hard behind the scenes to secure job-creating, new development in Launceston and when we are in a position to do so, we will make the details of these projects public.” It certainly appears that Mr Stretton is happy to engage and consult with developers but not so keen to do so with the community at large when the opportunity occurs! DEVELOPERS PULL OUT OF LAUNCESTON You may have read in the same issue of The Examiner: "Josef Chromy Group says it no longer has any new job-creating project in Launceston. Managing director Dean Cocker said the JAC Group was investing $50 million into new projects in Hobart.” “Mr Cocker said it would be at least a few years until JAC looked at investing again. The future of the Gorge Hotel is now in the hands of the Launceston City Council. Meanwhile JAC has no alternative but to focus all of our new job creating investment in Hobart where there are more opportunities for our business to grow over the next decade.” This story was front page news in The Examiner (headline “Shutting Up Shop”) and also ran prominently on Chanel 7 TV News that evening where you may have seen Deputy LHNH Coordinator Victoria ably presenting LHNH’s point of view on the supposed pull out. Some see this behaviour by the JAC Group as rather reminiscent of a spoilt and petulant child who have had their own way for so long and for once when they can’t they stamp their feet, pick up their bat and ball to go and play somewhere else! HOWEVER, in regard to planning and our cancelled meeting all is not lost as we understand the draft Launceston Local Provision Schedule (LPS) was finalised in August 2019, endorsed by Council on 5 September and has since been submitted to the Tasmanian Planning Commission for their approval. Once the draft Launceston LPS has been approved by the Commission they will instruct Launceston City Council to formally advertise the Draft for a period of 60 days during which the Council, according to their website, ‘will undertake a comprehensive consultation campaign to ensure that our community is involved in the process and has the opportunity to submit formal written representations in support or otherwise in relation to the proposed changes.' This will give everyone the opportunity to make sure their concerns are heard by submitting a written representation, however short or long they want it to be, and if you don’t want unlimited buildings heights to be approved in Launceston YOU MUST SAY SO! IF Council are overwhelmed with such representations they will have to pay attention to them but it is up to you to ensure this happens otherwise developers will have open slather in the way of building heights in Launceston; …THE SKY WILL BE THE LIMIT! LHNH expect to be in a position to provide you with sufficient information to present a respectable representation come the time. If you want information relating to the new planning scheme Planning Matters Tasmania is preparing a guide which will be ready soon. The briefing paper (2017) is helpful reading to understand the process going on throughout Tasmania. https://www.planningmatterstas.org.au

TOWN HALL, THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND DUCK REACH

The word is out that Launceston's CEO doesn't think that power generation at Duck Reach is a goer. Oh my goodness, upon who's 'expert advice' is basing his apparent assertions on?  

Rumour has it that like anyone in his position who has formed a view, he has been in some dark place having a chat with himself. In order that he can guarantee to council that the advice he offers is 'expert', he must seek it. The sanctity of dark places for a chat with one's self is unbeatable if you want to cut corners and give way to your intuitions – it also saves having to look for a real expert. 

Rumour has it that like all nay-sayers, he is raising the spectre of 'Aboriginal sacred sites' and mythical 'threatened bugs, frogs and worms' to back up his assertions in the full knowledge he'll find them coming out of the woodwork when and if needed. These may be issues but issues that are manageable with the application of sensitive negotiation. 

However, as they say "if it is too hot in the kitchen get out"! In any event if you are pulling more than the State's Premier, salary wise, there must be enough room on your plate to deal with this kind of issue – that's what brings in the big money.

What's really needed is a full, frank and fearless consultation within the community where council might well find a goodly supply of credentialed experts who'll give freely of their time and 'expertise' – the stuff he is bereft of. This sort of thing needs to be done in open, transparent and accountable way. Chance would be a fine thing!

But the rumour mill on this seems to be working overtime. As is the way in local communities somebody who knows somebody who has a 'reliable source', the rumour is that Launceston's CEO, paraphrased,"has enough on his plate without this sort of thing". If true, and it's plausible, and if its not then it seems likely, that's how rumours go.

Back in 2012 the Mayor and Deputy Mayor did start such a process. Read this article below and consider where we have come to, why and who might have as they say, "skin in the game". 

In 2020 against the background of the mounting evidence that the climate emergency is actually upon us, 'duck shoving', albeit a bureaucratic artform, is not what is needed. What is needed at a local level is for communities, and their representative local governing bodies, to step up to the plate and get on with it. There is no place for laziness, backsliding or apparently profitable opportunities delivering fiscal benefits to a few – none at all.

As well, if there is a declared 'CLIMATE EMERGENCY' it, one would think, be an imperative to get on with the task of generating clean energy to meet community needs and aspirations – imperatives indeed. For some perspective read  the 2012 Examiner article below.

FROM THE EXAMINER 2012 

LAUNCESTON aldermen will vote on Monday on whether to spend $17,500 investigating a redevelopment of the Duck Reach power station.

Hydro Tasmania, which does not want to take up the project, outlined three options the redevelopment could take:

• A $4.11 million project generating four megawatts from one cumec of water.
• A $4.71 million project generating 4.83 megawatts from 1.5 cumecs of water.
• A $5.48m project generating 5.61 megawatts from two cumecs of water.

The council has owned the power station since it was built in 1895 but will most likely look to the private sector to redevelop the site if it proceeds with the idea.

Council general manager Robert Dobrzynski said council officers believed it would be viable for the council to tackle the project on its own and that it could potentially create a significant revenue stream.

"There may also be additional benefits as part of the federal government's carbon tax,'' he said.

Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said it was an exciting prospect. "I'm sure if we can get support from the public that something long term can be done with the power station,'' he said.

Driving the project has been Deputy Mayor Jeremy Ball who headed the committee behind the proposal. "If you are sitting on an asset that could provide significant revenue to the city with very low risk then why wouldn't you look in to that option,'' he said.

"It has so many positives the project that I think it will get up. Our decision on Monday will be how much of a part we play in that ... Its operation would depend on securing  long-term water rights from Hydro", he [Ald. Ball] said.

Duck Reach was decommissioned in 1955 and was the first publicly owned hydro-electric power station in the southern hemisphere."

CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE

For those so inclined go to GOOGLE and do a search for " duck reach power station tasmania" and/or "duck reach power station tasmania examiner" and you will be amazed ar what can called up from the past. 

NB the HYPERLINKS are right here!

T. Alen