Last week's release of the Australian Human Rights Commission's report 'Leading for Change' is sobering reading for all those interested in advancing diversity in leadership in Australia. The report found that despite our much celebrated multicultural society, the uncomfortable reality eventually confronting all young Australians from non-European backgrounds is that no matter what fields they choose to pursue in their careers, be it in business, politics, universities or public service, no more than 5 per cent of leaders in those fields will come from their own cultural groups.
Put another way, there's a 95 per cent chance that the opportunity to lead in any mainstream organisation will go to someone else.
I reflected on my field in NSW local government and the time I first ran for election to Ryde Council eight years ago as a 26-year-old. Back then, a mentor, Carole Baker (the first woman mayor of North Sydney) wished me luck but warned that actually my best chance of being elected is to wait until I'm aged between 60 and 69, born Anglo-Saxon and male. Ticking only one of those boxes (male), I had a go anyway and surprised everyone (including myself) by winning a seat, and became the only Asian face on Ryde Council for the next four years.
In May this year, elected mayors and councillors in more than 40 NSW councils were sacked and replaced with administrators in the first wave of the NSW State Government’s forced amalgamation process. Another dozen or so councils will likely follow suit following Woollahra Council’s failed court challenge against the State Government.
There’s been a lot of debate about the merits of council amalgamations, particularly around the disputed financial savings. Maths isn't my strong suit so I will leave that to the experts. However, I feel what hasn’t received as much attention or analysis is the potential impact to diversity of representation in the new bigger councils post-amalgamations.
While attracting higher calibre future candidates has been cited by the State Government as one of the reasons for local government reforms, it's not clear whether having bigger councils will genuinely improve quality of representation. Or whether it will simply replicate the same system that currently elects our State and Federal parliamentarians.
An important point not to be missed is that even if diversity at the local government level is less than ideal (as I have experienced), diversity among State and Federal parliamentarians barring a few notable exceptions, are no better and in many ways worst.
Prior to the council amalgamations in May, many NSW local councils with high populations of migrants, such as Hurstville, Marrickville, Ashfield, Ryde, Fairfield, Leichardt and Parramatta, at least had a number of local councillors from immigrant backgrounds reflecting that cultural diversity. But the mass sackings in May have taken a heavy toll. In the Chinese-speaking community for example, the number of councillors from Chinese backgrounds was halved overnight (from a dozen or so), and will be further reduced once the amalgamation process is complete.
All of the newly merged councils will not have elections until September 2017, which in the interim leaves councils led by appointed administrators, drawing mainly from the pool of senior public sector bureaucrats where diversity is often the poorest (as the 'Leading for Change' report found). And if one accepts that embracing a diversity of opinions and approaches actually strengthens the quality of decision making and the running of an organisation (as the Leading for Change report does), then that is a clearly a concern.
What's not often highlighted is that local government is also the most diverse politically in terms of the large numbers of independents and minor parties elected alongside Labor and Liberal decision-makers in council chambers. Why is that important? Well, the converse, being a system that is dominated by the two major parties (as is currently the case in State and Federal politics) is also the same entrenched system where the election of women, Muslims or Asian Australians, or then 20-year-old Wyatt Roy as members of parliament, are still celebrated as novelties rather than the norm.
Unfortunately running for council office may soon become much harder for the average citizen without political party affiliations. I recall in my first council election as an unknown independent candidate, I did things which didn’t cost a lot of money, such as doorknocking homes in Ryde each weekend for almost six months. Barring the odd dog or magpie attack, it was actually quite effective. But when the council area grows into the size of a State electorate and when the number of seats is significantly reduced, the resources required to mount a successful campaign will make it virtually impossible for candidates to get elected unless they are independently wealthy, or supported by the brand recognition and manpower of a big political party.
It is likely that campaign spending for each council candidate will in the future match what is normally required for State candidates to conduct a reasonable campaign - that is around $100K per electorate, an amount which would be out of reach for most independents and the ordinary person. A further obstacle is that the laws around electoral donations in NSW have changed so often, and have become so complicated over time, they could easily entangle rookie candidates unless they had the help of professional campaign managers who normally work for political parties.
Time will tell what other impacts council amalgamations will have on the local community, but future governance of local councils in NSW could well become more homogeneous. Does any of this matter? Maybe not - if all people want is to have their garbage bins collected each week. But building vibrant communities is more than just about rubbish and recycling. If you care about ensuring our governments make decisions which reflect the needs and priorities of our diverse communities, such as how millions of ratepayers' money are spent on roads, community facilities and services, the importance of diversity in leadership of local government cannot be understated.
is a former deputy mayor in the City of Ryde and has been an independent local government councillor since 2008. He is also editor of (modelled on Humans of New York) publishing stories of people from multicultural Eastwood in Sydney's North West.
