Tom Sharp's
Blog
07-05-2020
SHARP COMMENT 1 - We are in the midst of a global crisis
We are in the midst of a global crisis and in managing it our global leaders have rightly or wrongly thrust upon us a self-imposed economic slowdown, the ramifications of which are yet to be played out.
We in the Scenic Rim are more or less at the bottom of that ‘food chain’ and right now we require crisis leadership to steer us through.
What we don’t need is self-aggrandising, self-justifying, overly defensive and politically partisan behaviour.
What we do need is a calm authority, total honesty, entirely factual accuracy and most importantly an ability to show empathy with the people represented.
One leader, whether you like his politics or not, has been doing his job in Scenic Rim – State Member Jon Krause – calling on the Queensland Government to freeze land valuations with specific regard to the Scenic Rim.
The current round of land valuations was struck pre COVID-19 and will have an impact on the landholder in terms of land tax as well as rates. You only need to look at current valuation drops for real estate investment trusts (down between 15 and 40 per cent for the top 10) to appreciate the ridiculous imposition on the landholder.
Our Mayor responded by referring to Mr Krause as an alarmist and showing poor leadership amongst other things. Might I suggest dropping the partisan behaviour and jumping on board and supporting our leaders who are supporting us, the people, on matters of most relevance.
It would appear the Mayor has backed himself into a corner on rates. On several occasions in the last four years he has ascertained that rates are not “high” enough and has now backflipped, wishing to apply rate relief during the current crisis. It will be interesting to see how this will be delivered under the current framework whereby following the 2018 land valuation increases that averaged some 40 per cent across the region the Mayor led a council which voted for a rate increase in the most vulnerable of categories and via the nine per cent cap will dramatically adversely impact ratepayers over the coming years if not abandoned.
There will be huge premiums when related to their actual valuations, including fuel stations, chicken farms, packing sheds, transport depots and rental properties, keeping in mind that all these businesses have had to pass on this burden to the consumer or tenant.
It is past due to restore a differential rating system (with appropriate simplified categories and fixing the rate per category) and capping all rates to inflation in any given year.
Revenue and rates are only one side of the government economic equation and our leaders need to start focusing on the expenditure side of the ledger, given the people have taken it in the neck and tightened the belt already with potential further squeezes down the track.
Leaders of both the State and the SRRC need to step up and empathise with the people. True leadership will see to it that we are all in the same boat paddling together. What that means is that our leaders and top bureaucrats need to put a salary sacrifice option on the table and take a pay cut. Nearer home the Mayor and top bureaucrats can deliver an immediate $1m expenditure cut to the upcoming SRRC budget with salary cutbacks to the Mayor and senior officers. The Premier can do likewise across the board, keeping in mind that ‘Team ALP’ has guided the State into a $95 billion (or $95,000 million) debt ahead of COVID-19.
It is time to lead and if you want everyone else to do it tough then set the example and join the party.
To lead and influence, one needs to master the art of debate and win hearts and minds with facts and well thought out positions and determinations. This form of leadership appeared absent at councils first meeting of the new term.
The Mayor motioned the appointment of Division Three Councillor Virginia West as Deputy Mayor (Cr West readily accepted the nomination) yet he did not talk to the motion and found no support from the floor apart from Cr Enright. Following a second nomination by
Cr Jeff McConnell of Cr Duncan McInnes, the newly elected council moved on effortlessly in voting for Cr McInnes as the region’s Deputy Mayor, four votes to three over Cr West. However, the appointment of Deputy Chair of the region’s Disaster Management Group was a different story with some attempt from the Mayor to support the CEO’s recommendation of appointing the Deputy Mayor to the position. Again, councillors from divisions one, two, five and six were more than prepared to debate the recommendation’s logic and comprehensively influenced fellow councillors in recognising the shortcomings of the recommendation and unanimously supported the appointment of Cr McConnell to the position.
Cr McConnell comes to this appointment as a former Australian Regular Army Warrant Officer with 23 years’ service, including a deployment to Rwanda in 1995 in response to the horrors of the genocide there in which nearly one million people were murdered.
He was the Scenic Rim region’s SES Local Controller from 2011 to 2019 and President of the Scenic Rim SES East Support Group. His qualifications include a graduate diploma in occupational hazard management and diplomas in government, frontline management and resource management. His experience has seen him oversee 300 search and rescue operations, as well as disasters such as Cyclone Debbie, Cyclone Oswald, the 2011 floods and most recently the Canungra bushfires.
There is not a more qualified person for disaster management within the Scenic Rim and this was well recognised from the floor by Councillors Swanborough, Chalk and McInnes.
In terms of leadership, the Mayor has been KO’d in round one of the first week but the opportunity is to now put that behind him and look to the next 207 weeks and take the opportunity to listen to the people and learn from our experienced and accomplished leaders and the action they are taking.
Tom Sharp
We in the Scenic Rim are more or less at the bottom of that ‘food chain’ and right now we require crisis leadership to steer us through.
What we don’t need is self-aggrandising, self-justifying, overly defensive and politically partisan behaviour.
What we do need is a calm authority, total honesty, entirely factual accuracy and most importantly an ability to show empathy with the people represented.
One leader, whether you like his politics or not, has been doing his job in Scenic Rim – State Member Jon Krause – calling on the Queensland Government to freeze land valuations with specific regard to the Scenic Rim.
The current round of land valuations was struck pre COVID-19 and will have an impact on the landholder in terms of land tax as well as rates. You only need to look at current valuation drops for real estate investment trusts (down between 15 and 40 per cent for the top 10) to appreciate the ridiculous imposition on the landholder.
Our Mayor responded by referring to Mr Krause as an alarmist and showing poor leadership amongst other things. Might I suggest dropping the partisan behaviour and jumping on board and supporting our leaders who are supporting us, the people, on matters of most relevance.
It would appear the Mayor has backed himself into a corner on rates. On several occasions in the last four years he has ascertained that rates are not “high” enough and has now backflipped, wishing to apply rate relief during the current crisis. It will be interesting to see how this will be delivered under the current framework whereby following the 2018 land valuation increases that averaged some 40 per cent across the region the Mayor led a council which voted for a rate increase in the most vulnerable of categories and via the nine per cent cap will dramatically adversely impact ratepayers over the coming years if not abandoned.
There will be huge premiums when related to their actual valuations, including fuel stations, chicken farms, packing sheds, transport depots and rental properties, keeping in mind that all these businesses have had to pass on this burden to the consumer or tenant.
It is past due to restore a differential rating system (with appropriate simplified categories and fixing the rate per category) and capping all rates to inflation in any given year.
Revenue and rates are only one side of the government economic equation and our leaders need to start focusing on the expenditure side of the ledger, given the people have taken it in the neck and tightened the belt already with potential further squeezes down the track.
Leaders of both the State and the SRRC need to step up and empathise with the people. True leadership will see to it that we are all in the same boat paddling together. What that means is that our leaders and top bureaucrats need to put a salary sacrifice option on the table and take a pay cut. Nearer home the Mayor and top bureaucrats can deliver an immediate $1m expenditure cut to the upcoming SRRC budget with salary cutbacks to the Mayor and senior officers. The Premier can do likewise across the board, keeping in mind that ‘Team ALP’ has guided the State into a $95 billion (or $95,000 million) debt ahead of COVID-19.
It is time to lead and if you want everyone else to do it tough then set the example and join the party.
To lead and influence, one needs to master the art of debate and win hearts and minds with facts and well thought out positions and determinations. This form of leadership appeared absent at councils first meeting of the new term.
The Mayor motioned the appointment of Division Three Councillor Virginia West as Deputy Mayor (Cr West readily accepted the nomination) yet he did not talk to the motion and found no support from the floor apart from Cr Enright. Following a second nomination by
Cr Jeff McConnell of Cr Duncan McInnes, the newly elected council moved on effortlessly in voting for Cr McInnes as the region’s Deputy Mayor, four votes to three over Cr West. However, the appointment of Deputy Chair of the region’s Disaster Management Group was a different story with some attempt from the Mayor to support the CEO’s recommendation of appointing the Deputy Mayor to the position. Again, councillors from divisions one, two, five and six were more than prepared to debate the recommendation’s logic and comprehensively influenced fellow councillors in recognising the shortcomings of the recommendation and unanimously supported the appointment of Cr McConnell to the position.
Cr McConnell comes to this appointment as a former Australian Regular Army Warrant Officer with 23 years’ service, including a deployment to Rwanda in 1995 in response to the horrors of the genocide there in which nearly one million people were murdered.
He was the Scenic Rim region’s SES Local Controller from 2011 to 2019 and President of the Scenic Rim SES East Support Group. His qualifications include a graduate diploma in occupational hazard management and diplomas in government, frontline management and resource management. His experience has seen him oversee 300 search and rescue operations, as well as disasters such as Cyclone Debbie, Cyclone Oswald, the 2011 floods and most recently the Canungra bushfires.
There is not a more qualified person for disaster management within the Scenic Rim and this was well recognised from the floor by Councillors Swanborough, Chalk and McInnes.
In terms of leadership, the Mayor has been KO’d in round one of the first week but the opportunity is to now put that behind him and look to the next 207 weeks and take the opportunity to listen to the people and learn from our experienced and accomplished leaders and the action they are taking.
Tom Sharp