Dealing with conflict, sometimes its just not easy

I was recently asked, how do you deal with so much conflict on Shoalhaven City Council. I have to admit that it sometimes isn't easy, particularly when both sides of an issue come across to one another as intractable.

A recent iteration of that has been happening in respect to dogs off leash on beaches.

I sent the same response to a number of people who were sharing my emails with each other.

I though I would publish the following correspondence and my response - it makes for interesting reading.

My response.

Dear Wendy,

I understand that you might find the process frustrating, and I hope that following response will give you a greater appreciation of my position. I am not adverse to policy reviews that are carried out with due process, consider and aim to reduce the adversarial nature of an ‘us vs them’ situation, Have a view to reaching consensus, and are reviewed on consistent schedules and not in an ad hoc manner that are costly and time consuming. 

Council staff recommended that a full and proper review take place.

Council staff recommended that Council did not have any allocated budget for a review of the off leash areas for dogs policy nor any budget to amend signs and as all Council policies must be reviewed every 4 years I did not think it was unreasonable to wait for that review which is to take place next year (2016). Council at present is stuck in a loop of review for this policy, with the policy being reviewed approximately every seven months. I think this is an unreasonable expectation to review the policy so often and if it were to happen in the private sector it would be considered wasteful and ineffective. The preferred option is to review the policy on a 4 year cycle with proper consultation and this costs $84,000 which includes $65,000 for signage.

I support a trial if a proper process of consultation is undertaken.

Council has a community engagement strategy that it needs to follow, if it is to have any credibility in respect to community consultation.

Personally I am neither for nor against dogs on beaches, I understand the position of both sides.

I understand that some people have a deep fear of dogs, children and adults don’t like over friendly dogs jumping on them, no one likes dog droppings on the beach or their beach bags and towels being urinated on.

I equally understand that if you live next to the beach you feel some sort of right to walk you dog freely wherever and whenever you want.

ALL constituents deserve a right to be heard and have political representation on any matter and it was increasingly clear from both sides that they felt like they were not getting a fair hearing.

I was asked to present a petition to Council as that is a job of Councillors. I understand that each group has alleged that the other has acted unfairly, but after being in politics for a number of years I have learnt to look through the antics and allegations and seek answers in logical and thorough ways.

I am more than happy for the discussion of this issue to continue and will happily speak with you on the matter.

Respectfully yours,

Amanda Findley

Wendy Perkins []

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In response to the message from Amanda Findley, Wed 12:22 PM

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Amanda Findley

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Jo Gash‎; John Wells

Saturday, 27 June 2015 10:39 AM

Hello Amanda,

I'm not impressed with duplicated emails.  We all sent you individual emails and you don't have the courage to answer us on the merit of individual requests.  Is it laziness or is it your inability to articulate how you really feel about being a puppet for some of the dustbin-dipping-drop-outs in Ward 3.

Your email was rubbish.

You left it until after the Council meeting to answer everyone with a facsimile email full of excuses. 

Have you forgotten we achieved over 3,600 signatures, and have kept copies for the next election campaign.  Everyone one who signed will pass on how disturbed they were with your spineless “No” vote to placate the likes of Mrs Doubtfire (Jan Gregory).

3,600 people will turn into 9,000 contacts, very quickly, in deposing you from your position on Council. 

You speak of due process. I know that we have contacted you well before the last council election in regard to this issue. You responded that we should wait for due process which would occur after the election.

If you check your records, (you do keep records I presume) the survey that was conducted by Council after the last election, received an overwhelming response from locals asking for an off-leash time at Narrawallee Beach.

The recommendation from staff that was ratified by you and the other Councillors was to make no changes. So that's the recent history of due process.

YOUR suggestion we should now  have to wait until December 2016 - AFTER the next election is extraordinary, if not to say, downright pathetic and gutless.

I am shocked at your claim that we "feel some sort of right to walk you dog freely wherever and whenever you want".

You know full well that this not what we asked for.  You are very good at  twisting the truth. You know we asked for timed, sharing of the beach.  God, you are so pathetic.  All of this is on record and will be published at the next pre-selection for everyone to see how spineless you are.

Costs are being bandied about and I am reluctant to accept that the cost of a trial at Narrawallee would be significant. That’s a total cop-out and you know it.

Council always has some money in reserve for special projects that arise that had not been planned. Look at the unanimous vote in favour of the pipe band last night. Where did the budget for that $6,000 come from?

Very strange that you can pull $6,000 out of a hat and yet you can’t accommodate more than half of the voters in your electorate, with their wish to run their pets “off-leash”.  

Very interesting but it doesn’t surprise me – I’ve been in politics a lot longer than you have and I took on the big guns in Federal politics, not local government.  The money for the band had to come from somewhere didn’t it Ms Findley? 

It’s gutless and spineless that you have only now contacted the Narrawallee Dog Group with the thinly veiled reasons why you justify the reason you cannot support dogs off-leash – what do you take us for? 

Communicating, honestly and fairly, is surely part of your job and should happen before a vote is taken.   This campaign will not fade away. 

Remember, 3,600 signatures and you can double even triple that if each signatory tells two other people, just how self-righteous and sanctimonious you can be when you want to and how dishonest you really are when it comes to the showdown.

I will keep abreast of your activities and remind the 3,600 signatories before the next election, just how much of a puppet you really are.  Mrs Doubtfire (Jan Gregory) obviously has you running scared.

Wendy Perkins

Wendy Perkins

Hello Amanda, Thank you for taking the time to respond to my email. I too, have been in the political arena for more than 20 years when I lived in the Sutherland Shire and fully aware of behind the scenes protocol. I was a member of the Liberal Party and represented

Wed 1:59 PM

Wendy Perkins [@scoastnet.com.au]

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Amanda Findley

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Wednesday, 24 June 2015 1:59 PM

Hello Amanda,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my email. I too, have been in the political arena for more than 20 years when I lived in the Sutherland Shire and fully aware of behind the scenes protocol. 

I was a member of the Liberal Party and represented my electorate on the NSW State Council. I worked with Peter Reith, the then Minister for Small Business and the government published a book I co-authored, Under the Microscope, outlining the problems associated with small business pre GST.  I do understand how the "back room" works, although Federal politics is vastly different from regional Council issues.

However,  I do have a problem with people who embellish the truth about dog bites, dog attacks, etc. to win their point.

I walk along Burrill Beach and have had to side-step human faeces on the track leading the beach.  I have also had to pull a fish hook out of my dogs throat and have stepped on hooks, fishing lines and even a plastic bag containing the carcass of a beaten puppy.  I have picked up soiled nappies, empty soft drink cans, empty alcohol bottles and discarded rubbish left by lazy beach goers and deposited their rubbish in my own bin. I beg to differ but I find humans more dangerous than dogs.

I'm also a drug and alcohol counsellor and my colleague, Dr. Sandra Cabot, agrees with me that dogs are safer to have around on our beaches than some humans.

I am disabled and pleased that some councillors took the initiative to look at the plight of the elderly and disabled and not be swayed by a minority of anti-dog campaigners in this region.

I'm also a good friend of Margie Nyholm, who was edged out of the last election by ambiguous voting propaganda.  Mark Kitchener made it safely in through the back door on Margie's shirt-tails. That won't happen again.

Thank you for addressing my complaint directly with me.

Wendy Perkins

Wendy Perkins [@scoastnet.com.au]

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Amanda Findley

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Monday, 22 June 2015 1:52 PM

This message was sent with High importance.

You replied on 24/06/2015 12:22 PM.

Hello Amanda,

Well, from what I’ve been told, you will not be getting any votes from quite a few thousand people at the next election.

I was in politics in Sydney and worked with Peter Reith when he was Minister for Small Business. I was also a member of the Micro Business Consultative Board and Deputy Chairman on the Board of the Business Enterprise Centre for the Sutherland and St. George area in the early to mid-90’s. 

Bad news travels faster than good news and I will be getting my political cap out of the box; dusting it off and making sure you never get back into Council.

I’ve had a lot of experience with politics and know about the “done deals” with the likes of Jan Gregory – I’ve never met the woman and by the sound of her, I would have nothing in common with her.  Obviously, you have and she has you under her control.  

I started up the fight in January about dogs off leash on Narrawallee Beach and will carry on the fight until I die.  See you tomorrow evening. 

PS  I’m the disabled lady with the walking stick who cannot walk my little 2.2 kilo dog along Narrawallee Beach because of selfish, self-centred, egotistical people who like to control.

Lynette Kearney knows me well – if you want a personal reference about my political background and business acumen (slightly lacking in your department).

Wendy Perkins