You Aren’t Alone

by Phil Enright

This week I am writing to you from the drought-ravaged town of Ilfracombe, population 203, in the heart of the Longreach Shire of 40,638 sq miles housing 4,189 farmers and townsfolk in Central Western Queensland, Australia.

The drought is now some 3 years old, and the ground so dry, gum trees (eucalypts) over 100 years old, are threatened. The townscape is moving closer to ‘flat earth’.

While for most Australians (and Americans alike) kangaroos are a source of wonderment and delight, in this part of the world, they are a pest in plague proportions. As most graziers (ranchers) lost their last blade of brown grass aeons ago, these dying ‘roos’ are now attacking the town’s folk’s fruit trees which they hand water to try to keep alive.

At a town meeting last night, The Mayor, the CEO (City Manager) and 6 Councillors faced the mentally whipped and emotionally drained graziers and townies. He and the CEO then presented the following picture;
• At around 200 gallons/person/day, we’re using about 3 times more water than we anticipated we should be.
• We don’t know why the usage is so high, could be underground leaks.
• We’ve no more than 5 months drinking water left.
• We’re planning to go to the State Government for funding to truck drinking water to the town.

They then invited suggestions from the floor of the meeting, and believe me, they hit like the worst tornado.

And the Mayor’s response …..’We’ll look into it …… nothing’s off the table’.

Then came the questions from the floor, ‘What about a bore into the almost endless underground artesian water supplies 20 miles away?’ AND ‘What about finding out about the real cause of all the water loss?’ AND ‘Why haven’t you told us about this problem long before now?’ AND ‘What about a roo cull?’ – professional shooters ending the painfully slow death of thousands of starving roos that are destroying the chance of re-vegetation and tree recovery when rain finally comes.

There was but one answer to every question but one, ‘We’ll look into it.’

The only variation from this infuriating response was on the question of the ‘roo cull’. The response to that urgent need was, “We’ll have to apply for a ‘damage mitigation permit’, but because the problem is in the town, it could take 6 months.”

Nothing more was offered. The question was side-stepped – the roos you see in this pic will no doubt die an agonising death on the back of government regulation and council indecision; probably before you read this Column – just as will (ultimately) the town of Ilfracombe and the Longreach Shire if sanity and good leadership don’t prevail.

How can a Mayor and an electorate, tolerate government bureaucracy to be so indifferent and refuse to make the most obvious and simple of decisions that mother nature will ultimately make and very painfully implement, if they don’t?

The meeting temperature rose dramatically, heading toward uproar!

The disturbing truth this experience revealed to all, was that the Council has no real Plan – Strategic or otherwise. Just like Marysville, it has a Plan. It is a 12 page, 10 Year Corporate Plan which it commenced ‘implementing’ in 2009; but which addresses none of the key issues that have plagued the region for decades – most notably, frequent droughts and a changed global environment in which the old opportunities have died, and new ones born, but remaining unrecognised because no one in government has thought to look! It is 12 pages of ‘motherhood’ statements. There’s no specific strategies or deliverables, let alone KPI’s.

In short, it is a plan to maintain the status quo while endeavouring to create a perception of action.

Extraordinarily, during the course of the meeting, the Mayor revealed he found out about the latest on the dire nature of the water crisis on ABC Radio that morning. The City Manager (CEO) and his assistant shared a whole lot of data, but none of it useful to dimensioning or defining the problems. So 3 years into drought, the latest manifestation of a 3+ decade long regional disaster, and with no more than 5 months drinking water left, this Council leadership and administration will, ‘Look into it!’

Sound familiar? I thought it might.

What may surprise you to read, is that this region was once one of the key powerhouses of the Australian economy – first with wool, then beef cattle. It was hugely prosperous. That technology and good leadership could return it to that pre-eminent position in Australia’s rapidly contracting economy where real unemployment is many times the officially published figures, is without doubt.

That the problems and solutions are not rocket science and are highly ‘doable’, is also beyond doubt.

The issue for Australia’s graziers and townies is the same as it is for those in Marysville, Yuba and Sutter, ‘Will the merits and processes of Strategic Planning so foreign to the Council, be allowed to remain unemployed to bury the boundless opportunities available in the future for our children?’

If you want to contribute to the development of a Strategic Plan for Marysville and/or the Region, or wish to appreciate more about the Issues Management Approach to Strategic Planning, email Phil Enright at ….. mycbdgroup@gmail.com