I have suggested the same for Shoalhaven and all but laughed out of the rooms- but check out the poll in the article at how many people support this approach- almost a 'super majority'!
The buck will stop with you - people power council
- From:The Daily Telegraph
- March 21, 2012
POWER will be given back to the people in a radical plan to hand a $300 million council budget to a "jury".
More than 1500 people will be randomly asked to take part in a panel to set the agenda for how Canada Bay council should spend, service and plan its four-year budget.It puts into practice an idea from independent research body newDemocracy Foundation that a random selection of citizens has the least direct self interest in public decisions.
NewDemocracy Foundation executive director Iain Walker said the randomly selected panel was similar to a jury - only for public decision making instead.
"We trust it for criminal juries. We are happy to lock someone up for 25 years on the basis of 12 people - are we not also happy for them to decide the services of a council area? They don't have to worry about being re-elected - they just have to make good decisions," he said.
The computer-selected panel would include renters and business tenants as well as owner-occupiers and would operate on a "super-majority process" - meaning the direction must get 75 per cent support.
Mr Walker said researchers would not stipulate an agenda, instead showing a baseline of services and provide the experts they request so "to not shape them down a particular path".
Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas said opening the chambers to the public hailed a new era in democracy.
"Council will be in a better position to say this is where you want your bucks spent, and giving us a clear indication of where they want council to deliver and how we should be spending ratepayers dollars," he said.
"It's a really exciting new approach. I have been mayor for 10 years and I know from consultation and surveys there is not much return and people don't jump on board.
"It's a case of services for the people, decided by the people - and so it should be."
Foundation founder Luca Belgiorno-Nettis said councillors had "taken this leap of faith in their community".
"This is what democracy is all about - to organise ourselves for no other purpose but for ourselves," he said.
Foundation research committee chair and former WA premier Geoff Gallop said: "This is an outstanding example of local government innovating to take a leadership position in this area."
The panel will provide its report by October to a newly elected council
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