Shire must look to specialise

Professor Blakely was the keynote speaker in the last of Council’s Shire Strategic Vision Speakers and Speculation Forums on Monday, with the focus being on the community.

“Speciality is everything in today’s world,” Professor Blakely told a packed audience of more than 100. “If I say Hollywood, you know movies. If I say Silicone Valley, you know technology.”

“In today’s world, if you’re not a specialist, you can’t be a winner. If you don’t announce yourself you are not competing and if you can’t compete, you can’t make progress. And the idea is not to imitate others; it’s to come up with new ideas. The future is ours to make, and not what somebody wants to put on us.

“You just have to make the right choices, you’ve already got the right team to implement them,” Professor Blakely said. “Global exposure does not mean becoming a big city, it means becoming a big region,” Professor Blakely continued, “You see, encouraging talented people to come to a community is not enough, you have to build a trap so you can get them and keep them.”

Also speaking at the Forum was founder and director of Bank of I.D.E.A.S. (which incorporates The Centre for Small Town Development), Peter Kenyon. Mr Kenyon said, “This is one of the few Shires, and the few areas, I’ve found in Australia where you are looking at your future with a half glass full approach as opposed to a half glass empty one.” He told the audience of an example of the Christchurch Council in New Zealand, who reinvented the area and the city through the positive work of young Mayor Vicki Buck.

“Vicki Buck once said: ‘I think negative people should be taxed. They require an incredible amount of energy. They're like corgis nibbling at your ankles and I'm sure they exist to show us the difference between heaven and hell’,” Mr Kenyon quoted. "Christchurch back in 1989, was ranked the second worst LGA in New Zealand but, three years later, they were No. 1 and now they’re recognised as one of the best in the world thanks to Vicki Buck.

“It’s not about the size of the community, it’s about the connections you make in the community and you’ve got to get people positive where you’re heading.
“The most important people in this project are the residents, they know their community better than anyone else.”

“The Speakers and Speculation programme has proved both popular and thought-provoking in helping us understand many of the major changes that will impact us over the next 20 years,” commented Shire Strategic Vision Project Manager Dan Smith. Wyong Shire Mayor Warren Welham described the forums as a great success.

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