Summary from the Summit – Rob Donaldson, Shoalhaven City Council
The inaugural Local OpenGov Innovation Summit was held at the Nowra School of Arts on 18 May, with about fifty interested citizens taking part. Participants included community representatives, business representatives, government agencies, partner organisations, local government members and staff, and Councillors and staff from host Shoalhaven City Council.
This was one of a series of summits held globally to share and explore the concepts of transparency, participation and collaboration in government and communities.
Following Mayor Paul Green’s welcome, speakers gave short presentations including-
- list item Council GM, Russ Pigg, on 'why Council consults'
- CCB representatives Graeme Gibson and Jan Shalhoub, with community perspectives
- Council IT Manager, John Lenehan, and Economic Development Officer, Ben Harnwell, on current and potential innovations in technology supporting open government, information sharing and collaboration
- Summit wiki manager, Darron Passlow, with case study examples of interactive sites used by local governments internationally.
Speakers’ presentations can be seen at the ‘wiki’ site, accessible from Council’s website main page.
Participants heard the “number one desire” of communities – to be taken seriously.
Speakers Jan Shalhoub and Graeme Gibson shared their experiences on open government and collaboration as leaders in the Shoalhaven Community Consultative Bodies network. Graeme reminded us that ‘citizen-based democracy is built upon participation, which is the very expression of permanent discomfort …’ (J R Saul), and suggested that this is the future we should ‘get used to’ as we move on from any ‘decide-announce-defend’ approaches.
Graeme also talked about deliberative democracy, making key points about consideration, representativeness, clarity of influence, common good over-riding self-interest – and that deliberative processes don’t replace representative democracy, but do strengthen it.
It is important to create opportunities for communities to do things themselves, without the need for an agency or government to be responsible for every initiative.
An ‘un-conference’ session allowed participants to respond to both the new and old ideas they had seen, and to each other’s perspectives on the opportunities for active citizens to contribute to their communities. Observations and comments included-
- list item Important government decisions should come after 'iterative' processes in which all stakeholders can participate,
- New technology is fine, but we can't resort to only 'the web' to engage communities - processes must be inclusive and get to the people,
- Examples of how local communities already work together, often in partnership with the Council, to achieve local outcomes adn set important agendas,
- Citizens who participate deserve, seek and appreciate considered feedback about what they said, even if decisions don't go the way they wanted.
The potential of new technologies for communication and sharing information was a key theme, but participants were also keen to ensure that these approaches don’t lead to the loss of important opportunities for people to join with others face to face and work together on issues and aspirations.