UNSUSTAINABLE QVMAG

Dr Kim Lehman

As with the arts and cultural sectors more widely, the museum sector has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. [Is the implication here that collectively 'the museum sector' is some kind of 'industry' some thing like 'the arts industry'? If so it is a proposition that is deeply flawed.]

Despite the relative success of virtual and digital strategies to engage cultural consumers while museums were closed to the public, a return to sustainable levels of physical visitation to museums is vital as we move towards a post-pandemic world.  [The proposition embedded in this paragraph that 'culture is consumed' is highly contestable. Culture is all that we do that makes us –as individuals, as family/tribe, as a group, as a society – who we are. We do it, we do NOT "consume it".]

The recently announced Futures Plan for the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery cannot have come at a more opportune time.  [True, except that there is NO PLAN in evidence that has been published that articulates A PURPOSE, A SET OF OBJECTIVES, RATIONALES & STRATEGIES. So, is it the actually the case that 'the plan' is to have a plan? ]

The plan has been described as ambitious, but without radical changes to funding models and governance structures, QVMAG could wither on the proverbial vine.  [Excuse us! Without a clearly and unambiguously articulated 'plan' how can it judged "ambitious" ? This renders the proposition outrageously audacious rather than anything like "ambitious".] 

However, there are a range of factors at play in this new consumer environment for cultural organisations such as museums, and a range of possible responses. [Excuse us again! The premise here is ill founded in that it is set in 'industrial cum consumerist' paradigm when 'cultural institutions such a museums' should operate outside that realm, albeit engaged with it in various ways. ]

As consumers of culture, museum visitors respond to marketing cues in ways different to consumers of other goods and services. [Excuse us 'cultural producers' are not seeking customers they are seeking to participate in and express their cultural realities within their communities and cultural entities. Yes, they need an income as do a whole range of service providers who have patients and clients who rely upon, depend upon what they have to offer. ] 

Sometimes that is not understood by all. [Well yes and because the assumptions it is founded upon just does not fit the circumstance.]

One area that can confuse the museum sector is 'motivation', which sits in the field of consumer behaviour and refers to how and why consumers engage in the consumption process. In this context, it is clear that museums need to better understand what motivates their visitors to attend if they are to recover going forwards. [Again, because the assumptions are ill founded and in ways that just do not fit the circumstance.]

During the 1960s, museum visitor research began to embrace to the burgeoning marketing phenomenon, and in particular, how museums could be more effective if they conceptualised their visitors as 'consumers'. The resultant research was largely dependent on visitor surveys, which were viewed as useful tools for providing data for policy and strategy making. 
Sometimes that is not understood by all. [Well if we are going to talk about 'research outcomes', examples of the data and evidence need presented or links provider to it. Otherwise what we have here is 'truth by assertion' and thus it becomes hollow rhetoric.]

Later, there was an increased interest in the psychographic profile of museum visitors. 
Sometimes that is not understood by all. [Really where can this data be found? Who produced it?  In what context was it developed and to what end?]

For the most part, this research has allowed museums to be more aware of the nature, diversity and needs of their market segments and to be more attuned to providing a quality cultural experience that evokes the authenticity desired by the modern visitor.[Really ... where can this research and its relevant publications to be found? Who produced it when?  In what context was it developed and to what end?]

Recent years have seen museums delve deeper into what motivates people to visit. [Again ... where can this research and its relevant publications to be found? Who produced it when?  In what context was it developed and to what end?]

Studies in Australia and around the world have identified three main areas that motivate museum visitation. The first can be called wellbeing, which encompasses notions of escapism, with visitors avoiding the hustle and bustle and spending a quiet time in a pleasant environment. It also takes in museums providing a rewarding cultural experience and one that stimulates creativity. [Again ... where can this research and its relevant publications to be found? Who produced it when?  In what context was it developed and to what end?]

The second factor is learning. While this is a traditional role for museum visitors, an important component here is offering an opportunity for visitors to discover things they do not know. [In colonial museums and art this was/is known as propaganda ... The British Museum ... The V&A ... The Louvre etc] Visitors do not just want to learn; they want the sense of wonder that comes from discovery. The final motivation factor relates to the social aspects of a museum visit. Visitors want to share their interests with friends and/or spend quality time with their families and children. Certainly, there are links to the educational role of the museums, as well as to the cultural experience, but here the value for the visitor is social. [Benign as all this seems, embedded within it there are peri-colonial cum Eurocentric 'global' ideologies embedded  in the rhetoric. Also, some references to the research all this implies would lend a modicum credibility]

This reinforces the view that cultural organisations, such as museums, are not just driven by customer demand, but by a social mission. [Again, in colonial museums and art this is known as propaganda ... Now political ideology might be the order of the day] Museums need to be more than just financially sustainable, as important as that is. They also need to offer their visitors a range of experiences that make life rich and rewarding. How can this happen? [Community engagement! Doing whatever WITH cultural realties rather than TO passive cum ideologically compliant 'consumers'!]

A couple of options are proposed in the QVMAG Futures Plan. The first is a Collection Discovery Centre which is envisaged as a publicly accessible art storage facility that would allow visitors to engage with the collection in ways never available before. [Apart from there being no clearly articulated "plan" and the fiscal circumstance far from being 'flush with cash' there are other priorities to deliver 'wellbeing' outcomes that this 'plan' cannot compete with and especially as there isn't yet a 'plan' to enable it to do so.]

Another is a Centre of Aboriginal Science and Education which will work with the Aboriginal community to open up access to the breadth of aboriginal culture. These are the types of strategies that will offer the cultural consumer a deeper engagement, but importantly will also motivate those who do not usually visit. Combining the motivators of wellbeing, learning and social interaction, such strategies can increase visitation and ensure the future of a cultural icon.[Here again we have an 'asserted truth' without any evidence of, or reference to, the Aboriginal community being engaged with or consulted. Is is assumed that this community will be passive 'consumers'?]

The fact is that QVMAG operates in an openly competitive environment for visitors and financial resources and is not delivering the benefits to the community that it could. [IF the QVMAG was a 'THEME PARK' rather than a 'Cultural Entity' this assertion just might have a modicum of veracity, otherwise it is quite simply hollow rhetoric!]

Considerable thought has now been given to developing strategies to attract visitors to QVMAG, to Launceston, and the north in the form of the Futures Plan.[??] The council, state government and those inside the organisation need to be bold and forward-thinking. The status quo is unsustainable. [Sadly it appears as if this 'strategic development' is taking place within an overall 'policy vacuum'  that allows the the blending and blanding of 'GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT'. Curiously Dr. Lehman does not seem to regard this as important. Also, currently the 'status quo' and somewhat boringly it appears as if yet again Ronal Regan's quote on the subject is required ... STATUS QUO ... quite simply Latin for the mess we are in. So, it turns out that Dr. Leman rounds out his OPINION PIECE quite well. ]

Ray Norman June 2022 

INTERROGATING AND NAVIGATING CULTURE AND PLACEDNESS

A REFlECTION

Asking a bureaucrat in any manifestation of governance, what ‘culture’ is, nowadays and it will earn you looks of bewilderment most likely. It’s the kind of thing everyone knows the answer to but when push comes to shove nobody, it seems, has a ready answer for you – at least not one that fits some convenient bureaucratic paradigm. 

Culture is the central concept, the corner stone, upon which the study of anthropology is founded. Anthropology encompasses that range of phenomena that are transmitted through social interaction in human societies. 

Cultural universals are found in all human societies. They include expressive forms like art making, music masking, dance, ritual, religious expression, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, modes of shelter, and clothing. 

As humans, we are driven by three fundamental and compelling imperatives: 
• To survive – to have the air to breath and the sustenance needed to sustain life 
• To identify within the group – ranking, prowess, role, etc.; and 
• To procreate – to survive beyond the grave. 

All three are intertwined and are with us all the time and always and they effect everything we do as individuals and a society. There is no escaping this! 

Material culture covers the physical expressions of these things in action. Such things as: 
• Technology – tool making, etc.; 
• Placemaking ­– architecture, landscaping, placescaping etc.; and 
• Cultural production – art making, design practices etc. 

These are the physical manifestations of a culture in a ‘place’ – the place it belongs to and with, the expressions of ‘placedness’. Here we very quickly bump against the quandary, and the questioning, to do with pondering whether or not it is ‘place’ that shapes culture or is it ‘culture’ that shapes place. 

On the other hand, the ‘immaterial aspects of culture’ involves such concerns as the principles of social organization – the practices of political organization and social institutions, mythology, philosophy, written and oral literature, and the sciences, all of which comprise the intangible cultural heritage of a society ... its deep histories, its story telling, the local factors that make places distinctive.

In the humanities, culture as an attribute of the individual has been the degree to which an individual, a family group, a ‘tribe’ indeed, have developed/cultivated a particular level of sophistication/intricacy/erudition in their ‘cultural expressions’ – the arts, the sciences, education and/or protocols. 

So-called ‘cultural sophistication’ has been used to distinguish some ‘civilizations’ from less complex societies. Such hierarchical perspectives in regard to culture can also found in class ridden distinctions between ‘high culture’ and ‘the elite’. 

So-called ‘low culture’, or popular culture, or folk culture, perceived as belonging to ‘the lower classes’ is distinguished by the layering of, the stratification of, a community’s access to ‘cultural capital’ – an individual’s ranking and identity. 

In the vernacular, culture is typically used as the ‘markers’ used by ethnic groups to visibly distinguish themselves from each other. 'Identity markers' such as body modification and adornment, clothing and cultural dress and/or jewellery carry powerful messages relative to identity and most often place as well. 

Mass culture talks about mass produced and mass mediated forms of consumerism that has emerged in the globalisation that in so many ways defines the 20th century. 

Schools of thought found in say Marxism and critical theory, argue that culture is a political tool used by ‘the elite’ to manipulate, disempower even, the so-called lower classes in order to create a false or constructed cultural consciousness – a politically constructed placedness, an ideological cultural reality, an alternatively ranked social system. 

In the academic disciplines relative to cultural studies hierarchal perspectives are common. More broadly, a wider social science perspective, the theoretical perspective of cultural materialism holds that human symbolic culture arises from the material conditions of human life. 

Humans create the conditions for physical survival, and upon that basis culture is founded and has evolved relative to biological dispositions and geographic positioning. 

When used as a noun, a "culture" is the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society, a community – such as those found in an ethnic group or nation. 

Culture is the set of knowledge bases, belief systems and technologies acquired over time by 'a people' in their 'place'. Thus, multiculturalism values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultural realities inhabiting the same place, the same cultural landscape – a collaborative and cooperative ‘cultural reality’. 

"Culture" is typically used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society, a subculture, a counterculture. Its that throw away idea used to explain difference and 'otherness'. 

Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of cultural relativism hold that cultures cannot easily be objectively ranked or evaluated given that evaluation is by necessity located within the value system of a given culture, a given place, a cultural landscape. 

A cultural landscape, as defined by the World Heritage Committee, is the "cultural properties [that] represent the combined works of nature and of man". 
• "A landscape designed and created intentionally by mankind"; 
• An "organically evolved landscape" which may be either a "relict landscape" or a "continuing landscape" 
• An "associative cultural landscape" may be valued because of the "religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural elements." 

Local governance is all to do with ‘placemaking’ – nothing more nothing less. When politicians, elected representatives, set out on an attempt to ‘construct’ a cultural reality they need to be very mindful of the ‘cultural imperatives’ held “near and dear” by their constituencies. 

Moreover, when the bureaucracies that serve them start to assemble ‘their perceptions’ of what that reality, those realities, should and could look like they are treading upon very tender ground. 

Indeed, they need to be able to either convincingly articulate ‘their world view’ or quite simply get out of the way. 

Without personal expertise in the field of cultural geography their role is to facilitate consultation processes that meaningfully engages with the community they are employed to be in service of rather than deem their convenient bureaucratic ‘vision’. 

In the Australian vernacular, ‘blowins’, whoever they are, wherever they come from, need to either step back or ‘know their place’. 

Quite simply, they, the public servants and their underlings, might well have much to offer if they are indeed ‘placemakers’ and not there telling the time in a place on a watch handed to them by a bureaucrat looking for her/his vision of time and one that suits her/his aspirations as an incumbent in residence of some fiefdom or other.

21st Century Placescaping

The notion that 'placescaping' in the 21st C is fundamentally different, and more now than it ever has been, misinterprets the process – and fundamentally so. it is a process that humanity has been engaged in since the dawning of their time on the planet. 

As Homo sapiens we are social beings and we need to negotiate our place in the world and navigate our way to it collaboratively and cooperatively. We must do so in order to survive, in order to identify, in order to maintain ourselves as a species. 

Thus, we need to placescape our worlds in accord with our geographic circumstances. That is how cultural landscapes come about.

 Click on an image to enlarge

Writing as I am in Launceston Tasmania, rather on Trevallyn, rather from 41º26"12'S/147º07"12'E, I look out upon an intensely modified cultural landscape. Its 'home', well for about 35 years it has been and if one is landliterate, and its is March, there is much to be read in it – indeed into it.

The proposition that this cultural landscape in 2020 is 'more sophisticated' than it might have been in 1800 say is an assessment done in ignorance. This assertion stands given that pre European colonisation the 'place' was not measured and assessed relative to itself at that time. 

Sure, there was some European 'geographic mapping' going on but there was no 'cultural mapping' and no anthropology being done to speak of. And, the convenient colonial concept of 'Terra nullius' was in play subliminally if not yet overtly. However, there was placescaping going on even if it bore no resemblance to anything people 'from elsewhere' could or wold recognise or even acknowledge.

For the most part humanity only needs to take a different view of 'placescaping' because, on the evidence the world is changing all around uu and in order to survive we need navigate another way to become a part of the cultural landscaping that we're a part of – that we belong to.

Ray Norman, Trevallyn March 2020

ANOTHER SIDE TO BEING "HOMELESS"

 

Tex’s winter on Tassie’s streets His home is a tent on Hobart’s eastern shore but Tex says; “there’s a lot more people out there struggling worse than me”. Sue Bailey THE MERCURY.COM.AU02:05 

The Annual Vinnies CEO sleep out has seen hundreds of industry leaders spend the night on the street in aid of homelessness.

His home is a tent on Hobart’s eastern shore but Tex says he lives “like a king”.

“We’re not poor in this country,” he says.  “Look at that view out there of the water and the mountain that I’ve got. 

 “I’m not homeless because this is where I hang my hat.”

Tex has been living in and out of a tent since he was eight-years-old. His 51st birthday is on Tuesday. 

In the car park at Kangaroo Bay opposite Rosny College he and others have set up home – Tex first moved there on Father’s Day last year. 

 “To be honest the way things are going in life nowadays you are better in a tent,” he said. 

“With people trying to pay for petrol for their cars and electricity and water you are better off here. 

“There’s a lot more people out there struggling worse than me. 

“I live like a king compared to a lot of other people struggling right now.” 

Tex, who does not want to give his last name, uses public toilets nearby and at the Eastlands Shopping Centre to wash himself every day. 

Tex who is long term homeless and now living at Kangaroo Bay in a tent. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones ... It is cold and blustery but he does not complain.

“If you get cold just put on an extra layer – you learn to survive,” he explains. 

“There’s a lot of people worse off than me, families with kids who are living in cars and struggling to get a roof over their heads.” 

Tex takes to task chief executives who spend one night a year sleeping outside to raise awareness of homelessness and politicians for not putting up temporary homes for people who are struggling. 

“Once a year they have a fake CEO sleep out and pretend to be homeless but why don’t they try to live for a week or fortnight on our payments like we do and see what it’s really like? 

“The politicians need to get off their arses and do something. ................... “Even here in this car park you could bring in three or four demandable [demountable perhaps] buildings which would be a lot more stable than having 10 on the floor.” 

Tex worked until he was put on a pension in 1991 and was on the public housing waiting list and was offered a house at New Norfolk which he rejected.

“I knew the area and I wasn’t the first one to knock it back so they put me to the bottom of the list which is fair enough. 

“I’m used to living like this. “If I wake up breathing in the morning I know I’m ok. It’s safe enough for me.” 

Tex says he is “blown away” when people stop to offer him blankets and food. 

“The tent is full and we really are the friendly state aren’t we?”

QVMAG PETITION 2022 ... Collection Ownership

Please print out the petition forms. below and collect signatures within your network if you share the concerns expressed on the petition form. 

The City of Launceston currently ‘legally owns’ the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (QVMAG) collections because some entity is required to ‘own’ such assets. However, in ‘lore’ the material is held in the collections ‘on trust’ and it has multiple owners in various contexts – intellectual property owners, cultural property owners, items on loan, etc. 

The point has been reached whereby the ’trust’ invested in the City of Launceston can no longer be relied upon given budgetary constraints, the perceived need to ‘rationalise’ the QVMAG operation as a ‘cost centre’ and Council’s burgeoning debt – something that has been accumulating for the greater part of the 21st C and is being exacerbated by current national and international pressures. Quite simply, the collections have grown to the extent that it is now beyond the capacity of any Local Govt. to ensure the level of trust required to deliver the appropriate security for a group of collections such as those held by the QVMAG.  

Local Govt’s capacity to appropriately ‘govern’ an institution of the scale that the QVMAG has become, has diminished to the point whereby ’a Council’ cannot fulfil the obligations that fall to those who are entrusted with cultural property and scientific data such as that which is held by the QVMAG. This is especially so relative to national and international ‘Codes of Ethics’ relative to the governance and management of publicly ‘owned and operated’ museum and art galleries. 

Moreover, the city’s ratepayers are being increasingly burdened by Council’s debt obligations and the need to address crisis issues such as those to do with pandemics and climate change. 

Against this background it is time to demonstrate that the QVMAG’s collections are internationally important cultural and scientific assets in need ongoing protection. 

The State Govt. is best placed to provide that protection in the context of the ‘values’ invested in the QVMAG collections. .

Please deliver completed forms by hand to: 

•    Launceston Town Hall and collect a signed receipt OR 

•    Richard Barton C/- 14 Malunga St, Kings Meadows 7249 Mobile 0409 231 877 OR 

•    Post completed forms to: Town Hall, 18-28 St John Street, Launceston 7250 … ATTN The Chief Executive Officer 

Please click on an image to enlarge

For more information please email 

Dr Luther Blissett: lutherblissett7000@gmail.com

QVMAG FOLLY ROLLED OUT

LINKS 

[1] - [2] - [3] - [4]

[5] - [6] - [7] - [8]

FROM THE EXAMINER ... Launceston could soon see major changes at the country's biggest regional museum and art gallery, which calls the city home. [OH REALLY ... how and when was the institution's Community of Ownership & Interest consulted?]

The planned overhaul of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery comes as the museum and council aim to ensure the future of the entity.[AGAIN ... how and when was the institution's Community of Ownership & Interest consulted? These people have invested 'trust' in the institution aqnd now it seems that this trust is trashed]

QVMAG includes the museum at Inveresk, and art gallery at Royal Park. It offers programs, tours, exhibits, archives along with its collection of art and artefacts. [YES, but is it serving the needs and aspirations of 21st C audiences and researchers plus the owners of IP held in its collections let alone sponsors and donors]

3,500 words more below

PUBLIC BATHING AND SHOWERS

In a 21st C context there is a very good case for the kind of 'public bating facilities' that were once not the oddity that they now seem to be.

Consider this and like scenarios ... Someone living along the kanamalukaTAMAR comes to ‘town’ being Launceston, for a night of culture.  They plan to ride the Trevallyn trails before catching a movie and anyway petrol is a bit pricy right now. 

Now a nice shower before mingling with the hoi polloi and the great unwashed would be nice. The said resident is familiar with 'The Town', but has no idea of where a convenient shower would be. 

Said shower doesn’t have to be free, GOD FORBID the Council has to cover its costs! Is there such a shower in the C.B.D. – and this is in no way connected with “Homelessness”, but there’s a thought! 

Now a shower/toilet near the Start or Finish of the bike trails would be nice but can hear the retort from Town Hall now? “Not our Job” the trails are a National Parks and Wildlife Service. Well no, only a portion is and in reality is that the appropriate attitude towards catering for a community's needs – not wants? Also, isn’t that a Councils job, or at least part there off, to care and provide amenity. .

Now whilst this question is specific in the start it might only take two brain cells to realise that there are other people who might get sweaty and/or dirty recreating before wishing to move on and enjoy perhaps a meal, or a night at the museum or even to start start work? 

Now we could complicate the question by adding that said resident caught the bus,  and yes there is public transport for those who torture themselves by living out side the CoL and its clutches. Also, from out of town, wouldn’t the shoppers, et al mind being able to securely store his/her/other bike whilst imbibing in the city's cultural offerings 

Now when we take the tongue in cheek aspect out of this issue it is actually  truth in this storey and there more like it. Once upon a time Local Governance was mindful of community needs and aspirations and it now seems the front of mind issue is revenue collection given among other things extraordinary executive salaries need to be funded along with a string of managerial follies.

All that said, it is not rocket science or even expensive to build an adequate OFFgrid shower. WHY isn't happening in consultation with the community?

More gleaned reading below!

VOTER SENTIMENT POST 2022 FEDERAL ELECTION

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

ACCOUNTABILITY IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE

'Accountability' is quite possibly the most contentious word in Local Govt. in Tasmania. Mention the word to a Councillor and typically they'll run a mile. Yet the State Govt's GUIDE TO GOOD GOVERNANCE is very clear in regard to accountability – no ifs, no buts.

SECTION 20 of Tasmania's local Govt. Act 1993 is quite explicit in regard to Local Govt's purpose – albeit that the Act is long past its use-by-date. 

Cr. Fairbrother's behaviours currently focuses attention on a range of issues relative to Local Govt with accountability being just one. A Code of Conduct charge could well cost Cr. Fairbrother's constituents thousands of dollars – not Cr. Fairbrother. 

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Sadly it is the case for wide range of issues that ratepayers pay for a Council's or a Councillor's misdeeds. Complain to say the Director of Local Govt. on any issue and you'll find that it a position that is as "blunt as ball" to quote our new Prime Minister. You'll as likely as not be referred to 'the Ombudsman' or 'the CBOS' and both 'instrumentalities' are starving for resources – arguably deliberately starved resources. Thus, effectively, there are no viable mechanisms able to act in a timely way to ensure that constituents are protected from Local Govt. recalcitrance in Tasmania.

Then there is SECTION 62/2  of Tasmania's local Govt. Act 1993 'that functionally gives a Councils GM extraordinary 'deeming powers' and anyone who has business with their local council will bump up against obfuscation facilitated by this provision. It should be an 'emergency power', but in the hands of a Machiavellian  bureaucrat it is open for exploitation at any time, in any circumstance to quell criticism, critique and demands for accountability.

The Act in Tasmania facilitates expensive and largely unaccountable Local Govt. There is a need for root and branch restructure of Local Govt and a willingness to take a 21st C approach that does not privilege outmoded 19th cum 20th C paradigms - peri-colonial as they are by-and-large.

MERCURY LINK 

THE MERCURY
“Sack the bastard”: Flasher councillor refuses to resign amid no confidence vote A Tasmanian councillor convicted of flashing has refused to resign amid a barrage of calls to “sack the bastard” and a no confidence motion. ...  Judy Augustine and Helen Kempton 5 min read June 21, 2022 - 5:42AM 

 A motion of no confidence in a councillor convicted over a flashing incident has been carried as new allegations were levelled against the disgraced Waratah Wynyard councillor. ............................. At Monday’s council meeting, councillors were finally able to speak after Darren Fairbrother was fined and added to the sex offender register, after he exposed himself to a woman and her son at Boat Harbour last year. ............................. Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother Deputy mayor Mary Duniam said councillors and council workers had copped abuse and comments as a result of the saga. ............................. “According to some community members, we should simply, and I quote, ‘sack the bastard’,” Ms Duniam said. ............................. Cr Gary Bramich said Mr Fairbrother needed to resign. 

A PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIAL HOUSING IN LAUNCESTON

When you dig deeply into the 'social housing cum homelessness  issue' what reveals itself is somewhat extraordinary. Those at the front line of the 'helping and caring cohorts' in the city have some extraordinary stories to tell. The most extraordinary are the conversations and meetings with politicians and their advisors et al where 'confidentiality' is the imperative – for whatever reason. Nonetheless, the stress of NOT being able to speak up and call out injustice and recalcitrance is palpable and quite detectable in their voices.

So, being excluded from such meetings is largely a blessing if you have ever spent any time as a 'government public servant'. Here your conscience tells you that you should but for the sake of your family's wellbeing you know that you cannot. Nonetheless, if you have an idea about which 'rocks to look under' much can be gleaned and revealed. In fact, there is much that can be exposed, much of it being all manner 'political cum bureaucratic skulduggery' that needs to be outed.

On the 'Launceston homelessness issue' citizens and ratepayers can rely upon their Mayor to cry 'crocodile tears' for the homeless as he espouses that now famous euphemism 'I do not hold a hose' in a crisis even.

Council will form a committee, a 'feel good committee', essentially designed and devised to deflect criticism and critique plus prove that the 'issue of homelessness' is not really 'Council business'.

At the drop of a hat Mayor van Zetten will tell anyone who'll listen just how terrible homelessness is but actually its not Council's job etc. etc. ... we'll do what we can ... say put a committee in place etc. etc. Then the GM/CEO reinforces the obfuscation to shut down any form of critical discourse around the table at an OPEN COUNCIL [LINK] meeting and on the record – most recently, shut down as much questioning on the record as possible.

It has to be said that, on the evidence, the elected representatives are relaxed and comfortable with the 'status quo' as are civic leaders who are afraid to do anything that might change a city's status quo – albeit changing before their unseeing eyes. However, Ronald Reagan has left us with a poignant quote which goes something like this ... "the status quo is quite simply Latin for the mess we are in".

Minister Guy Barnett is always on the ready to explain the 'he is holding the hose in regard to social housing' and like Mayor van Zetten will tell the world how many dollars are on hand to address the issue by whenever – a long way off – and how many houses be plans to build by whenever – again a long way off. The telling factor here is the enormous gap between what the Minister aims to provide and the amount of housing required to alleviate the 'housing cum homelessness crisis'.

Then there is Councillor Paul Spencer [Link] who has inside information, as a 'tradie', relative to the number of apparently empty houses 'out there'. He'll tell anyone who will pay attention that there are 'hundreds' mostly in a state of disrepair that makes them unliveable. By all accounts fixing these houses is a 'good earner' and their existence is simply 'grist for the mill' – welcomed indeed. Like Mayor van Zetten, at the drop of a hat Cr. Spencer will discuss the undeserving poor with whoever it seems will lend a sympathetic ear. Somewhat curiously he reports that he had received "some good advice from Pauline Hansen. LINK" – quite probably not about homelessness. 

Cr. Spencer on the pretext that he "does not have the numbers" typically votes with the mob if it is good for tradies and developer cum investors. And that is not to mention all Councillors present who voted to curtail incisive, worrisome and apparently too time consuming questioning of Councils performance. This speaks quite loudly not of Cr. Spencer's performance or ideology as a 'representative' but relative to every Launceston Councillor who put their feet under the decision making table at Launceston's Town Hall.

Like most, if not all, Cr Spencer's fellow Councillors he has been known to talk up the proposition that Launceston's homeless need to 'move elsewhere and go on the dole' even if it means giving up a paying job, losing access to needed health services and other social support services. The fact missing here is that homeless people are not helpless or stupid.

For the critical thinkers out there there is a lot of bewildering information to take on board. In regard to 'social housing and homelessness', as they say, "flip a rock", and you are bound to find that things are even more perplexing than you had imagined. If you come to live and work in the City of Launceston you'll soon discover that status quo peri-colonialism is all too evident and at odds with meaningful change relative to real world change in process all around us no matter where we live.Call this out and you will be ostracised at every turn.

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THE BIZARRE IN OPERATION AT LAUNCESTON"S TOWN HALL

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JUST WHAT DO THESE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES HAVE TO HIDE??

A decision to formally adopt a "Public Question Time policy" which passed Thursday's Launceston council meeting unanimously without comment is a threat to transparency and symptomatic of the public's growing distrust over elected officials.

That's according to Tasmanian Ratepayers Association spokesperson Lionel Morrell, who has blasted the council's

"What do they have to hide? Are they reducing engagement?" he said.

At the council meeting on Thursday, the motion was moved by councillor Alan Harris, who said the motion was a formal adoption of rules already in place by the council. [BOVINEdust and he knows it]

"This is a clarification of the rules we have for council meetings. It's a prudent step to ensure people ask their questions in a timely manner," he said.

'What do they have to hide': Launceston Council blasted over questions policy

Public Question Time rules in the policy include: 15-minute total time set aside by the council and maximum of three questions per member of the public.

Questions can be written to the council both with and without notice, however the policy notes Questions With Notice need to be submitted seven days ahead of the meeting.

The chairperson, normally the mayor, deputy mayor or chief executive, will decide the order Questions Without Notice are heard, after details are given at the door.

However, Mr Morrell said the conduct during public question time did not encourage people to have their say and this policy would go another step to stop people from engaging in respectful debate at all. [THIS IS ALARMING]

"A lot of the time people just want to have their say, but I have seen people cut off mid-sentence," he said.

The council also passed its rates increase on Thursday, of 3.75 per cent, along with its budget and annual plan and a comment was made by councillor Krista Preece about the lack of engagement from the community - after only receiving three submissions. [Cr. Preece might well have a chat with anyone advocating the fundamental revision of Council budget processes]

Mr Morrell said the Tasmanian Ratepayers Association used to submit "carefully considered" responses to the budget, but he said they no longer do.

"They [the council] don't respond to it anyway, and they don't provide feedback, so we thought what was the point in submitting them," he said. [YEP that's what Council is all about ... REVENUE RAISING not the provision of amenity ... AND saving large property holders as many dollars as possible ... How many are Councillors]

Outspoken member of Heritage not Highrise Jim Collier, a group dedicated to maintaining Launceston's low-rise status, said the policy was draconian.

"Local government prides itself as the best form of government by supposedly being the closest to the people yet this initiative by City of Launceston Council isolates the council removing it even further from ratepayers and the community," he said.

"The council is already seen by many in the community as an aloof, authoritarian and somewhat intimidating organisation and one well-removed from the people and should be trying to bring itself closer to the community." [It is possibly something of a relief for this Council that the State's ICCC is starved of resources]

He said the community should be able to approach the council in an information and relaxed manner at council meetings, but many find it difficult and daunting at times. [This has long since not been the case]

"This will only go to increase the apprehension and ultimately some concerned citizens may not bother at all approaching the council with their concerns, which would be, in my opinion, a retrograde step."

Public Question Time has been used in the past for members of the public to ask questions about council business, and was recently used by members of Launceston's homeless committee to raise issues with the growing number of people sleeping rough. [ON THE EVIDENCE the intent is to curtail incisive questioning on the record]

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