Mark, editor-in-chief of the Sunshine Coast Daily, has been a journalist on the Coast for 20 years and is passionate about fighting for a better deal for the region. When he's not at work, he loves nothing more than spending time with his wife Julie and three kids. More teen voters? No way!
| Mark Furler
So Ipswich councillor Paul Tully reckons we should add kids as young as 16 to the ill-informed, uninspired and apathetic masses deciding on the future of our councils.
He’s got to be joking, surely.
I reckon we need less people being forced to turn out to vote rather than more.
I mean it’s hard enough to get your teenager out of bed and off to school, let alone giving them the power to help decide the future of the country.
What’s next? Are we going to have young whipper-snappers standing for office – even taking out those who have far more experience and qualifications. Heaven and Hulett forbid.
Perhaps Mr Tully, the state’s longest-serving councillor, can vacate his seat and give a school kid a go if he’s really interested in promoting democracy among the pimpled population.
The Ipswich councillor’s call came as only around 70% of Queenslanders voted in the weekend’s historic elections – down from 85% at the last poll.
Queensland opposition leader Lawrence Springborg reckons the low voter turnout last weekend was a rebellion against amalgamations.
I reckon most people just could not give a toss.
My litmus test of public opinion is the girl serving me Subway the other night, who was making polite banter when she asked me how my day was.
I told her I had been a little busy covering the lead-up to the elections last Saturday.
"Oh, the elections – that’s right, they’re on this weekend, aren’t they?’’ she said, somewhat sheepishly.
At least she knew.
Many of the Coast’s population would have been stretched to know who was running in their division – or even what their division was –on Saturday. Unless they nearly ran over the hundreds of election signs.
And when it came to the issues, very few indeed would have been aware of the differences between individual candidates.
Which makes it pretty remarkable that we ended up with a reasonable mix of councillors – from the very youthful Christian Dickson, to strong advocates for the environment like Bob Abbot, Russell Green and Vivien Griffin.
No doubt many of us will be asking ourselves this week what process there will be involved in being Noosafyed now that Big Bob is in the job.
I’m hoping that I don some braces, eat a little more than I have been over this 20-20 weight loss crusade (it’s the afternoon and I’m hungry, folks), and learn to play the harmonica to counter any-post amalgamation blues.
On a serious note, one thing is super clear from the weekend vote and that is that Big Bob has a big mandate to do basically everything he’s promised.
Councillors, regardless of their own policies and platforms, should give their new leader the support that has been given to him by the community through such an overwhelming vote.
And the State Government should certainly give our new super-councils the power to run the affairs of the regions without further interference on issues like planning and water infrastructure.
Mr Abbot has already smelt the rat, warning that the state government seems intent on having even more control over local councils, post-amalgamation.
Yesterday, Anna Bligh announced she would host a summit of all new mayors next Thursday at Parliament House.
"This is a significant reform and I want to work with every mayor to make the most of the opportunity,’’ Ms Bligh said.
Many in local government circles are wondering just what that opportunity may be.
Mr Abbot said his great fear was that the next attack on local government would be in the planning sphere.
Already, the government has made it clear it seems more intent on listening to its mates in the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) than local communities.
That’s certainly been the impression after seeing the sort of population levels the state wants to see on the Sunshine Coast and other growth areas.
One of the real challenges of the new Coast council will no doubt be ensuring that Bob Abbot is able to deliver his promise to make the Sunshine Coast the first truly sustainable community in Australia.
And the real challenge for Bob is to ensure that is done in such a way that there are not unnecessary burdens put on land costs and housing affordability.
Part of the solution there, surely, is ensuring that developers with large stocks of approved land are forced, by either the state government or super-council, to release it to the market in a timely fashion rather than drip-feeding it through auctions and the like to artificially inflate prices.
As signs begin to emerge of a housing slowdown on the Coast, it is important that the new council also take some decisive action to encourage clean, smart industries to move to the Coast to end our over-reliance on building and development for employment. Only then will we be truly sustainable as a region.
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Recent Comments
Some 16 year olds are very mature for their age, though they would be the exception not the rule. As a community we should be tuned in to the concerns of our youth and not dismissive, maybe some more research is required before totally dismissing the idea. Whilst sceptical an open mind is still required.
You're right about many people simply not giving a toss which seems illogical as politics can touch almost all areas of our lives and communities.
Cannabis prohibition is a good example, most politicians and many frontline Police will tell you in private that total prohibition is a failure and waste of resources, yet the politicians are fearful of vocal minorities with preconceived prejudices and refuse to seriously look at the issue.
The Daily has done a great job with the election, however more needs to be done to re-engage people.
A lot of people place sport as a higher priority and it is culturally frowned on to discuss politics in most social settings. Politics is either seen as divisive or boring.
With TV, many of the entertainment shows and most programmes are sterile when it comes to politics as the producers are aiming for the widest audience with the least offensive offerings, the lowest common denominator.
There are some shows that do have a social message and try to engage the audience with social issues, South Park and The Chaser would be good examples.
Powerlessness would also be a major factor. Which comes to your other excellent point, the state government gutting the power of councils.
Look at NSW where a seemly corrupt State Government has taken over planning powers, doling out development approvals to political donors.
Neither of the major parties is any different on that front. Come election time (State and Federal) the media present it as a choice between the two major parties which are more like two factions of the same party.
A linear left/right view is too simplistic, add an X axis of authoritianism/personal responsibility and freedom to the Y axis of left and right and it's closer to the mark. The major parties will be on the right and authoritarian part of such a graph.
The lack of absentee voting was a big let down, at the booth I was helping at, many people were unable to vote for this reason.
The officials were good, they were the same people who handled the last Federal election working for the AEC, maybe it's time to let the more organised and experienced AEC handle the elections.
It was a big difference to the old days when 90% of the population couldn't care less about a Council election. Your point is well made about adding a whole lot of teenagers who know little and care even less about their local Council.
One thing which did strike me about the Daily's coverage of the election was that, although the web site seemed to take it's editorial from the paper itself, there was a great deal of very useful input by the Bloggers each day. None of that ever filtered back to the paper itself.
The only feedback channel available to the readers of the paper was the very limited number of Letters to the Editor. By the time that a letter appeared on a particular issue (if it ever did) it was already old news.
- It's something we are looking at to improve in the near future. I think you will see more blogger's views feeding into our letters and news pages. One of the big difficulties the paper always faces is the limit on space. The beauty with online is that we can run virtually all viewpoints we receive - apart from those that are defamatory. - MF
- Hey, if I want to write the Maroochy version of it, I can :)
I believe that decreasing the age to 16 will help school students take more of an active interest in politics. If it becomes the schools responsibility to guide students into the world of politics then maybe there will utilise this skill throughout their life.
I think it is completely unfair and short sighted to think that lowing the age will add to the 'ill-informed, uninspired and apathetic masses'. 16 - 18 is a time when youth can actually get excited about making a difference in their world.
I think if you visit many school you will find more interest about politics in the class room of 16 - 18 yr olds than in a room full of 30 - 40 year olds. These are students keen to learn about how there community work and also to have a say of their own.
As a father of two teenages I can say they have a strong interest in elections and also amongst there friend. Maybe you are only involved in the lives of teenagers that are not interested, in which case it is an unfair to make the assumption that the majority of teenagers are the same.
- Fair points Geeky_Guy - MF
These holdings are ridiculously large and are artificially control the supply of available land.
On the youth vote a lot of high school students are much more involved with politics and community life than many of the apathetic 35 - 60 somethings who think "it is all a waste of time and the politicians are all the same anyway" it takes age to be cynical.
I think we should regard them as the whole, intelligent, communicative, social people that they are, who are interested in the world around them, rather than fearing them, and labelling them, simply because the State has continued to indocrinate them rather than allow them to learn. experience and grow in democracy.
From memory, you made comment recently about regarding the high majority of young people by who they are as individuals, rather than portraying them as all the same by the actions of a very few, disturbing as those few are.
The State Government obviously fears democracy, especially involving young people, because, instead of programming them to accept a heavily bureaucratised, hierarchical, autocratic process of governing (as in this State and mainstreamed education) we might actually engage their minds, hear their opinions and have fresh, new views on the issues that they face as individuals, and we all face as a society.
I know there would be better solutions when most of the people are engaged in democratic processes - it just won't be the same as what some political parties have decided for us.
In being young, and hopefully optimistic about the future, not tainted so much by life experiences, you would easily begin to suspect through reading newspapers or reading online blogs, that as adults, even with the right to vote, we neither live in nor practice democracy.
If we were, there would not be forced amalgamations of local government; the wholesale takeover of water assets (even putting aside the reasonable and fair expectation of full compensation); flouride would not be added to water; excessive unsustainable development and population growth etc without the people deciding these things.
So, to the contrary, young people ought to be involved in democracy, as early as they have the interest and inclination to be involved.
Voting ought to be by choice, and not compulsory, for everyone. The sooner the better that ordinary people of all ages, as equals, become involved in grassroots democratic action, the sooner we will have more awareness, and better decision making about our future and our children's future.
Democracy is not the preserve of elites (unelected or otherwise), or those who are the noisiest, or who have the most money to spend.
- You've convinced me Derek - I was being a little sarcastic today - MF
He would also do well do drop the propaganda line of the defeated Maroochy councillors about just who has been driving population targets here.
does this mean campaigning will have to happen in school (i'm picture a 'bring a polli to work day' or 'show and tell... us your political aims')
then there is the whole issue of if a teacher is passionate about one particular candidate, try as they may to be neutral, chances are that slip is going to happen a fair bit and influence these kids.
They are the primary issues I campaigned on and, even if I don't win Division 3, I have given it a pretty good shake for a newcomer against some high profile opposition.
There is no doubt in my mind that was because I was tapped into the concerns of the people, even though several incumbents told me that ”with all due respect” I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
I hope Danny O'Kearney, if he is the ultimate winner, rethinks his previous stance on development and population and respects what it is clear that the majority of people across the Coast want.
Let us also hope that the State Government will listen to all the people, not just the development industry. Then we might have a chance to keep this place great.
Even though many would be glad to do away with compulsory voting (including me), the problem would then be that it would come down to which political party has the most voters, money, supporters etc. - making it impossible for the independent candidates to compete.
I noticed the state electoral office took over this last council election. Previously fines for not voting in council elections were the responsibility of the new council and were never issued. Will this change now it has been taken over? You maybe able to let me know Mark. Thanks
- Not sure on that one - will be interesting to watch what they do - MF
Like driving a car, a very dangerous hobby. Voting (and breeding) should require a licence so only those who are clever enough to do it properly are allowed. Perhaps then we could open it up to clever 16 year olds (who are probably smarter than some of the knobs allowed to vote in the election)
To my dismay others at work were disinterested and some "mature" voters thought they didn't have to vote because they were renting and not rate payers. This mistaken belief might account for the low turn out.
Maybe candidates could take note for next time to include this in advertising? Some bloggers mentioned receiving letters from the Govt giving the location etc of polling booths and other information. I did not receive anything in Maroochydore. I found the info online.
your peristent comments against religion are to be expected. And then you use cannabis, South Park and The Chasers as your aces.
You are full of surprises.