The night-time economy, alcohol, violence, energy drinks, etc

It's been a while since I posted anything but a bit of stuff has been happening recently so here are some of my thoughts. It all started when Groove Saint, a nightclub in Dean Street was listed on the NSW Schedule for violent premises with 12 assaults in a year. This is a venue that trades for less than 15 hours per week and has a maximum of about 450 patrons so per capita and per trading hour it has a high rate of incidents when compared to other venues in NSW. I moved a motion in Council expressing Council's disappointment at the listing and asking the owner to do whatever he could to improve the situation. One councillor opposed the motion but the other 7 (one did not vote because of a conflict of interest) supported it.

There has been some discussion in the media aobut "telling someone how to run their business". Any reading of the motion or analysis of the debate will show that, not at any stage did I offer advice or suggestions to the operators of the venue as to how the issue could or should be dealt with. It's their business and they should know best what to do. The record might suggest however that they need some help!

Why did I bring this issue up. Let's look at some facts and figures - not my opinions but facts gathered from several sources.

1. The cost to NSW of alcohol related crime, health, productivity and damage amounted to $3.87 billion in 2010. A very simplistic calculation shows that the cost to ALbury is in the order of $20 million per annum.
2. Alcohol related issues consume 70 - 80% of police workload after dark.
3. Last Saturday night 1 in 7 patients in hospital emergency departments attended as a result of alcohol consumption.
4. While the number of assaults has dropped over the last few years the severity of injuries has increased dramatically and even in the last week or so there have been some particularly violent assaults.

Now clearly this is not down to one venue but the common factor is alcohol consumption and the various levels of government seem reluctant to face up to the serious social problem we have with excessive drinking and continue to talk about self-responsibility. We are prepared to legislate to require people to wear seat belts in cars, to wear a helmet when riding a bike but we are not prepared to do more to change the drinking culture and the consequences, both financial and healthwise that come with it.

Then the matter of energy drinks and alcohol came up and within a day I was contacted by one of the manufacturers and the Beverage Council of Australia who wanted to meet me. Two people flew from Sysney to Albury to meet me and two other people on the ALbury Liquor Accord. When I commented in another article that I thought it was damage control they were "offended". They rightly say that they do not support the use of energy drinks in shots but it is clear that there is frequent use of them. Even I have heard of Jager-bombs and Skittle-bombs and many bars have energy drinks such as Mother on tap.

So what am I after? Not telling people how to run their business, not for banning energy drinks but to ask the community what do you want to happen in your neighbourhood and to your children. What's happening at the moment doesn't seem too great to me.

Mayoral and other elections

Last Monday (23 September) Councillors voted to elect the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chairs of the 4 committees. As you all know by now we have a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor and the chairs of committees changed. All in all the results were good and change is certainly not a bad thing. It brings examination of the way things are done and promotes new ideas. So let's keep working together as a team to keep this city vibrant and moving ahead while working on the issues that have to be faced. One strange part of the proceedings the other night was Councillor Docksey's call for the election of Mayor to be by secret ballot. Despite his article in the Border Mail and letter to the editor where he very publicly canvassed his thoughts as to who should be Mayor and Deputy, he then wanted to have a secret ballot. I have been a strong and continuing advocate of openness in council - I was elected by the people of Albury and they have a right to know how I vote and what my reasons are. I moved to have the ballot by open means i.e. show of hands, and was successful in having the motion carried. However during the debate the Mayor at the time, Cr Alice Glachan closed the debate while at least two Councillors had indicated that they still wished to speak about the motion. I sought clarification from the General Manager because our Code of Meeting Practice says "every Councillor has the right to speak once on any motion". There are other clauses that discuss this right but in the end it is the over-riding clause and it was not followed. This was not the first time this had occurred. Every Councillor must be able to speak so that the people of Albury know what the positions of their Councillors are.

Elections

Well this Saturday we have to vote in a very important election and I hope you have all given the matter the serious consideration it deserves. Unlike many people in this wonderful world of ours we have the right and the freedom to vote and select our leaders so use the right and the privilege well. On a less weighty election your local Councillors will get to vote for the Mayor and Deputy on the 23rd September. On this occasion only the 9 elected Councillors get to vote. But already we have had opinion expressed in public about who should be Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Apparently, in Councillor Docksey's eyes I am acceptable for various reasons. I read this in the Border Mail on Saturday! What does this public airing of opinion achieve? No one but Councillors gets to vote so it can't be to influence the voters, or can it? Let's not go down the track of Wangaratta Council with their public spats. OUr Council has functioned well for the last year so let's talk to each other and be open and frank. Deals and backroom stuff should not be the way we work. On this one I would be happy to get some feedback. Let me know what you really think. David

Code of Meeting Practice

It's time for Albury Council to update its Code of Meeting Practice.  This will mean that Council will vote on the new code next week and it will be placed on exhibition so that the public can read it and make comments if they wish.

The last time Council adopted the Code was on 21st December 2009.  So what's different this time and does it matter?

There are some changes and, in my opinion, they take us just a little further away form openness and transparency and we should all be concerned about that.

The Division of Local Government has published a Meeting Practice Note which should be used as a guide for Councils and we have the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 which are used to develop a council's Code of Meeting Practice.  The council's Code must conform with the requirements of the Act and Regulations.

The DLG Meeting Practice Note 2009 states in its introduction "meeting procedures contribute to good public decision-making and increase council's transparency and accountability to its community."  The new Code for Albury contains only minor changes but the changes reduce the amount of openness and the ability of a Councillor to raise matters in open forum.

Let me explain.  In the present Code we have s68 Matters Without Notice the purpose of which was;

• requests for officers to prepare reports or provide information
• to inform Council of specific matters and issues of importance.

Despite the item being called Matters Without Notice, the protocol was to inform the Mayor or Committee Chairman and the General Manager prior to the meeting. 

In the new Code this item will be changed to Notice of Urgent Business despite the fact that the existing Code contains s17(c) (ii) that allows urgent business to be put to the meeting without notice.

The change will prevent a Councillor raising general matters of community interest unless it is deemed to be urgent and there is no provision in this section of the new Code to determine how it will be determined if the matter is urgent.  Will the Mayor or Chairman decide and a motion of dissent from the ruling might have to be moved or will all Councillors vote to decide if the matter is urgent.

If this concerns you then read the policy when it goes on public display and make a submission.

Openness and accountability

As a Councillor I believe that the most important thing I must do is to try to have all decisions made as openly as possible so that the residents of Albury know what is being decided, by whom and why.  The Local Government Act espouses this as a major principle in fact.

So why are Council meetings some times closed to the public?

The Local Government Act allows this in certain circumstances but in almost all cases leaves the decision to the Councillors of the Local Government area.  When commercial matters are to be discussed and the disclosure of information might prejudice the interests of a company, then the matter shoudl be kept confidential.

It aslo allows the Councillors to close a meeting when a personnel matter is being discussed.  But if the matter does not disclose any matters of a personal or private nature why should we do this?  If it is about a job description or some perfomance parameters for example, why isn't the public entitled to know?

Last Monday we discussed the General Manager's performance agreement - a list of the things by which he will be judged!  Why shouldn't the residents of Albury know what he will be judged against?  Last November the Council was happy to discuss the amount of money he would receive but we are not allowed to let them know what the matters by which we will judge his performance are.

Seems strange to me and I tried to convince other Councillors that the meeting should be open.  Didn't win the vote so will have to try better next time.

National Community Safety and Security Conference

It has been some time since I posted anything so I thought I should post the report on the conference which was tabled at Council last night.  The conference contained a lot of useful information and I will follow up on some of the issues that came up.

I attended the conference together with Cr Betteridge and Ms H Webster.  The conference was held on Tuesday and Wednesday 4^th and 5^th June 2013 at the Windsor Hotel, Spring St., Melbourne.

The conference focussed generally on four issues, viz. safety, alcohol, CCTV and graffiti and the inter-relationships between each of these.  As with all conferences there was a great deal of variability between speakers and presentations but, overall, the conference was valuable in my opinion.

There was no simple answer to any of the questions relating to alcohol management, violence, community safety and the use of CCTV but a number of useful insights were gained.  They will help me to form my decisions and may be useful to Council in policy development and formulation.  In the report I will group the information by subject matter.

Alcohol Management

There were presentations for the City of Sydney, Stonnington (Chapel Street), Blacktown (Mt Druitt), Sunshine Coast, Wagga Wagga and Auckland.  It is clear that Albury is doing well in this area compared to others but some interesting points were made.

Chapel St has a saturation of licensed premises with one every 50m on both sides of the street for a distance of 2 km.  This led to changes to the Planning Scheme in February 2012 and a permanent cap on licensed premises with a capacity of more than 200 people allowed to operate after 1 am.  It is clear from this and other premises that a concentration of licensed premises in a small area leads to significant anti-social behaviour.

The use of ID scanners and CCTV was mentioned.  At some venues the “door staff” had a small remote that could be discreetly activated to capture footage of a patron who would be advised that this had been done and this could be sent wirelessly to other venues.  This may be of use given the agreement to introduce a “group banning” policy at venues in Albury.

The City of Sydney has similar problems in Kings Cross and George Street but is focussed on bringing other activities into the areas to lessen the impact of drinking.  The measures include introducing food vans, lighting “dark” places and running other outdoor events.  The city has produced Open Sydney: Draft Strategy and Action Plan 2012 – 2030 which contains a lot of ideas concerning the night – time economy.  The strategy was developed in conjunction with Dr Phil Hadfield who operates a research and training consultancy in the field of alcohol and drugs in Leeds, UK.

Wagga Wagga results are significantly worse than Albury and have shown little improvement over the last few years.  Wagga Wagga utilised a training programme called Safer Bars run by the Australian licensee, Bar Guardians

The issue of pre-loading was raised in almost every presentation and this seems to be an almost intractable problem.  One suggestion made was that when police intervene and ask where a person had their last drink they should also ask where the person purchased their first drink and where did they consume their first drink  This would provide an opportunity to quantify the extent and significance of pre-loading which is, at the moment, only known anecdotally.

Perhaps a survey could be conducted outside licensed premises where patrons could be asked to answer a few short questions.  A small prize could be used as an incentive to participate in the survey.

Key points and resources – alcohol management

·         Open Sydney: Draft Strategy and Action Plan 2012 – 2030

·         Shared radio frequency and SMS communication strategy between venues

·         Use of CCTV at venue entrances and ability to share footage (privacy concerns?)

·         www.calmsc.com.au – collaborative approach to liquor management Sunshine Coast

·         www.barguardians.com.au – bar and security staff training programme

·         Promotion of alcohol (happy hour, discounted drinks, etc) in venues was seen as a significant risk factor with respect to violence both inside and outside the premises.

·         Gain statistics on pre-loading so that we know accurately the extent of the problem.

CCTV

My conclusion after all the presentations is that CCTV does not make an area safer but it does assist in post – incident investigations by providing the opportunity to identify possible suspects.  This was the conclusion of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in the case of SF vs Shoalhaven City Council.  It is expensive to set up and requires significant ongoing funding for maintenance and upgrades.

Monitoring is a huge cost burden and most councils who presented no longer, or never have, monitored their cameras on a continuous basis.  Examples were given of police monitoring but generally this was limited to having a display in a police station that would be passively monitored by a duty officer.  It would be rare to detect an incident in real time.

Key points  - CCTV

·         A useful tool but clearly not the answer to all ills and comes with a big cost for equipment and monitoring.

·         Significant privacy issues in NSW

·         Maribyrnong Council will present a report on CCTV use in August

Graffiti

It is clear to me that Albury is doing very well in this area.  The message seems to be that you need to clean it up as quickly as possible because it attracts others.  Gold Coast City Council policy is to remove offensive graffiti on the same day it is reported and other graffiti by the next working day.  It costs GCCC $1.5 million per annum and they spend $600k removing graffiti from private property at no direct cost to the ratepayer.  Last year they distributed 500 graffiti removal kits (each cost $27).  They have artists produce art work on laminate to be stuck on things such as signal control boxes and power distribution boxes to avoid the occupational health issues of working outdoors and in proximity to traffic.

An interesting point made in a later presentation (about terrorism) was to look at graffiti and see if it contains any “messages” that may be significant.

While at the conference I inspected Union Lane (between Bourke Street Mall and Little Collins Street.  The area had been lit and both walls were covered in authorised graffiti.  It was once a dark and dingy lane full of litter but it now looks terrific in my opinion.  Melbourne City Council will also allow two artists Rone and Phibs to paint graffiti  in Hosier Lane (between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane) as part of the Age’s Forever Curious Campaign.

Key issues – graffiti

·         Rapid clean-up.

·         Use of artwork to cover “targets”.

·         Consider allowing authorised graffiti art in laneways and public spaces to be done under supervision (see Union Lane and Hosier Lane in Melbourne CBD).

Community safety

This was a huge area and presented some innovative ideas that may not be directly relevant to the day to day operations of Albury City but could provide the opportunity for mentoring and sponsorship to achieve long term attitudinal changes.

There was a disturbing presentation from Professor Greg Barton of Monash University concerning recent terrorism incidents around the world.  In his opinion it is “not if but when” for Australia.  A Councillor from Glen Eira described the high concentration of synagogues and Jewish schools in their local government area who all have guards.  The take home message is that we need to consider the possibility of such incidents in our emergency planning.

There were several papers that looked at the issues of risky behaviour including use of alcohol and drugs and even risky sexual behaviour by young people.  While the latter is not in Council’s purview, we could be involved in programmes that look at changing behaviour in the other areas.

Trinity Grammar at Kew has produced a book called “the Trinity Parent’s Drug and Alcohol Resource Book” and it was launched by the psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg and Professor John Toumbourou, who holds the Chair in Health Psychology at Deakin University.  Albury City may be able to promote this to schools in partnership with a local sponsor such as a service club.

Professor Toumbourou is the CEO of Communities that Care Ltd which is a collaboration between the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Murdoch Institute, Deakin University, the University of Washington and the Rotary Club of Melbourne.  It looks at evidence based research concerning youth and risk – taking behaviour, especially in the areas of drugs, alcohol and sexual behaviour.  The aim is to intervene to prevent youths from getting into these areas.  There are a number of programmes running under this umbrella, including one at Myrtleford.  There may be an opportunity for Albury City to sponsor a programme with a suitable partner or partners.

Key issues – community safety

·         www.fare.org.au – alcohol research information

·         www.rch.org.au/ctc - Communities That Care information

·         Emergency planning that considers terrorism.

Conclusion

The two day conference represented good value for money and met the criteria for councillor attendance.  There are a number of initiatives that Council could pursue that would enhance the status and reputation of council in the eyes of the community and which could provide significant long  term benefits to the community.

Fiscal responsibility and the Art Gallery redevelopment

The Art Gallery decision certainly got things going with over 100 online comments on the Border Mail website and plenty were directed at me for my "backflip".

When interviewed in August last year during the election campaign I said that I was in favour of the project but I was not happy that the Mayor had simply said that the project would go ahead whether or not the NSW Government contributed $3.5 million.  I repeated this position at the November Council meeting when it was voted 5-4 to seek further community consultation and to look at alternative sources of funding.  So I don't accept it was a backflip.  I changed my mind based on the evidence put before me.

At the February meeting we had several hundred pages of reports including surveys and submissions.  After reading all of them I came to the conclusion that there was support (not overwhelming but a majority of those who responded) for the project.  In addition the staff had discussed with various experts in the field the opportunities to raise money from philanthropic sources.  Note this is not asking for donations from the general Albury community.

I was convinced that the burden on Albury ratepayers would be less than the $7 million caused by the State Government withdrawal and could be funded without adding further burdens to ratepayers.  Remember the special variation in rates had already been approved by the previous council and will continue for another two years.

Have I been fiscally responsible?  Just knocking back one project does not make me fiscally responsible and as I have had to remind people, if I  had voted against the project it would have been 4 - 4 and the Mayor would have used her casting vote to give it the go-ahead anyway.

I am scrutinising all expenditure by this Council and soon we get to look at the proposed budget for 2013 - 2014.  I will scrutinise every line item and with the support of fellow councillors I hope to make savings by reducing unnecessary expenditure and waste.  I have a several in mind but I will discuss these in detail in later posts after I have looked at the information given to councillors in the draft budget papers.

On Tuesday I am going to an all day training session about financial matters in local government.  Not one other Albury Council is going even though one for example told me, "I don't understand that stuff.  I leave it to others!"  So I take my obligations seriously.

When all is said and done I will have to live with my decisions and, if I stand again, the voters will have the opportunity to say how they feel about me as a councillor

Art Gallery Redevelopment

According to some of the submissions made in favour of the redevelopment I was "an ill-informed grandstander" but after last night's vote I am "a sane and intelligent person".  Marvellous how people's opinion of you changes when you agree with them. 

So I am sane and intelligent because I agree with the senior staff.  What a pity that the senior staff didn't listen to the elected representatives a little earlier and get out there and do the hard work of identifying other funding sources instead of taking the default position advocated by the Mayor last August; the project will go ahead and if necessary we will fund the shortfall.

As in indicated in the Chamber last night, I have always said that I support the project but wanted to hear again from the public and to have council staff identify some other possible sources of funding.  While it is not locked in, I think that there is a very good chance that at least $1 million of outside funding can be found.  You can be sure that I will not forget this and will regularly ask about progress.

To everyone who contacted me, both for and against, I thank you for your input and hope that you will continue to keep in touch.  On this one I have disappointed some and made others happy but that's how it will be many more times in the next 3 1/2 years.  I listen and I read the reports and try to make the best decision I can.

Is Albury Council efficient?

As a new Councillor (only been going 4 months) I ask myself how does this council compare with other similar councils in NSW and elsewhere for that matter.

The Division of Local Government publishes annual comparison reports in which they give statistics for such things as number of employees, rates, expenditure on various things.  They group similar councils together and we are in group 4.  The comparisons are interesting but don't give me a real feel for how good we might be.  We are certainly towards the top with respect to the number of employees and the cost of rates in all categories.  But perhaps we provide better services than other councils and that costs more?

TCorp also published annual reports in which they give a lot of ratios such as debt service ratio, operating deficit, infrastructure backlog and so on.  Useful but I still don't feel that I have a feel for how good or bad the council is. 

Perhaps we should be involved in some meaningful benchmarking with other councils such as Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Bathurst, etc.  I'd be happy to hear your suggestions on this one.

I did a quick exercise last week looking at lost time injury frequency rates and what this means for employee health and workers compensation premiums.  Our LTIFR is 12 – 15 and we pay almost $1.5 million in workers compensation insurance premiums (as well as having significant injuries to our employees).  By comparison, Melton City Council in Victoria has an LTIFR of 5, Wodonga’s is currently 2 and Norske Skog’s is 0.  The paper nill has not had a lost time injury for 2 years.  A huge opportunity to save money and to look after our employees. 

I was not able to get the actual figures from councils so I used a proxy which is the annual amount of salaries and wages divided by the workers compensation premium amount.  The higher this ratio is the better is the council's safety record.  It's a bit crude but it gives an idea of the issue.  The ones I calculated are Albury 18, Wagga 26, Bathurst 14 and Tamworth 40.  On this basis we are not doing too well.

If you have any other ideas of what we should be benchmarking I would like to hear from you.

The start of a new year

Ready to begin a new year and it is hot, hot, hot!  It feels like one of the old summers we used to get here in Albury.

On a personal note I am back on my bike and slowly building up my fitness after the little health scare last year and am enjoying the break and hot weather to laze around and read.  Just finished the 2012 Book of Australian Science Writing - perhaps it should be compulsory for various radio commentators and others who have such strong opinions but little knowledge about many things.

We are having a break from Council and we resume on the 29th of January for what will be the most important meeting of the 4 year term.  We get to choose the new General Manager for Albury City!

The petition about the Art Gallery is interesting.  I am encountering a lot of resistance when asking people to sign.  People think they are endorsing the redevelopment and the Council contribution of $7 million.  I explain that it is only asking the NSW Government to help fund the project but there is certainly resistance.

I support the redevelopment but I am not happy with the way Council has gone about it. WIth 4 independently elected councillors, you would think that the mood for change would be well understood.  Unfortunately I don't get that feeling at all.